Dominic Richards studied Events and Leisure Marketing at BU and now runs his own events company specialising in sustainable events.
Why did you choose to study your particular course?
After gaining some insights into how festivals were managed and run, I decided to study Events and Leisure Marketing at BU. Seeing so many moving parts working cohesively together to create a huge experience for thousands of people amazed me. I decided on this area for my vocation. I wanted to be able to create, design and manage events for a living.
Why did you choose to study at BU?
Bournemouth University offered an environment where I could thrive. Amongst its great credentials in the Humanities area, it also stood out as one of the top universities for Events Management. Since entering the events industry as a graduate, I’ve met a whole host of other people who also studied my events course at BU which demonstrates that it’s highly valued within the industry. BU also offered a place where there were a lot of like-minded, driven students, and of course the beach is a great attraction.
How did your studies prepare you for what came next?
My time at BU helped me in defining my strict work ethic and relentless drive, two of my proudest traits which have really helped me in my career, founding and building my agency. Studying at BU also improved my time management skills, research, and presentation skills amongst many others.
Your career journey so far - significant roles and any interesting twists and turns?
I started my career at a very small team-building agency before moving to a medium-sized corporate event agency. It was here that I rediscovered my love for the event world. Every event was different, and every day would have something new to offer which helped to increase my skills and experience.
The pandemic threw the events world into chaos, and I was made redundant when my employer went into administration. However, using temporary work to tide myself over, I began researching the industry, focusing on virtual and hybrid events. From here I was able to gain a role in an IT firm managing and marketing their virtual events before we shifted back to in-person events in 2021. It was also here that I started planning the creation and launch of my own events agency for when the world returned to normal. This agency was going to be different with a focus on ensuring that events had a positive impact on the environment whilst minimising carbon emissions.
Staying in the industry I moved to another company which delivered a large number of in-person pharmaceutical conferences. During this time, I was able to work on my sustainable events agency and we launched at the end of the 2021. One year later, I made the jump to work on the agency full-time. I haven't looked back since.
What do you enjoy most about your work or find most rewarding?
As an events professional, I love the satisfaction of delivering an event. There is a lot of work that goes on and when it all comes together, it's beautiful to see.
As an agency owner, there are a lot of things I enjoy. One of these is having the freedom and flexibility to craft our own path in the industry. We are not just an agency but a movement for change, and we are looking to pool our resources in providing positive innovative solutions for events all over the world. I also enjoy providing opportunities for new people to get involved in the events industry. It has a lot of potential, and we'd love to be able to bring new people into it who may not have otherwise had the chance. We have a placement programme being set up for the summer and hope to be able to offer more of these in the future. We also provide industry knowledge advice and thought leadership in our resources section on our website.
What advice would you have for other students (or potential students) thinking of following a similar path?
I would strongly recommend getting as much work experience as you can and in a wide variety of areas. Having this and/or a part-time job whilst studying gives you strong transferable skills which will benefit you for a future position. Networking is something that I would highly recommend as well for connections in the industry and beyond. It could potentially provide you with job roles and opportunities. I feel like it's often said but there isn't any secret to success. It comes down to hard work and persistence.
Is there anything you know now that you wish you'd known when starting our on your studies?
Spend time researching potential work placements to find one that will really benefit you in the long run. There is also now a huge number of placements available abroad if you wanted to branch out abroad outside of the UK. Now is the time to do it.