If you thought that Nadeem Azam managed to burn the candle at both ends, then you might be surprised to learn that he’s got a rival for the hours put in by the subject of this week’s Day in the Life… I mean, getting paid to party.. how hard can it be? Over to Laura Przybek, Events Manager at buy.at to explain just how hard:

“So everybody thinks I have one of the best jobs going, I definitely love my job, but its not for the faint – hearted, drinking despite what you all think really is hard work and there is a lot of preparation involved to ensure that everybody is happy at our events. I hope this gives you a little insight into my job.

This day in the life is based on our Finance vertical which took place on Wednesday 16th April, so without further ado here goes…

7am – wake up & get ready, with the event this evening I have to think smart, there is no time to get changed during the day so I spend about 10minutes looking for an outfit that is practical for the day and will still look good in the evening. Every girl out there should empathise with how difficult this is especially first thing in the morning!

8-10 arrive at office, eat breakfast while laptop wakes up, which consists of some cereal pot thing from boots that really doesn’t taste good, but apparently is healthy – chat with colleagues, the hot topic at buy.at towers at this time of the morning is Steve Browns new found claim to fame – he went to school with Daniel Craig yet can’t remember it (who wouldn’t remember James Bond!), so after a little teasing its down to work.

8-20 – Check emails – generally on the morning of an event there are plenty of people checking where the event is, what time it starts etc, so I resend all the details to those that need them

8-40 – Finance vertical preparation

Run through the list of clients attending and double check name badges, despite the amount of times that do this I will freely admit that I am useless at it and it is guaranteed that I will always miss people, so I pack a whole load of spares for safety!

8-50 – Binding Emergency

For some reason nobody else in the office has the capability to use the binding machine, 8 copies of a presentation need binding and the panic on the guys faces are showing so I sort them out and send them on the way to their pitch

9.10 – Off upstairs to test the finance CD – I force sales to listen to it all the way through to get them in the money mood, all in agreement that money for nothing – dire straits is the best song on there. Have a run through checklist with Lizzie, Lizzie helps me with organising the buy.at events and definitely keeps me sane J

The morning passes by amending Kevin’s presentation for the evening and organising the Speakeasy event for launch. Which as of now, is officially open!

Shameless plug! For all those that have been to a buy.at Speakeasy before you will know that this is our event of the year and be really excited about signing up, which you can do so here: http://www.buy.at/events/speakeasy2008/

For anybody reading this that has never attended a buy.at Speakeasy, drop me an email to events@buy.at and I’ll tell you just why it’s worth coming to London for this Speakeasy, May 14th 2008! (for all the guys out there, I have been told that the waitresses at Electric Birdcage wear pan am air hostess uniforms, which in itself is a reason to attend).

Lunch – which is occasionally can be canapé tasting however today I opt to eat at my desk, bad habit but I break this up by teasing Chris on his plan for world domination, if you haven’t yet voted for your account manager of the year in the a4u awards, then vote Chris Mockford.

2pm – start putting everything together for the information pack for the finance vertical, pack up the pens, jellybeans, usbs, print off last minute name badges.

3pm – preparation meeting with team, this is split into 2 sections the first half hour for sales and the second for account management. This is our staff’s opportunity to get themselves familiar with the clients attending and for me to tell them the final format of the evening.

5-15pm – Leave to set up the seminar

5-30pm – speakers arrive for the panel “financing your future”. For anybody that didn’t attend we have full notes that are available by emailing events@buy.at.

6-15 – Leave seminar for set up of evening networking venue – sprinkle tables with glittery stuff and spread out our free stuff.

7.20 attendees arrive, I spend an hour making sure all attendees are in and have a glass of champagne. The free bar opens and the networking really starts, I spend my time catching up with clients and making sure that everyone is enjoying themselves and have found who they need to speak to.

12pm bar closes and we take the few affiliates that are remaining to the Kingly Club.

2-30am – all head back to our staff hotel with everyone that is still standing and drink the contents of a mini bar

4am head to bed for the three hours sleep before it all starts again.

It’s a tough job but somebody has to do it

Thanks for John for the opportunity to star in his day in the life series and we look forward to seeing all of his readers at our Speakeasy, May 14th 2008!”

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