About Simon Maddison
From Royal Navy Commanding Officer to 25 years running one of the UK’s most awarded event agencies.
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The short version
Simon founded Planet Pursuits in 2001 as a team building company and built it into a full end-to-end event agency with offices in London and Swindon, in-house storage and nine industry awards. Before events, he spent 12 years in the Royal Navy, leaving as a Commanding Officer specialising in EOD diving and ordnance disposal. He has personally run events in Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon, Cannes, Nice, Monaco, Florence and Stockholm, and licensed exclusive event products into six countries.
Before events: the Royal Navy
Twelve years in the Royal Navy, finishing as a Commanding Officer in explosive ordnance disposal and EOD diving. The relevance to events is more direct than it sounds. Bomb disposal is planning under pressure: methodical preparation, calm decision-making when the situation changes, and absolute clarity about who is doing what and when. Event delivery runs on the same discipline. Guests see the party; the operation behind it is logistics, contingency and timing. Simon remarks 'I got into event management more by chance than actual choice. The first company I set up when I left the Royal Navy, which was an affinity group for military officers, but it failed to get traction. Luckily, the one service I was providing, which was bespoke stag party planning for military officers, was working, and it's that that led me into the world of events.' Initially, Simon started running events for ex-military officers who are now working for corporate giants. He saw the opportunity initially with designing team building solutions and experiential events, before turning his attention to create a full end-to-end event management company with Planet Pursuits
Where Simon has delivered
Simon Maddison - Founder 2001
Our team is headed up by founder/owner Simon Maddison, who has a wide ranging experience in both creative event design, planning, logistics and European destination venue sourcing. Simon attends all the UK and Europe hospitality and event supplier shows, including IBTM, Event Production Show, The Meetings Show and The Showman's Show. Simon has personally run events throughout the UK wide and in Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon, Cannes, Nice, Monaco, Florence, Stockholm to name but a few. Simon has also successfully licenced exclusive event products in the UK, Denmark, France, UAE, New Zealand and Australia - a side of the business most clients never see, but which keeps the agency plugged into how events are done outside Britain.
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His specialisation
Whilst Simon he's still very much at the helm of Planet Pursuits and the day-to-day running of its operations. He is also heavily engaged in the creative and bespoke event planning side of his business.
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Simon's specialisation is in delivering bespoke experiential team building events. He will often be working directly with the head of HR or a marketing department within an organisation to specifically highlight behavioural patterns within teams at leadership and management levels. His unique understanding of how teams function and embracing company cultures has allowed him to develop a toolkit for leaders within teams or newly promoted managers to manage and delegate more effectively.
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This process can be seen here with a recent showcase event for Aurora Systems
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Outside of work
Outside of work, Simon is a proud father of five children. He is also an accomplished polo player, having learnt in the Royal Navy. His pastimes include long-distance swimming and walking his dog Max.
Talk to Simon
Simon is a totally approachable business leader and entrepreneur and loves to hear from both clients and those starting out in the industry. Simon still leads the first conversation on new briefs. Phone 01793 772999 (make this tap to call) or email events@planetpursuits.com
