Event Industry News Podcast

The UK, in effect, is in Lockdown. As we all know, the event industry was one of the first sectors to be hit by the Covid-19 outbreak.

In this must-watch edition of our podcast, I talked to Craig Mathie, MD at Bournemouth 7’s about this year’s postponed festival.

Bournemouth 7’s decision to move the event from May to August Bank Holiday was for reasons including “giving the virus the best possible chance of passing”.Whilst this is no doubt a crisis, Craig explained that this industry is used to “planning for the worst and we’re constantly balancing severity and probability”.

Before the 2019 festival, Craig explained that a viral outbreak was one of the table-top exercises and that his multi-phase business continuity plan is now been rigidly worked through.

To keep abreast with the latest happenings from within the event industry, subscribe to the Event Industry News newsletter.

In this special edition of the Event Industry News podcast, Matt Rakowski from DBpixelhouse joined editor, Adam Parry, to discuss the petition for the government to offer more economic support to the event industry.

Created less than a week ago, the petition has gained huge traction, attracting over 111,000 signatures so far.

Having created the petition and written a series of letters to government officials, Matt discussed exactly what he wants the petition to achieve and who should benefit.

Listen in to learn exactly what the event industry is lobbying for, what this “economic support” might look like and what else the government could do to support event professionals. 

Furthermore, learn what you can do to help support this petition and to get it discussed in Parliament.

If you haven’t signed the petition yet, you can do so here.

To keep abreast with the latest happenings from within the event industry, subscribe to the Event Industry News newsletter.

Speaking from the headquarters of the esteemed AV and technical supplier in the event industry, Universal Live, James had the pleasure to talk to the events director of EVENTIT, Judith Wilson.

Kicking off a week today (19^th March), EVENTIT is an annual gathering of meetings and event professionals that takes place in Edinburgh. It is co-located with the bi-annual Business Events Leaders’ Summit (BELS) and comprises education, networking and lead-generation.

Celebrating its fifth edition, EVENTIT is returning to the Edinburgh International Conference Centre where it was hosted in its first year having been hosted in Glasgow for the past three years.

The Scottish event industry is worth £3.5bn. This includes events that are hosted outside of Scotland but created by Scottish companies. EVENTIT was created to help bolster that industry, not just in Scotland but across the UK.

Commenting on the location of the show and the notion that it is purely for Scottish companies, Judith said: “When we first set it up, that’s what we thought was going to happen, that it was just going to be a showcase for Scottish suppliers and Scottish buyers. That has changed quite dramatically since year one and we now have quite a number of exhibitors from outside of Scotland.”

If you think you have a relevant topic and would like to feature on a podcast episode, please email molly@eventindustrynews.com.

On this week’s episode of the Event Industry News podcast, we welcomed Avantgarde’s digital creative director, Thom Greybe.

Avantgarde is a global brand experience agency that has been designing measurable experiences for 35 years. Its 10 locations include Berlin, Cologne, Dresden, Dubai, London, Munich, São Paulo, Shanghai, Vienna and Zurich.

Speaking about the power of experiential events, Thom stated people seek out places and events where they can “feel something and see something different.”

He continued: “I don’t think digital necessarily relates just to screen-based content in the experience arena, I think it actually starts to become a lot more interesting, a lot more part of the story-telling.”

The fast advancement of technology in recent years, such as smart devices and the internet, has made people used to digital technology: it has become a part of daily life for most people. However, technology such as an “84-inch touchscreen” isn’t a usual occurrence so it is important to observe and monitor how audiences react to such technology to determine its success.

Giving an example, Thom said: “People have a much lower tolerance of getting things wrong when everyone is watching. You have to be so direct about what people need to do on that screen because, if they make a mistake, they feel silly and they leave, which is not what you want!”

This creates a challenge for designers to determine the balance of finding engaging content that attracts audiences and making it easy for them to navigate and use.

If you think you have a relevant topic to discuss and would like to feature on the Event Industry News podcast, please email molly@eventindustrynews.com.

Stay up-to-date with the latest happenings in the event industry and subscribe to the Event Industry News newsletter.

