As 2024 begins, Bristol Creative Industries co-chairs Lis Anderson and Heather Wright set out their vision and plans for the next 12 months.
Our unwavering commitment to driving value for Bristol Creative Industries members remains our top priority. We will persist in creating opportunities for our community to learn, connect and grow their businesses. Simultaneously we are dedicated to amplifying our influence within the city and nationally advocating for the views and the needs of our local creative industries.
Events, networking and learning
The highly successful programme of in-person keynote events from industry figures will continue to be a catalyst for inspiring new thinking and encouraging reflection and evolution for business growth.
We encourage leaders to bring their wider teams to these events, which may otherwise be out of reach for smaller organisations. We also aim to diversify our line-up of speakers to represent the broader spectrum of creative industries.
Freelancers constantly say how much they love the networking events and the freelancer drinks at the Square Club in Bristol have grown from strength to strength. We’ll be running more of these events in 2024 on 6 February, 23 April, 11 June, 10 September and 19 November.
Member lunches, recognised for fostering valuable real-world partnerships, will continue due to the positive feedback and opportunities they generate.
Building on the success of the Bristol Creative Industries Internship Programme pilot in 2023, we’re leveraging the insights gained to make it even better this year year, with enhanced experiences and outcomes for both interns and employers.
2024 will also see BCI working more closely with education providers across the region to grow the creative talent pipeline for our members. We’ll be raising awareness of career opportunities in our sector, facilitating mentorships and feeding into course materials.
Film and TV
As we continue to grow, we’re keen to attract new members from the film and TV industry. With strategic partnerships formed with Bottleyard Studios and Bristol Film Office, we aim to connect our members with the many new opportunities arising from the many high end TV productions coming to the city.
New board members
To achieve our ambitious goals, we’re actively seeking new Board members. Find full details here as we look to welcome individuals who share our passion for Bristol’s creative industries.
We wish you all a very happy New Year and look forward to supporting and celebrating creative businesses throughout 2024 and beyond.
If you’re not yet a Bristol Creative Industries member, join here. We’d love to welcome you in 2024.
According to the World Economic Forum, critical thinking and problem-solving skills are at the top of the skills list that employers believe will grow in prominence over the next five years. Yet we continue to passively meander through our working week; going to meetings where there’s no one leading and there are too many invitees, observing team members who are distracted or doing something else. We leave the room feeling frustrated at the time wasted, and none the wiser on how we’re going to solve the problem we came together to discuss.
A few stats I found on time wasted in meetings (US research):
· 71% of senior managers believe meetings are unproductive and inefficient
· Only 50% of employees feel their ideas are heard during meetings
· An estimated 50% of meeting time is spent on irrelevant topics
· Companies with fewer than 50 employees waste an average of $18k per year on unproductive meetings, whilst for companies with over 100 employees it’s an average of $420,000
What if we turned these lazy, lacklustre meetings into something positive? What if we started running bite-sized workshops instead, putting our energy into creating experiences for participants to problem-solve together?
Do workshops take more time and effort to plan?
Initially, yes. But … the more you do, the more confident you’ll become, and the quicker you’ll be at designing activities that actually help solve problems, where everyone leaves the room with an agreed plan of action that’s been created by you all.
What’s the difference between a meeting and a workshop?
I use the following distinction to guide me. If your goal is simply to share or exchange information then a meeting will suffice. If your goal is to solve a problem where you need input from people with different skills and experience (those skills and experience will be based on the topic and outcome you’re after), and that will result in actionable options, then try running a workshop.
5 tips to get you started
1. Only invite participants who will contribute, and have a diverse set of skills and experience
2. Share the workshop purpose and goals with participants beforehand, so they know what to expect. And don’t be afraid to give them pre-work to help get them into the zone beforehand
3. Design activities that will play to the strengths of the participants and different learning styles – consider a mix of discussion, individual reflection and group work
4. Don’t be afraid to flex the agenda if you feel like another way might be more effective in achieving your goal
5. Always capture actions with owners at the end, to ensure you keep up momentum after the workshop
New year challenge – facilitating positive change
Give it a go in January, and let me know how you get on … Tell your team and clients that you’re trying something different, and encourage them to do the same.
