EDGE Venues hosted its Winter Summit over three days across various London venues, with the pinnacle event held at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms on 23 January.
Bringing together over 200 delegates, including agents, corporates, industry leaders, and stakeholders, the Summit celebrated its growth, provided analysis of industry insights, discussions on future collaboration, and influenced policy shaping to the meetings and events sector.
In her opening statement, CEO Jacqui Kavanagh talked about how as an industry, we must embrace change and actively seek solutions. While hotels and venues have made significant progress in reducing physical waste, the issue of inefficiency from unproductive RFPs remains. These generate unnecessary noise, cost, and effort without driving real business. EDGE is making a difference by transforming the approach to RFPs, focusing on well-prospected, high-performing opportunities that align with industry needs, prioritise efficiency, and deliver meaningful outcomes for all stakeholders.
Speakers and panellists represented Agencies and Corporates and included other industry professionals from the MIA, Mash Media, Davies Tanner and EDGE Venues’ Jacqui Kavanagh, managing director Scott Ford, marketing director Emily Butler, and data analyst Emma Lee.
Discussions addressed the sector’s challenges and opportunities, Labour Government policy, and strategies for maximising influence, as well as the potential impact of a Trump presidency. The agenda also covered industry insights with actionable takeaways from EDGE Venues, along with technology innovations, including the EDGE Venues platform roadmap and a call to support EDGE Developers Panels.
Speaking on day two of the Summit, Jacqui Kavanagh, EDGE Venues CEO, said: “The EDGE Winter Summit brings together some of the brightest industry minds to focus on its challenges, opportunities, and how we can impact Government policy.
“As we look ahead to 2025, we must focus on three key areas: influencing policies that develop growth and innovation within our industry, encouraging collaboration within our EDGE Development panels and addressing inefficiencies, such as human waste capital, to ensure we’re maximising the potential of our people and resources. This Summit shows we can achieve transformative outcomes together through purpose and intent.”
MIA’s Andrew Mosely said: “Events like today clearly show the phenomenal strength of our sector. Whether you provide a service such as tech, are a venue, association member, agent or corporate – as a united voice we can influence the change we want to see. Not just within public policy but by having a say on how we develop and grow technologies, best practice and ambitions within the sector.”
Attendees leave the event with actionable insights and a renewed sense of collaboration. EDGE Venues’ leadership reaffirmed their commitment to supporting stakeholders with cutting-edge tools and platforms to meet industry demands.
EDGE would like to thank its sponsors; De Vere Venues, Middle Eight, Axiom, Radisson Edwardian, The Londoner, Joi and Catch the MICE.
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