Turning Industry Change Into Opportunity by Jacqui Kavanagh

Future Vision: Turning Industry Change Into Opportunity – that was our theme for last week’s get together at The Haycock Manor Hotel, and honestly, it couldn’t have been more appropriate.

Right now, our industry is seeing almost daily announcements as stakeholders grapple with increasing demands, rising costs, and the evolving shape of our sector. It’s a lot.

But if there’s one thing that’s clear, it’s this: we need to collaborate more than ever.

Take the recent Government announcements around business tourism funding. In my view, this will have a far-reaching impact, not just in London, but across all our regions, as we risk losing ground to destinations that are not only recognising the value of our industry, but actively investing in digital to ensure they have a voice when major global events are being planned.

Then, shortly after, we saw the announcement from Hilton and Navan. While aimed at OTAs, it sends a much broader message across our industry:

Sit up and listen and be prepared for change.

And for the first time, I genuinely believe we are.

Through our continued investment in technology – particularly throughout Covid – we’ve built the foundations to respond to this shift in a very different way.

We no longer have to adopt what we’re given, we can shape our industry. I say this unapologetically, because EDGE has been built for exactly these challenges.

Whether it’s reducing cost of sale, creating more fluid and integrated systems that match the needs of any major corporate organisations, or enabling better workflows supported by meaningful, sustainable AI, we are ready.

The agency sector remains a pivotal part of the MICE industry. At our Agency Tech Summit, we explored this in real terms, looking at what percentage of the workflow can be successfully managed through tech, so that the time requiring true professional expertise can be focused where it matters most: creativity, personalisation, delivery. Because our industry is personal and people count!

Every client is different, every brief is different, and that human, creative layer is what will always set us apart.

However, and this is critical, without effective, modern technology underpinning it, we simply won’t be taken seriously.

Corporate governance is non-negotiable in our sector as risks on cost, safety and data storage become the focus of all stakeholders.

And that’s why getting the balance right between technology and human expertise is no longer optional, it’s essential.

Across the conference, we tackled these challenges head on.

From Felix Rundel’s global, data-led insights, to our own Emma Lee’s deep dive into our own EDGE data, we moved beyond anecdotal thinking and into real clarity about where we are and where we’re heading.

And with a charismatic piece from Tom Ormsby from Raiven, we explored AI in a way that felt grounded, practical, and genuinely useful, not just hype.

Alongside honest conversations from both industry and buyer panels, the message was clear: Yes, change is happening, but this time, we are in a position to meet it and to help define it.

One thought that stayed with me:

As Felix quite right said “we should not be afraid of the future, we should become the ones who determine our own way forward”.

A huge thank you to everyone who contributed and attended – and of course to our fantastic EDGE team!