Insight: Issue 86 (6 April)

Stunning news roundup incoming!

This week, we have: Scotland buzzing as top events return again; Aberdeen, Edinburgh & Glasgow make Top 5 UK locations for green and sustainable events; London Comic Con announces Christopher Lloyd appearance as they return to abnormal; Virtual and Hybrid Events to Take Center Stage in 2022; Demand for tech talent soars as Scotland faces ‘fierce competition’ for workers.

Event profs, give me a hell yeah….

Events Events and more events!

Events – it’s what the Events Industry is about. So praise be that we’re finally looking at the return of a whole glut of live ones this year in Scotland, as we all finally re-embrace music, culture, sport and festivals.

From large scale city-based festivals like Trnsmt and Colourboxx, to more boutique events such as The Scottish Vegan Festival and the Crail Food Festival, not to mention a whole host of world-class sporting events such as The Open Championship in St Andrews, 2022 is definitely the year Scotland kickstarts it’s bright and bustling events calendar.

And just because they’re so nice, the lovely people at VisitScotland have put together a full events calendar for your perusal and planning – so let’s get out and about Scottish Event Profs – and get those taps aff!

5 top UK venues for Green & Sustainable Venues

Venuedirectory.com is the only platform in the UK to detail each venue’s range of sustainability credentials, with the number of accredited venues has now increased following new partnerships with ECOSmart (Greengage) and Green Meetings.

On the list of top 5 UK cities with the highest number of Green venues, we have:

1. London – 141
2. Edinburgh – 63
3. Glasgow – 57
4. Belfast – 46
5. Aberdeen – 31

Michael Begley, CEO of venuedirectoty.com, said, “The demand for sustainable venues is really gathering pace, particularly as we progress towards the 2050 Net Zero target. We’ve seen over 42,000 RFPs specifying planet-friendly venues in the past quarter alone.

As the UK’s largest database of green accredited venues we want to support planners in making a sustainable choice and our new industry partnerships have helped us to do this.”

London Comic Con announces Christopher Lloyd appearance

Great Scott! Yes indeed, Comic Con 2022 is back with a bang, as everyone’s favourite time-travelling Doc Christopher Lloyd is announced as a special guest, as the organisers tag the event as ‘a return to the abnormal’.

83 year old Lloyd’s appearance will be a massive draw for the event, as the worlds of Back to the Future (Emmet Brown), Star Trek (Commander Kruge) and Star Wars collide (Lloyd is set to appear in the third series of the Mandalorian this year). If that doesn’t satisfy the diehard Comic Con fanbase, then surely nothing will.

When asked about the importance of the visitor experience at Comic Con, Jill Ubdergrove, Marketing Director of Showmasters, said, ”With Comic Cons it’s all about experience. It’s all about meeting celebrities and fellow fans. Our events have always been very socially based. We get fan groups meeting up, we get cosplayers meeting up. It’s a great day out for like minded people. The geeks used to be the minority, and comic cons serve that purpose.”

Virtual & Hybrid take centre stage in 2022

Look, we don’t want to say we told you so……but we definitely told you so. As the corporate world still copes with the immediate effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic, our 2 buddies the Virtual and Hybrid event will continue to be the main players in 2022.

As Martech Series reports, this year expect conference planners to leverage collaborative technologies even more so to maximize the effectiveness of these events. Virtual event technology has become smarter and has evolved throughout 2021 to the point where a virtual aspect will be part of most events moving forward, whether they are responding to pandemic concerns or not. For organizers, it’s about creating a balance between in-person and virtual offerings to take advantage of the benefits both approaches offer.

Moving forward and looking at 2022 and beyond, event marketers will require a hybrid event solution that can handle everything needed from registration to event execution to post-event follow-up. The technology must be simple to use yet create an engaging experience. It needs to capture the valuable data needed for proper evaluation of events and continue to provide value in the post-event time frame. The best hybrid event solution will allow for the possibility to humanize virtual events and foster real connections.

In summary, Virtual and Hybrid are here to stay folks.

Tech talent in Scotland soars

Over the past 12 months, the demand for tech talent has skyrocketed in Scotland – but the nation is facing “fierce competition” when it comes to attracting skilled workers, according to research.

New figures show during the past year there were more than 11,200 advertised roles in Edinburgh and 10,100 in Glasgow, an increase of five and seven-fold respectively. London continues to have the lion’s share of the nation’s open technology roles, at 68,000, with demand increasing by 89 per cent from last year.

Michelle Hawkins, managing director for Accenture Scotland, said, “The research shows that Glasgow and Edinburgh are competing strongly for a share of UK-wide investment in new technology roles as the job market bounces back from the pandemic.

“This is encouraging, but as organisations that have invested in technology during the pandemic now look for the best pools of talented professionals with the right tech and software engineering skills, Scotland needs to work hard to compete with other fast-growing UK regions.”

Techies – your country needs you.

As always – #EventsWithUkraine