If you need help, get in touch. I’m running a Workshop Wizardry ‘workshop’ on 31st January, which will be packed with handy tools and techniques to build your workshop confidence. I also offer tailored in-house sessions with your team with 20% off for BCI members.
Projects – of all sizes, in all sectors and with various budget constraints can put the most cool headed staff member under pressure. With various stakeholders involved, tight deadlines, organisation management and staff availability alongside budget and time constraints; the presence of a skilled project manager to guide the effort and ensure alignment among all participants is crucial for project success. Organisations employing various project management methodologies excel in sticking to budgets, adhering to schedules, meeting scope requirements, upholding quality standards, and realising the benefit of how a successful outcome can make to a business.
Develop your staff in project management, and drive your business forward through a part funded Project Management Skills Bootcamp.
Delivered in Bristol over 10 weeks, this part funded course will equip your staff with the skills needed to support and ultimately lead projects.
Suitable for people looking to upskill their staff and is under pinned by the Association for Project Management (APM), Project Management Qualification (PMQ) and will reference the APM Book of Knowledge (BoK) 7th Edition. For employers wishing to upskill their employees, this course will be discounted by 70% as part of the Government’s Lifetime Skills Guarantee and Plan for Jobs. The course will be spread over 10 weeks, comprising a mixture of face-to-face/remote participation, requiring day-release one day each week. This is an ideal opportunity to upskill individuals in your team to drive your business forward.
When is the course?
Start Date: Wednesday 10th January 2024 (10 consecutive Wednesdays)
Benefits of the course:
The aim of the course is to provide learners a core understanding and appreciation of project management. Together with some practical applications of learning and how current practices impact project management; it will develop learners understanding of core project management principles and emerging practices.
By completing this Project Management Bootcamp, your employees will get a greater understanding of key elements of project management, such as:
Budgeting and cost management
Conflict management
Communication
Earned value management
Leadership
Negotiation
Procurement
Sponsorship
Teamwork
On completion of the course learners may wish to formally pursue the PMQ and information will be available to support this.
Those looking to explore project management with data will have access to Microsoft supported courses in Azure Fundamentals, Azure AI Fundamentals, Azure Data Fundamentals.
What’s changing in Project Management?
Project management principles and practices are heavily influenced by data. The use of data analysis, statistical interpretation and artificial intelligence (AI) is an emerging aspect of project management. The impact of AI in Project Management has been globally recognised. Over 80% of respondents to the Project Management Institute (PMI) “Pulse of the Profession”, 2019 survey report stated that organisations are seeing an impact from AI. With project professionals expecting the proportion of projects they manage using AI to jump from 37%.
At the end of the course there will be a series of guest speakers from industry who will discuss the future of project management. Participants attending the course may wish to explore data in projects in future courses at the West of England IoT, details will be available at the end of the programme.
Cost
Large Employers (With 250 Staff or More) 30% contribution £675 per person.
SME Employers (With 249 Staff or Less) 10% contribution of £225 per person.
Employer Commitment
Employer commitment for learner to complete all training elements.
Evidence from employer to confirm that the training provided via the Skills Bootcamp has resulted in either a new job role or an enhanced role for the employee that now utilises their new skills gained via this Skills Bootcamp.
The Daily Disruptor Network is a free community of tech founders, startups and small businesses, which helps people to get advice and solve problems faster. Our network connects and supports people running technology companies, giving them access to genuinely useful content, events, advisors and more. The network has been running for a few years now, but has some exciting things in the pipeline upcoming for members. Membership is free and offers you instant access to the network’s Slack group, as well as the email newsletter which shares heaps of useful insights and industry knowledge. You can find out more about the community here.
This webinar is the first webinar the network has run for its members and is the first in a long line of new benefits being launched. Join the network today to stay in the know with what’s coming next.
