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UKEVENTS UK Spring Budget wishes, mia’s latest survey, Conference News DEI market research, & more
This month’s news round-up brings you some of the industry and association news and views from March 2024, including UKEVENTS UK Spring Budget wishes, mia’s latest survey, Conference News DEI market research, and more.
Headlines
UKEVENTS shared its UK Spring Budget wishes.
Ahead of the 2024 Spring Budget Michael Hirst OBE, Chair of UKEVENTS Working Group for Advocacy and Government Relations, shared his views on what the industry needs to meet its potential.
Writing on the UKEVENTS blog, he commented: “Ahead of the Spring Budget on the 6th March 2024, it is important that UKEVENTS lays out its recommendations to His Majesty’s Government on what the events industry can offer the United Kingdom.
“While the events industry continues to underpin so much in terms of cultural vitality, societal advancement and trade, there is much more it can offer the Government in terms of supporting its own policy agenda.”
The blog highlighted championing innovation, Facilitating trade and investment, preserving vibrancy, and more.
A researcher at the University of Northampton (UON) is asking event planners how they make decision to avoid disaster.
Claire Drakeley is a senior lecturer in Events Management at the UON and part way through a PhD in which she explores how critical decisions are made as events are taking place.
She is now asking event professionals to complete a 25min survey in which she presents different scenarios and asks survey participants how they would react to them.
Claire said: “…what if you’ve organised an event for 5,000 ticket holders, and then your audio-visual contractor doesn’t turn-up, there are major technical issues or the weather turns your venue into chaos?
“There’s a good chance you’ve been to an event where there have been major issues behind the scenes, but did you notice anything? These scenarios playout all the time, often combining to make it even more challenging, and it is usually up to the experience and knowledge of the Event Management Team to solve the problem before anyone notices.
“I hope this research will end up as a decision-making tool for new, and experienced event managers, which will help bring calm to the chaos and enable them make better decisions when faced with these complex situations.”
This is the first phase of Claire’s research and ahead of the next stage she is inviting survey participants to be part of an expert panel process with three rounds of online input over a four month period to record their feedback on the research and its findings.
The survey includes an invitation to participate in further research activity and to add an email address if they would like to receive the results of the research when it is completed next year.
If you would like to know more, or have any questions, please email Claire via – [email protected].
mia’s (Meetings Industry Association) latest survey, conducted in February 2024, has shown a positive financial industry outlook and rising future bookings.
Yet, as Kerrin McPhee, mia’s chief executive highlights, “…there are still a variety of matters that we as a sector must keep on the radar. We cannot ignore the vast evolution of events that we are anticipating taking place over the next 12 months.”
Yet, as Kerrin McPhee, mia’s chief executive highlights, “…there are still a variety of matters that we as a sector must keep on the radar. We cannot ignore the vast evolution of events that we are anticipating taking place over the next 12 months.”
Some of the survey’s highlights include:
- 73% of organisations are forecasting greater revenue in 2024 than they did for 2023
- 59% have more confirmed future business as of 1 January 2024 than they did as of 1 January 2023
- Overall costs to the sector increased 14% on average in 2023
- 50% of venues are currently prepared for the introduction of Martyn’s Law
View the report in full, via mia.
Conference News has launched market research to explore social responsibility, diversity, equality, inclusion (DEI), accessibility, and mindful language and content in event planning.
The publication, in partnership with Marketing Manchester, has shared that its aim is to uncover how organisers incorporate these values to foster more inclusive and responsible events.
The Business Travel Association (BTA) is calling for an end to unfair and excessive airport pick-up and drop-off fees.
The BTA told TTG Media that “fees were earning UK airports £300 million a year and singled out Stansted, where a combined drop-off and pick-up is £17, as the most expensive in the UK.”
Details of fees were revealed in a BTA whitepaper, Drop the Drop Off Fees, alongside calls for a government investigation into the charges.
Clive Wratten, BTA chief executive, said: “It is utterly illogical that these fees have soared to such unprecedented levels. To get dropped off and picked up kerbside is a necessity for so many travellers.
The Business of Events (TBOE), the Think Tank and Advocacy Network for the global events sector, has published its plan of activity for 2024/5.
It will see a significantly expanded schedule of work and activity as the next 12 months is set to be a critical year for the global events economy, with several high-profile elections taking place around the world.
In the UK, as well as a general election likely to be held towards the end of 2024, local government and mayoral elections will also be held around the country, potentially changing the local political landscape.
All of this means that it is going to be even more important to engage with politicians and policymakers, creating content, briefings and holding events to promote the value and benefits of having a strong business events economy.
As well as engaging with what will be one of the largest intakes of new MPs in a generation, the activity will also connect event planners, both domestic and international, with TBOE partners. These connections will help ensure that the UK remains at the forefront of the global business events industry and continues to meet the needs of planners and delegates.
Working alongside strategic and content partners, the plan also includes an expanded programme of regional, national, and international events. These events will be predominately invitation only, bringing together senior event industry leaders to connect with politicians, policymakers, stakeholders and planners to look at ways in which together we can build better local and national economies through business events.
Martin Fullard, Director of News & Content at TBOE said; “The need for increased advocacy to highlight the opportunities available by having a strong event economy has never been greater, which is why this year we are significantly expanding our sphere of activity; more research, more events, more insights and more engagement.
“In the UK, we have a limited but critical window of opportunity to tell our story, as the focus shifts towards a general election and a much-changed Westminster landscape. This is why we have been focussing on engaging with those who are likely to be in parliament and in positions of influence, as well as continuing to connect with the corporate and association planners and agencies, to ensure our partners have real-time insights into how the UK can become even more competitive as a world-leading event destination.”
This year, a number of regional events will also take place, along with specific Advocacy Forums, which will be held within existing events and trade shows. Due to the UK general election likely taking place in the Autumn of 2024, the signature Global Policy Forum will now be held in February 2025 in Westminster.
Full details of the plan can be downloaded via the Business of Events, here.
C&IT has published a feature on how to get the data stakeholders actually want for event ROI.
The feature claims that even though 73% of event marketers are confident in their data, there is a gap when it comes to useful metrics.
Read more here, including details of a reaport that asked 500 brand decision-makers across Austria, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States working in the Alcohol, Beauty, FMCG, Retail and Technology categories about the live event marketing KPIs that matter, how they would use quality data and the developments they hope to see in the future.
Northstar Meetings Group has revealed that event professionals’ shift to hybrid working is making them more productive and improving company culture.
The group’s latest First Look Research survey reveals that 87 per cent now work from home for part of the week (61%) or work remotely all of the time (26%), with just 13 per cent describing themselves as office based.
Most (72%) were ‘happy’ with their working arrangements and 58 per cent said they thought the increase in hybrid working post-pandemic had increased productivity.
View from the EDGE
EDGE Venues’ Commercial Director, Scott Ford, summed up this March’s monthly insights:
