Insight: Issue 78 (9 Feb)

Wee bit chilliy innit?

A warm and hearty welcome back to the finest and most intrepid events news collective this side of the Hadrian’s Wall. Coming up in this week’s flagon of February festivities, we have: ExCeL London look forward to a packed 2022 events calendar; Celtic Connections in-person events finish with a flourish; the UK Government’s Live Events Reinsurance Scheme found to be “inadequate” (shock horror); Sustainability body Isla continues to grow its membership; and a handy rundown of all creative events and festivals for 2022. Scarves and earmuffs on, its time for a piping hot cup of the finest events news in the land…..

ExCeL London ready for 350 Events in 2022

A packed 2022 event calendar is forecast for the mightly ExCel London, with over 350 shows already scheduled for this year. Kicking things off this weekend is the MCN Motorcycle show, followed by major event players such as International Confex (8-9 March), and everyone’s favourite Comic Con, scheduled for 17-29 May.

Simon Mills, Chief commercial officer at ExCeL London, said,”We are expecting a buoyant 2022, with a renewed market confidence, particularly following the removal of the Government’s Plan B restrictions and an easing of travel restrictions.”

Yes indeed Event Profs, as outlined in this very bulletin last week, a wind of optimism is blowing through our beloved industry, and after the last 2 years of pure hell we defo deserve it. Long may it continue.

Celtic Connections strikes the right chord

Back in ‘The Weeg’ (that’s Glasgow for all our non-Scot readers), the curtain closed on the 2022 Celtic Connections in-person performances, after three weeks of concerts, exhibitions and screenings. This year, the festival used a hybrid approach (an approach much lauded by our good selves, if we don’t mind saying) with a virtual package running alongside 60 in-person shows.

A (slightly terrifying) torch-lit Viking march through the streets of Glasgow was an undoubted highlight, as well as performances from Anoushka Shankar, accompanied by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

The online programme will continue to run until 16 Feb, so there’s plenty still to enjoy from this truly wonderful festival.

Government Live Events Reinsurance Scheme ‘inadequate’ – there’s a shocker

Transitioning onto inevitably bad stuff to do with the government (booo!), it’s with a sense of quiet but not hugely surprising disappointment that we report the Live Events insurance scheme is a total failure. Launched in September 2021 and described as an £800 million policy to protect events businesses, neither the government nor administrators of the scheme have been able to provide a single example of a successful pay-out, as Emily Wallin of Exhibition News reports.

Classic ambiguity in the wording of the scheme rules, narrow cover and just plain old incompetence have resulted in this being the mother of all flops and a seemingly pointless exercise in window dressing – particularly if it results in no actual pay-outs for actual events companies actually struggling badly after 2 years of lockdowns and an actual global pandemic.

Annoyed? Disappointed? Raging? Yeah us too. Read more of the detail here.

Isla Sustainability body surpasses 100 members – whoop!

Onto brighter vibes, we are pleased to report the sustainability body Isla has grown from 12 founding agencies to over 100 members, proving our merry old industry is on the right track when it comes to green creds.

Over 600 event profs have undertaken sustainability training modules with Isla, with the body continuing to evolve its education programme to support the up-skilling of event businesses.

Isla co-founder Anna Abdelnoor said: “2021 was a monumental year for climate change and with the return of live events there’s been a huge shift towards sustainability for event businesses across the sector.

“Our members are actively driving effective changes in their operations and events, this is proof that the industry is committed to building a better, more resilient future for events.”

Creative Festivals & Conferences for 2022

It’s been two long, difficult years, but with fingers, toes and anything else crossed, 2022 will be the year where we finally come together to meet, embrace and have a jolly old time. With that in mind, our lovely chums at Creative Boom have kindly produced a list of all recommended festivals and conferences for 2022.

We’re up for all of them – who’s in?