DALLAS — Freeman recently launched a new online networking resource for business events professionals. Freeman’s Live Team virtual community is designed to be a place for industry professionals to connect, share perspectives and learn new skills as trade shows and events begin to restart after the pandemic. It is hosted on the Discord, which is a community-based platform that grew out of the gaming community and is designed to enable free-flowing discussion and provide easy ways for subgroups to form and explore specific areas of interest.
“As the events industry is now ready to move forward, we know the future of live events requires new and different expertise,” said Freeman CEO Bob Priest-Heck. “Our goal for Live Team is to engage with the great talent of our industry, identify new and different skillsets to bring into the community and then to bring everyone along as we meet the future needs and find opportunities in our great industry.”
Freeman’s Live Team Project Lead Sherry Huss, who co-founded the global Maker Faire community, likens the new community to the Go LIVE Together initiative, only on a more individual basis. “What better way to help our industry recover and rebuild after the past year than to bring the events industry together?” she said. “As part of our rebuild effort, and coming back to live events, we must work together to create human connections and make them as meaningful as possible. We are bringing together the talent and heart of our industry to continue the Freeman legacy of meaningful connection to share, learn and network with our community.” While it is not a job site per say, the community is free to share professional opportunities.
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While Freeman subject matter experts, leaders and hiring managers are active participants, “Like any vibrant community, it is open to anyone in the event community, or anyone that wants to join the event community,” said Huss. “Members can be looking for a new job, be furloughed, graduating from college or just curious. We are casting a wide net and opening this community up to all. We’ve made it easy to join, first you fill out a simple registration form: Tell us about yourself, tell us about what you are looking for and how we can help. All members of the Live Team community will be helping each other ‘get back to Live!’
“It is bigger than just Freeman, but we started Live Team because Freeman is a leader that can actually make this happen.”
Once registered, participants can access special trainings and a constantly updated list of resources, learn about new opportunities, and participate in weekly Zoom discussions about industry trends, technologies and other areas of interest. The just-launched community already numbers in the hundreds.
“And we’re just getting started,” said Huss.
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The immediate benefit of joining Live Team is belonging to a community that is focused on the events industry, especially those that have been impacted by COVID-19 and are out of a job or looking for a career change, she added. “We are a hub with ambassadors and industry experts who are actively employed and sharing their experiences and advice with our growing community,” she said. “We are coming together to inspire, engage and experience contagious emotions, specifically the feeling that ‘we are all in this together and we can experiment and bring new things to life.’”
Reach Bob Priest-Heck at (214) 445-1000 or bph@freemanco.com; reach Sherry Huss at sherry.huss@gmail.com
