Insight: Issue 16 (14th October)

There’s good news & bad news in today’s insight.

But we’ve saved the best news ’til last, so you’ve got something to look forward to. We’re nice like that.

Here’s the latest: the UK is still going back and forth on business events (shocking); meanwhile, other countries are opening back up (*sigh*); we’ve got some best practice advice for virtual events; some tips for job hunting on social media; there’s a new organisation helping event companies be more sustainable; and a new campaign task force, called One Industry One Voice…

UK goes back and forth on business events

Last week’s insight detailed the total lack of financial support from the UK government for the events industry. This week, things are…exactly the same. Event Manager Blog has summed up where we’re at…

For months, regulations around live events have been all over the place, all over the world. But guidance in the UK has been especially contradictory. Back in July, PM Boris Johnson told us that conferences and trade shows would be allowed to resume from 1 October. But, as we approached that date and event profs dared to hope, the rug was pulled out from under our collective feet yet again, with the new ban of mass gatherings over 6 people. The PM’s comments on the subject only served to confirm that events would not be able to resume as planned, while UK Healthy Secretary Matt Hancock vaguely commented that the UK government would not be upholding these event restrictions for ‘any longer than we have to’.

In short, there has yet to be widespread recognition and support from the UK government. They need to get their act together and support the events industry—and they need to do it fast.

We’re living vicariously through other countries

Now that we’ve got that out of our system, let’s live vicariously through other countries with fewer crippling restrictions. That’ll cheer us up…right?

China, Italy, and parts of the US are now allowing exhibitions to go ahead. In North America, the Las Vegas business events industry is opening back up; permitting events of 250 people in smaller venues, and up to 1k people in larger venues (or 10% maximum capacity). And that’s on the smaller scale.

In Chengdu, China, the 16th Chengdu International Environmental Protection Expo (CDEPE), a large-scale green-technologies expo, took place at the end of September. The event attracted 19k attendees, and exhibitors used more than 220k square feet of space to carry out 20 educational sessions. But it gets better. CDEPE is a sister show to a significantly larger event, Ecomondo, which is taking place in Rimini, Italy, from 3 to 6 November. This event typically attracts 80k+ attendees.

Business events have also been given the green light across New Zealand, with Auckland moving to Alert Level 1 on 7 October. Lisa Hopkins, Chief Exec of Conventions & Incentives New Zealand (CINZ), commented:

“Now is the time to rebuild the industry and deliver confidence back to organisers who have been holding off planning and booking their events. Our message is it is safe to hold a conference, seminar, workshop, or team recognition event. We want people to understand that business events are the safest type of event that can be held, backed up by the World Health Organisation (WHO) itself.”

Best practice for a powerful virtual experience

Alas, until we can join them, the virtual show must go on…

To ease the pain—and to remind us of the *many* upsides of virtual events (global accessibility, reduced attendee costs, rich analytics, to name a few…)—event and experiential marketing agency, Impact, have shared some advice on best practice for virtual events.

They’ve curated 10 tips for creating a powerful virtual experience, one that will connect your organisation to your target audience and drive your business forward. Their insights cover everything from picking a platform and creating an agenda, to engagement ideas and analytics reporting. So hop to it and download your copy here.

Event agencies flock to join ‘isla’

As much as we’d like to return to live events (have we made that clear?) you can’t argue with the environmental benefits of going virtual. For any event companies out there that want to continue creating sustainable events, even when they’re no longer online, you might be interested to hear about isla.

Launched last month, isla helps event companies to implement consistent standards of environmental impact, whilst also providing measurement and management support. Their core objective is ‘accelerating the event industry’s transition to a sustainable future’. Fifteen new members have already joined, including event and experiential agencies, as well as event support businesses—proving there’s a real hunger for sustainable events in the industry.

Intrigued? Check them out at weareisla.co.uk.

Tips for job hunting on social media

With so many hospitality and event profs out of work, Smart Meetings has shared some tips for job hunting on social media. They recommend:

1. Optimising your profile. LinkedIn is an obvious place to job hunt. Get started by enabling the ‘open to work’ feature to show recruiters you’re looking. Then give your profile a lick of paint and update your description with keywords. (If you have no idea where to start, look at people with the kind of roles you’re aiming for, and pinch some ideas. We won’t tell if you won’t.)
2. Executing career pivots. And no, they’re not talking about getting a job in cyber…They recommend thinking about how your skills might transfer to new (and temporary) roles. Event profs have lots of sought-after skills; like project management, technical know-how, and powers of negotiation.
3. Expanding your reach. Post thought-leadership blogs, engage with other people’s content, answer questions, join events-related groups, follow popular hashtags, subscribe to company pages, and all that jazz.
4. Making calculated asks. AKA, narrow your focus and be specific about what you’re looking for; it’ll make it a lot easier to market yourself.

UK event campaigns join forces

Just when we thought #WeMakeEvents couldn’t get any more awesome, they team up with two other incredible campaigns: #WeCreateExperiences and #LetTheMusicPlay.

This new task force, called One Industry One Voice, will ensure stronger alignment and more effective communication in fighting for awareness and financial support for the whole events industry. By joining forces, they’ll be coordinating closely on campaign dates; amplifying each other’s messages; sharing and agreeing on data and statistics to accurately reflect industry numbers; aligning closely on key industry requests of the government; and promoting each other’s activities.

You can find out about the individual campaigns here, then sign up to support them all here.

Spread the word! #OneIndustryOneVoice