Jonny King is a senior project manager at employee-owned First Event.
Based in Leeds, the events management agency secured a spot on the prestigious Sunday Times 100 Best Places to Work list in 2024 for a second year running.
After joining the business in 2022, King shares a recent week in his life as he ventures out of the North to Dubai…
Monday
This week we’re heading to Dubai for a client event. This is a premier incentive event, in other words, a trip to reward our client’s team for hitting certain targets, and generally being superstars. If there’s one thing superstars deserve, it’s non-stop celebrity service as VIP guests in Dubai. But before we step into the world of luxury, we’ve got some last-minute admin to get through. Monday morning starts like most people: in the office. Today the team and I are double-checking everything for the 2903rd time, dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s.
Then it’s off to sunny Manchester via our ever so glamorous carpool. We’re always conscious about saving emissions where we can, so we normally carshare to our locations or airports where possible. Once we’ve taken off, I savour my in-flight meal of what-was-once-chicken and possibly-potatoes, I manage to watch maybe half a Ghostbusters film before falling asleep.
Tuesday
By Tuesday morning we’ve landed in Dubai, and are heading out of the airport where our Destination Management Company is waiting for us. I love a good DMC. We’ve worked in locations all over the world for over 22 years, so having access to reliable and well connected teams on the ground through our DMCs helps us to unlock those really super exclusive experiences.
Once we get to our hotel, we’ve got the rest of the afternoon to go through our final checks with the DMC before the guests arrive at 5pm. We go over expectations for the week, and finalise all food and drink requirements and preferences for our guests. With 265 people coming, there’s going to be a lot of food and drink!
Before we know it, 5pm hits, and the team that have gone to welcome them from the airport arrive back at the hotel. One guest has left their airpods down the side of their plane seat, so whilst the guests are checking in we arrange for someone to ring the airline to see if there’s anything we can do to find them.
Soon, the guests are joining us at the Hilton Dubai the Palm for a welcome dinner overlooking the Dubai skyline… a standard Tuesday evening tea-time! They’ve had a long travel day, so we don’t keep them up too late, and they head off to bed at about 11pm. After they’ve left, the remaining team has a small catch up meeting and briefing for the next day, before hitting the hay myself at about 12:30am.
Wednesday
With all the guests sufficiently fed on Wednesday morning, the black Mercedes people carriers roll up outside the hotel, ready to take the gang to the Burj Khalifa.
After we whizz everyone up the world’s tallest tower in the world’s fastest lift (Dubai is never one to be outdone), the guests erupt into oohh’s and aahh’s once they see the incredible view. Whilst the guests are instagramming the life out of everything, some of the team split off to different locations across Dubai to do final checks for the week ahead. My job is to head into the desert, and check out the location for our gala dinner.
I know we’ve checked all of the logistics a million times, so I’m more focused on making sure that the branding elements are right. We like to try and get our client’s logos in as many places as possible, and embed our client’s values through as many touch points as possible, so that it really feels like an immersive, branded experience, and not just a company trip.
With everything up to standard, I head back to the hotel to get guests ready to make their way to a premier penthouse nightclub for the evening. The night goes off without a hitch! Even when one of the guests goes over on her ankle on the dancefloor (wearing the tallest heels I’ve ever seen), the team and I jump into problem-solving mode. I quickly grab the on site first-aider, and we get her set up in a booth in the private area with an ice pack on her ankle. She seems to be in pretty high spirits, but we make sure to spend the rest of the evening ferrying her a steady supply of mocktails, food and TLC.
I’ve been up since 6:30 this morning, so I’m heading back to the hotel early whilst my colleagues round up the remaining party people. When I get back, reception let me know that the missing airpods have been found, so I arrange for someone to bring them to the hotel for the next day, before I head to bed at 11.
Thursday
After getting up at 6, I shower and head downstairs to check in with the team about last night. We see ankle woman appear for breakfast in heels, so it looks like she’s doing just fine, but we still give her a strap and bandage, just in case.
On this afternoon’s agenda, we’ve got everyone heading off in groups to take part in their optional activities, including golf in an exclusive resort, a luxury yacht cruise, the afternoon in the Skypool, the Dubai marina zipline, shopping in the Burj Khalifa or heading out in Hero boats. As you can imagine, for a senior project manager who is in charge of the logistics of the event, today could feel like a bit of a nightmare. But that’s why we plan these things super far in advance. Knowing that the logistics and all those moving parts are absolutely nailed means that we can focus on those extra services here and there for our guests.
Friday
Having really set the standard with the events so far this week, we knew we needed to finish the trip in some serious style. To start the day, the guests are off to the desert for a morning of dune bashing, sand boarding, and quad biking.
While the guests are off exploring the desert, we’ve set up a refreshment area, full of fruit, dates, drinks, branded cushions, and even a group of camels that guests could ride. We’d decorated the area with festoon lighting, and even flown in the Menendez Brothers from Ibiza to entertain everyone. When they pulled up in their jeeps after a day of exploring the dunes, their jaws honestly hit the floor, it was incredible!
We celebrated the evening with fire blowers, fire dancers, free flowing drinks, and endless barbecued shawarmas. To top it all off, we finished the night and this incredible week with a belly dancing flash mob, and the most insane drone show I’ve ever seen.
Right now, I think the team are all going through the event high, desperately trying not to think about having to get 250 people on a plane home tomorrow morning. I’m also not thinking about the fact that I’ve only got 3 days in Leeds before another site visit in Cape Town. I’m not bragging, but I’m also not complaining. Okay, maybe I am bragging a bit. But I do have the best job in the world.
