Chance meeting led to an eventful career

But Rob Woodhead has managed to do it – twice – which makes him a lucky man.

First, the former Leeds Tykes academy player went on to help set up the rugby department at Prozone, the performance analysis tool for top sportsmen, which was used by Clive Woodward as he turned England into rugby union's world champions.

Now he is driving forward a growing Yorkshire business with a passion of a different kind: his family. After a night out in Bingley led to a chance meeting with a former schoolfriend, he fell in love, got married and joined the family firm.

Today, Project it is a 1.2m event production business that has worked with Lloyds Banking Group, Gillette, Microsoft, Siemens and NHS primary care trusts covering Leeds, Wakefield District, Mid-Yorkshire and Bradford and Airedale.

The Keighley-based firm, which offers the technology of an audio visual company and the skills of event managers, was set up by Chris Holt, using laptops and projectors.

Later, it moved into events and last year it enjoyed its busiest 12 months, putting on 210 events, up from 160, and increasing its number of staff from six to 11.

The firm is run by Mr Holt, his daughter, Jenny, her husband, Mr Woodhead, and his former childhood friend, Tom Rhodes, who joined more recently.

As Project it expanded, it was able to build on the network of contacts it had made in the hospitality industry in Leeds, Bradford and Skipton.

Mr Woodhead said: "It was three of us doing everything for a couple of years, but we grew by responding to what people asked for.

"In the early days you met people who worked in hotels and who have gone on to be events organisers."

As well as putting on evening functions, such as the Leeds Hotels Association awards last month, it has been helped by the grim economic climate in Britain, which has prompted more large business to cut

all but essential travel and arrange webcasts instead.

Mr Woodhead, 31, said: "Rather than inviting 3,000 people to a conference, you can invite the senior managers

and let everyone else follow it on the webcast.

"It is a good way to ensure your message is consistent rather than delivering it Chinese whispers-style."

The firm's work has shifted since 2007 with fewer events for 1,000 or more people, and more in the range of 100 to 150.

There are also more daytime sessions as corporates shun the set-piece celebrations which characterised the boom era.

"We still help organisations deliver their message clearly and concisely but we took away some of the gloss there was before.

"Clients don't have as much to spend as they used to have."

Although Mr Woodhead is a senior project manager,he said he started out

driving the van for Project it, as did Mr Holt, and said most staff began at a junior level before taking on bigger jobs.

Rob Woodhead

Rob Woodhead played rugby union for the academy team of Leeds Tykes – now Leeds Carnegie – after taking a degree in sports development at Leeds Metropolitan University.

After graduating, the policeman's son joined Prozone in April 2001, which was then setting up a rugby department. The performance tool operates by filming a game using 12 to 15 cameras above a ground and examines players' movement and each "event" – a tackle or a pass – that occurred.

He and his team of 60 staff went through the video frame by frame and, when an England match took place on a Friday evening, often worked ultra-long days over the weekend in order to provide the team's coaches with performance data on the Monday morning.