Event Industry News Podcast

What’s happening at EMEC 2023

Five and half years with Meeting Professionals International (MPI), the last six months as chief brand officer, Drew Holmgreen knows what’s expected from the association, in theory and in practice.

Joining the podcast from Dallas, Texas, Holmgreen talks host James Dickson through MPI’s method behind its live events ahead of the European Meetings & Events Conference (EMEC), which comes to Brighton, Sussex later this month. The first ‘live’ iteration since post-pandemic.

He looks back at the learnings, how MPI’s North American show, World Education Congress, in November 2020, was the first industry event to take place under the COVID shadow - 600 people gathered together at a venue in North Texas. And how a “dramatic focus” on safety for attendees and staff/crew resulted in zero news cases of the virus.

Going on to discuss EMEC 2023, Drew Holmgreen highlights its “primary pillars”, the focus on innovation, taking design risks with the event to lead by example, and the influence of the local environment – how Brighton fortes like the arts, sustainability, and pubs, will help to shape the agenda.   

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Tag Digital: New Model Marketing & the benefits of an integrated approach

Nicola Shaw, head of growth at Tag Digital, has been in/around digital marketing for most of her career.

In this episode, having detailed Tag’s mission - how it works exclusively with organisers around the world helping to grow their events - with host James Dickson putting the questions, Nicola looks at new model marketing.

Across an energised, educational 40 minutes, they talk data blindness, cookies, AI, the astonishing breadth of data capture, touchpoints, audience extension, digital packages, privacy laws, tracking, the trials of a marketing manager, the value of an integrated approach and Google advertising.

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Visual Architects: Exploring visual identity

Creative director at IllumiNaughty offshoot Visual Architects, which he founded in 2013, Lefteris Angelidis knows the value in offering audiences original experiences.

 

To that end he has invested in new machinery, brought in more people and grown the company to what it is today, delivering projects for Kendal Calling and Boomtown Fair through to Cirque du Soleil and Puma in the process.

In this episode, Manchester-based Lefteris Angelidis and host James Dickson discuss 

how social media has driven/is driving change in events’ visual identity, the likely impact of the Metaverse, creativity and the structure/longevity of set items.

The sustainability question spawns conversation about branding solutions for ‘off the shelf’ products, bean bags and recycling polystyrene, transport – vehicle cost and emissions – and electric vans’ reach limitations.

They go on to talk LED screen technology, 3D mapping, creativity v budgets, planning, Beyonce and beyond.  

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How hybrid workforces are becoming more efficient

Muhammed Younas founded vFairs in 2014 after 12 years in a variety of roles at Bayt.com, ‘the Middle East’s #1 job site’.

A remote-first company, none of the now 250 plus employees at vFairs work in a specific office, they’re at home or a location close-by of their choosing. Quite sensibly, that model prioritises right people over right location, amplified by the way Younas talks “regions” in the shape of America and Europe rather than Boston, Massachusetts or Slough, Berkshire. And vFairs has a stronger workforce as a result.

In this episode, taking questions from host James Dickson, Muhammed Younas discusses how working, and being productive, from home can facilitate a better return from hybrid and virtual events.

He talks online job fairs, rethinking the excitement of ‘onboarding’ for remote environments, technology development – making the most of more sophisticated platforms - capturing the office experience and how companies on the other hill, vehemently against ‘home working’ pre-pandemic, have, or haven’t, taken to the new dynamic.  

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Working in Clusivity

Meera Somji and Andrew Carney launched Clusivity a year – pretty much to the day – before this podcast was recorded, January 2022. A ‘new easy to implement SaaS tool’, the company is a product of the founders’ background and their want to make a difference.

Clusivity mantra ‘take a data-driven approach to diversity, equity and inclusion’ is the essence of its new white paper - How diversity, equity and inclusion could radically transform the events industry - the subject of this episode. 

After a bit of background from both participants and establishing the reasons for the document, which is a follow-up on research undertaken two years ago, Meera Somji and Andrew Carney do the detail.

They highlight, for instance, how the white paper marries data with real-life stories and

quotes from senior leaders in events world, what we miss out on if we don’t drive change, who defines progress, the benefits of benchmarks, comparisons with other industries. And how to increase the number of new joiners from minoritised ethnic groups and, crucially, retaining those already on staff through promotion and progression.

 

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What does the future of experiential events look like

Andrew Perrott is managing director of Chorus, a London-based brand experience agency with a worldwide client base.

This episode sees Andrew discussing a recent project for luxury Diageo brand Johnnie Walker Blue Label in Singapore and the Chorus capacity for bringing theatrical elements into the immersive experience.

He goes on to talk host James Dickson through the agency’s pandemic learnings, house term ‘radical creative’, living and dying by the idea, exploiting sound, provoking long-term experiences and brand advocates.

Across some 45 minutes the podcast looks at the ‘blank page brief’, extending the reach of content from a live activation, digital thinking and becoming more integrated with the bigger picture before diving into the Chorus makeup and its evolution.

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Event Tech Predictions

Joining host James Dickson from the Hague, Jelmer van Ast, founder and CEO at event engagement platform producer Conference Compass, talks through his thoughts on the contemporary industry model, starting with the focus of the company’s January 2022 blog – flexibility and adaptability.

A regular on the podcast, Jelmer van Ast goes on to discuss ‘back to normal’, the benefits of on demand, the subscription model, micro events, refining the hybrid handle, on demand, using event tech across the formats and the rebranded Conference Compass platform. More too of course.

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Behind Notified’s 2022 Benchmark Report

‘The world’s only communications cloud for events, public relations, and investor relations’, Notified, released its annual Benchmark Report in September.

Customer data highlighting trends in the virtual events market, the document revealed an upsurge in attendance for webinars and virtual events alongside increased engagement before and after thanks to the hooks – the downloads, live chats et al.

Host James Dickson jumps straight into this episode, analysing the report with Notified’s appropriately named chief revenue officer, Daniel Lotzof.

Starting with some report history, from 2018/19 and the “10 years’ progression” in the last two years, Daniel details the new percentages, the best day to produce an event, the ‘time-length’ to produce different formats. Broadcast environment, evolving definitions, video-use post-pandemic, sponsorship and much more – all drawn from the data.

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Behind the scenes at Shocklogic

CEO John Martinez, a quantum physicist, founded Shocklogic in 1997. One of the earliest exponents of event technology as we know it today, Shocklogic was developing/providing platforms for virtual events far in advance of the pandemic shift in thinking/delivery.

 

Thick with life experiences, from interviewee and from interviewer/host James Dickson, this episode delivers a deep examination of the Shocklogic method and the Martinez management mindset.

 

John Martinez talks rethinking the work/life balance, always delivering for the team, intelligence and discipline, algorithms, taking opportunities, the 10,000-hour rule and the ‘love the one you’re with’ logic.

 

Prompted by James Dickson he goes on to discuss the company’s cultural shift, its ‘always on’ commitment to simplifying the lives of event organisers, meditation, ‘quieting the chat box’, mindfulness for the Shocklogic masses and a whole lot more.

 

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First Sight Media: Learnings from the Event Tech Live livestream

Richard Belcher is director of streaming/production company First Sight Media, a key partner in delivering Event Tech Live (ETL) across its in-person, hybrid and virtual incarnations.  

Richard starts this episode explaining what First Sight Media does at ETL, front of house and behind the scenes, going on to detail changing audience perspectives post-pandemic, the dividends from community building, pre-event marketing, FOMO, engagement, blended content, sustainability, and the value of livestream

With Event Tech Live as the context, Richard Belcher goes on to give host James Dickson a take on the metaverse and ‘always on’, DJ Graffiti, webinars, breaking the barrier between hybrid as a single broadcast and ‘blended’, the Bonus stage and much, much more…  

 

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