Starting at the End
When we started Method, it was with a vision of an event organiser that could do things differently. Co-founders James and Will had both worked in the industry for more than ten years, and had noticed separately that there were systemic issues in how large-scale events were delivered.
Important jobs were left to the last minute, while freelancers were dropped in a cabin somewhere onsite and left to get on with it. This is a chaotic business and there is always an element of the unpredictable, but we noticed time and time again that a lack of preparedness and foresight was causing unnecessary problems when it came to the delivery phase.
Method was born out of a desire to change this. Our years of hands-on experience allow us to see the pitfalls that many organisers fall into as deadlines draw near, and our meticulous approach allows us to avoid them before they become an issue. As much as possible, our goal is to start at the end: to reverse engineer a seamless event by keeping those last minute jobs at the front of our minds. That means creating processes early for the management of things like contractor advancing, accreditation, radio allocation, crew catering and staff briefings. It also means onboarding key freelancers from the very beginning - such that they can see the complete picture of the event, rather than just one corner of it.
Since our inception we have developed a powerful set of tools and systems that allow us to streamline processes including budgeting and site planning, which usually take up a large amount of the planning phase for any event. Creating the right tools for the job allows us to focus our energy on getting the details right.
Our work at The Drumsheds, for example, required constant focus and agility as we adapted a disused industrial site in North London to cater for a range of immersive shows. The ground conditions required frequent repairs and maintenance, and the warehouses needed a lot of work to bring up to a safe standard. These were just a couple of the operational challenges that our diligent, system-based approach allowed us to take in our stride.
Another great example was our work on Tramlines Festival in 2021. The event was run under the government’s Events Research Programme, and on a very compressed timeline. We had to deliver full event production for a 50,000 capacity festival in less than five weeks, all while managing changing Covid regulations.
This was only made possible by the robust systems we had in place for things like site management, resourcing and briefing. Our efforts on these projects have been recognised with our recent wins at the Festival Supplier Awards in both Best Festival Production and Supplier Team Of The Year categories, which hopefully demonstrates the virtues of our methodical approach. It’s an achievement we’re immensely proud of.