Current News July 07
Posted in News on July 3rd, 2007Queen to open Glasshouse
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) will open its £7.7m Glasshouse at Wisley in Surrey this month, offering event planners a 700-capacity venue containing more than 5,000 cultivated plants.
The 12.5-metre tall Glasshouse has been developed as part of the RHS’s bicentennial celebrations and features three climatic zones including dry temperate, moist temperate and tropical.
It opens on 14 June before being officially launched by the Queen on 26 June. The Royal Horticultural Halls & Conference Centre in London is managing corporate hospitality and event bookings at the venue.
An RHS spokeswoman said: “Available for evening events from 7pm to 11pm, the Glasshouse will offer visitors wonderful views over the amphitheatre Glasshouse Landscape Garden, designed by award-winning designer Tom Stuart Smith, and the splendid lake reservoir, which holds enough to water the entire garden at Wisley for two months.
“For those events where the weather really is glorious, guests can wander outside to enjoy these magnificent surroundings.”
Other features inside the Glasshouse include rocky outcrops, waterfalls and still pools. In the grounds there is a glass-fronted café overlooking the lake. The in-house caterer is Relish the Experience, part of Sodexho Prestige.
The Glasshouse further features 6sqm curved sheets of tempered glass to allow maximum light transmission, greater strength, wind resistance and thermal efficiency.
Red Bull Air Race to fly by O2
The Red Bull Air Race World Series will come to London for the first time this summer with 80,000 spectators expected to gather by the O2.
The peripatetic stunt-plane racing festival has so far this year taken place in Rio de Janeiro on 21 April, Abu Dhabi on 6 April and Monument Valley in Utah on 12 May. It will come to London from 28-29 July before moving on to Budapest and finishing in Perth, Australia at the end of its 11-strong event tour.
Red Bull event manager Louise Taylor said: “It will be the biggest ever Red Bull event in the UK in terms of investment and manpower. The great thing about the infrastructure we use is that it can be built anywhere as you don’t have to have a circuit already in place. “
Red Bull has commissioned myriad suppliers to assist its in-house events team and create a traffic control centre, airplane hangars, media stations, VIP stations and grandstands. The event space is built across a disused area within the boroughs of Greenwich, Tower Hamlets and Newham.
Visit London chief executive James Bidwell said: “We welcome the announcement that yet another fantastic international event will be coming to London.”
The Red Bull Air Race began life in 2004 and the London leg will be televised on Channel 4. British pilots involved include Paul Bonhomme, Steve Jones and Nigel Lamb.
Evoke the Senses began a 10-week sampling campaign for Red Bull’s new drink Sabai Pomegranate, a Thai wine spritzer, on 17 May in bars across the UK. Further sampling and events will take place at retail outlets and festivals throughout the summer.
Exporting Events Excellence
It is ironic, perhaps, that the UK’s most senior marketing medium is arguably its most advanced today. Then again, such irony is hardly surprising. For 100 years, the UK events scene has evolved with the times, continuously reinventing itself and consistently delivering on the live stage. Flagship events such as the Ideal Home Show or London Boat Show collectively attract annual attendances of 1/2 million visitors and create effective forums where buyers and sellers interact face-to-face, within a unique multi-sensory marketing environment. UK events create industry communities, where exhibitors and visitors converge to uncover the latest innovations, new products and trends. Event organisers and suppliers must develop their own techniques at a simultaneous, or faster pace than their customers, in order to provide inspiring industry platforms that attract the active (and for that read spending) visitor; a crowd that exhibiting brands are very happy to follow!
The UK events sector is mature, diverse and successful. For every interest or passion, there is an event; over 1,800 UK exhibitions alone take place each year. Far from simply addressing the big consumer fads of the moment, a plethora of live events cover an ever-increasing array of niche activities. This bustling market place breeds competition; for every industrial sector, a healthy battle ensues between companies seeking to produce ’the industry event’. UK event organisers and suppliers are used to being ’on their toes’, anticipating and addressing the latest issues and methods that will give them the edge. Indeed, they are very good at it… in fact, they lead the world.
