We sat down to talk to David Hill, our new Events Manager, to tell us a little about himself and how he came into the role:
1. So, Tell us a bit about yourself. How did you get into the events industry?
It was all a bit of a coincidence really, I basically fell into the industry. Many moons ago, I was studying construction management at Oxford Brookes and unfortunately, due to ill health, I had to take extended time out from my studies. I was encouraged to miss the rest of the study year to recover and ensure that I wouldn’t be struggling to keep up with work upon my return. Therefore, in order to keep myself busy, I connected with a friend and ended up spending the summertime working at various music festivals and came to the conclusion that I would much rather prefer to be working in the events industry than in construction as previously planned. And now look, nearly 15 years later, here I am!
2. What do you like to do outside of work?
I’ve got fair-few hobbies that I spend my time on. Truly, I’m a geek at heart, movies, books, board games, all of that, that’s what I truly enjoy. I also spend a lot of my free time going on adventures in the outdoors and am not afraid of getting my hands dirty.
Hikes, building, gardening (when I get the chance), outdoor activities in general, as well as painting and cooking – with my partner being vegetarian, it can get quite hands-on to cook both a meat and veggie option for every meal we have. It does mean I get to experiment a bit in the kitchen though.
3. What do you like most about working in Events?
For me, it’s the unscripted nature of the job; every day brings a new challenge, but this keeps things fresh. Not to mention that on the odd occasion, you get to work on a truly spectacular event which, even after all these years and events, really makes you go ‘wow’!
4. If you could swap lives with anyone for a day, who would it be?
Now, this is a truly hard one to answer, someone famous? Rich? With an easy life? I genuinely hate this question and really struggle to come up with an answer…
5. What have been the stand-out moments in your career?
I’ve been lucky enough that my career has allowed me to travel to all parts of the world. I’ve worked on all sorts from music festivals, to car shows, to both domestic and international sports, but the memory that sticks in my mind the most has to be when I was working at Leeds Festival c.2012.
We were waiting for Bullet for My Valentine to come on stage and trying to keep the crowd entertained. Over the speaker, they started playing ‘We Are the Champions’ by Queen, so I was singing along while working in the pit.
The security manager noticed me doing so and proceeded to then pull me up onto the pit wall in front of a 30,000-strong crowd, pointed and says, ‘There is your audience’.
Suffice it to say, I became a bit of a performing monkey for a good 2 minutes, belting out very badly to a classic Queen song.