Kicking off the 5th Season of the podcast, Jack and Ellan are joined by Robert Lamb in Dubai, where he is currently actively involved in delivering live events as GL Wicked Dubai’s Senior Commercial Manager.
Rob was studying nursing when he got sidetracked in a summer job as a rigger for what is now Field & Lawn Marquees. Deciding a “career in tenting” was for him, he stayed on and worked his way up the ranks, then moved to GL Events where he became involved in the commercial operations. Here he achieved his dream of working overseas when he took the inaugural season of Formula E to 11 cities across the globe.
In 2018 he moved to Dubai, not long after GL merged with Wicked. Events in Dubai turned out to be very different form the UK. Aside from the heat, Rob had to leave behind the long list of suppliers and contacts he had built over the years, starting again from scratch, and adjust to much shorter timescales than he was used to. And as we all know, a deadline is a deadline in this industry; “no matter what happens, the one thing that doesn’t change is the event date.”
Acknowledging that “you have to be a special type of person to work in events”, Rob draws parallels with nursing, recognising that the camaraderie, teamwork and ability to react quickly, along with the sense of achievement and care, are shared by both rewarding careers. For some top advice about patience and trusting the process, listen now to hear why Rob loves the events industry so much – and how we surprised him in a unique quickfire round.
