Disabled Living’s Business Development Coordinator, Laken, from the Kidz to Adultz Team, talks about what a year 2020 was and shares her thoughts on life as a new mum as her returning to work date approaches.

So, thank you 2020!
The year we stayed home
The year we clapped for the NHS
The year our grandparents learnt to use iPads
The year Kidz to Adultz Events went virtual.

Well, what a year it has been, in March last year you could never have imagined the year we would have when the news was filled with Covid-19 in China and other countries. In all honesty I never expected it to spread across the world and affect us in the way it has.

At the time we were getting the final plans in place for Kidz to Adultz Middle, which luckily managed to go ahead and was a successful event. I knew it would have been my last event for a while as I was going on maternity leave, but I did not think it would also be the last event for everybody else.

Thank you to my colleagues

A couple of weeks later we were told we would have to work from home, and then I was placed on Furlough before my maternity leave started. I am thankful to my colleagues who carried on working through the pandemic, if it was not for them and their forward thinking on how to adapt the business to the new virtual way of working, I may not have had a job to come back to. So, THANK YOU!

Thank you to the NHS

June 16^th, my gorgeous baby girl Theia entered the world. It was a strange time as so many things were still uncertain, but the NHS were amazing, and the staff treated me no different as to how they would if they were not putting their lives at risk caring for me and my baby. So, THANK YOU!

Eight months on and I am now back at work and straight in to my first virtual event, the time has gone so quick. Looking back, we have not been able to do much in Theia’s first year of life, but we have had all the time at home to bond with her, get used to being parents and just enjoy time as a family. So, THANK YOU 2020!

Laken and her daughter Theia

Thank you for Venue to Virtual

Returning to work we now are holding the Venue to Virtual events. The first event last November was such a success the team have decided to hold another event week commencing 1^st March to make sure our visitors can still access the advice and information they need, which they would have received at our exhibition. The beauty of the Venue to Virtual events is that anybody can access the events from their homes, workplace or wherever they are at the time of the event.

So, THANK YOU 2020!

Although it has been a rollercoaster of a year, with lots of ups and downs, there is light at the end of the tunnel. I am looking forward to the opportunities that await in 2021 and the return of ‘face to face’ events later in the year.

To find out more information about Venue to Virtual week commencing 1^st March 2021 and to register for FREE, visit: https://www.kidzexhibitions.co.uk/venue-to-virtual/