Get to know our Head of Events Delivery, Kathryn Cannell

Get to know our Head of Events Delivery, Kathryn Cannell with this ‘week in the life of’.

The Simplest way of describing my job:

Simply put, I’m a jack-of-all-trades and so is my job, no two days are ever the same and that’s why I love what I do!

Day-to-day though, I oversee all event delivery that welcomes external clients to Keele University Events and Conferencing and the team are the linchpin of all event operations. As well as this, I oversee our business development functions where I work closely with the team on regularly reviewing our sales and marketing strategies, managing our reactive enquiry desk and directing our proactive lead generation strategy.

My role also involves setting the yearly income targets and department cost budgets , monthly forecasting and ensuring we are not exceeding our cost budgets.

I prepare for the week ahead by:

I love a to-do list! It keeps me organised and by completing one every Friday before I finish work, it means I can switch-off and enjoy the weekend. I like to try and clear as much as I can from my inbox on a Friday, check my diary for the week ahead to see what meetings I need to prepare for and ensuring that we have enough staff covering events in the diary.

In an average week, I:

Every Monday starts with our Monday morning team brief with the sales and events team and then a catering operations team meeting to discuss what events are coming up this week and de-brief the week prior.

After that, the week is all a bit of a ‘busy blur’ with one-on-one meetings with team members to chat through work in progress, meeting and greeting new clients and hosting campus show rounds. Planning and attending meetings with colleagues that cover operational activity or sales strategies, and updating the team with our income forecasting performance.

But, like I said earlier, no two days are the same, so there will always be one or two curve balls thrown at me throughout the week!

And the worst part:

When we’re unable to fulfil a clients request due to restrictions out of our control. Luckily it doesn’t happen very often at all, but I hate seeing clients disappointed or disheartened.

Why I love my job:

There are many reasons, but the number one reason has to be the amazing teams that I work with. My immediate team are all passionate, caring and hard-working individuals and the majority of us have worked together for a long time. During that time, we’ve all shared our work and personal life highs and lows and I know them inside out. I wouldn’t be the person I am today if it weren’t for them.

I relax out of work by:

What is relaxing? Outside of work I’m a part-time taxi driver for my two teenage children. Joking aside, I love the small things in life like socialising with family and friends, going out for good food and taking long walks with my dog, Arya.