Changes? No Evolution!
As readers know, transparency is very much part of our work. And due to a few people expressing concerns about the new announcement of ‘The Newark Mind Body and Spirit Show,’ I feel we should offer further insight into the future of LizianEvents as an organisation.
This is a long article, and it is necessary for all those who are part of The Community to read it with care. In fact: this document can be likened to a blueprint to the future. Everyone involved in our work must understand why we are making these choices. No one should be under any illusions. We intend to develop a thriving platform from which Community Members can prosper. We intend to expand our portfolio of events and venues, and The Community will be assured of constant promotion of the shows and events they attend.
Those who know me well know notebooks and pens are constant companions. Note taking and talking to others about our plans is how we design the future. I have hundreds of screenshots and printouts of anything I see relevant to the organisation of our events. I write and talk about my work so people can offer comment and guide me to look at the ‘other side of an idea’. Jon Sharpe has the opinion I reveal too much! When I see people mimicking an idea I have written about or put to the test, I’m guided to KNOW the idea may have merit.
The interesting thing about making a statement is there is a timeline. In my scrapbooks, I have glued many of the posts and articles which are printed for editing and reference. Whenever I see my work plagiarised, I print out the article or post and paste it next to my original article. I have screenshots of LEN and LizianEvents dot-com sites and screenshots of those who have followed our lead. It is a real acknowledgement of influence, and the references also come in handy when looking and reviewing the evolution of the shows.
Do I Watch?
Of course, I watch everything which is relevant to our organisation. Do not think I have a “them and us mentality”. I have a LizianEvents mentality. It matters not to me if an organisers show is two a year whopper or a one a year festival hall. Each follows their path and work in their ways. Not a one has a Community driven ethic or design. I have the scrapbooks to prove it, and those who jump on the bandwagon are already watching it on the journey. Liz and I wish everyone every success: be sure; we will follow our path and continually adapt and evolve.
On two occasions there have been people who asked ‘Can we work together?’ On both occasions, we did not reply. My opinion is we must be our own master or mistress. There is no mistaking what we are doing; there is no ‘well I thought of that’ because here I am tapping keys and informing you where we are going, what we have decided and why; so show me another business that is so open and transparent.
Within Liz and my mindset is a determination to focus on the ways we can help those who work with us cover costs and make a profit. Yes, the road is, and sometimes plans do not work out. I know there have been conversations where my suggestion that often loss before gain is part of the journey has been ridiculed: or used as a slight on my integrity. And the very same people are putting up posts which say ‘Failure is part of success’ and ‘Never give up’ and ‘Success is a series of hard lessons’. Which way do they want to play the game? Sell the talk and knock the reality?
As we embark on the Newark Mind Body and Spirit Show; Liz and I will work to establish an identity for the event. When we take this event to new venues, the identity will be consistent. Already, The Community’s Well Being Shows have an identity, and the identity has a ‘feeling’ a ‘vibe’ and The Community is the reason the identity thrives. This will also be the destiny of The Newark Mind Body and Spirit Show. It will develop an identity that Visitors can recognise and therefore make a choice to attend the event. There will be those who choose the Well Being Shows and others who decide The Mind Body and Spirit Shows. How do we know this? Because we ASK!
This diversity is key to one of this organisations objectives. One which will benefit The Community who trust us to build a strong portfolio of events in which they can become involved. As the list of events grows, there will be diversity, and within the difference or variety is the strength.
Look at the diagram below: It explains how our Community-based organisation works:
At the top of the picture, we have The Community and people who choose to be part of the Growing number of influential people.
Below The Community is the hub. The hub is named LizianEvents.
Below the hub named Lizian Events are the genres of Shows we promote and below the kind of shows are the venues we work from.
The Community takes advantage of the infrastructure which supports their shows and can pick and choose the shows they attend. Our organisation and its promotional ability bring greater awareness to Visitors both old and new.
