LBB: My First Year in Advertising: Production Edition

From conferences in the London ExCeL Centre to the golf courses of Scotland, and finally to the fields of Glastonbury Festival, my first year in production was fast-paced, full-on, and everything I'd hoped for.

Before stepping into the world of production, I was working as a roofer, until I got the chance to join a local crew on a motor show in Hanover. That experience opened the door to events and I was instantly hooked. I loved the excitement of working abroad, exploring unfamiliar places and meeting a wild mix of brilliant and wonderfully strange people.

At first, I'll admit the hotel stays and crew catering were major highlights (though that novelty has slightly worn off now!), but it was the buzz of being on site that really grabbed me. So when I returned to the UK, I started looking into production opportunities. It was a challenge at first – I didn't feel I had the proper skill set or enough experience. But I was keen to learn and happy to get stuck in wherever I was needed.

One of the biggest surprises for me was just how much energy goes into an event. The build-up can be intense. I felt a lot of nerves and pressure. Even small tasks, like making sure a single delivery arrived on time, felt huge to me early on. There were definitely moments in pre-production where I thought, "What if this whole thing doesn't happen because of me?" Looking back on it now, I know that there is a solution to every problem.

Once you're on-site, surrounded by a team that have each other's backs, there's a real sense of camaraderie, like being part of a well-drilled (Arsenal?) football team. The on-site role quickly became my favourite part of the job.

The long hours, sore feet and steel-toe-cap blisters all make it worthwhile once you're in the bar across the road from the venue, having a beer with your colleagues after a long 12-hour day and thinking, “We’ve done that!”