Insight: Issue 90 (4 May)

Shake off those post bank holiday blues….

And jump head first into a veritable ocean of events news, brought to you by Cameron’s intrepid fleet of hunter / gatherers. In this week’s roundup, we present:

Some good news – hurrah! A new study shows 2023 business events revenue will be the first year to surpass 2019; How to create sustainable, community-led events; How dance music events are adapting to sustainability; Outdoor events sector to spur market growth; The SEC Glasgow welcomes the return of European medical meetings; And teleporting (yes teleporting) guests into broadcast studios becomes a reality.

New study shows 2023 business events revenue will be the first year to surpass 2019

Firstly, hugely encouraging news for our beloved sector, as Eventsbase report that two-thirds of venues say they will recover to 2019 meeting revenue levels in 2022 or 2023, according to the IACC’s annual ‘Meeting Room of the Future Barometer 2022.

Although predictions differed slightly from country to country, respondents globally reported that 2023 would be the first year to surpass 2019 meetings and business events revenue levels.

Aside from this, the study also highlights that sustainability continues to be an emerging topic – in general, there is more of a focus on environmental and social responsibility at venues in Europe and Australia, compared to North America venues.

Additionally, the study predicts talent shortages will be alleviated over time, and overall, respondents do not anticipate that workforce shortages will negatively impact their ability to meet client and attendee needs. As 2022 unfolds, 55% of respondents reported that their venue has or will return to full-staffing levels by the end of 2022.

Mark Cooper, CEO of IACC commented: “The study clearly points to the fact that recovery is moving forward, and the future looks bright for our industry, with a renewed value placed on face-to-face events. However, we still face a number of challenges. Recent social and geo-political events have brought into sharp focus the need to focus on sustainability and the report shows that this is an area where there is significant scope for investment and improvement and which IACC venues must focus on going forward.

How to create sustainable, community-led events

Speaking of sustainability, Raccoon Events’ Chief Marketing Officer Jo Tyler writes for Exhibition News and highlights their remarkable growth over the last 2 years through innovative approaches to event organisation such as venturing outdoors, building communities around events and (of course) keeping sustainability front of mind.

How Dance Music Events are Adapting to Sustainability

Keeping on the sustainability theme, Mixmag’s Gemma Ross investigated how the dance music community is making an eco-friendly festival season a priority.

With the worrying statistic that in 2019, 1000 touring DJs took more than 51,000 flights around the world, tallying up to an equivalent amount of CO2 produced by over 20,000 households in a year, it’s time for the electronic music industry to do things differently.

This year, the music industry is laying out stepping stones to a more sustainable future amidst the first full festival season since 2019 for most across the globe and the longest Ibiza season ever.

Indeed, this year’s recent Ibiza’s International Music Summit has made green issues a key focus. Each year, thousands flock to the White Isle to take part in panels, open conversations and parties across three days, signalling the launch of the Ibiza season. This year, IMS focuses on a handful of paramount topics, but the climate emergency is arguably the most pressing.

Ben Turner, co-founder of IMS alongside Pete Tong, said “Because of the nature of what conferences do and stand for, we felt it was our duty to help educate, inform and inspire, and look beyond those issues. Each year, IMS invests interest into the hard-hitting topics spanning sexual harassment, mental health, diversity and inclusion, and climate change. The latter discussion takes centre stage this year with multiple conversations surrounding sustainability and environmentalism within the industry.”

Other large scale events are picking up the slack from elsewhere and beginning to hammer down on this agenda for a circular future. Paris’ We Love Green, Northampton’s Shambala, and the Brecon Beacons’ Green Man each take their responsibility seriously, to name a few, with initiatives cutting out single-use plastics, finding alternate power sources, using compost loos, and creating space for environmental innovation.

Outdoor Events Sector to Spur market growth

More positive news for the industry, as the UK’s leading events venue finder, Lime Venue Portfolio, has reported the brand’s best ever performance in its 12 year history, as Summer events, outdoor receptions and Christmas party bookings continue to drive market recovery.

The brand reported a 74% increase in enquiries in Q1, reporting the highest value of enquiries since before the pandemic. The portfolio also has an unprecedented ‘business on the books’ figure across its 80+ portfolio of venues.

Jo Austin, Sales Director, Lime Venue Portfolio, commented; “We’re seeing a lot of businesses who had to cancel their Christmas Parties and January conferences consolidate these events around summer.”

“Many businesses have tied traditional summer parties into company updates or team building events and are using them as a way to bring disparate work forces back together, give them a very late end of year reward, and a more relaxing reception as the sun comes out in the spring and summer,” continues Jo. “It’s great to see businesses using events in this way, it adds value to what we do, means increased investment, returns on investment, and creates strong growth for us and our agency clients.”

SEC Glasgow welcomes the return of European medical meetings

As hybrid events become more and more prominent, The Scottish Event Campus welcomed the return of European medical meetings, with the arrival of the 14^th European Paediatric Neurology Society Congress (EPNS) which took place from 28 April – 2 May. The event hosted approximately 1,000 delegates live and 600 delegates virtually.

The staging of EPNS in Glasgow marks the first of 15 conferences taking place at the venue this year from the European and international medical and scientific meetings sector.

Aileen Crawford, head of tourism and conventions, Glasgow Convention Bureau, said: “Medical meetings are number one in Glasgow, in part due to the strong links with the city’s innovative academic and healthcare sector. The return of in person European meetings, such as EPNS, sends such a positive message to our citizens and local businesses that European delegates want to meet again and want to engage and reconnect with each other in our city.”

Teleporting broadcast studios to the future

A glimpse into the future, as AV Magazine focuses on disguise’s extended reality (xR) solution – technology which allows broadcasters the freedom to ‘teleport’ talent to live broadcasts in any part of the world, and transport broadcasting into the future.

xR blurs the line between the real and the virtual environment. Integrating LED, camera tracking and realtime rendering from graphics engines like Unreal Engine, disguise creates a virtual environment that is visible both live on set and directly in-camera. Using LED rather than a green screen, presenters can see and interact with the photorealistic graphics without needing to study a reference monitor or pre-block a series of gestures and movements.

Particular ‘how did they do that?’ highlights from their showreel are the outstanding Brits performance by Dave and the Katy Perry American Idol performance (if you’re into that kind of thing).

Super mega impressive, non? Although we’re sure we’ve seen this teleportation tech before…..

Beam us up, event profs.

As always – #EventsWithUkraine