Elevate launches season four mentoring scheme

Elevate, a UK mentoring organisation for event professionals, has announced the launch of its fourth season intake for new mentees and mentors. Registrations will remain open until February 17. The free mentoring programme aims to close the industry skills gap. It also is designed to connect mentees with more experienced mentors from the industry. Mentors will include CEOs, entrepreneurs, creative directors, venue managers, freelancers, client managers, brand experience directors, suppliers and creative designers such as Jack Morton, Sony, Amplify, Geometry, L’Oreal, Pretty Green and Sequoia Partnership. Elevate has run for three seasons and has created 220 mentoring pairs with individuals from across the events industry. The next intake pre-signups will be capped at 50 applicants. Max Fellows, co-founder, Elevate, and commercial director, TEN6 Creative, said: “There is a general expectation for events professionals to progress through their career on experience alone, meaning that larger roles and requirements are picked up by ‘faking it until you make it’. I wonder if mentoring is our industries secret weapon?” Mellisa Noakes, head of events and co-founder, Elevate and Divisional Sponsorship Santander, commented: “We know this sort of mentoring scheme is something the industry is crying out for. We conduct a survey each year and over the three seasons 80% feel that they lack the confidence they need to excel in their current job roles. In addition, over 75% reported lacking all of the skills they needed to meet their current role requirements, let alone the skills that they would need to rise through the ranks of their companies.”