With the inaugural Conference News Creative Leaders Summit fast approaching, Conference News has spoken to some speakers and panellists about their upcoming sessions, the importance of creative leaders coming together and the biggest challenges facing creative leaders today.
The summit is taking place on 11 and 12 June at De Vere Horsley Estate and will bring together senior creative figures from the agency community, discussing the challenges and sharing best practice when delivering creative visions for immersive live and brand experiences. Find out more about the summit here.
In this interview, we speak to Gavin Farley, CEO at asembl. Farley will speak on a panel titled ‘A Decent Proposal: The Art of Winning the RFP‘, on day one of the summit. He will speak alongside, Toby Lewis, CEO at Live Group, Freddie Rand, event manager at Societe Generale and Alasdair Moore, co-founder and director at The Intrepid Collective. The panel will discuss what makes a pitch stand out and land the win, bringing both sides of the RFP process to the table.
What inspired you to say yes to speaking at the Creative Leaders Summit?
Got a bit jealous of others sat on the panel when I’ve been to the events before and I asked the most questions so wanted to see what it was like the other way round.
Why do you think it’s important for creative leaders in our industry to come together right now?
There’s so much noise out there at the moment and people seem to be getting caught up in about 100 different conversations about things. Fundamentals of business don’t change, but a lot of other things do. This event should be a great place to connect with others in the industry and talk openly about whats going on and share the ups and downs, but most importantly be with a community in the same boat, whatever boat that is
Can you give us a sneak peek into what your session will cover?
I’m not really sure what will happen to be honest! I know what I’m doing, and what we’re doing as a business and that’s all I have to refer to, so I’ll be pulling on that, on our successes, our failures and how we as a group, are thinking about how we do things. Might not be for others, but never know.
What’s the one key idea or takeaway you hope people leave your session with?
Simplicity is the key to the success, that bigger isn’t always better and look at what you have before wishing you had something else. I know that’s about three things to takeaway but one might land. Be real to who you are.
Who is your session aimed at, and why should they come along?
Anyone who wants to listen to be honest. I’ve been in the industry for nearly 30 years now, built an okay business and done a lot of cool things, learnt a lot, messed up a lot and learning myself. Anyone who’s on a similar journey, or wants to start the journey, I’m happy for anyone to listen and get involved, at least one person turns up hopefully.
How did you land on the topic you’re speaking about—was it driven by a personal experience or industry trend?
As I mentioned above, I’m not sure what I’ll be talking about as I’ll take the steer from the panel, the host, the questions, this is actually the point, you need to have a north star in business, but you need to flex, so let’s do that .
In your view, what’s the biggest challenge facing creative leaders today?
Staying true to you, the team, the culture, the ethos of the business you’re building. Its easy to get distracted, but not everything shiny is worth chasing.
How do you keep your creative edge in a fast-paced industry like ours?
By surrounding myself with my more creative people than I am! By being interested and nosey and to always want to learn and see what else is going on. You should know who’s doing what, look at other sectors outside of the industry and see what they’re doing. We have a habit in this industry to say we’re creative but actually we’re really not.
What advice would you give to the next generation of creative leaders?
Get on with it, what are you waiting for. Be you, do you. Absorb everything, get yourself in the best vehicle for your journey, don’t forget you can change vehicles and surround yourself with the best people and those that encourage and want you to succeed.
To register to attend the Conference News Creative Leaders Summit click here.
