Event Industry News Podcast

Following Twine’s thread of connection

Lawrence Coburn, is co-founder & CEO of Twine, an employee connection programme launched in 2020 that operates out of San Francisco. 

In this episode, Coburn talks through selling DoubleDutch, another business he launched - an early leader in the mobile event app space, to focus Twine on the networking element or “software that brings people together”.

Lawrence Coburn goes on to discuss developing the business, riding the Covid-19 wave and the cost of competing, building a web version and partnering with proven event tech platforms. How working with Zoom – a hard to get alliance launched just two months ago - put the accelerator down for product-led growth. The subsequent trajectory of usage/ the user experience, watching the dashboards, cultivating a viral loop and more besides.

A fascinating, fast-paced half an hour.  

Blockchain rocking beats

Josh Katz is founder and CEO of YellowHeart, which he describes as a made-in-NYC, blockchain live event ticketing platform powered by distributed ledger technology.

 

A fanatical music fan since childhood, Katz moved from promoting shows to record label world in the mid-1990s. He went on to start his own ‘non-traditional’ label, selling it in 2016 to fund a deep dive into crypto, blockchain and, ultimately, YellowHeart.

 

In this episode, Katz talks host James Dickson through Web 3, NFTs, cutting out the middlemen to working directly with artists, touts, transparency, security, fragmentation, enhancing the fan experience through recognition/rewards and more besides.

Do’s and do’s for sustainable events

Jenny Morgan founded Pact Three inspired by the 2020 wild fires, which were in her North West America back yard.

Pact three partners with teams seeking to be more conscious towards the community, planet, and their employees, working with organisations, assessing their social and environmental impact.

In this episode, which, as the title suggests, is about the positives, Jenny digs into the motivations behind her business discussing what it does and how it helps.

Passionate and motivated, Jenny goes on to discuss the value for events clients in Pact Three working outside the sector too, understanding sustainability, staffing and the recruitment process, the younger generation and their better grasp of environmentalism and the flaws in pursuing perfection.

With host James Dickson putting the questions – ‘do’ the regular prefix – Jenny Morgan goes on to talk measurables, certifications, doing things differently and much, much more. 

Making Hay through the storm

With eight years in the sector, Tinique Hay conceived Hay Events, a solution for entrepreneurs and small business management, in 2018.

The company launched in lockdown, providing Hay with an opportunity to hone her virtual and hybrid event skills.

In this episode, Tinique Hay talks host James Dickson through her background, her inspirations for the new business and why she singled out the entrepreneur niche.

Hay highlights the trials of taking a company from theory to practice through the eye of the Covid-19 crisis and finding its physical event form in January this year. She goes on to discuss using social media, building her portfolio via recommendations and word of mouth, budgets, strategy, planning and evolution, sponsorship and much more.

 

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Scottish Event Campus - Net Zero by 2030

A key part of the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) since January 2009, Dawn Lauder has been head of international conferences at the venue for nearly six years.

In this episode, Dawn digs into her learnings from COP26, which was at the SEC in late 2021 making equally sought-after and stellar steps - not least $130tn towards net zero and climate risk disclosure for companies.

Dawn talks host James Dickson through the ‘corona-coaster’, the prestige of hosting COP26 despite the tension wrought by Covid-19 in the run-up, the sense of team it fostered, the “off the charts” media coverage, maintaining that sense of purpose, why it’s worth reading the subsequent Sustainability Report, how hosting the summit has influenced Dawn Lauder’s manifesto for change and much more.

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A heart as big as Liverpool International Music Festival

Yaw Owusu, executive manager at Playmaker Group (PMG), has curated the Liverpool International Music Festival (LIMF) since 2013.

 

Typically focused in Sefton Park, Covid 19’s impact on the city’s celebrated portfolio for live music has seen a telling switch in LIMF’s structure for 2022. This episode is the story of a festival working for its surrounds, for its community – fans, artists and promoters.

 

Recorded two weeks ahead of the event, Yaw discusses how, coming off the pandemic, with Liverpool venues suffering, LIMF model 2022 is moving indoors - delivering a cultural tour of the city and making sure venues “get the fair end of the stick”.

 

In a fascinating 40 minutes Yaw talks inclusivity, logos and theming the event around Liverpool’s huge appetite for music.

 

This year the theme, and the formula for his longlist of potential players, is Power To The People & Purpose – a mission Yaw fully explained to performers so they can play a full part in its delivery.

 

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Getting behind Bizzabo

Working out of Boston on the US east coast, Devin Cleary is VP Global Events for Bizzabo, the event experience operating system, and a regular on the podcast.

 

In this episode, the focus is back on event tech - in the particular context of 2022, the uptick in optimism, getting back to live events and analysing the changes post-pandemic.

 

Devin Cleary highlights the new air of confidence, going on to compare tighter commercial purse strings with consumer spending and balancing the cost/sustainability equation in light of the big virtual/hybrid steps taken through the last two years plus.

 

Cleary goes on to talk, at some pace, about on demand, getting creative and the happiness hangover, the podcasts model, the greater post-event follow-up, a host of invaluable show floor tips, be it in-person, hybrid or virtual, delivering takeaways and much more.

 

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How can brands bring back the boogie this festival season?

Formerly senior logistics manager for Jack Morton Worldwide, Adam Goodman founded full-service creative agency ACA Live in 2008.

In this episode, Adam talks host James Dickson through his 20 years plus in events world, from studying hospitality business management in Leeds via a conference and banqueting role at the Langham through to setting up ACA.

With drinks brands a core component in the company’s impressive list of clients, then and now, that’s the focus as Adam discusses their presence, their value, at green field sites, adding to the audience experience, the post-pandemic appetite for the festival model, its pain point, using technology, social media, and much more. 

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Introducing The Power of Events

Rick Stainton, the man behind creative agency Smyle, founded One Industry One Voice (OIOV) in the eye of the pandemic as a ‘coalition of associations and businesses created to champion the entire events industry’.

 

In this episode, Rick explains why OIOV has recently been rebranded The Power of Events (TPOE) – a partnership with, but not limited to, Greenwich, Westminster, Surrey, Leeds Beckett, Bournemouth, UWS, Edinburgh Napier, Ulster, Swansea and Cardiff Met.

 

A persuasive speaker with a whole lot to say, Rick talks about the Covid-19 impact and his ‘diplomatic crusade’ which brought OIOV together two long years ago, getting commitment from myriad trade associations and businesses. 

 

Rick goes on to mention the opportunities and the recovery process, the potential for newcomers, as well as the lack of respect from the media and government, and how that fits with a ‘completely party agnostic, non-lobbying’ TPOE.  

Event adaptability with Conference Compass

Jelmer van Ast, founder and CEO at Conference Compass, a company – based in the Hague – which is behind customisable event engagement platforms, comes back to the podcast some 12 months after last time.

In this episode, Jelmer talks event adaptability with host James Dickson, the science of technology and increasing engagement.

He goes on to discuss investing in product development and, crucially, why organisers have to build in an ongoing level of malleability post-pandemic. Despite the inherent fear of dramatic change, it’s ‘adapt or die’!

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