What is the single most important thing attendees discover at your session?
How fantastic customer service can drive increased sales and profit, without additional cost

What do you believe is the greatest innovation to affect the events industry in the past year?
Innovation suggests new technology – but I believe it’s the way we can now use technology which is having the biggest impact. For example we can now provide service to our customers through many different channels, and using the channel or channels that the individual customer prefers. Events companies and the attendees of their events are becoming much more technology savvy which allows not only increased service options, but also big time savings.

Where do you find inspiration?
I’m a long distance runner – so I get most of my inspiration when I’m running along the coastline in Sydney. I find running outdoors not only clears the mind but also provides a rich tapestry of sights, sounds, colours and ways of life which can often spark inspiration.

What excites you most about the year ahead in the events industry or your personal business?
Diversifying and entering new markets. My company has for years focused on specific types of events in specific industries, but recently we’ve been entering new areas such as events for the contact center industry, training and development for events teams in big corporate companies and expanding into Asia and the wider Pacific region.

What is the best piece of business advice you’ve ever been given?
“There’s no such word as ‘no’ in the events industry”. What this means is, when asked a question by a customer, attendee, sponsor or anyone else associated with your event and you don’t know the answer – it’s best to either find out the answer or find someone who can – rather than saying ‘sorry, I don’t know’. This simple advice has stuck with me for years and has paid huge dividends in future business from customers who feel like we’ve gone ‘above and beyond’ for them.

BIO
When it comes to planning, organizing and running events, James Matthews is an expert. He has more than 12 years of experience managing events throughout Europe, North America and Australia, from conferences with 500 delegates to balls and awards ceremonies with more than 1,000 guests. He also writes and facilitates master classes on a broad range of specific training and development subjects for customers over a wide variety of industries.

James is a master of planning smooth and successful events, both large and small-scale, from start to finish. As managing director of ThinkTank Media, his principal aims are to inspire, encourage and motivate every individual to achieve his or her full potential.

COMPANY
ThinkTank Media specialises in business to business events, conferences and training. The conferences and training we offer are designed to help our customers stay at the forefront of their industry.

The Business
ThinkTank Media is owned and operated in Australia, led by an experienced management team based in Sydney. Our purpose in life is to provide our customers with events that will help them reach the top – or stay at the top – of their chosen field.

We operate around the following core principles:
• Value for money
• Exceptional quality of service and delivery
• Loyalty to our customers
• An open and honest operating environment
• Dedication to privacy and compliance
• Investment in our people, in our events and our customers industries, but recently we’ve been entering new areas such as events for the contact center industry, training and development for events teams in big corporate companies and expanding into Asia and the wider Pacific region.

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