“There isn't much difference between serving champagne on a glacier to serving tea and coffee to the homeless.”

Holly Mills joined Eventful as head of incentives in March 2021. Having previously spent more than 10 years delivering incentives at Penguins, she is an expert in delivering memorable experiences to reward and recognise groups.

I just sort of fell into events. My biggest prerogative was, if I'm going to be doing something Monday to Friday, it’s got to be something that I'm really passionate about and really enjoy. So I naturally fell into event management on that basis, I didn't have a clear plan.

When I found the world of incentives it just felt like a very fun opportunity. I thought, 'so I get to travel the world, and then show people what those places are like?' Yeah, I think that suits me!

Penguins was the most incredible platform for me to launch the incentive department. After six months we secured our first incentive client, and it really snowballed from there. I went from organising conferences and congresses, which my boss at the time quickly realised wasn't my forte, and I was dropped into incentives. The balance flipped from running conferences and parties and some traditional team-building events to the full planning side on the Incentive Travel, which took me all over the world. It was just a fantastic roller coaster.

One of my very first incentives was to Gstaad, which was just the most incredible location for a very high end incentive trip. It was one of those pinch-me moments where I took the group over in helicopters, up to the Glacier 3000. They were riding husky dogs one minute and then we were at this Michelin star restaurant the next and I thought, 'This is quite special'.

Often the brief is a once-in-a-lifetime experience - and that really is quite a big remit, to play with so many memories. Whenever we had a brief that was slightly challenging or just a little bit out of the norm, I really loved springing into action and just trying to cut and stretch the opportunities as much as possible. It was amazing being in the most supportive company, to be able to just thrive, and having the right people behind you and backing you no matter what.

The pandemic put a stop to events and travel. It was just this bizarre time where I was leading the team, and we had just the most incredible people in the right place to be running these incredible incentive campaigns. And then the pandemic hit, and we were really creative in our output for a while, really focusing on research and moving forward and developing the product. But it became very apparent that this was going to be a longer period than we planned for.

I saw it really as a great opportunity to shake things up for me. I didn't want to hold the team back from developing their digital project management skills, and it was a fantastic opportunity for them to pivot into that direction. I’d spent 10 years dedicated to Penguins, I thought, right okay, this is the push.

I needed to try something new. I spent some time volunteering for a charity, which has been - without being too gushy about - quite life changing. It has always been a big focus of mine to encourage corporates to consider CSR in their incentive programmes, and here I found myself volunteering for a local food bank. There isn't much difference between serving champagne on a glacier to serving tea and coffee to the homeless. It’s still hospitality.

It's obviously quite daunting coming from one agency to another after 10 years. The Eventful team just allowed me to fit in and also develop our product further. On the incentive side of the business we're really focusing on personalisation and engagement and measurement, which are some key trends that we feel are coming through.

It's very consultative. We pride ourselves on having those conversations very early on with the client. So, whatever that end goal is, we go on the journey with them to make sure that whatever we're producing is hitting the mark in terms of engagement. Anybody who knows me knows that's a very key, key focus for for any output event wise.

Everybody's talking about sustainability and I'm really excited by that. In the past I may have shied away from that question on the basis that long haul travel isn't a very sustainable choice. However, we really have this fantastic opportunity to give back to destinations. I'd like to flip it on its head and make sure that the decisions and the choices that we create and encourage clients to consider as part of their programme may include a CSR element, or some kind of initiative that gives back in a sustainable way to that destination.

We get so caught up in travel being one of the biggest problems, sustainability wise. Food waste on the other hand is a huge problem that we don't tend to talk about as much. I now actually make it part of my priority within planning these incentive trips to include a CSR element, as they often do generate the best feedback in terms of the client experience.

It's really important that the client experience is well-intentioned, comes from the top and is genuine. Once it's incorporated in the right way, it provides plenty of positive marketing and PR opportunities for the client. And it also allows them to consider their economic and global impacts. There's so many positives that can be harnessed if this is incorporated effectively within a programme.

You've got to follow your passion. If you're really excited about a destination or a venue or whatever it might be, then follow it and research it, because that passion really comes through when you're speaking to clients. If you really put the effort in and explore that option thoroughly, and you're keen and excited by it then that really comes through, and your clients can help confirm it and then you get to go on your dream trip.