LizianEvents works with Venues and builds a relationship with all and everything needed to announce a show or event. LizianEvents can invest in equipment and the tools necessary to promote the event. And we build a relationship with hundreds of people who see what we do and understand our ethos and intention. Some may feel we are ‘over the top’ when it comes to promotion. Liz and I have every intention of stepping up the development and awareness of our work. And we intend to continue to invest and expand our promotional activities. Now The Community comes to recognise our dedication to their success: the outcome will be their support of the shows which they possess.
Three weeks ago, something amazing happened. Liz and I were asked to format and design an event for a large business. The design is accepted, and we will work with this company to organise the presentation of a new product. I have a feeling this will not be the last third-party event in which we will be involved. The people we worked with for this enterprise were surprised to learn we do not take a wage from our organisation. It is understandable that they find it difficult to resolve this aspect of our business.
We choose not to pay ourselves a wage; preferring to reinvest our time and the profits from every event into the future of our organisation. We see ourselves as lamplighters who light the arenas which The Community can use to their advantage. There will be rewards in the future, for the time being, we can test ideas, and our policy provides a safety net for the ideas which do not work so well. As we establish our identity as an event and show organisers our portfolio of shows will grow and the policy allows us to test our ideas, and invest in the future.
Invest In The Future?
This year we purchased two mono laser printers, better quality recorder and microphones, cameras and lenses and software. We intend to make a three thousand pound investment in an A3 laser in the first quarter of 2019. The promotion budget is fifteen thousand for 2019, and there are further investments to be made during 2019. We could not do this if we were to pay ourselves a wage. Again the no wage policy wins: it means we can invest in resources and the future of the organisation.
We intend to establish a viable and robust platform to work from, to do this we invest in resources. Printing equipment for promotion, flyers, posters and booklets. Fast computers and expensive software to edit videos and audio and the highest of quality equipment to record the information needed for promotional material. The organisation is driven to provide The Community with the best possible advantage to thrive and prosper, and therefore we secure the resources to make our Visitors aware of the shows and events.
All we do over the next three years is focussed on providing Community Members with the infrastructure which helps them succeed. Incidentally, more people are beginning to see the possibilities open to them; they are starting to realise the methods being adopted work and work well. This is a direct result of daily articles and the media which enhances the words.
How do Liz and I See Our Work and Purpose?:
We invest the money received from The Community and Visitors into the future and health of the events we organise. Personal profit and gain are way down the hierarchy of needs. Before we can take a wage from the organisation, we have to be sure it is financially as strong as tungsten. The criteria are: we have to be able to put a show together, make the required investments, work out the promotion, and act on the plan.
Liz and I have a primary goal; it is establishing the utmost confidence in all who work with us. Of course, there will be those who attempt to dispute our intention. Let them do so with honesty and in public, not behind closed doors. You see, in the long term, we will evidence that our plans are followed. We are establishing an organisation which is different, progressive and is aligned with contemporary business ideas.
Contemporary Business Ideas?
Yes, many contemporary business leaders and entrepreneurs feel the need for greed is an outmoded concept. It must be evident our organisation subscribes to this conviction. Liz and I believe that the success of the organisation and the success of those we work with is a greater reward than ‘target profit’. So long as we fulfil our obligations to suppliers and venues we are satisfied, and this provides a feeling of success and achievement. Do not become cynical. We intend to reap a harvest in the future. However, this harvest may well be used in unexpected ways.
One last word:
If you read this and believe the sentiments are untrue or inaccurate. Do not whisper your doubts. Use the comments box below and put your name to the objection. Be clear in your minds: Everything we have planned and worked toward has become a reality. There are nearly six-hundred articles of intention which precedes this one. We have not finished by a long chalk.
See You Soon
Nice to see the future investment and commitment to grow being explained crystal clear well done
Limpid, coherent and so honest!
THANK YOU Liz & Ian for always being upfront, bold and frank about all your sensible plans.