About the webinar
The new year comes with new opportunities to generate the growth and traction your business needs to succeed. Whether you are a brand new startup or a scale-up that is further along its growth journey, using the end of the year to reset, recalibrate and gain insights from your peers allows you to set the foundation for a fantastic 2024.
Book your place
Join us for this free 1-hour power session on improving the likelihood of 2024 being your best year yet. We’ll be covering how to:
Achieve the sales velocity you need to hit your financial targets
Identify your ideal customers and understand what will make them buy from you
Set the goals and objectives that will get you closer to your dream
Create a culture of progress to take your business towards your goals
Yiuwin Tsang has been working in sales and business development for more than 15 years. With a broad range of clients from big 4 consulting firms to independent abstract artists, he has seen how having the right value positioning, new business systems and robust sales processes can have a transformational effect on the commercial performance of an organisation.
Founder and CEO of Disruptive Thinking, a B2B marketing and business development consultancy, Yiuwin will be sharing his vast expertise and knowledge throughout the programme and help you supercharge your revenue potential.
If you have any questions or a project you’d like to discuss, please contact; [email protected].
Acting for Performance Capture.
Are you interested in expanding your performance skills and exploring new opportunities in the ever-evolving world of performance for cinematics, VO, VR, XR, animation and video games?
Led by Narrative Director Joshua Archer (www.joshua-archer.com), with over 10 years of experience in performance capture and AAA video game production, followed by an industry Q&A with renowned CDG Casting Director Jessica Jefferies (www.jessicajefferiescasting.co.uk).
This workshop will teach you everything you need to know to succeed in this fast-growing field. You’ll learn how to effectively translate your physical and emotional performance into a digital medium, and gain an insight into the unique practices, challenges and practical demands of a professional motion capture shoot.
We find it hard to connect with the titles “performance capture artist” or “motion capture specialist”, you are, an actor. We believe actors should be seen as commercial enterprises, not just artists, and they should be armed with all the tools necessary to succeed. With over 100 projects between them, Josh & Jessica hope to workshop exactly that.
With 2 workshops already sold out we advise you to book your spot early to avoid missing out! Email us at [email protected] to reserve your spot!
Join Weston College in the heart of Bristol to learn more about supporting the next generation of creatives! Are you looking at offering work placements? Internships?
Looking to grow your team?
Give back to a new generation through guest lecture and project work?
Want to find out more about Weston College? We may surprise you….
The Faculty of Creative Arts Employer Forum is designed to work alongside industry to deliver industry aligned curriculum, work experiences, progression and employment routes and pipeline talent. Courses covered at Weston College and University Centre Weston include:
Game & Animation
Creative and Digital Media
Broadcast, Journalism and Podcasts
Performing Arts and Theatre
Art and Design – including fashion, textiles and business
As part of Bristol Technology Festival 2023, our founder Harry explores the ins and outs of UX design, and why a user-centric approach is absolutely crucial.
In this webinar he explains why UX design is so much more than just wireframing, and how it should be seen as a process rather than a solution. Harry also uncovers how a clear UX-led strategy can lead to a long term competitive advantage.
mustard jobs XP Divisional Lead, Jamie Rogers, outlines how 2023 is going for the job market across the sector.
Over the last year, mustard jobs have seen a surge in activity within the events industry across the UK. With Brexit, Covid and the Cost of Living Crisis significantly affecting the rate of movement within the industry in recent times. We’re breaking down the current trends, salary expectations, candidate availability and industry growth of the events sector.
At the beginning of the year we saw various external factors make candidates more hesitant about moving roles. Even though the cost of living remains high, the UK hasn’t plunged into a recession yet so candidates are maneuvering in the market again.
Industry Growth
The events industry is booming across the UK, and Brand Experience within London remains a particularly busy sector for the mustard team for permanent and contract roles.
Covid-19 has become a memory of the past and as a result the Tradeshow Exhibition industry is back and better than ever. Virtual Broadcast has maintained popularity within the corporate space as streaming functionality is more accessible than ever. This has provided continued success for global brands looking to improve sustainability, reducing flights and event waste.