On today’s podcast, our host, James Dickson, was joined by not one but three guests: DBpixelhouse’s creative director, Alastair Reece; marketing manager, Matt Rakowski; and sales manager, Adam Price.

DBpixelhouse provides experiential solutions for temporary and permanent installations. It works directly with creative agencies, event organisers and brands to create memorable experiences for events and venues.

Because their services are better demonstrated than explained, Matt explained that they created the PixelLab -  a space in which the team can showcase its latest content and digital experiences: “Some of our solutions are quite difficult to explain, but if you’ve got someone there physically experiencing it, then it makes it a lot easier for them to get what it is that we do.”

DBpixelhouse encourages its clients to adopt experiential solutions, so Alastair stated PixelLab allows the team to practise what they preach.

Augmented reality, touchscreen apps and multi-faceted digital solutions are just some of the technology that is presented at PixelLab.

The meetings at PixelLab are by appointment only so that the team can offer clients undivided attention. 

To see for yourself what DBpixelhouse can offer you and your event, contact the team on 0345 226 3083 or info@dbpixelhouse.com. 

Follow the team on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.

If you think you have a relevant topic and would like to feature on one of our weekly podcasts, please email molly@eventindustrynews.com.

This content is sponsored by DBpixelhouse.

This week, we were joined by the managing director of the event industry’s charitable social enterprise, EventWell. Helen Moon joined us ahead of Event Wellbeing Day on 26^th February to discuss the important issues surrounding mental health within the event industry.

With one in three event professionals suffering from ill mental health each year, EventWell is dedicated to providing the industry with resources, advice, knowledge and support on mental wellbeing.

#EventWell20 is the overarching umbrella that now encompasses two campaigns: #EventWellbeingDay on 26^th February and #EventWellbeingWeek that will run from 21^st-27^th September.

“We’ve got quite an ambitious aim this year,” Helen stated. “I felt that it was important we where we do something where we promote action, for people to do something now and take ownership within their organisations and also as individuals to be better at looking after their self-care.”

Through a partnership with Time To Change, Helen created the EventWell Manifesto. Through this, she is calling for the mental health of all professionals be of top priority in the industry.

EventWell frequently conducts research into the wellbeing of professionals working in the event industry and Helen is concerned that she is not seeing much difference between her findings from year to year. This, she said, has driven her to encourage the industry into action to make relevant changes. Search the hashtag #PledgeForChange.

“We still have one in three event professionals who are suffering from mental ill health each year.”

If you would like to learn more information about #EventWell20 search the hashtags: #eventwell20 #eventwellbeingday20 #EWD20 

If you think you have a relevant topic and would like to feature on one of our weekly podcasts, please email molly@eventindustrynews.com.

On this week’s episode of the Event Industry News podcast, James is joined by Anita Howard, the director of the ICE community. This community is renowned in the industry for supporting in-house corporate event planners with its ICEAWARDS, ICEPAPERS and, more recently, its ICEINSIGHTS.

Established in 2015, the ICEAWARDS were created exclusively for in-house corporate planners and to recognise and support their achievements. Launched in 2019, the ICEINSIGHTS research was created to explore the support currently provided for in-house corporate planners.

During the podcast, Anita explained the research that created the ICEINSIGHTS. It explored how in-house event planners can work more effectively, their relationships within their businesses and how data and tech can be utilised to coordinate efforts.

An area that was explored was the ‘proactive v reactive’ approach among in-house corporate planners. It states the proactive approach allows organisers to “prioritise events as part of a wider strategy with a focus on ROI and achieving objectives, embed events in the wider company strategy and decide which events to organise.”

Alternatively, taking a reactive approach means planners “receive a brief from stakeholders, have more flexibility about which events they organise and have less structure.” 

The research also tackles issues around consistency, metrics and technology for in-house corporate planners. 

The ICEAWARDS take place on 9^th July 2020 in London.

If you think you have a relevant topic and would like to feature on one of our weekly podcasts, please email molly@eventindustrynews.com.

