Event Organiser Profile, EventWise

Address:	Penny Ellis, Managing Director, Eventwise, 19b The Coda Centre, 189 Munster Road, London SW6 6AW
Tel	020 7386 5000
Fax	020 7386 5005
Email:	Contact by email
Website:	Visit their website

BLONDE AMBITION
Annica Svensson meets two fair-haired girls who don’t fit the usual stereotype

Picture the scene. It is 1pm on a Monday afternoon and two 30-something blondes are sipping Champagne on the terrace at Aquasia, overlooking the glitzy yachts of Chelsea Harbour. Its sunny, it’s hot – it’s as close to St Tropez as you can get without leaving the capital and the girls are soaking up the atmosphere, gossiping and giggling as they survey the à la carte menu. Who do you think they are? Your typical ladies who lunch, right?

Well, you couldn’t be more wrong. These particular ladies, who admittedly are lunching on this occasion, are usually far too busy running their own event organising companies to stop for much more than a sandwich at lunchtime, and to get them both to the same place at the same time in the middle of the summer party season has been something of a challenge.

First to arrive is Penny Ellis, whose offices are just around the corner in Fulham. Her company, EventWise, probably sells more Christmas party covers than any other UK organiser – by staging shared as well as bespoke nights and by brokering other companies’ packages – much thanks to its excellent website, for which the company was awarded the IBM E-business Award last year.

Soon after, we are joined by Zilla Houghton, the uncrowned queen of party organising, who started Fortesqueues with her husband, Scott Balfour, over 12 years ago. Today, they are most famous for organising spectacular summer and Christmas parties in temporary structures that are far too advanced to be called marquees, and for turning the seemingly jinxed Lincoln’s Inns Fields site in Holborn into one of London’s premier party venues.

For people who are essentially rivals, the two women greet each other with astonishing warmth and both are quick to compliment the others’ success. As Zilla apologises for being late (due to things being ‘a bit manic’), Penny volunteers: ‘That doesn’t surprise me. I hear you’ve had a fantastic summer?’

‘It’s been a good season this year – 12,500 covers and only five dead days in six weeks. We were very lucky,’ is Zilla’s modest reply. But Penny won’t have any of it: ‘I don’t think that’s luck at all. It’s determination. Luck has to come from somewhere,’ she says, allowing Zilla to admit that the whole company has worked very hard at Lincoln’s Inns Fields this summer.

‘We believe that if you have a venue you should commit yourself to it. Everyone has put their heart and soul in it – even the directors have been going out there, loading beer onto vans and chipping in wherever necessary. Also, the structure was fantastic this year. You know how sometimes you look at something and just think “yes”? It was just right,’ she says.

Next up, it’s Penny’s turn to come in for praise, with Zilla congratulating her competitor on her award-winning website. ‘That website is brilliant,’ she says, matter-of-factly.

Used as much as a marketing tool as a vehicle for online bookings, the EventWise site draws impressive visitor numbers by luring users with lots of free information and ideas. ‘Many people ask why we give away all that stuff for free but we take the view that it’s better to give information than to turn people away,’ Penny explains, adding: ‘If they find the website useful, they will hopefully come back to us when they need more help.’ It appears her strategy is working. Eighty per cent of EventWise’s new leads currently come from the website, making it the envy of the industry as well as something Penny is justly proud of, though she hastens to add that it’s ‘a real team effort’.

So why all the conviviality between competitors? Do the women feel they need to stick together in a business where many of the key players are men? ‘I think it’s important for the whole industry to work together. We recently did an event where a range of different event organisers and caterers came together and it went brilliantly,’ says Zilla. ‘But I don’t think it makes a difference that we’re women – if you’re professional you’re professional,’ Penny adds.

