Introducing Vikki Speckleton, working primarily behind the scenes at Digital Jersey. As our Events & Facilities Manager, Vikki plays a pivotal role in planning and delivering events that connect, inspire and drive forward our tech community. Discover more about Vikki’s role and the changes she would like to see in the tech industry.
What do you do day-to-day in your role?
I am the Events and Facilities manager, overseeing the hub, DJX and the Academy, I run the events at the hub and manage the logistics for our flagship events.
Each day is so different at DJ and disclaimer, it’s not always glamorous with events!
Without boring you with the admin side of things (which is a lot!) it is my job to handle event enquires and project manage the event plan to the delivery, working with various suppliers in Jersey. Our members are the customer, and it is my job to ensure we are providing our members with top facilities and services to meet their objectives.
Between looking after our facilities and supporting our members, I am currently preparing for The 6th Annual Jersey TechAwards, which is our biggest event yet, we’re expecting 500+ persons at the Showground so this one is certainly keeping me on my toes!
How do you like to start your day before work?
It is typically a ‘rush out of the door’ start to the day, but when the weather is nice, I love cycling to work and always feel great/smug that I have beaten the traffic, plus it clears my head before I get into work mode.
What do you like to do to relax and wind down after work?
I have the flexibility to work into the evenings therefore if I am not running an event at the hub I can catch up with my admin at home, this means I can work 4 days a week, by compressing my work hours it has given me Fridays to myself where I can do the things I really want to do such as drop off and pick up my daughter at her primary school, tackle the jobs I have been putting off around the house for ages, go out for a nice long walks or spend quality time with friends and family. I think it’s a good work-life balance that suits me!
What you do outside of work?
When it’s not kids’ parties or play dates, I like to catch up with friends, spend time with my dog Shadow and take some time to relax, when I do relax… I am a sucker for an archaeology documentary!
What part of your role is challenging?
Whether it is a speaker being held back from travel due to the fog, or sometimes something will just ‘break’ so it can be a challenge to get solutions quickly in place. For example, last year’s annual review at Cineworld their heating failed, and it was freezing cold, with days to go and unbeknown to the audience I had to arrange plant hire, generators, access permissions and additional risk assessments which was a logistical challenge just to make sure the venue was warm enough for our attendees!
What’s the best part of your role?
For a relatively small team I love how ambitious we are at DJ, we push the boundaries every single day. The best part of my role is the fruition of an event idea. I always get a buzz when the team come together on our events, we love to engage with our members, everyone steps out of their daily roles whether it is our finance manager serving drinks behind the bar or our entire team moving furniture around the hub!
What changes would you like to see in the tech industry to make it more inclusive for women?
We need to encourage STEM education much earlier on and break the taboos of this being a male dominated industry, I would like to see more women get involved with mentorship programmes and it would be great to see more female leaders come forward and inspire our tech community.
What message would you like to give to young girls aspiring to enter the tech/digital sector?
It is okay to fail, it helps us grow! Keep up with researching and learning as there are opportunities to up-skill every day and be ambitious! Jersey may be small but there is such an advantage to scale your business / projects here. If you can make something successful in Jersey you are opening the door to so many opportunities, it is so important to know there is access to free courses, ‘Women in Tech’ community groups and other support groups. I encourage you to find a workplace that supports and promotes diversity.
