Martin Fullard is ‘sic’ of it, EDGE Venues shares Q3 success, and M&IT considers what event profs wear to work

This Monday’s Insights (3 October) feature brings you a blog from Martin Fullard on event industry sic codes, the EDGE Venues Q3 results success, Manchester Central and Mash Media’s sustainability white paper, and more.

Headlines

EDGE Venues shared its Q3 success at its annual Business Insights Event on Thursday, 15 September, including a 25 per cent increase in platform users and a 25 per cent uplift in venue searches compared to Q2.

The EDGE team delivered the results alongside market insights and user trends from its recently published Business Intelligence Report. Booking trends of corporate buyers and agents were compared to pre-Covid levels and illustrated increased event attendee numbers and average event values.

The invitation-only event for EDGE licensees took place at the tech platform’s Stamford Office, where more than 70 guests were also the first to hear about EDGE Venues’ development roadmap.

Read more here.

The team at Manchester Central has partnered with MASH Media to launch a white paper delving into the subject of sustainability for the events sector.

The two organisations have completed research aimed at understanding the industry’s current state of play, best practices, challenges we all face, and exploring some of the success stories we can all take inspiration from.

The project has resulted in a newly published whitepaper, Shaping a Sustainable Future. The paper shares key and meaningful insights from the research, which aim to help shape collective and individual sustainability journeys. 

The findings suggest that sustainability is not only here to stay; it’s becoming more important and expected to become an even more significant part of our future decision-making. Yet, over half of survey respondents believe the industry isn’t doing enough to be sustainable or effectively prioritising it, and only 48% believe their organisations are sustainable.

Download the report here to get your hands on more data, actionable insights and expert opinions.

Conference News editorial director, Martin Fullard, has shared his views on event businesses needing to review their SIC codes and use existing ones. 

This is a critical read for anyone involved in the events industry. Standardised Industrial Classification (SIC) codes are managed by the Office for National Statistics in the UK. They are vitally important to measuring the events industry’s value to the UK economy. It’s time we were taken seriously by the UK Government, but that can only happen if we can officially demonstrate our collective worth.

Read Martin’s blog here.

How much do you consider what you wear to work? Well, M&IT is addressing the question head on in a brand new survey – and they need your help.

What Eventprofs Wear – the M&IT Survey will provide a snapshot of changing fashions and tastes in the UK events industry.

“Fashion reflects social changes,” said M&IT editor Paul Harvey. “What we wear is just one lens through which we can study the transformation of our sector. You don’t have to go to too many events in our sector to realise that clothes are extremely important to eventprofs – how we represent ourselves, our companies and our brands. 

“It’s also clear from the last couple of years that fashions in the sector are changing. For a time during lockdown it seemed as if we’d never wear work clothes again. Now trainers at trade shows are the norm as the boundaries between work and leisure get ever more blurred.

“What Eventprofs Wear – the M&IT Survey aims to discover exactly what current fashion patterns say about the sector – and what they say about the future. I hope as many of our readers as possible can find the time to get involved in our survey – as you only have to look at the style on show at any given industry event to know that what eventprofs wear is a topic close to the hearts of a great many people in the sector.”

The results of What Eventprofs Wear – the M&IT Survey will appear in the Autumn/Winter edition of M&IT.

Click here to take part in the survey.

Double Take

isla has announced it has voted in nine new members to its Advisory Board, strengthening expert, cross-sector input across all isla activities.

Made up of both isla members and non-members alike, the new appointees represent a wide spectrum of events-industry stakeholders from agencies, exhibition organisers and venues right through to caterers and industry media.

“isla’s membership base is growing steadily and our expanded Advisory Board will ensure that we best represent the interests of our community and the wider industry, to create a united voice for change. Against the backdrop of COP27 and a growing appetite for turning climate conversations into solutions, we’re excited to harness the combined expertise and energy of the Advisory Board.”

isla Co-founder, Anna Abdelnoor