Whilst London still remains the hub of the event sector, other areas such as Manchester, Leeds and Bristol are seeing sharp growth, fueled by increased flexibility to work from home post pandemic. As a result, we’re seeing top talent move away from London.
The majority of Candidates within the industry are looking for two key factors.
Firstly, Sustainability. Eco washing has become a prevalent issue across the industry, with brands implying sustainability rather than working on making real positive change. As more candidates in the industry are looking to work within an actively sustainable organisation, being certified as B-Corp or part of an industry specific sustainability group such as Isla, will ignite candidate attraction.
Next up, Flexibility. As a lot of employees within the sector devote their weekends and evenings to meet the demand of the job, working the ‘allotted’ 9-5 are becoming increasingly difficult to adhere to whilst maintaining a work-life balance. As a result, there is increased pressure on employers to offer flexible hours to align with this.
Desired Skills
The digital age has taken events to the next level. Consequently, employers are looking for event professionals with a mix of digital skills, the more digital integration the better. AR and VR offer interactivity that will engage audiences across the entire industry and showcasing any digital skills will give your CV the edge. This could include anything from working on virtual events, website registrations, video content, motion graphics, graphic design, animation and 360 photography.
Salaries
Salaries have gone up drastically when comparing the mustard XP salary guide from 2021 to 2023. As an example, a Mid-weight 2D Designer working in London in 2021 would be earning around £28,000 – £36,000 but in 2023 they’re more likely £40,000 – £50,000.
This could be because a lot of candidates left industry during the Covid-19 lockdown period for job security elsewhere so there is smaller pool of candidates, as a result employers are battling for the top candidates, offering higher salaries to entice them into their role. As the industry has bounced back in full force the demand for skilled candidates has increased.
“The Experiential, Events and Exhibitions industries have fluctuated dramatically within my five years as a recruiter in this space. We’ve seen various highs and lows across the industry over the last few years, but now is such an exciting time to be expanding your business or to move into a new role.”
– Jamie Rogers, XP Divisional Lead at mustard jobs.
Team Varn was pleased to be attending Brighton SEO this year, one of the biggest search conferences in the world. It was a great opportunity to learn new ways we can do our jobs better, as well as keep up to date on new trends in our industry that we can take forward in our client work.
We were very proud of our MD Tom Vaughton, who took to the main auditorium 1 this year to share a talk on ‘How & why the history of SEO will help us plan for the future of search’. You can see Tom’s slides here.
Tom shared what 24 years of up and downs, success and failures in SEO has taught him about what we need to focus on for the next decade if we want to be successful as agencies and for inhouse SEO. Tom set the scene of why it’s vital to look back at the past to help us plan for the future and shared an insightful quote by Jeff Bezos:
“I very frequently get the question ‘What’s going to change in the next 10 years?’ I almost never get the question ‘What’s not going to change in the next 10 years?‘
Tom highlighted to the Brighton SEO audience that he has identified 8 principles of effective long term SEO that he believes will not change and we need to be aware of these constants…
The point of search engines was to make information easy to find – that’s still the same today
Over time you WILL make more profit with organic search over paid.
Relevant high quality content still rules.
Always align with Google’s roadmap. Don’t try to trick it – you won’t be able to.
There is no silver bullet.
Never stop learning.
Link building is irrelevant unless you build your brand. Work on building a brand for the long term with your clients.
Understand your competition and ensure you are monitoring them closely as if you don’t stay ahead your competition will win.
Tom also noted six trends that he is keeping an eye on that will impact the world of SEO in the near future…
Predictive SEO analytics. Big data & AI algorithms will be increasingly important and if you don’t have a specialist analytics team then build one.
AI & machine learning. AI will be disruptive but not fatal – it’s about strategy, and how to use it.
Ways of searching are always changing. Having multiple ways to search means your content needs to be good and in multiple formats.
Local SEO. With the rise of mobile devices and local search queries, local SEO will become increasingly important for businesses with a physical location.
