Event Industry News Podcast

Speaking from Universal Live’s Bradford base, our podcast host, James Dickson was welcomed by its commercial manager, Neil Clappison, and creative graphic designer, Gaby Watson. On this episode, Neil and Gaby explained the creative design process the team at Universal Live undertakes with each project and how it may differ from client to client. They delved into the various tools, hardware and programmes they use as well as discussed how they generate ideas from brief to brief. The Universal Live duo discussed the tools and programmes they use in the design process, stating that drawing their ideas is much more beneficial than trying to describe them over email or on paper. Having a visual representation of their ideas immediately allows clients to understand exactly what they are thinking, and discussions become a lot more fluid. Additionally, Gaby explained that if her creative process was dependent on the tools she already had at her disposal, she would already be starting off on “the back foot”. Neil a

Fifth Element Group is an award-winning live experience company that is recognised throughout the world for creating large-scale galas, events, fundraisers, conferences and activations. On today’s podcast, president, Aaron Kaufman, spoke to our host, James Dickson, on how to keep events “real”. Speaking from the head offices in Canada, Aaron stated that Fifth Element Group was born from him discovering a “gap in the industry” 16 years ago when clients’ expectations were not being met properly. Aaron wanted to merge the management and design of an event into one firm. Transparency between event planners and clients regarding fees is critical for a successful relationship. Aaron explained the planner should break down each rental/purchase to the client who then, in turn, appreciates where their money is going. Hiding costs suggests the planner is not confident they are providing good value for money.  Aaron also claimed that healthy competition is ideal within the industry. “Going after” your competitors and

Joining the Event Industry News podcast this week was Deborah Henley, the founder of Vivacity Consulting. Deborah is a professional speaker and former event booker with training in psychology. Though her education in psychology may not be event-related, she stated that it has given her a deeper understanding of audiences, languages and how to engage people. Deborah used her time on the podcast to discuss how best to choose a speaker for your event and describe her top practices to get the best out of them. Deborah lives by what she calls the ‘KFDs’. Before speaking, she asks herself, what does she want her audience to know by the end of her presentation; what does she want them to feel and what does she want them to do. Additionally, she claimed that if your speaker can describe in simple, concise terms what their subject is about and the key points they wish the audience will take away, you, as an organiser, can feel reassured that they will transfer this concise description to their presentation. “If [y

For this week’s episode, podcast host, James Dickson, spoke to CEO and founder of Conference Compass, Jelmer van Ast. Founded in 2010, Conference Compass is an event app provider for the conference sector. Speaking during the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) Congress, Jelmer explained the benefits of designing and developing an app for one specific sector.  Due to the event industry being so broad, the technology that supports it has to be adaptable. Though both are live events, a band concert in a park and a multi-strand conference are two very different occasions, therefore, they require different products, services and technology. This is also the same for the event app. Focusing on creating apps for the conference sector allows the team at Conference Compass to develop sector-specific solutions for organisers. “Pick one thing and do it well,” James agreed, stating that an app that is suitable for different events would offer a “diluted” offering as opposed to something that is

Founder and MD, Holly Moore, from Make Events joined our podcast host, James Dickson, on this week’s episode to discuss the role of women in the event industry as well as her personal journey.  Make Events is a corporate event agency based in Cheshire that revolves around creating the “ultimate experience” for top brands including Garmin, Myprotein and Twitter. Last February, Holly ran an event for her staff. She believes that the best way to drive a message home is through a live event and so she put this into practice for her own team which served as the delegates to the two-day conference.  This event allowed Holly to communicate the agency’s strategy for 2019 as well as remind the team of Make Events’ core values. “The event was two-pronged: to drive the message of Make Events forward for the financial year and to give them [her team] the experience of an event that they loved so that they could sell it to clients,” Holly said. She stressed that the devil is in the detail when it comes to planning. D

