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Gateshead Quays arena, another new Culture Secretary, Business of Events 2023 plans & more
This Monday’s Insights (13 February 2023) feature brings you the latest news from Gateshead Quays arena, another new Culture Secretary, Business of Events 2023 plans, and more.
Headlines
Consultation has launched for the new Gateshead Quays arena, events and conference centre.
Revised plans for a £330m development of Gateshead Quays arena, events and conference centre have been revealed as part of a public consultation, according to Conference New’s Louisa Daley.
Louisa’s feature states ‘the previously approved hotel element of the Gateshead Quays development is set to be relocated to a new site on the corner of Quarryfield Road and Hawks Road and is subject to a separate planning application.’
The revision is due to changes in operational and construction requirements. It includes the integration of a new linear park, running from north to south along the eastern boundary of the application site.
For more details on the revised plans, visit Conference News.
Rishi Sunak has announced the creation of four new departments and appointed Lucy Frazer as Culture Secretary, replacing Michelle Donelan.
The changes mean the DCMS is set to lose responsibility for ‘digital’, and will now become the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
Michelle Donelan will be the new Science Secretary for a new ‘Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’.
The other two new departments are the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the Department for Business and Trade.
UKEVENTS has launched new research into the UK Conference and Meetings industry.
UK conference and meeting venues are being encouraged to take part in the 2023 ‘UK Conference and Meeting Survey’ (UKCAMS). This research has a specific focus on the value and volume of the market and venue performance. It also highlights key market trends identified by venues.
Findings of the UKCAMS research are widely used to:
- Demonstrate the volume of the UK conference and meetings sector and its value to individual venues and national economy
- Highlight key trends from a venue or supply-side perspective
- Ensure continuing support and investment for the industry at national, regional and local levels.
The online questionnaire can be accessed at: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/UKCAMS2023
“VisitBritain is pleased to be supporting the ‘UK Conference and Meeting Survey’ which will provide some important insights, research and data on the business events sector in the UK. This is one of the valuable tools we use to demonstrate the importance of events to the UK economy with Government and so welcome the wide participation of our destination partners in supporting this report.”
VisitBritain Head of Business Events, Paul Black
The Business of Events has announced its 2023 planned activity.
Supporting the work carried out by UKEVENTS, The Business of Events is an independent Think Tank. It works to build a stronger UK events sector and realise it’s economic potential.
The independent Think Tank will launch its Policy Unit by hosting a series of roundtable discussions and evidence sessions.
This will lead to the publication of a series of reports, submitted to a newly created Advisory Council for review. A flagship Policy Forum will retain its Autumn slot. Here, policy initiatives will be discussed with representatives from the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Events, DCMS, UKEVENTS, VisitBritain and others.
Read more about the Business of Events plans in Event Industry News, here.
Could Zoom layoffs signal turning away from events?
Zoom has announced it is laying off around 1,300 staff (c.15 per cent) of its workforce. So, Skift Meetings’ Miguel Neves questions if the move implies a shift in Zoom’s focus away from live events.
Neves writes: ‘Major companies such as Meta, Amazon, Google, Salesforce, Dell, eBay, and Microsoft all recently announcing layoffs.
According to tech layoff tracker layoffs.fyi, more than 100,000 staff have been laid off across 334 companies in 2023 already. Alarmingly, the same site tracked just under 160,000 employees laid off at over 1,000 for the whole of 2022. In the past few months, large event tech companies such as Hopin, Bizzabo and Hubilo have all had layoffs. In contrast to previous rounds, none of the companies made public announcements about the layoffs.’
Read Miguel Neves’ full analysis, here.
Keep an eye on EDGE Venues for more updates!
