Hello… My name is Louise and I am passionate about working with people to achieve great things, together.

I pride myself on executing projects to the highest standard and I am known for making things happen. My skill set lies in capturing the ideas of others and pulling them together to form a comprehensive and strategic plan. I create innovative solutions for my customers and implement excellent results.

I have extensive experience of managing complex, high profile projects with strong stakeholder management skills. I am also an events manager and marketing professional with experience in branding and promotion. I was a senior project manager for the biggest event ever at The O2, London and I was involved with delivery of the Rugby World Cup 2015 opening ceremony. I am a confident and eloquent public speaker, comfortable presenting to a range of audiences and on live television and radio.

My Core Values

Strategic planning and business management

I have been supporting a new business owner to develop his own business strategy. He left a company he’d worked at for 20+ years to start out on his own to develop a concrete crusher. Whilst finalising the crusher design I re-did his CV so that he could take on design work in the interim and I connected him with other professionals - a marketing freelancer and website designer - to get the Crusher business off the ground. He now has a prototype he has taken to market which has resulted in orders for new crushers.

I am currently delivering a project which aims to merge two elements of a business. This will result in one particular team taking on additional responsibilities. In order to achieve the desired level of service, I am using a strategic approach to ascertain the needs of the business and produce a new procedure. I will then work with the team to fine tune and finalise the new process to ensure it works for them. As direct users of the new procedure, it is essential to have their input.

In line with my core values I will work with the senior management team to create a stronger sense of community in the workplace. I believe that the ‘hearts and minds’ of the individual cannot be overlooked, and it is crucial that the wider team have input to ensure the new procedure has their buy-in. The bigger picture of the merger is that people’s roles are changing and this often generates uncertainty. Are your processes working for everyone in your team and do you have their buy-in? If not, let’s chat.

Conference and event series development

I was solely responsible for establishing and delivering a series of new commercial conferences for The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. These conferences were designed to generate unrestricted income and enable the College to diversify into new markets. I led the event management and strategic development of the conference series, establishing and tailoring project management and reporting techniques to ensure the portfolio of events were developed on time and to budget.

I managed team workflow and established new processes to ensure all stakeholders were aware of their responsibilities and able to meet tight project deadlines. This included establishing financial and delivery targets.

Branding, marketing and publicity of the conference series also fell within my responsibilities. I developed all branding and marketing collateral, led specific event promotion and promoted the event as a whole to mailing lists and across all available platforms. I was responsible for all procurement, including; external contractors, speakers, partners, budget management, communication and relationships with all stakeholders. This role honed my skills, providing me with unexpected problems in event delivery, and with the management of logistics, marketing and publicity on the day of the event.

I was responsible for delivering a diverse programme of projects for The Salvation Army’s 8th International Congress, a five-day conference at The O2, celebrating their 150th anniversary. I was one of five managers with executive oversight of the biggest event The O2 has hosted to date. It involved more than 13 venues, 15,233 delegates, over 100 hours of programmed event activity, 200 volunteers, 29 venue coordinators and 9 support staff.

My specialisms included:

- Project implementation and delivery. I used recognised project management principles and frameworks to develop, monitor and deliver multiple projects simultaneously. I had to translate directives from the executive board which resulted in the recruitment and engagement of the event workforce. I managed the sponsored delegate programme which brought over 1,500 delegates from 82 countries to the end, I led the team sourcing accommodation for 7,000 delegates in London during peak summer season, I designed and delivered a bespoke volunteer programme and facilitated the logistics of a massed parade down The Royal Mall involving 2,000 participants and 30,000 spectators.

 - Communication and stakeholder management: I dealt sensitively, proactively and effectively with a range of stakeholders, including; Salvation Army international leaders, foreign delegates, The O2 management, Royal Parks, Metropolitan Police, British High Commissions (globally), transport, accommodation and multiple production companies. I produced briefings and reports for senior leadership (including the General), presented project updates at management meetings and briefed The Salvation Army on a complex people management plan developed in liaison with The O2 and safety professionals. I produced professional content for the event website and event programme. I was involved in the implementation of an innovative social media/multimedia campaign that successfully challenged Salvation Army boundaries.

- Crisis management and managing change, conflict and resolution: I successfully negotiated positive outcomes in a high stress environment which resulted from large delegate and personnel numbers, diverse cross cultural and language groupings, within a time intense and high-profile event.

 - Budget management and fundraising. I successfully managed and controlled a budget in excess of £9m, monitoring expenditure to ensure the project came in under budget and I initiated a fundraising campaign that raised over £150,000.

 - Line Management of project support team, I also coordinated 29 venue managers and more than 200 volunteers. 

 - Risk Management: I had executive involvement in the assessing, training, monitoring and evaluating risk. This included incorporating risk registers and venue assessments in accordance with Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and industry best practice. 

I love speaking about an event or product that I truly believe in and so I designed and conducted training programmes both pre-recorded and live for this special event (sar.my/boundlesstraining).