This week on the Event Industry News podcast, our host, James Dickson, welcomed the director of exhibition sales at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC), Dan Thurlow.  The SEC is a meeting and event venue in Glasgow composed of three buildings: the SEC Centre (five interconnected exhibition and meeting spaces), the SEC Armadillo (3,000-capacity) and The SSE Hydro (a 13,000-capacity concert, sporting and special event arena). Originally the SECC (Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre), the venue rebranded to the SEC to offer more clarity on its venues and services. It offers event spaces suitable for conferences, exhibitions, sporting events, concerts and corporate events. It can be accessed via train, taxi or plane; the SEC shares a city with Glasgow Airport and has a dedicated Metro station on the campus. Dan described the in-house team’s approach as hands-on, helping with concepts and discussing with clients about their objectives and requirements. “We want to make shows as strong as possible – we don’t

Joining our podcast host, James Dickson, on this week’s episode of the Event Industry News podcast was Will Curran and Brandt Krueger. Brandt is a technical producer, educator, speaker and consultant for the meeting and events industry who describes himself as a “geek dad and husband”. He is the founder of Event Technology Consulting and is based in Minnesota, USA. Will Curran is the founder of Endless Events, an AV production company that has been running for 12 years.  Both guests are hosts for a weekly podcast dedicated to event technology. Explaining that he believes there is a “time and a place” for all models of AV production, Brandt stated that the occasion dictates whether it is best to use in-house AV, a third party or to buy/hire in your own AV equipment. Over the course of the podcast, Will and Brandt described some of their worst experiences in the AV sector, drawing on these examples to demonstrate where certain situations went wrong. Overpricing proved to be a common “malpractice” in the w

Digital Innovation Director and Co-Founder, Neil Mortimer, joined our podcast host, James Dickson, on this week’s episode to talk about how events can increase value for organisers, clients and sponsors. Wonder is a creative events agency composed of experienced event specialists. It works with companies such as Google, BT, VISA and Deliveroo to design and create events across the B2B, B2C and B2E sectors. Yesterday, it launched Future Live Today – a new agency to fulfil the evolving requirements to build more technology into events’ ecosystems so they increase in value. Stating that event technology and marketing technology are complex facets in the world of events, he believes that clients, event organisers and even event agencies need additional support to make efficient decisions. “Decisions that seem straight forward at the time aren’t always the best decisions financially or effectively,” he said, stating that Future Live aims to educate and inform professionals to make better decisions. “I think w

On this week’s podcast, our host, James Dickson, was joined by the CEO of Manchester Central, Shaun Hinds, to discuss the future of sustainability at the tech-advanced venue. With more than 25 years in the hospitality, property and business service sectors, Shaun was appointed CEO in June 2017 after serving in leadership roles at the Association of Event Venues, YourWelcome and the BridgeStreet Global Hospitality. “We’re proud of our heritage but we need to remain relevant and we need to remain contemporary in a very fast-moving world,” Shaun stated when explaining how Manchester Central facilitates the needs of the modern event organiser. The team at Manchester Central commits itself to provide a flawless infrastructure so that clients can deliver unique and top-of-the-range experiences. The team works with specialists and its existing infrastructure to explore that they, as a venue, can offer their clients. Situated among universities, Media City, hotels, stations and retail areas, the venue lends itsel

On this week’s episode of the Event Industry News podcast, Exposure Analytics’ commercial director, Rob Murdoch, joined us to offer a preview of his forthcoming talk at Event Tech Live on Wednesday 6th November. Here, Rob will engage in a panel discussion on the correlation between design effectiveness and data effectiveness. Returning to the podcast for the third time, Rob explained the role Exposure Analytics plays in live events: “We help brands and agencies determine how effective their events are through the use of data and footfall analytics.” Data, as Rob explained, is only effective when people know how to use it. The data that is presented from experiential analytics companies can accurately demonstrate where footfall was heaviest, the number of entries, the flow of visitors and dwell time, among other things. “What our clients are interested in is the truth. Whether it’s a good number or a bad one; they want to know because then they can act on it,” Rob stated, explaining that receiving high stat

