Events Simplified is the brainchild of management consultant turned event planner Carol Barnes. Experienced at planning her own events, she was invited onto the Executive of Bollington Festival as head of marketing in 2009. Applying her project management skills, Carol has provided Events Simplified clients with a simpler approach to event planning and management, saving them time, expense and headaches.
Sharing its specialist experience, Events Simplified will explore creative ideas with you to maximise your budget and bring your function’s vision to life. No matter how off-the-wall your idea, your corporate or charity event can be planned anywhere in the UK, Europe – or wherever you fancy!
Personable and concerned, Carol says, “I’m very careful with each client’s money and treat it as I would my own. I will always acknowledge the elephant in the room if there’s a mismatch between budget and expectations. I worked with with a charity that envisaged celebrating its 10th anniversary with a few drinks down the pub. It ended up as a gala dinner bringing in around £20,000 – their biggest ever fundraiser! To dispel initial fears around financial liability, I had drastically minimised the deposit required and reduced cancellation terms to a few weeks prior to the function. The charity dinner was totally safeguarded. Like every event I’ve managed, we were in profit prior to the event taking place as it had already paid for itself!”
Looking forwards, between March 4th and March 7th, 2024, Events Simplified will welcome top executives and decision- makers to The Future Proof CEO Strategy and Sustainability Retreat. This initiative combines the joint expertise of Carol and her husband Philip, a gunnercooke operating partner with over 30 years’ international leadership experience with boards and CEOs aiming to improve strategy, culture and, ultimately, their profits.
For the Barnes, the Lake District has always been the perfect environment for recharging their batteries. Therefore, it’s in Ullswater that they have shaped their vision for a unique retreat for CEOs and board directors looking to progress to CEO as their next career move.
Keynote speaker Sir Clive Woodward will set challenges around transformative thinking and culture. Other inspirational experts will address topics encompassing strategy planning, the management of an ageing workforce, process analysis, sustainability and how to achieve these goals. Philip will facilitate all workshops to encourage engagement. Attendees will leave with an individualised 100 days’ action plan, plus every benefit of meeting a new peer group with whom to mull over ideas.
Typical of Events Simplified, the Barnes do not envisage this as a stand-alone retreat. Carol prefers to nurture business relationships with its key clients and aims to build a series of retreats. She adds, “I’m not one for a ‘quick win’. I prefer to become part of a team, on call when needed and able to provide my clients with tailor-made, personalised events. I aim to ensure the Events Simplified team provides each person or company with the best experience possible.”
To find out more about Events Simplified visit events-simplified.co.uk or to book a meeting for your upcoming event, please contact Carol at carol@events-simplified.co.uk
For more information on The Future Proof CEO Strategy and Sustainability Retreat in Ullswater’s Leeming House next March, please scan the QR code or simpler still, contact Carol and Philip at contact@thefutureproofceo.com
