Nick Gold, Managing Director, Speakers Corner
With a firm belief that successful events which deliver maximum ROI for both attendees and organisers can be held anywhere, even a cowshed, Nick Gold draws on his 20+ years of consulting experience working with 7,500 speakers and servicing 1,000+ events per year to address the pain-points and opportunities that exist for event professionals.
As Managing Director of leading UK & International speaker bureau, Speakers Corner, Nick has turned a bespoke entertainment bookings agency into a market-leading speaker bureau and consultancy which sits at the heart of the events industry. Nick also manages the business with his brother Tim, which also makes him well placed to comment on how family and business can work together!
Nick Gold was elected President of the International Association of Speaker Bureaus (IASB on May 1, 2020, and is the first British national to hold the role.
What is your favourite social media platform, and why?
LinkedIn, I tend not to be active on social media apart from LinkedIn - as a business, we do quite a bit but I am constantly encouraged by the team to get more involved in my own social activity.
Tell us about you and your current role or area of interest.
I am managing director of Speakers Corner, working in providing content via speakers to events and conferences. Having spent 16 years building up the business, the pandemic devastated the sector. We have had to start again becoming experts in the virtual events space while also preparing for the return to physical events. I never thought I would be building up the business twice in one career, always imagining that I would be involved in a variety of startups - I suppose the good thing about building up the same business again is you can definitely learn from your experiences and know what previously worked and didn't work. I am lucky enough also to be a Director of a couple of complementary companies in the speaking industry and involved in a restaurant brand. All the businesses have had to change their attitude and outlook over the last 15 months; my focus has been on supporting the businesses, getting involved in every aspect and reinvigorating the start-up mentality and culture so that the businesses can adapt, change and be prepared as the world outlook shifted day by day on a business, societal and personal levels.
What do you like about your career or area of focus?
To admit you don't understand or that you don't know the answer is the most powerful tool anyone has in their armour.
What is the best advice you have ever received?
Treat people well, regardless of status or wealth.
What inspires you, motivates you, or helps you to move forward?
The belief that every day is an adventure and part of the journey of life, that we can learn from everyone around us, and this is what gives us the stories to share and makes the memories that define all of us as individuals. It means I am constantly pushing to try something new, to make decisions and to challenge myself and those around me as (has been demonstrated by Covid-19) who knows what lies around the corner.
What are you proud of in your life so far?
Wow! that's a question - I am proud of so much, my family, my business, my friends, but I suppose I am most proud that I start every day with enthusiasm and childlike curiosity about what the new day brings. I am proud that I challenge myself every day to be better than I was the day before, to make the right choices based on my beliefs and values, both professional and personal. Or I could just say that I am proud of when I was 14. On my school sports day, one of my close friends was beating me in the 400-metre race and tripped 20 metres before the finish line and being the heroic, compassionate person I am, I won the race (bet you thought I would say I stopped for him to get up) and never let him forget how I won the race!
What is your preferred way to meet new people/network?
I have this curiosity (and probably a lack of understanding of social etiquette) that I love to just chat with people. I have come to appreciate that whatever situation, the art of networking is hard for everyone and always feels peculiar. That feeling is to be embraced, and from there, it makes it much easier just to start talking to people. I chat to my children about making that step into the unknown in the playground at school to say hello to someone they don't usually speak to and find out one interesting thing about that person. I try to practice what I preach and actually prefer a situation that isn't a 'forced' networking opportunity. Still, I rather attend places where you know everyone has a shared purpose or reason for being there. By doing this, you have that first step of the opening to any conversation at that place.
What skills or qualities do you feel have helped you?
My father always said it is better to make a decision rather than to spend too much time weighing up what is the correct decision. I embrace mistakes as a way to learn and improve, and as such, I naturally gravitate to solving a problem that presents itself rather than analysing why it happened. The reflective stage, which is critical, happens only once the problem has been addressed and hopefully resolved. I would say that my main skill, which I have only come to appreciate over time, is my ability to speak and relate to people in different business areas in a language that they understand. I am fortunate that I am the connector between different areas of business who may be 'speak different languages as they are focussed on their own expertise and make them understand each other’s viewpoints and perspectives.
