Stadium Experiences

The inspirational Aaron Phipps gives his key note at the Stadium Experience meeting this week

Several years ago I first worked with the fabulous Debbie Rigney and the team at Stadium Experience, a Not-for-Profit organsiation that brings together representatives from the hospitality teams at all the major UK stadium venues to share best practice and industry news.

Presenting our virtual tour services at one of their meetings led to us working with Liverpool FC, Twickenham Stadium, Everton FC, Manchester United FC, St Helens RFC, Ipswich Town FC and Norwich City FC. In fact, I’ve been very privileged to return to several of these to renew their tours over the years as they renovate or rebrand, none more so than Norwich, where I have been back 4 times. I love working at stadiums: not just because I am a sports fan, but because I love meeting the people behind the scenes and finding out how the industry functions away from the match day

Stadium Experience recently hosted their first in-person meeting since Covid at the wonderful Edgbaston Stadium in Birmingham and I took the opportunity to exhibit there as well as cover the event with film and photography. It was fantastic to reconnect with existing clients such as Jodie from Norwich and Sophie from Ipswich Town FC but also to meet prospective venues for virtual tour services.

Continuing my close ties with the sector, I will be covering July’s awards for Stadium Experience, which is always a lively affair! The event will be held at Brighton and Hove Albion’s American Express Stadium, and I cannot wait!

One thing I really enjoy about covering events is getting to listen to the key note speakers, and this week’s was particular impressive and inspirational - the paralympian and renowned British athlete, Aaron Phipps. What an honour to hear his story. He closed by telling everyone in the room that they should take themselves out of their comfort zones and attempt something a bit different. That struck a chord with me as I embark on my new venture as Racing Snake - although the services are not outside of my comfort zone, branching out and doing them without having a team behind me is definitely a little bit uncomfortable! It’s also exciting and really not that impressive given what people like Aaron have achieved in life with far more to overcome.

Edgbaston Stadium, the perfect venue in the heart of the country and a spectacular skyline view over Birmingham.

2025, the Year of the Snake

In the Chinese astrological calendar, this year is indeed the year of the snake. For me, according to one horoscope I read, “2025 will be a breakthrough year for you as things fall into place easily. Your hard work is creating a strong foundation for future success”. I don’t usually spend time looking at horoscopes (in fact, I don’t have any time for that nonsense), but I like this (admittedly generic) statement as it certainly feels apt for me at the moment. Well, maybe not the ‘easily’ part!

Having spent the previous 14 years at one of the UK’s leading education providers, hi-impact, I decided that it was time for a change. In my time there I had been an IT technician, operations manager, innovation manager and worked at board-level to develop the company from its early days (I was just the 5th member of staff) through to its current position today as a major force in the EdTech sector with nearly 50 employees. However, sometime you just know when it’s time for a change, to be brave and see if there’s another adventure on the horizon. And here it is!

I am over the moon to have been able to plan this new venture alongside my friends at hi-impact and it’s a uniquely privileged position to be able to maintain my close links with everyone there as I will be still be delivering their educational media services and website builds. I am eternally grateful to them for their support and all the memories they have given me. Now, it’s time to make some new memories.

So, with Racing Snake, you’re not getting a newbie. You’re partnering with expertise, experience and a broad skill-set that encompasses a variety of digital creative media services as well as senior leadership, project and event management, client relationship management - in short, you can be confident that you’ll be in safe hands.

Why Racing Snake? Well, aside from it being a phrase Terry Wogan used to use on his Radio 2 breakfast show, I was reminded while trying to come up with a business name of our skipper on a Greek sailing holiday we had many years ago. Whenever we’d offer him a drink he’d pat his stomach and say “you don’t get a racing snake figure like this from drinking beer”. That seemed as good a reason as any for choosing it, tbh! Also, my initials are SS. That’s a bit like the sound a snake makes, isn’t it…?

Disclaimer: Don’t be fooled by the photos of me on the site - I’m not always this much fun.