Featured Team Member: Jordan Tomkins

This season we are featuring Jordan Tomkins.  He works as both a Project Handler on experiential projects as well as head of digital content and film editing.

Why Events?

I've been involved in events as a hobby since I can remember, whether as a performer or an organiser. As a child performance was my passion, but as I headed into my teens I became involved with local festivals in my home county of Dorset, and began putting on stages and nights with friends (often still performing at my own events!). When I went to Uni to study Music Technology I realised I could make a career out of doing the thing I loved, and the rest is history!

If you could change anything in the events business what would it be?

I'd love to not have to be limited by budgets quite so much, so every event could be as awesome as possible without having to fit a budget.  It would be great to get more lead time on projects, as waiting for the green light can sometimes be excruciating. One of the best thing about working at SXS is that we have so much equipment and skilled people in-house that we can respond incredibly quickly to changes, as well as be flexible on budgets.

Where do you see SXS as a company in 5 years time?

I think SXS can really carve a path for itself as the creative and out-of-the-box company to come to when you have a vision that needs realising. We're also really honing our skills in the larger scale festival and arena worlds, so hopefully we'll be doing more and more of that sort of work in the future.

What do you do outside of work?

I try and keep the performance part of my passion alive as well; at the moment I play guitar and sing in a pop-punk band with Stephen, one of our lighting technicians. I'm also very into cars - one day I'd love to have a classic car to play with, but at the moment it's just a dream!

Favourite part of the job?

No two weeks are the same. I can be in a field in the sun doing sound on a festival stage one week, and producing a short film for a high-profile client the next. This variety means the job never gets stale. I also love realising a client's idea and following it all the way through, there's a real sense of satisfaction at the end of each project.

If you didn't do event production what would you do?

Well, there's always the hope that one day I'll become a famous rock star. I did also entertain the idea of studying vehicle mechanics at university, so maybe I'd be doing that now - but I'm glad things turned out the way they did.

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