Exporting events expertise across the globe is a true ‘invisible’, but nonetheless significant contributor to UK plc’s balance of trade, like much else in the sector. After 48 years, the industry has only just won recognition by the Office of National Statistics via a specific SIC code, just in time for the Olympics! In October 2005, KPMG undertook the first ever economic impact study of the UK exhibitions industry. Its headline findings were that the exhibitions sector (which equates to just one element of the UK events scene) annually contributes £9.3 billion to the UK economy and generates 137,000 full time jobs. The £22 billion1 UK events sector is significant, it is growing and it is increasingly global.
Overseas venue operators in particular have been quick to recognise the expertise of the UK events sector. The Association of Event Venues (AEV) has seen the number of international members increase in recent years, with new members like Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC), AsiaWorld-Expo in Hong Kong, Dubai World Trade Centre and Messe Bremen, joining existing member venues from countries such as Bahrain, Australia and from all across Europe. All are keen to entice UK brands to their markets. “Reed Exhibitions, CMP Information, IIR (Middle East) and dmg world media have already committed to a combined 30 shows at ADNEC,” comments chief executive, Simon Horgan. “Through our innovatve ‘Foundation Partner’ initiative, the venue and organisers have made a mutual commitment to develop new shows. Consumer events here have become very sophisticated, very quickly and in the main, it’s the British organisers that have led the way brining their successful events to this huge market.”
UK-based event organiser Montgomery’s International Food Exhibition (IFE) brand is a case in point. The biennial showcase, which took place in March at ExCeL London, was established in 1979 and is now one of the leading events on a global scale, attracting more than 26,000 professionals from 101 countries. In 2001 organisers identified the low hanging fruit in emerging markets, and have gone on to clone the event in India, Poland and other countries. A challenge? “Taking a successful event to new overseas marketsis not all plain sailing” comments Christopher Newton, managing director and brand guardian at Montgomery, “we bring with us a global brand and business plan, but rely a great deal on localpartners to ensure that the new event meets the needs of the new audience.”
In the case of IFE Poland, Montgomery works in partnership with Expomedia Events (EME); both are members of the UK’s Association of Event Organisers (AEO). Ex-pat David Ashdown, managing director of the Warsaw based EME operation, testifies to the importance of imported expertise and recognises the benefits of working with UK partners. "I have a strong team that are able to deliver great events,but the history of the country means that the business mentality still lags the west a litte, though things are changing quickly! In the three years I have been here I have seen a terrific growth in openness with more adventurous UKinspired strategies and tactics now much morereadily accepted. The UK leads the world in events, so many ideas are too advanced technologically or in the mindset of the audience, but that does mean that ideas that do get torun, mark us out as leaders in the field. Without question, our adoption of the UK modus operandi has elevated us to market leaders."
It not just the emerging markets that recognise the UK industry’s prowess and penchant to export. “We see the UK exhibition and conference organiser community as an energetic environment that is continually exploring new and existing market opportunities” comments Andreas Marquardt of German venue/organiser, Messe Bremen which has recently established a UK office to build on its positioned as the host for the European rollout of UK event brands.
The UK’s influential power in live events, coupled with the Olympic factor, means that more people than ever are interested in working in this dynamic sector, a phenomena not expected to change for the next 5 years. With the industry’s first vocational A-Level qualification arriving in 2008 and both Under and Post Graduate courses now available in the UK, the experience and professionalism within the industry’s current and future workforce should only increase; another factor not lost on overseas practitioners.
The recruitment sections of the event trade magazines are full of exciting opportunities, enticing ‘experienced professionals’ to ply their trade around the world. Bill Pretty, managing director of specialist recruiters Dragonfly has seen a 29% growth in business in the last 12 months. “With big, new facilities popping up especially in the UAE, venue operator/organisers need seasoned professionals to fill the increased capacity. The new Dubai World Trade Center, planned alongside the new airport,will be the bggest in the world so you can understand the need to have people that ‘make ithappen’ in position,” he says. “From Exhibition Directors, Sales Managers and Marketing Executives, we are filling roles at all levels. Confrontation is not in the Arabian business culture, so part of the reasoning behind employing hard-nosed UK pros, is that they bring an added dimension to an organisation whether it is used or not! After the Indian presence, the British contingent is probably the next most significant although there are a good number of Germans, Americans and Australians too.”