Search engines are becoming more personalised. Quality content and a brand identity will play a vital role to help you stand out in the SERPs.
How Google understands content..Keep an eye on Google evolving it’s understanding and how that impacts how you write content and structure your website
Tom ended by noting that SEO may suffer from imposter syndrome, but actually search is very much here to stay, so always plan for the long term…
“in the early 2000’s people said SEO was a fad, a dark art and wouldn’t last. It seems a lot of the time we still treat it in the same short-term way. Like imposter syndrome it seems that as an industry we subconsciously worry that we may get found out. When in fact search optimisation, in whatever form, is here to stay and people that fake it or don’t plan ahead won’t be around in 10 years.So whether you work in ecommerce, healthcare or B2b be proud of what you do, be confident and plan for the long term. Please go set those big hairy audacious goals.”
Keep on reading to explore some of the key takeaways from a selection of the brilliant talks we heard this year.
Katy Powell – Ideation: Thinking beyond the first idea
During this talk Katy shared tips on how to up your game in Digital PR campaigns and create reactive PR stories. She focused on the idea of thinking bigger and better to grab the spotlight in crowded industries.
Key takeaways:
It’s important to spend time on the ideation process and look at what the consumers will want to read. Do more than one ideation session, and use popular industry apps like TikTok to look at what people are searching for.
Creating an ideation graph can be great for brainstorming potential ideas for Digital PR. You can mention off-brand and on-brand on one axis, and low press interest vs. high press interest on another. The graph could be useful for the idea analysis stage of ideation and can be presentable to a client.
Andrei Tit – 10 quick wins to improve your rankings (using Ahrefs)
Andrei spoke about 10 low-hanging fruits of SEO use cases that enable you to increase your rankings, via Ahrefs.
Key Takeaway:
If you look up a search query you want to target a featured snippet for, using a minus search operation (-example.com) for the top-ranking site can help you understand who the next eligible competitor is and the kind of content that is pulling through. This can help you better target content for a client and better understand what will likely pull through to a featured snippet.
Andrew Holland – The new SEO metric that makes SEO 10 x more valuable (and 10 x more effective)
In this talk, Andrew presented a new SEO reporting metric called “Share of Search”. This metric changes the approach and places SEO at the centre of all marketing.
Key Takeaway:
‘Share of Search’ is a useful metric to track for clients instead of ROI as it won’t be impacted by market forces. Share of Search both gives a more accountable impression of the impact of search engine optimisation, as well as actively helping to inform and improve SEO strategies.
Azahara Corrales – Unlock the power of AI: harness AI to create your winning marketing strategy
Azahara explored the immense potential that AI can have in a winning marketing strategy.
Key Takeaways:
The power of AI saves time, use it to test and find the right data.
Invest in people and invest in training.
Feed the right data to the algorithm.
Michel van Luijtelaar – Apple, Bing & Google platforms for multi-location local SEO Optimisation
In this talk, Michel explained the latest local SEO strategies with a focus on the latest developments in ABC and Bing.
Key takeaways:
Assess how many reviews local competitors have and target more than that. This is a strategic way to get enough reviews to rank higher than the local competitor.
6/10 business listings are not claimed on Apple Business Connect (ABC), and 59% of businesses are not aware of its features.
ABC is showing strong growth. Most of the impressions come from Apple Maps.
Use Google My Business for a keyword list – what are your potential customers searching for?
Ellie spoke about how to measure SEO sustainably and why it matters. She covered Google’s commitment to sustainability, and the rising interest of consumers and financial markets in this area and gave actionable insights on how to create a more sustainable website.
Key Takeaways:
ChatGPT already emits 8 tonnes of carbon p/y, and uses 700,000 litres of water. Every chat is 20 bottles of water.
Good SEO equates to a sustainable website – there is a lot of commonality in aims. For example, more efficient page loading and fewer pages per user to get to the information they need.
Meg Sharma – Level up your content by REALLY knowing your audience
Meg discussed how you can really level up your content strategy by going beyond keyword research tools to find content ideas, and really understand your audience and the topics they are interested in.
