Monday Insights – July 4th

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

Headlines

Conference & Incentive Travel (C&IT)’s State Of The Industry Corporate report 2022 has looked at why retaining staff is a rising challenge.

Almost half of those surveyed (47%) for the report said it would be difficult to retain talent in the next year.

And one respondent believes it could be down to people moving on from that weren’t right for them, but were taken out of necessity. “After the pandemic lots of eventprofs were forced to move roles and did not necessarily get one that’s the best fit so people are still reshuffling looking for a longer-term role.”

The annual report was discussed in detail at a roundtable event. Here, it was noted that one planner felt there was a growing trend of in-house event organisers being replaced by agencies. ‘Many companies relied on agencies and other external suppliers during the pandemic to help them deliver virtual events, and this could well be an ongoing post-pandemic approach.’

From market saturation to self-improvement and beyond, take a look at what survey respondents say about why staff shortages are impacting the sector in the 2022 report here.

Conference News has shared that £117m worth of events were covered under the Government insurance scheme

The scheme, aimed at helping ‘plan events with confidence’ was said to be worth over £750 million during it’s launch by Chancellor Rishi Sunak on August 5 2021.

Check out the Conference News feature for analysis of the event covered, and comments from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

Center Parcs reopening conference and event spaces at two of its UK locations from September following their closure due to the pandemic.

According to a report in BTN Europe, the Venue meetings space at Woburn Forest in Bedfordshire, which has undergone a £2.5 million upgrade in the past two years, and Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire will reopen for corporate groups in the autumn.’

It’s ‘nature-rich escapes’ are already in high demand, as Center Parcs told BNT that ‘bookings for conferences and events had already exceeded pre-Covid levels and enquiries from booking agents were now up by 10 per cent compared with 2019.’

Read the news here.

EIC has launched an enhanced framework for sustainable events.

Exhibition News told readers the Events Industry Council’s (EIC) Sustainable Event Standards is comprised of eight standards ‘designed to assess events and industry suppliers in support of environmental and social responsibility.’

Originally created in 2019 to replace the APEX/ASTM Environmentally Sustainable Meeting Standards, the Sustainable Event Standards provide guidance and metrics for event professionals at all stages of their sustainability journey.

Find out more about the changes here, which include :

• Foundations Level
• Improved Ease of Use and Expanded Criteria
• Integrated Property Standard
• New Certification Cadence
• Clearly Defined Roles

Doubletake

Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre has seen a significant increase in demand for in-person events, with up to 127 global meetings (51 conventions and 76 exhibitions) booked at the venue from 2022 to 2024.

Alan Pryor, the Centre’s General Manager, told Kongres Magazine:

“We definitely are seeing an improvement in Malaysia’s business events landscape after two years, which were heavily impacted by the pandemic. Malaysia as a destination has demonstrated its capability to create a safe environment for business events moving forward and the strength and resilience of its supply chain and logistics, showcasing flexibility and agility in the face of a global crisis.”

Read the report here.