As we elaborate on the subject, however, Zilla does admit she’s ‘amazed how few women there are at the top’ and Penny agrees: ‘When we went to the gala dinner to collect our award, the host welcomed guests by saying “you’re all great businessmen” and there I was among all the suits thinking “well, actually, I’m not”.’ Zilla (who is apparently quite often treated a bit like Scott’s secretary) smiles with recognition as Penny goes on to tell of how people phone to speak to the MD and are surprised when she says that it’s her. But the women do not let this get to them. ‘We may not be able to go out for beers with the boys like the men in this industry, but our customers use us because we’re good at what we do and that’s what matters,’ says Zilla.

And it’s just as well that they know what they’re doing. For, as Penny puts it: ‘You have to be very good to succeed in this business. It’s a big industry with a lot of money and some very serious players. People come and go very quickly and there’s no space for messing around.’ Zilla’s big break came when she erected an impressive double-deck party marquee in the grounds of London Zoo. Decked out according to an Atlantis theme, guests entered through the upstairs ‘submarine’ ahead of dinner ‘under the sea’ – quite a change from her early Christmas dos at Porchester Hall, which she admits were ‘a bit of a disaster’. ‘The first Atlantis party was one of my proudest moments. The concept was amazing, it looked amazing and it certainly got us industry notice,’ she explains. Penny, meanwhile, pinpoints a private dinner at the Royal Albert Hall as her most rewarding event to date. ‘We stripped out the whole of Albert Hall and themed it in black and white for a gala dinner and ball with entertainment from Jools Holland. In terms of one-off events it was truly spectacular,’ she says. ‘Then again, it’s the largest bespoke event we’ve done, so it’s easy to pick it out as a favourite. But smaller events are equally rewarding.’

‘I think you can be pigeon-holed into doing only large events and then you can’t do anything else,’ says Zilla, who also enjoys organising simpler things like barbeques and games of rounders in the park. Indeed, both Fortesqueues and EventWise organise everything from conferencing and corporate hospitality to private parties. ‘We have to listen to what our clients want,’ explains Zilla. ‘The industry has done a lot of growing up since September 11th and business has become a lot harder.’

Penny agrees: ‘Most clients are very savvy these days. Back in 1999, for the millennium parties, people didn’t question budgets at all but now everyone is very cost-conscious. I actually think it’s good for the industry. It sorts out the people who are overcharging. If you can ride the market now and stay in the game you’re going to be OK,’ she explains. As far as riding the market is concerned, these women aren’t just paddling along – they’ve caught a big wave. Zilla is currently among the top three contenders for a major tender agreement and Penny, who has traditionally only organised themed Christmas parties at one London venue (4 Hamilton Place) has added a further two (2 Birdcage Walk and the Dalí Museum) to her portfolio this year.

‘This is mainly because of demand,’ says Penny. ‘We didn’t want to take the risk before but having done five years at Hamilton Place, where we’ve always sold out too quickly, we now feel confident enough to go ahead,’ she explains. ‘Last year, I think we did 5,500 covers at shared nights and we didn’t actually start selling until November – it was mind blowing.’

Expect bigger and better things, too, as Zilla erects another superstructure in Lincoln’s Inn Fields this Christmas. ‘People always want something a bit different and we’re quite innovative,’ she says. ‘Also, marquees have moved on quite a bit from the early beer tents that were always flapping at the sides, so we can now do some amazing things. At this season’s summer parties, peoples’ reactions were “my God, I can’t believe this is a structure”.’ While they may look like proper buildings, superstructures are a little bit more of a challenge – but it’s one that Zilla relishes with gusto: ‘You’re constantly on your toes as you don’t know if the generator is going to go down or whatever. It’s what we get our buzz from,’ she explains. So where would you find Zilla if the power did go out? Well, just like Penny, she certainly wouldn’t be sitting on a sun-kissed terrace sipping Champagne. She’d be right in there, with her sleeves rolled up, taking control like the ambitious blonde she is.

Contacts: Penny Ellis, EventWise, 020 7386 5000, www.eventwise.co.uk;
Zilla Houghton, Fortesqueues, 08709 010203, www.fqevents.com

From Square Meal The Magazine, Autumn Issue 2003