Joining James this week on the Event Industry News podcast was Lennart Hohneck, the business unit lead for event management platform Fanomena. Joining us from his offices in Germany, Lennart discussed the company’s rebrand from Eventbaxx and the advantages a digital goody bag has over a physical one.

Founded in 2015, Eventbaxx was created to provide a digital version of an event goody bag. It is nearly impossible to monitor the interaction of physical goody bags and they are often discarded. Digitalising it created a plausible means of monitoring its engagement, offering a strand of measurement to sponsors and organisers not otherwise available before.

Physical goody bags also create questions regarding sustainability and cost: is the handing out of physical ‘goodies’ responsible in today’s climate and can sponsors correctly estimate how many they will need?

“Massive amounts of these goody bags end up in the trash minutes after being handed out. That’s why we think it’s not very efficient at all,” Lennart said, explaining that physical freebies are neither logical, reliable or responsible.

With Fanomena, organisers can measure the amount of goody bags issued, their engagement and who has received one. Fanomena also supports organisers to make the most of the platform and ensure they maximise the full advantages of it.

Fanomena can be used from any mobile device or desktop and incorporates a very detailed reporting system.

Evantbaxx was in the market for three and a half years before Fanomena was born. 

You can follow Fanomena on Twitter at @fanomena

If you think you have a relevant topic and would like to feature on one of our weekly podcasts, get in touch at molly@eventindustrynews.com.

Joining the podcast from Copenhagen, Denmark, was professional keynote speaker, Samuel Scott. With a background in journalism and marketing, Samuel turned his professional attentions to being a keynote speaker in 2016, where he delivers marketing truths “with the mindset of an expert trade journalist with nothing to sell.”

Commenting on the rarity of attaining a keynote speaker with absolutely no agenda, podcast host, James, advised that organisers should be conscious of hiring speakers who may have bias/other intentions.

Agreeing, Samuel explained, “if you bring on someone who works for a marketing agency, they will be promoting the services that the agency provides.” Particularly if the speaker is not being paid, they will attempt to gain some benefits from the session by pitching their company or services.

Approaching a speech with no side agenda allows speakers to offer nothing but honest opinions and assessments. This is not only picked up on by the audiences, but the event organisers as well.

Delivering speeches puts one in a unique position of influencing and informing large numbers of people. This makes fact-checking absolutely vital. Even stats and data can be interpreted differently by two different people depending on their bias so keeping your information as neutral as possible allows audiences to form their own opinions on it.

Samuel also advised not to turn your back on your audience to read from the screen behind you. If necessary, keep a monitor in front of you to refer to. This constant turning suggests to your audience and employers that you are underprepared.

If you think you have a relevant discussion topic and would like to feature on one of our podcast episodes, please email molly@eventindustrynews.com.

VP and head of marketing from Certain, James Huddleston, joined podcast host, James Dickson, for this week’s podcast. In the episode, Huddleston discussed how event marketers can revamp their event strategies for the new year.

Huddleston has been a senior figure at Certain for three years, first as the senior director of product marketing before becoming VP and head of marketing in September 2019.

Certain is a provider of end-to-end event automation software that helps organisers and planners deliver top results.

Huddleston stated that marketers have become more “data-driven” in recent years than ever before. He explained that marketers can now utilise an unprecedented amount of analytics, attendee information and event results to design marketing strategies. This hard evidence of data, therefore, helps justify marketing ideas.

Though data is essential, we may be at risk of suffering data-overload. Huddleston stated that events offer attendees the advantage of having that one-to-one contact with prospective clients and business partners to help cut through the data noise: “The pendulum is swinging back towards the power of face-to-face interaction. That’s why our customers see a lot of investment in events.

“Events are that channel that truly cuts through the noise.” 

Offering one-to-one meetings at events is a significant player in driving registration. Providing people with one strong prospective business contact compared to hundreds of generic businesses is more reliable in guaranteeing their attendance. “As an attendee myself, I’m always looking to open my network,” Huddleston said.

If you think you have a relevant topic of discussion for our podcast and would like to feature, please email molly@eventindustrynews.com.