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High Beam Events

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A great start into the industry, but in need of a modern approach to worklife/balance. - Event Coordinator High Beam Events Employee Review

3.0
Feb 23, 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Great exposure to the Austin event market - This job is a huge learning opportunity for festival planning - The team of producers and event coordinators is great and supportive - The VP (who runs the day-to-day business) is great at balancing their workload while addressing employee needs.

Cons

- Toxic behavior exhibited from the President and CEO - Small office environment encourages a lot of microaggressions from the President/CEO - High Beam has not kept up with modern office trends and is always two steps behind other companies with similar staffing models - Very little to no cultural diversity.

High Beam Events Response
5y
We appreciate the time you took to write this review. As everyone knows, the pandemic has presented many challenges to companies large and small - especially in the event production area – and layoffs are sometimes necessary to ensure the long-term viability of the organization. This review does exhibit what we feel is unwarranted hostility, as we attempted to keep as many team members employed for as long as possible. In fact, 66% of the pre-Covid staff received full paychecks and benefits for 11 months after all live events were shut down. Our goal has always been to hire the best people because we’re going to push them to deliver unparalleled client experiences. For the record, our staff makeup during 2019-2020 was 77% women, 44% POC/Hispanic, and 22% LGBTQ, a very diverse group of people with different strengths and skills that provided amazing benefits to our clients. High Beam has been in business almost 17 years and we will continue to excel in serving our clients once the worst of the pandemic has lifted. The assertion that we are “two steps behind” other companies is perplexing as the reviewer worked “less than a year” – and mostly WFH during the pandemic – and was certainly not exposed to our normal operating conditions. Finally, let’s address the assertions that the president is toxic and prone to micro-aggressive behavior. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but anonymous review sites such as Yelp and Glassdoor allow for vendettas that are frequently unwarranted. We’re sorry you were laid off but that hardly constitutes toxic behavior. We understand you’re bitter and looking to lash out, and hope you’ll be able to move on and find a rewarding career path once the economy recovers. One can’t truly know the challenges of running a business unless they’ve actually done so. All any company can do during the pandemic is try its best to remain standing so it can thrive once things assume a semblance of normalcy.

Explore other reviews about High Beam Events

5.0
Jul 30, 2015
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Fast paced environment with fun, creative, relaxed atmosphere. This company is a well-oiled machine and they know what they're doing. The only way to start at High Beam is to start as a contracted planner. They are always looking to bring more planners on board as part of the full-time team though. You cannot get this kind of exhilarating learning experience anywhere else!

Cons

February-March are crazy busy. Saturday meetings in February. Not always the best communication internally.

1
High Beam Events Response
7y
Thank you! We're glad you found the fast-paced atmosphere exhilarating. We do our best to communicate and are always open to suggestion. We think we get better at this every year and it sounds like you were a great contributor!
1.0
Jan 17, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

You get exposed to SXSW, work on planning awesome big events, free platnium badge, austin event industry exposure

Cons

tiny office, very negative office atmosphere, open office and no privacy, low pay, talk as if they will hire but they have no intention. crappy management, back stabbing, do not work here they will use and abuse you. they also get 99% of their work from sxsw and are dead the rest of the time, its pathetic and the max pay is $15 an hour, plus you have to work on a desktop so you can't take work home and have to work till 10pm at night and come in on the weekends. so outdated

5
High Beam Events Response
7y
Thank you for your review from a couple of years ago. Yes, this response is late but we figured we’d give it a shot since people still read this review. We’re sorry you didn’t have a great experience at High Beam. Our process is to hire contractors to work the SXSW season if our FT staff can’t handle the load. If we have the means, we offer FT jobs to the planners who knock it out of the park. Your review was written in January 2016, and in May 2016 we were able to offer FT jobs to four of the seasonal planners. Since 2009, we’ve offered FT permanent positions to a total of 27 people. Most of our office space (2500 square feet, so not a small office) is open, true, but our team works collaboratively and we want them to be able to talk. Whenever possible, we make sure planners have their backs to the wall so they have screen privacy. Pay for the seasonal contract positions runs from $15 to $20, depending on experience, and we provide health insurance and a holiday bonus. All our FT employees have laptops and for the SXSW 2018 season we were able to provide laptops for the contractors, too. Our people work an insane number of hours from January through SXSW, but we’re very upfront about that. It’s definitely not for the weak at heart, and we consistently hear that it was all worth it in the end.
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