Monday Insights – June 13th

This Monday’s Insights feature brings you the industry headlines you may have missed from the previous week.

Headlines

Bradford has been crowned UK City of Culture 2025, taking on the prestigious title from Coventry UK City of Culture 2021.

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries approved the winner based on independent advice from a panel of experts led by TV writer-producer Sir Phil Redmond. The experts visited each of the four shortlisted places, including County Durham, Southampton and Wrexham County Borough, to learn more about the bids before making their final recommendation.

Bradford will now receive £275,000 in initial seed funding to ensure the city can hit the ground running and get the wheels in motion early as it develops its plans for 2025. This grant will help pave the way for a year of unforgettable cultural activities and events.

Bradford is a young and vibrant city with a rich heritage. Its impressive bid drew upon its wide range of local cultural assets, including the Bronte Parsonage, Saltaire UNESCO World Heritage Site and the National Science and Media Museum.

The city is also investing in its future cultural assets. It secured £20 million from the Levelling Up fund to invest in the Squire Lane Wellbeing and Enterprise Centre. And it is using a £4 million DCMS grant to redevelop the Bradford Odeon into a 4,000-seat live music and entertainment venue: ‘Bradford Live’.

Find out more here.

Jane Longhurst has been awarded for an OBE for her services to the business events sector in Her Majesty The Queen’s Birthday Honours’ List.

Before her retirement from her role as chief executive of the Meetings Industry Association (mia) in November, Jane was the driving force behind the trade association, committed to championing, collaborating with and uniting the many different parts of the sector while also advocating best practice to raise industry standards.

The honour particularly recognises Jane’s role during the pandemic, working around the clock leading a simultaneous government, media and member relations strategy, where she provided insight, clarity and guidance alongside a comprehensive suite of business support tools that were signposted by government.

“There were so many incredible people working tirelessly throughout the pandemic pulling out every stop in support of the industry, so to have been singled out with an honour is extremely humbling. This recognition alongside the unanimous supportive feedback from members and high retention rates during my time at the mia would not have been possible without the dedication and commitment of the wider mia team.”  

Jane Longhurst

Read more on M&IT.

How big are the event supply chain’s current challenges? M&IT editor Paul Harvey talks to Andrew Harrison, director of the Event Supplier and Services Association (ESSA) about the current challenges, whether it can be characterised as a crisis, and what the future holds.

Listen here.

The frequency of multilingual meetings and events is increasing, but the use of translation to bridge the language gap remains low.

To better understand how companies are addressing multilingual meeting and event collaboration challenges, Wordly commissioned a comprehensive global study to identify current practices and future industry trends.

The resulting 2022 State of Multilingual Collaboration found that Sales and Marketing professionals responsible for planning and managing multilingual meetings and events want to increase inclusivity and engagement in order to reach more global employees, customers, and partners.

Language barriers are recognized as an obstacle, even when participants speak some English. Human-powered interpretation solutions are still popular, but there is a growing demand for technology powered solutions like AI-powered translation. Some key findings from the research are summarized below:

• 77% of Corporate Meeting and Event Planners Report an Increase in Multilingual Attendees (English is not their primary language)
• Over the Past Year – 72% Expect the Trend to Continue Next Year
• 60% Typically See 6 or More Languages Spoken – 23% See 11 or More Languages
• 95% of Corporate Meeting and Event Planners Have Some Experience Using Interpretation and Translation at Their Events – 76% Report Their Usage Is Increasing But 42% Have Limited or No Experience
• Interpretation Is Used at Both In-Person Events (79%) and Virtual Events (61%)
• Only 33% Report They Regularly Offer Interpretation.

Download the full report, here.

Double Take

TV personality Linda Papadopoulos has been announced for C&IT’s inaugural Festival of Forums. Linda will open the main day of content on Thursday 28 July.

Dr Linda Papadopoulos is one of the best-known and well-respected psychologists in the UK. An author, broadcaster and academic, she combines professional research on human behaviour and trends with the ability to deliver advice and insights in accessible, relevant ways. 

Linda will be talking to event planners about how to apply psychology to the design of event agendas, to maximise engagement and meaningful experiences.

Festival of Forums takes place from 26-29 July at the SEC, Glasgow. For more information, and to secure your place to hear Linda speak, click here.