How do I raise my profile as a freelancer and build my client base?

Samantha Salisbury - Event Manager & Lecturer in Events 

Kim Gerard - Head of Production, GPJ Australia & NZ

Simon Burton - CEO, Exposure Communications

​So often freelancers come into this industry as a vocation, either through someone they know or simply by a chance meeting and over the years, event by event, become experts in a unique sector of the industry.  With little support to help you navigate through the management chain of an agency and into new areas of the industry it can be easy to stay in your comfort zone, wait for the work to come to you and for you to avoid developing a professional profile.

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This session covers the importance of presenting yourself as a business and thinking like one, top tips to build your network and becoming the go-to resource for your clients in their hour of need.

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This is your time to shine and to raise your PR game.

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Samantha Salisbury

Samantha Salisbury has more than 20 years’ experience managing events all over the world.  Sector experience includes sport, academia, pharmaceuticals, banking, public sector, and weddings.

In 2006 Samantha returned to the UK after some time spent working in Australia and set up a wedding planning business, based in Cambridge, specialising in large multicultural weddings.  This business developed into Jonsam Events Ltd which organises academic conferences and corporate events for a portfolio of high-profile clients in the Cambridge and surrounding area.

Samantha runs a Facebook Group – “Get Ahead in Events” full of free tips and tricks to help ambitious individuals looking to get their first events management role or further their current career in events management. 

Since the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the events industry, Samantha has been running virtual events to give events professionals practical actions they can take.  She also offers Events Career Strategy Sessions on a 121 basis and regularly speaks on topics such as elevating your events career and raising your profile in the events industry.

Kim Gerard

Kim was, until recently, Head of Production at GPJ Australia & New Zealand. 

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Simon Burton

Simon is a serial entrepreneur in the event industry, having successful launched and sold events in the worlds of media, clean tech, events and social media. He is a widely recognised as a champion for the power of face-to-face marketing, social media and story-telling through events.

His work in the event industry includes trade shows, awards, conferences and networking events as well as a best-selling book – The Event Professionals Handbook. He is a founder of the Great British Entrepreneur Awards, Charity Film Awards, Football Business Awards and the Citizen Event networking club.

He has an extensive global network of contacts and business partners in the event industry and holds several no-executive positions.

In his leisure time he can be found being miserable about Arsenal, drinking red wine (unrelated to the Arsenal situation), walking in the English Countryside, reading books, watching films and gaming on his PS4.

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