Thank you for being wise,kind and brave… and putting our Community’s needs first… and courageously not taking any wages. (This must grate on greedy outsiders whose prime goal is filling their pockets!)
I look forward to all your future plans, and I am very proud of belonging to our Lizian Commmunity, expertly guided by you both xxxx Brigitte
Another excellent piece, Ian
I have been involved with Lizian pretty much from the start, and the evolution and development of the brand has been hugely impressive.
I am not at all surprised that you have become involved in third party event projects. Your proven organisation, promotion and event day management skills are transferable to any other Event, whatever its nature. As a Community we will gain from that, as you learn new things and pass that back to our shows.
I think that it is possible to become too concerned with imitation and plagiarism. There are very few new ideas. There are also very few people in any field who implement those ideas exceptionally well. The skill is in the implementation, invariably the difficult bit In many respects the idea is the easy bit. Your commitment to do what you do well is unquestionable.
You are also right to be aware of what is happening around us. In my younger days I was a Round Tabler. Since 1927 their motto has been, adopt, adapt, improve. Ninety years on that maxim still endures.
The only way not to fail at anything is to do nothing. I don’t think that any of us should fear failure, we should just avoid making the same mistake twice!
On the question of money, profit and greed, I say this. Unless the exhibitors make a profit, Lizian does not exist. Therefore the more money you make, the happier we should be. Never shy away from profit – it is what keeps us all going!
When you consider the time, effort and money that is put into the existing Lizian shows, and the 24/7 LEN website, it is inevitable that more shows will follow, and their content will diversify.
I was pleased to see another date in the Lizian calendar at Newark.
The branding of it as MBS is intriguing. In the public’s mind, I believe that the terms MBS Fair, Well Being Festival, and Psychic Fair, are a bit of a blur. I am not sure that any of the aforementioned explicitly exclude anyone from the other events, and probably include everyone. Fashions change and shift. Once upon a time a significant chunk of visitors to these events would want readings, hence Psychic Fair, now therapies are at least as important, and the “Well Being” shift which you made for Lincoln was timeous and clever, the likes of yoga are a natural fit for MBS visitors.
What does matter is that the event has an identity, something I was pleased to see you major on. The judgement call is nuanced. Any event which is too niche reduces its appeal and footfall, any event which is too diverse loses its focus and reason to attend.
Another saying is that the future is the past reinvented. Sometimes change can leave behind some fundamentally good ideas and are worth revisiting. Are the supermarket home delivery services of 2018 not the modern incarnation of the Corona Man, Milkman, door to door butchers of the 1960’s? In other instances, like Blockbuster, video shops are gone never to return, or is Netflix just another way to deliver the same service? I can think of no-one better to wrestle with these elements and come out the right side – I look forwards to seeing how you tackle it, the result will undoubtedly be successful.
Well done on what you have achieved to date, good luck with the evolution of the shows, I am proud to be a part of what is happening.
Thank you as always for your insight and comments Gary. As you know I value your input on every level. We have no problem with profits! However, know that reinvestment is paramount to success. Therefore we forfeit wages so as we can reinvest in every aspect of the organisation. We do have a few surprises and ‘unique’ ways of promoting the new event and there is NO doubt people will take them for their own. I am not prepared for this to happen.
And Yes, Gary, you are correct: We all stand on the shoulders of Giants. Great Reply – Thank You Again – Ian
I understand every aspect of this essay. I can see the business sense in organising separate events and shows. The wellbeing show is different to the MBS show. I see from your diagram there is an extra venue and two ‘other’ styles of events in future plans. This must be good news for your community members. As your organisation grows, their security grows with it. Interesting you do not take a wage, this is an indication of your long term intentions. Anyone who cannot see the implications of this essay, should read it a few times to understand it is a declaration of success for anyone involved. Thank You for your clarity and modern outlook to business practice. Janine