Key takeaways:
Explore your market on Reddit to see what the community is talking about and how they are talking to each other.
See what questions are being asked in Reddit – they’re asking in a niche community so these are the questions that aren’t being answered when they search in Google.
Aleyda Solis – Embracing AI in SEO: how to 10x your SEO leveraging AI bots
In this talk, Solis explores a variety of practical methods you can use in SEO. This ranged from conducting keyword research and competitor analysis to performing audits and generating reports.
Key Takeaways:
A balanced approach is needed with AI. Don’t assume these tools are always correct, ensure you properly fact check.
The prompts we use are critical to gaining rich outputs, e.g. ensure you use prompts like ‘without copying’ and compare your content with the Google Helpful Guidelines.
Margaret explored what content tends to go viral and what content rarely does. She focused primarily on TikTok but also touched on other relevant platforms including the up-and-coming platform Lemon8.
Key takeaways:
Don’t bore your viewer. Gen Z has an attention span of 8 seconds. Say what you need to say as quickly as you can. For Ads, it is only 1.3 seconds.
TikTok trends end by day 3. This can be vital for coming up with Digital PR ideas to gain traction, as well as reactive posting on social media.
Ryan Jones – Mastering mental health in digital marketing’s always-on world
Ryan talked about his personal experiences navigating his mental health while working in digital marketing and he shared the valuable insights that he had learned along the way.
Key Takeaways
Have a shutdown ritual at the end of the day.
Make sure to take your lunch breaks and holidays.
Remember that little things can go a long way, Ryan noted that having a free half-day to watch the football final was great for morale.
Why we attend Brighton SEO
As the world’s largest search marketing conference, Brighton SEO is a must for our calendars at Varn. Every year the team come back having learnt new things, met inspiring people and are energised to make an even bigger impact in search for our clients.
If you want to learn more about SEO and the different areas and talks covered above, get in touch with a member of the Varn team today.
Redeemer City to City is an international non-profit organisation with a heart for urban renewal – seeking to recruit, train and resource leaders to start new churches and strengthen existing ones.
Studio Floc were invited to create the identity and event collateral for Redeemer’s ‘Hub Weekend’; a high-profile fundraising weekend based in New York City.
Campaign idea Taking place at the 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, the driving idea behind the event’s campaign was one of connection, with delegates travelling from all over the world to join for the weekend. Studio Floc used the idea of connecting people and creating paths to new places as the core concept. This was rolled out across an extensive design suite of event collateral which was used in the lead up and throughout the weekend.
Never ending connection At the heart of the event’s design concept was a vast illustration, created in-house to capture the breadth and vitality of life in New York City, the home of Redeemer City to City. Subtle details in the cityscape worked to honour other global partner cities. The mural, formed from continuous line drawings, was then, paired with type and colour, used both in sections and as a whole piece across the event assets.
Colour and typography Supporting the illustration-heavy campaign was a subtle, yet extensive typographic system that was driven by the elegant serif, Chronicle Text (Hoefler & Co). Alongside the typography, a stripped back colour palette of navy and alabaster were used as the foundation for every design.
At the event As part of the event, Studio Floc recreated the core illustration and hand drew a 17ft x 9ft mural in the atrium of the 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, as a visual centrepiece to the event. Other designed collateral at the event included; table numbers, name cards, place cards, menus, bespoke fabric napkins, tote bags, information booklets and cards, signage, wayfinding, video creation and much more.
The Hub Weekend was a great success in raising money for the continuation of Redeemer’s work in cities worldwide. Studio Floc are already working on the event design for the next Hub Weekend in 2024 and look forward to further collaboration with Redeemer City to City in the future.
“Studio Floc are my go-to designers for event collateral. They are creative, sensitive, timely, very fun to work with, and brilliant at bringing my often-incomplete vision to a finished, effective, beautifully designed product. I’ve already recommended them to others and will continue to do so.”
Susan Thorson Manager, Communications
Redeemer City to City
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