Hellen Beveridge, the data privacy lead from Data Oversight, joined our podcast host, James Dickson, to discuss GDPR within the event industry. Having given a presentation on the subject at the Event Tech Live Exhibitor Masterclass in September, Hellen was invited on our podcast to elaborate. Data protection is not a new concept with the previous data protection act being enforced in 1998. However, within the last 20 years, technology has changed in such a way that laws were struggling to keep up. Particularly within the event industry, professionals use various databases in their day-to-day jobs and handle copious amounts of data. Cautioning event companies that buy data, Hellen said: “Be really careful when buying data. Because buying data is like putting a drop of oil in your water source; the minute you buy dirty data, your entire database is dirty.” She described data as a person’s most important asset, so businesses need to take care when collecting it and ensure they only collect the data that is n

Recording from Universal Live’s base in Bradford, Yorkshire, was commercial director, Neil Clappison. Alongside him was Jason Cardy, the event director at Capita Travel and Events. Universal Live is a technical event production company while Capita Travel and Events is a travel management company. Together, the two professionals were able to use their combined experience to discuss the client-supplier relationship in the event industry. Reviewing the long-standing partnership that Universal Live and Capita Travel and Events have had, the two event professionals explore the supplier chain when planning events. “It’s a ‘one-team-approach’ all the way,” Jason said, describing his opinion on how clients and suppliers should plan the events. He stated that both clients and suppliers alike should be open with each other when discussing the pitch. Agreeing with this, Neil said one company won’t be experts in every facet of planning events: some may be proficient in event management, another in production. It is,

On this week’s podcast, we discussed how podcasts can benefit live events. Offering their expertise on the subject was Cvent’s marketing manager, Brooke Gracey, and team lead, Cody Liskh from their offices in Portland, Oregon. As hosts of the How Great Events Happen podcasts, Brooke and Cody were able to offer our podcast host, James Dickson, invaluable advice on how to use podcasts for events. Podcasts are useful for event professionals to broaden their scope of expertise and knowledge. They are also convenient, accessible and not restricted by time or location – they can be listened to anytime, anywhere! Technological advancements have been such that digital content can be created easily and inexpensively. Easily produced, Podcasts are beneficial for creating or expanding the topics of conversation out in the industry, offering professionals otherwise inaccessible information/education. Additionally, podcasts are an added platform to market events: professionals can easily use them to “tease” content ou

Joining James on our weekly podcast was Event Resources Group’s director, Kevin Waters. Kevin entered the event industry in 1992 when he started his own agency and has since been a board member for the International Live Events Association (ILEA). He is now the director of event consultancy firm, Event Resources Group. Here, he discussed the various training and qualifications we can now receive within the event industry. “Never dry”, the event industry is constantly evolving, with new techniques, practices and technologies being introduced all the time. Various training courses within the industry may help professionals from being left behind. However, is there such a thing as ‘over-education’? Should those hoping to gain entry into the event industry focus on work-based education rather than classroom-based? The event industry is no longer focused on hosting a repetition of conferences or parties; it endeavours to move audiences’ emotions to create memorable experiences. Professionals hosting the same,

Joining James on this week’s podcast was first-time guest, Louise Findlay-Wilson, MD of Energy PR. Louise boasts a career that spans over 20 years, in which time she has worked with the likes of the BBC, TSB, Schwartz and NatWest. Today, she talked to us about her experiences working with event professionals. Louise believes that working with many sectors, not just events, gives her a unique edge to her work as she is open to new ideas, sees various perspectives and discovers trends in multiple industries. During the podcast, Louise took us back to the beginning of her career where technology and restrictions confined her to doing things very differently. Nowadays, technology allows us to communicate, track data and create work instantly, infinitely changing the disciplines of every industry. PR has become more reactive to people due to the instantaneous nature of today’s technology. Social media posts and digital content has added another layer to work responsibilities in PR and other sectors. “There’s a

