Welcome to Series 3 of When Sh*t Goes Wrong at Events - the podcast giving listeners a backstage pass to the often unheard stories of event organising.

In this episode, host Freddie Sparrow sits down with Nick Steiert, events entrepreneur and founder behind student travel brand Invasion Events and Wellnergy festival. From running university events to choosing startups over a legal career, Nick shares the realities of building, and rebuilding, an events business under pressure.

They discuss rapid growth, tough financial moments, surviving COVID as a travel events company, and launching into the fast-growing wellness festival space, along with lessons in resilience, sponsorship, and planning for the worst.

Topics covered:

• Choosing events over a corporate law career
• Building a student travel and nightlife events brand
• COVID’s impact on travel events and refund pressures
• Raising emergency funds to keep the business alive
• Launching a wellness festival and the growth of the sector
• Why founders shouldn’t be too ambitious too early
• Real world event mishaps and unexpected setbacks

Connect with host Freddie Sparrow, Co-Founder of Vento, and guest Nick Steiert, Founder of Wellnergy and Invasion Events.

This episode is sponsored by Vento Insurance - specialists in protecting live events when sh*t goes wrong. For event insurance advice, email [email protected].