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High Beam Events

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Great experience in spite of drawbacks - Anonymous employee High Beam Events Employee Review

3.0
16 Nov 2014
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Exciting experience working on SXSW. Lots of creative types. Looks great on resume.

Cons

Tons of hours the last few months without overtime pay. Inexperienced managers lacking people skills.

High Beam Events Response
7y
Thanks for your review! A lot of companies take someone who's very good at making widgets and have them manage other widget-makers, not realizing that management requires its own skill set. We always want to be mindful to hire talented people, give them clear direction, be available for questions, be honest with them, and let them do their jobs. We're very interested in making sure our managers are properly trained, but it sounds like we failed you on that point. Thank you for the feedback -- it'll help us continue to be better.

Explore other reviews about High Beam Events

5.0
30 July 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!
3.0
23 Feb 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.

2
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.
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