Saturday 14 December 2024

The perfect set-up: an interview with Production Manager Lorenzo Corsini

Whether it’s a convention, a corporate event or a wedding, what is the role of a production manager? Producing an event, with an ad hoc set up, it is not an easy task. It requires study, preparation and competence. Over the years Corsini.Events has managed to become a reference in the production management and preparation of many events. All this thanks not only to the quality of the Corsini Team employees, but also to the timely coordination of Lorenzo Corsini.

Event production manager

Q: Architect, co-founder of Corsini.Events, discoverer of vintage wines and experienced Production manager: what does this work mean?
A: Setting up an event, coordinating its production implies creating something new that does not exist today but tomorrow it will be a reality. Because it is not just an idea but it becomes a material object, a reality. Fantasy must find a strong anchor in reality, yes. With Corsini.Events we have repeatedly elaborated scenes with innovative and unusual materials that until that moment had never been used for a specific purpose. I have in mind when we had to build a gargantuan dimension sofa for an event. It seemed evident that it could not have been filled with polyurethane foam – a typical material for living room sofas. As a production manager, I had to take care of material, of proportions, of its securing, of making it accessible through a staircase suitable for guests, all answering to an aesthetic requirement and logistic spaces of the client.

Q: What are the strengths and weaknesses of a venue that emerge from the expert eye?
A: Often in the eyes of customers, the production is not seen: we imagine a location venue that presents the spaces already needed for the moments of the event from the guests’ side. My role, the role of a production manager, in this case, is to highlight the possible lack of services and back office: bathrooms, kitchens, warehouse melters, parking. It becomes my task to make up spaces for these “minus” and to produce the necessary spaces. The location must serve properly guests and suppliers, possibly covering the gap with a different budget to create spaces and structures that facilitate the work of the workers involved.

Q: Some difficulties in production? An event, a series of events that have tested the technical and organizational skills of Corsini.Events?
A: It might happen in three or four days events – weddings, corporate dinners, performances and art shows – that with hundreds of people involved, even by planning everything minute by minute, there is something unexpected. An effective production manager has to be on time always. Various randomness and tiredness can be there, but what distinguishes the professionalism of the production manager is its constant presence: at least for me, for Corsini.Events this element is essential. At any times, in many settings: in order to avoid any nasty surprises or in the unfortunate event there is something unpredictable so that it is possible to correct everything immediately.

Q: If you have to give advice to better manage events as a production manager, what do you feel to suggest?
A: First of all it takes courage to make decisions, and a great production manager should follow great reactivity and perseverance. Of course, some moments can be difficult, but having a great reactivity allows you to identify the problem: in this way the product manager will be able to make the decision more appropriate for each type of event. Because, what I would like to underline is that professionalism is also in understanding what is the most important thing among the various elements that make up an event. Without transferring any concern to customers.”

Among the last events that saw Lorenzo and Tommaso Corsini as protagonists is the Florence Ambassador Award 2018.