Pretty’s is a view confirmed by Rebecca Wilson Director at esp recruitment "We are doing more and more overseas recruitment in Dubai especially, where the market is growing rapidly. Our clients recruit largely from the UK, the events hub of the world, tapping into the rich pool of home-grown talent. Candidates are keen to go to Dubai to work in this fast paced purpose-built event destination, offering attractive tax-free salaries, and it can only serve to further strengthen their careers." Bahrain Exhibition & Convention Authority’s Director of MICE, Destination Marketing & P.R, Debbie Stanford-Kristiansen concludes, "one of the main reasons I was headhunted to set up this new department was that I have over 19 years experience in the industry.”
Today’s individually minded, global citizen is more likely to reject junk mail and object to mass scattergun advertising intruding upon their lives. True permission-led marketing, to increasingly focused target groups will gain even greater prominence. Permission marketing is event territory! To stay relevant, and to be around for another 100 years, UK event organisers and suppliers must ensure that they remain at the very top of their game in order to maintain and build upon their respected international status. The industry has a great chance… it has certainly had the practice! Press Release
ICCA Goes Green in Brighton
Summer debate will explore green meetings and venues
Delegates from the UK and Ireland’s conference centres, convention bureaus, hotels, airlines, professional conference organisers and exhibition companies will discuss green issues at the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) UK & Ireland Chapter 2007 Summer Debate.
‘Going Green – Fad or Future?’ will be held at the De Vere Grand Hotel on July 12 and 13. The debate aims to explore socially responsible meetings, commercial viability, green buildings and recycling/carbon offsetting – all which have become highly influential and important factors in preparing and winning bids for conferences and exhibitions as well as during the events themselves.
The programme has been split into four sections ‘Green Meetings – The Future of
Conferencing?’; ‘Green Services’; ‘How Green is Your Venue’ and ‘Communicating the Green
Message’’. The presentations will be followed by round table discussions.
Speakers include John Proctor from the Green Business Tourist Scheme, Angela Mawle (UK
Public Health Association), Leith’s Catering, Reeds Exhibitions, Melville’s, Adam Bates
(VisitBrighton), Martin Lewis (CAT Publications) and Robert Wright (Davis Tanner).
Brian Horsburgh, ICCA UK & Ireland Chapter chair said: “Green issues and corporate social
responsibility are increasingly being raised by meeting planners as key factors for their
clients. The UK and Ireland’s conference and exhibition industry is increasingly having to
address these global issues to ensure that we remain a top destination choice.”
He added: “We have continued the two-day format we trialled at the Winter debate in
Florence in January as it proved to be very successful. Delegates have appreciated more
time for discussion, networking and to experience the destination.”
The 2007 Summer Debate follows a series of topical debates held by the UK & Ireland Chapter. The Chapter is currently in discussion with the ICCA Iberian Chapter about holding a joint Winter Debate with them in Spain or Portugal. Source
EVENTIA One Future Programme Launched at Summer Conference
New carbon reporting initiative
Eventia has launched a carbon reporting, carbon reduction and offset management programme in a move to work towards a more sustainable, lower carbon-emitting events industry.
The Eventia One Future programme will provide a framework to support Eventia members and their clients in reducing and offsetting their emissions. Clients of Eventia members will be able to receive lower carbon event management and will be offered the opportunity to make a voluntary one per cent contribution of their total spend on any event to a UK-based carbon offset programme.
Partnering Eventia in the initiative is The Carbon Consultancy, a company providing specialist carbon management services and delivering UK carbon offset products that include forestry and support for education. The company will be supporting Eventia members and their clients through corporate and staff programmes, education and training support.
Hugo Kimber, CEO of The Carbon Consultancy says: “We are delighted to be working with Eventia to develop this comprehensive carbon management programme, which will deliver a lower carbon events industry and will set a high voluntary standard for the service sector.”
The original idea for the Eventia One Future initiative was announced in July 2006 by the Association’s then Chairman, Nigel Cooper. The concept received immediate support from 11 leading events agencies. In the intervening months, while research has been undertaken to create the means to structure and administrate the scheme, those early-adopters have already begun auditing, reducing and offsetting their own corporate carbon emissions.
Aileen Reuter, Maritz Director of Marketing and Eventia Board Member, has been working with The Carbon Consultancy to create a toolkit that will enable Eventia Members to work with their clients in establishing carbon-responsible programmes.
Says Reuter: ”This initiative has been designed to position carbon reduction and mitigation at the heart of event management. Many client companies are already taking sustainability seriously and the Eventia One Future programme will ensure that their event planning supports their wider CSR policies.
