Alan Baker Email & Phone Number

I am an insightful, creative event-producer (with robust credentials). Someone who is commercially driven, in tune with 'best practice' internal / external comms. and a grounded team player. My clients will tell you that I am a safe-pair-of-hands, that I build trust, challenge appropriately and have a deep understanding of relevant & compelling 'live' interventions, which unlock business potential. My aim is to pitch against your incumbent supplier and to offer MORE value for LESS cost! This is clearly achieved through:- A robust, low-overhead cost-base- A trusted group of (generalist & specialist) time-served, experienced people- The ability to remove cost whilst increasing the quality of the 'experience' - Facilitating increased win-win Supplier Funding, where there is no / little budget. AND please don't listen to those who say: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".General Colin Powell has something to say about this: http://govleaders.org/powell.htmHe says that this is the slogan of the complacent, the arrogant or the scared. It's an excuse for inaction. It's a mindset that assumes (or hopes) that today's realities will continue tomorrow in a tidy, linear and predictable fashion. Pure fantasy. In this sort of culture, you won't find people who proactively take steps to solve problems / find opportunities, as they emerge! You see, I'm someone who creates, produces & stages fresh, tightly-budgeted events and have led teams (as big as 900, for a mult-zone 'eXperience' for 7,500 employees) who were charged with creatively engaging with + 40k employees ... to inspire, to set standards of quality & accuracy and to maintain, build & improve on that momentum. My starting point is usually a (free) front-end mapping process (called EventMap) which scratches below 'surface needs' and generates stakeholder debate (where diversity of opinion is explored & where the outcomes are often more 'reaching' than originally envisaged!).. … let's talk!..

I am passionate about the use of ‘experiential learning’ to develop leaders and teams. Outdoor training, when it is done well, is the best way of examining the fundamental structure and dynamics of leadership, and one of the best ways of developing individual leadership skills and of successfully building team cohesiveness. Quite simply, Sea Change focuses on serious behavioural learning, by combining best practice experiential learning techniques with sailing, to provide a powerful tool for changing attitudes and behaviour.The programmes involve a series of interlocking business focused projects reproduce similar demands, pressures and challenges faced by everyone at work, but free from the influence of organisational culture, status and function.As Daniel Goleman (author of ‘Working with Emotional Intelligence’) points out ... 80-95% of success at work depends on your EQ, not your IQ, and many organisations have recognised this and embedded EI competencies into their leadership competency and development frameworks.

To ‘follow a dream’ (undertake a Fine Art BA degree) I accepted a 30+ hour a week position as Event Solutions Director, to produce events and to extensively market a large midlands conference venue with an emphasis on one-stop-shop creative solutions. As part of this role, I wrote and produced a 62 page booklet called ‘Illuminating Events’ which was packed with ideas, tips, structures and ‘handy essentials’ for anyone planning to stage an event. The purpose was to throw a little light on the elements that make a conference actively engaging, relevantly innovative, memorable and more effective.“Praise is like sunlight to the warm human spirit; we cannot flower and grow without it” (Jess Lair, psychologist)“Trust truly is the one thing that changes everything” (Stephen M.R. Covey)..

The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." - George Bernard ShawJust saying it and ticking the 'done' box is NOT enough.Turning MONOLOGUE into DIALOGUE is what em:seven was all about ... as was their absolute passion for continual development of new communication channels, theories & best practices ... ON Line, ON Stage, ON Paper and ON Screen!People, Politics, Inventions & Trends come and go ... but the things we really prize in life (Family, Hope and Reward) will, forever, stay with us to motivate and inspire us.Charles Handy thinks that life is like an APPLE ... it falls into your hands ... but it won't fall into your hands unless you stand under the tree. You have to find the orchard, find the tree, and then something may happen. Tell it like it is Charles!

Do ONE thing EVERY day that SCARES you!Eleanor RooseveltUS diplomat & reformer (1884 - 1962)Legend believed that BOLD, relevant ideas + very simple things, in corporate conferences & events, make a difference … like encouraging a CEO to engage in hauntingly honest, undefended conversations and publicly telling REAL stories of small successes (and specific ‘named’ individual performance that they have personally noticed) which align with strategic challenges. By doing this, a buzz and ‘connection’ between the disparate organisational agendas is created. By doing this, people are encouraged to offer MORE of their capability & potential … willingly! The key to inspiring people is to communicate the Why(make people understand it.) People buy the ‘Why’ you do it (not the ‘What’)”"Here's To The Crazy Ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble-makers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status-quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them.About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward ... and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world - are the ones who DO !"Well said Apple. Let's break some rules!.

Slide Presentations was one of the very first UK companies able to make speaker support slides from black & white artwork. I developed the entire resource / process & service then transformed the business into a ‘production company’ which produced slides, computer graphics, videos, multi-projector ‘experiences’ and delivered event solutions for Midland clients, such as Peugeot, Jaguar, Lucas, BT, Severn Trent, GKN, Land Rover, BL Cars, GEC and a substantial range of major retailers and advertising agencies.

Education record

There comes a time in your life, when you walk away from all the drama and people who create it. You surround yourself with people who.

Photography, Beauty, Fashion, Advertising

After this 3 year course, I worked for Don Silverstein & then Tessa Traegar before branching out on my own and setting up Stills Ltd..