Events Apprenticeship Framework, accessibility, sustainability, EBDS explainer, & more

This Monday’s Insights (23 January 2023) feature brings you the Events Apprenticeship Framework, accessibility, sustainability, EBDS explainer, and more.

Headlines

The Events Apprenticeship Framework has been launched by the UKEVENTS (formerly BVEP) Skills Talent & Diversity Working Group to tackle industry’s talent shortage.

The Events Apprenticeship Framework will launch with five apprenticeship schemes, which include: Events Assistant, Live Event Technician, Creative Venue Technician, Live Event Rigger, and AV Event Technician.

It will be overseen by the new Events Apprenticeships Advisory Board (EAAB), which comprises employers and specialist expertise.

Apprenticeships are becoming an increasingly popular route into the industry, with more than 500 Event Assistant apprentices entering the workplace between 2017 and 2021 (IfATE, 2022).

According to UKEVENT’s 2020 UK Events Report, the business events industry employed 700,000 people in 2019. The association’s 2022 data, however, puts the figure anywhere between 140,000 and 560,000, a broad range backed up by UKCAMS and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). This reveals the scale of the impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the sector.

With a clear reduction in overall staffing numbers, a structured apprenticeship programme is a sensible solution to tackling the shortage and presents a positive opportunity for growth.

Crowdfunding initiative launches

To help fund the Events Apprenticeship Framework, the EAAB has launched a crowdfunding initiative and has called for the industry’s support via donations and in promoting the new scheme to school leavers, those already working in the industry, or those considering a career change.

The EAAB says it is “imperative for the sector to have a robust and inclusive apprenticeship framework and to ensure longevity” and encourages any business able to contribute to do so. UKEVENTS has already provided seed funding, enabling a team of volunteers to build a strategy and lay out a clear plan.

Richard Waddington, Chair of EMA and a key figure behind the Events Apprenticeship Framework said: “When you talk to people about the events industry, it’s difficult to explain or understand, the Government doesn’t recognise it as a ‘professional industry’ and schools rarely talk about it as a potential career pathway – our aim is to change this.

“Whilst this is a massive ask in the current financial climate, the industry is crying out for people and there is an enormous untapped talent pool of people we’re not talking to, we need to bang the drum louder, have processes in place and attract people to this amazing industry.”

Read more, here.

M&IT Talks are kicking off 2023 with Anna Abdelnoor and Selina Donald about all things sustainability, including:

• the way the sector’s approach to sustainability has changed over the last decade
• how large events can balance the in-person element with the environmental impact
• how the sector should tackle greenwashing
• the one thing they would change about the sector’s attitude to sustainability

Find out what part of the sustainability conversation is like Netflix v Blockbuster Video, the missed opportunities of Qatar’s World Cup, and how far you can drive in an electric car:

Conference News has shared that ten of the Association of Event Venues (AEV)’s groups and working groups will start the year with 18 new chairs and vice-chairs leading them.

Rachel Parker, director, AEV, told the magazine: “The AEV convenes 15 working groups, including cross association working groups and the new Multi-Association Security Awareness group (MASA). I would like to welcome the new chairs and vice-chairs who will be playing a vital role in leading each group, communicating its findings and concerns to other groups and the wider industry.”

Read more on Conference News.

Skift Meetings’ Andrea Doyle has written a fantastic feature on accessibility and ensuring all attendees, including people with disabilities, can participate.

The piece looks at recognising what’s essential when designing events from the perspective of people with disabilities. It focuses on the insights of accessible design and DEI expert Rosemarie Rossetti, who is paralyzed from the waist down due to a spinal cord injury.

Read the feature in full, here.

Double Take

M&IT Editor, Paul Harvey has put together a fantastic explainer on the government’s forthcoming Energy Bills Discount Scheme (EBDS).

The Energy Bills Discount Scheme will provide businesses with a discount on their energy bills from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024. The government says that the new scheme “strikes a balance between supporting businesses over the next 12 months and limiting taxpayer’s exposure to volatile energy markets”.

The M&IT explainer covers everything from what support will be available for businesses in our sector, including who is eligible, what discounts are available, and support for businesses that use a very large amount of energy.

Read the explainer guide, here.