Event Industry News Podcast

Many organisations in the industry have had very little choice but to pivot to a virtual solution. Swoogo, an event registration platform, is no exception. Joining me this week is Molly Falco, the company’s director of marketing, who explains what was achieved in just 40 days. The company’s ethos has always been ‘Make Things Easy’ so the first step was to create a place for customers’ virtual events to live within the existing Swoogo product. Using a single sign on (SSO) process, data is transferred from the streaming platform securely by Swoogo rerouting the link to one of its own. This cool feature also prevents uninvited people accessing meetings, or in Molly’s words “Zoom-Bombing”. One feature I really like is that this new offering is Streaming Platform agnostic - meaning organisers can use their preferred platforms rather than being forced to learn another. It’s also possible to use multiple streaming platforms simultaneously. In contrast, Molly went on to tell me that Swoogo will soon be launching

Once again, it’s been a big week for the industry. Since our last broadcast, Edinburgh Festival, Wimbledon and The Open Championship have all been cancelled. But, is there already light at the end of the tunnel? On 3 April, China hosted what organisers claim is the first major trade fair to take place in the country following the Covid-19 pandemic. China’s first reported death was 11 January and reports today (7 April) show zero new deaths due to the outbreak. If the UK were to follow the same timeline, then major events could start as early as the end of May. If events do get the go ahead as soon as May then marketeers may need to act quick. This week, my podcast guest is Tag Digital’s Laura Davidson, a specialist in digital event marketing who highlights best event marketing practice. Serving 2,000 events annually, Laura also shares key-analysis from when events began to cancel in Asia through to the more recent cancellations in Europe and the UK. If you’re interested in taking part in a podcast then

In the second in a series of ‘Lockdown’ podcasts, I’m joined by Grip founder, Tim Groot. Grip is an intelligent Event Matchmaking solution designed to connect relevant people in the physical event world. Up until 4 weeks ago, Grip hadn’t hosted a virtual event but were forced into delivering a solution in less than 24 hours. The pivot from physical to virtual is upon us and Grip has already facilitated several thousand virtual meetings over the last couple of weeks. Whereby is now fully embedded into the Grip platform and has now rolled-out the additional features to clients including Clarion, Informa and ITB Berlin. Tim explains virtual meetings has improved the quality of the data and increased interaction and adoption rates. Tim also highlights that this current situation will change events forever and may even accelerate a change in how exhibitions are delivered. If you’re interested in taking part in a podcast then please complete the application form

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 (19th 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,

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

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 som

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 26th 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 26th February and #EventWellbeingWeek that will run from 21st-27th 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. Throug

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 focu

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

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. Delive

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 prospecti

Joining our podcast host, James Dickson, on this week’s podcast was ICC Belfast’s head of digital, Charlie McCloskey. During his time with us, he discussed how the venue utilises digital marketing to drive revenue and increase exposure. Charlie is the first head of digital at the ICC Belfast, having joined in April 2018. He designs and delivers the digital strategy for the venue, using its website and digital marketing channels (such as email marketing and social media) to accomplish his goals. In the past 18 months, Charlie and the team reviewed all their “customer touchpoints” to work towards improving them, create a more targeted approach and enhancing the customer experience. Some of the changes they made involved removing steps from their website’s booking forms, improved the seating map and added more information. Within a short space of time after doing this, Charlie found the basket abandonment rate dropped by 30%. Not only did Charlie dive into the site’s analytics to learn how consumers were usi

Speaking from Universal Live’s Bradford base, our podcast host, James Dickson was welcomed by its commercial manager, Neil Clappison, and creative graphic designer, Gaby Watson. On this episode, Neil and Gaby explained the creative design process the team at Universal Live undertakes with each project and how it may differ from client to client. They delved into the various tools, hardware and programmes they use as well as discussed how they generate ideas from brief to brief. The Universal Live duo discussed the tools and programmes they use in the design process, stating that drawing their ideas is much more beneficial than trying to describe them over email or on paper. Having a visual representation of their ideas immediately allows clients to understand exactly what they are thinking, and discussions become a lot more fluid. Additionally, Gaby explained that if her creative process was dependent on the tools she already had at her disposal, she would already be starting off on “the back foot”. Neil a