What do you wish you had known when you started out?
That everyone has varying degrees of imposter syndrome. The concept of faking it till you make it is prevalent in every one of us and never lets up unless you are in a position of extreme self-confidence. Demonstrating vulnerability is not a weakness but a tool to help ensure you make the right decisions and ensure that you surround yourself with people who will support you rather than people who exploit you.
Who do you most admire in business, academic or creative circles and why?
As I mentioned, I am privileged that I get to meet some of the most incredible people, and as such, I get to learn and admire so many people. I appreciate and admire all these people who are willing to share their stories and learnings from their experiences. It constantly changes day by day as I meet different people and learn different things from each of them. Still, I suppose to answer the question; I admire anyone who has embraced the challenges they have experienced in their lives and turned them into a force for positivity to be the best they can possibly be and achieve this with a smile on their faces.
Outside of your professional/work area, what hobbies or interests do you have, or what other areas of your life are of real importance to you?
My family are foster carers. We started this journey around six years ago as a family and provided short term foster care; we have had around 20 children in our house over this time for varying lengths of time. We hope we have given these children an experience of what a family structure is like that gives them security and the love that all children should get in these formative years. It gives us a family, a sense of purpose, and an appreciation of how lucky we are to have each other and everything we have.
Has the pandemic had a positive or a negative effect on you and/or your business, and how have you managed it?
I feel it is too early to say the pandemic's effect on me and the business. It has been a journey, we are in a devastated sector, and we had to rebuild again. We were back in start-up mode, we had to make difficult decisions, and we had to survive. Then as we started seeing recovery seeds, we switch to more optimistic outlooks and make decisions based on pure gut rather than any pragmatic evidence. I hope that the business landscape shows signs of heading in the right direction, but I remain fearful of this being false dawn. The challenge for me right now is to overcome this instinctive defensive position (which the last 16 months have given me) and look forward with a strategic viewpoint to better times. From a personal perspective, this turmoil in the business came with turmoil with our children learning to embrace homeschooling, isolation from their peer group and lack of social activity for everyone. I would say we have managed this as well as we could under the circumstances, but the full impact will only be known in the coming months and years.
Do you have a mentor, or have you ever mentored anyone?
I have been involved in two different mentorship programs where I mentored individuals.
What advice would you have for someone looking to get into the same area of work or interests?
Whatever position you start working in within the industry, be curious, find out about other areas and learn and listen. Don't make assumptions that the 'public' facing areas of the business are most suited to you or bring the most prestige or rewards.
What do you feel is the most common reason for people failing or giving up?
They have built up an idolised version in their mind of what something should be. Unfortunately, the glamorous or fun part of anything is usually only 10% of the whole picture but to get there; you need to embrace and deliver the other 90%. Trying to sidestep this part or not deliver it at the right level means you never get to experience the part that attracted you to the 'thing' in the first place.
Is there a phrase, quote or a saying that you really like?
I don't understand; please explain again in a different way.
What companies, brands, or institutions do you like or do you think are getting it right?
I think there are lots of companies that are getting certain things right. I have a lot of time for companies such as Patagonia, whose mission embraces their values and have become part of the company ethos and financial imperative. They have merged the success of the business to incorporate both their values and their financial position.
How do you define success, and what lessons have you learned so far that you could share with our audience?
Success is an individual metric that should never be compared. Success is something that we all strive for inside to achieve personal satisfaction, and the main barrier to feeling this is when we compare ourselves to others - this is especially difficult in the world we live in where we are bombarded with outrageously successful figures from all walks of life, and we compare ourselves to these people.
Is there is anything else you would like to highlight as part of your global interview?
Embrace every opportunity; life is an adventure, and try to enjoy every part of it, the highs and the lows as they make up your journey and stories.