On this week’s podcast, Event Industry News was joined by not one, but two guests to discuss whether trade associations are doing enough for the industry. Granting us time out of their days to talk to our journalist, James Dickson, was Nick Dugdale Moor, the regional manager for Europe at UFI, and Lou Kiwanuka, the MD at EventShaper. UFI is a global association for the exhibition industry with nearly 800 members that consists of international exhibition organisers, venues, national/regional associations and service providers. EventShaper is an operational management company that manages B2B and B2C events. Associations are needed to help raise the standards of the industry as a collective, as opposed to one company advancing over others and not communicating its successes to other organisations. Nick compared being part of an association as having a gym membership: “Just because you paid the money and got the card, that doesn’t get you fit. You actually have to take advantage of it.” He continued to stat

Talking to Event Industry News on our weekly podcast was Banzai co-founder and chairman, Joe Davy.  Banzai, an event marketing automation platform, was created when Joe discovered a recurring pattern demonstrated by marketers when creating events.  The “lifecycle” of most event marketers typically lasts a month. This involves designing a new registration website, setting up email templates and having the relevant coding put in place among all the other tasks faced by marketers. After the event has passed, all that work is “blown away” and marketers have to start all over again for the next event. Calling this a “waste of time”, Joe wanted to eradicate some of this unnecessary workload. Banzai, therefore, provides solutions for event registration, reminders, outreach and attendance to help organisations grow their events. Additionally, Joe described marketers as “overloaded” and so wanted to create a platform onto which marketers could delegate some of their duties. “If we can build a great product, and

On today’s episode of Event Industry News’ weekly podcast, our journalist, James Dickson, spoke to Universal Live’s Neil Clappison. Neil is the commercial manager for the live event production company and used this time to discuss what he described as the “growing trend” of interactive content. Running since 1990, Universal Live knows a thing or two about producing a successful live event. However, Neil admits the team was “slightly behind the curve” when it realised there was an increasing requirement for interactive content 18 months ago. Traditionally, it was seen as an expensive add-on. Neil described interactivity as a great method for drawing people in as it is novel, often new to a lot of people, and can look great. Neil described the production process for events that require this type of interactivity, stating that there was little difference in way of planning an event with or without interactive content. Interactivity is not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ – it can be easily scaled down or up depending o

This week, Event Industry News’ journalist, James Dickson, welcomed first-time guest, Martijn Timmermans, to join our weekly podcast. Martijn is the co-founder and creative director at the Amsterdam-based, event experience design agency, The Red Line Project. Martijn described his process of creating events as “storyboarding” – just as with creating films, he can use this technique to create a sequence of events that follow a timeline. Each ‘scene’ in his storyboard can be designed to create a mood/experience for the audience. This process also allows organisers to easily understand and participate in the design and creation of the events. This “co-creating” process is vital for designing an event that is creative and effective for the overall outcome. Proved effective across many industries, storyboarding allows designs and plans to be laid out in a visual manner, allowing different people to see and remark on them. Commenting on the benefits of this, Martijn stated: “We need different minds because that

Event Industry News’ journalist, James Dickson, spoke to Deal Room Events’ co-founder and CEO, Erdal Kilinc, about the techniques, advantages and values of networking at live events. Networking is a crucial element of live events for creating valuable business connections, engaging with like-minded industry people and gaining insightful information. Networking apps and platforms ease the process of making these connections with people who are often strangers. Deal Room is an online platform created to enhance networking at live events. Over a year of academic research, workshops, surveys and feedback from event professionals went in to designing it to ensure it could provide organisers with all the features and benefits suitable for business networking. Discussing the uptake of networking apps and platforms by the event industry, Kilinc said: “At tech events, almost all of them have to have a networking application because the demand from start-ups, investors, et cetera, is high. “If your networking appli