Fifth Element Group is an award-winning live experience company that is recognised throughout the world for creating large-scale galas, events, fundraisers, conferences and activations. On today’s podcast, president, Aaron Kaufman, spoke to our host, James Dickson, on how to keep events “real”. Speaking from the head offices in Canada, Aaron stated that Fifth Element Group was born from him discovering a “gap in the industry” 16 years ago when clients’ expectations were not being met properly. Aaron wanted to merge the management and design of an event into one firm. Transparency between event planners and clients regarding fees is critical for a successful relationship. Aaron explained the planner should break down each rental/purchase to the client who then, in turn, appreciates where their money is going. Hiding costs suggests the planner is not confident they are providing good value for money.  Aaron also claimed that healthy competition is ideal within the industry. “Going after” your competitors and

Joining the Event Industry News podcast this week was Deborah Henley, the founder of Vivacity Consulting. Deborah is a professional speaker and former event booker with training in psychology. Though her education in psychology may not be event-related, she stated that it has given her a deeper understanding of audiences, languages and how to engage people. Deborah used her time on the podcast to discuss how best to choose a speaker for your event and describe her top practices to get the best out of them. Deborah lives by what she calls the ‘KFDs’. Before speaking, she asks herself, what does she want her audience to know by the end of her presentation; what does she want them to feel and what does she want them to do. Additionally, she claimed that if your speaker can describe in simple, concise terms what their subject is about and the key points they wish the audience will take away, you, as an organiser, can feel reassured that they will transfer this concise description to their presentation. “If [y

For this week’s episode, podcast host, James Dickson, spoke to CEO and founder of Conference Compass, Jelmer van Ast. Founded in 2010, Conference Compass is an event app provider for the conference sector. Speaking during the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) Congress, Jelmer explained the benefits of designing and developing an app for one specific sector.  Due to the event industry being so broad, the technology that supports it has to be adaptable. Though both are live events, a band concert in a park and a multi-strand conference are two very different occasions, therefore, they require different products, services and technology. This is also the same for the event app. Focusing on creating apps for the conference sector allows the team at Conference Compass to develop sector-specific solutions for organisers. “Pick one thing and do it well,” James agreed, stating that an app that is suitable for different events would offer a “diluted” offering as opposed to something that is

Founder and MD, Holly Moore, from Make Events joined our podcast host, James Dickson, on this week’s episode to discuss the role of women in the event industry as well as her personal journey.  Make Events is a corporate event agency based in Cheshire that revolves around creating the “ultimate experience” for top brands including Garmin, Myprotein and Twitter. Last February, Holly ran an event for her staff. She believes that the best way to drive a message home is through a live event and so she put this into practice for her own team which served as the delegates to the two-day conference.  This event allowed Holly to communicate the agency’s strategy for 2019 as well as remind the team of Make Events’ core values. “The event was two-pronged: to drive the message of Make Events forward for the financial year and to give them [her team] the experience of an event that they loved so that they could sell it to clients,” Holly said. She stressed that the devil is in the detail when it comes to planning. D

This week on the Event Industry News podcast, our host, James Dickson, welcomed the director of exhibition sales at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC), Dan Thurlow.  The SEC is a meeting and event venue in Glasgow composed of three buildings: the SEC Centre (five interconnected exhibition and meeting spaces), the SEC Armadillo (3,000-capacity) and The SSE Hydro (a 13,000-capacity concert, sporting and special event arena). Originally the SECC (Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre), the venue rebranded to the SEC to offer more clarity on its venues and services. It offers event spaces suitable for conferences, exhibitions, sporting events, concerts and corporate events. It can be accessed via train, taxi or plane; the SEC shares a city with Glasgow Airport and has a dedicated Metro station on the campus. Dan described the in-house team’s approach as hands-on, helping with concepts and discussing with clients about their objectives and requirements. “We want to make shows as strong as possible – we don’t