Event Industry News Podcast

The message ‘One in three event professionals will experience poor mental health every year, in the form of stress, anxiety, depression and burn out’ is spelled out loud and clear on the EventWell site - https://eventwell.org/about/ Helen Moon founded the not-for-profit CCLG social enterprise in 2017 to serve as the mental health and voice of the event industry. Talking to host James Dickson at the Association of Event Venues (AEV) annual conference in the Business Design Centre, Helen Moon discusses mental health first aid, the impact of increased workloads post-‘freedom day’, the potential for burnout, the spoils of proper planning, on site EventWell hubs/quiet rooms, working memory, the benefits of repetition and much, much, more…   Music: Wish Background by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4633-wish-background License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Host James Dickson attended the AEV (Association of Event Venues) Conference at the Business Design Centre (BDC) last month, a fertile ground for podcast content. In these four rapid-fire Q&A sets, James talks to management from some key locations, north and south. We kick off with Kate Simpson, marketing and comms director at the BDC, together with Paddy Lynn, head of events management at P&J Live, a conference and events venue in Scotland. Both venues have served as vaccination centres and the focus here is, post ‘freedom day’’/pre-Omicron, on getting the event needle back on the record - dealing with diaries, delays and postponements, managing turnarounds, the sanitising everything process, concessions from organisers, branding and beyond. Max Ball, executive director at the Business Design Centre, is in the second podcast with Sean Hinds, Manchester Central ‘s chief exec, and Simon Mill, chief commercial officer at Excel.  Beyond the AEV 2021 success story, they discuss their lockdown learning

Launched in 1999, in a different guise, Berlin-based MEETYOO is the digital events business behind a customisable platform providing large-scale virtual events to audiences with up to 50,000 members. More than ‘simply’ software, MEETYOO guides clients through their virtual/hybrid event life-cycle. In this episode, Tony Kula, founder & CEO at MEETYOO, and Product Management Lead Tim Gutsche talk about starting the company and its evolution – organic and through acquisition - over the last nearly 12 years. Kula and Gutsche detail background knowledge about digital platforms ahead of the pandemic push on the sector, product development, and customer service since March 2020. Additionally to flexibility, conveying a unique experience, developing engagement, support, managing expectations, data, and much more…  

Former head of computer vision key initiatives at Amazon, Humphrey Chen, co-founded video analysis and management platform CLIPr 14 months ago, in the thick of the hybrid event revolution, Working out of Seattle, CLIPr, uses machine learning to index every minute of a video and generates an automated table of contents by identifying topics and sub-topics. In this episode, Humphrey Chen highlights the CLIPr revolution,, from personalising the video experience, fostering interaction and reaction, adding bookmarks, finding key content across a whole event to making 365 a reality. Chen talks new revenue streams, advanced analytics, the network effect, synchronous and asynchronous modes, and much more.

Conference Compass, the Dutch next generation event platform specialist, has produced a telling, timely document ‘How to run the most engaging hybrid events’. In this episode, CEO Jelmer van Ast, who founded the company more than 11 years ago, discusses the thinking behind the publication and what its ambitions are before going on to look at the trends, or steps, towards hybrid, the strength in smaller/more local events and rethinking the reach for a larger audience. Jelmer van Ast also highlights the value in learning from repetition and engagement, developing the Conference Compass platform over the last 12 months, targeting the technical wants of the hybrid model, the crucial relationship with AV partners and much more. To keep up to date with all the news, subscribe for free here. If you would like to take part in a podcast, then please complete our submission form.

Owner/CEO of Eventistry by Alecia and host of the 6 Figure Event Podcast, Alecia May is an award-winning certified strategist and coach. In this episode, Alecia May talks about using 87 – EIGHTY SEVEN - virtual event platforms over the past three and half years and the key takeaways from that extraordinary weight of experience. May goes on to discuss different clients/different requirements, being at the forefront of technology, the benefits of familiarising yourself with a platform, ‘test it, test it, test it’, workarounds, tech stacks and much more.

Having worked in events for 15-years, Lauralee Whyte moved from experiential marketing towards the content construct, focused on sourcing speakers and talent. Having seen, and drawn from, the shallow waters of practiced options, in July 2021 Lauralee launched Spectrum Speakers & Entertainers, the UK’s first diversity focused content bureau. In this episode, she discusses the motivation behind that move and why speakers at events from different backgrounds are invariably asked to talk about their experience as a minority more than anything else. Lauralee Whyte looks at learnings from lockdown, inspiration, representation and opportunity, tapping into micro-communities and working with Brixton Finishing School.   To keep up to date with all the news, subscribe for free here. If you would like to take part in a podcast, then please complete our submission form.

Based in Boston, Massachusetts, Devin Cleary is the VP of global events at award-winning digital platform Bizzabo – multiple-winner of the Event Tech Awards’ coveted People’s Choice gong. With more than 16 years’ experience designing and delivering diverse experiential marketing programmes for b2b, non-profit and consumer markets, Devin has an enviable track record in strategising and executing in-person, virtual and hybrid events. In this episode, Devin Cleary discusses budget cuts, which began pre-pandemic, and how chief marketing officers (CMOs) can prepare for this era of redefined events, what the impact of Covid-19’s delta variant on in-person events is likely to be and how event professionals and CMOs can effectively collaborate through that window. Cleary also looks at in-person sponsorships and how the event marketing landscape has changed over the longer term – from 2010 on. To keep up to date with all the news, subscribe for free here. If you would like to take part in a podcast, then please c

Dr. Baris Onayis an entrepreneurial executive with 15 plus years’ experience in b2b media, events, exhibitions and conferences. He launched Precision Communities six months ago, on a mission to build virtual events that ‘catalyse’ companies outside the traditional loop. In this episode, Baris Onay discusses his learnings from the Covid-19 pandemic, the story behind the company name, cost efficiency, mitigating risk with event series, moving away from the make or break mentality, the untapped value in the virtual world and much more. To keep up to date with all the news, subscribe for free here. If you would like to take part in a podcast, then please complete our submission form.

Reshad Hossenally found his inspiration in a part-time job; selling tickets, by hand, while at university. He went on to found Event Genius, and the related Ticket Arena consumer brand. In 2019, Hossenally and the Event Genius, Ticket Arena company joined forces with Festicket, becoming one of Europe’s leading primary ticketing and event tech providers.   Trusted by the likes of Coachella, Afro Nation, Amnesia Ibiza and Rolling Loud, the Event Genius Group provides services to 35 different countries generating sales of more than £650m. Throughout, Event Genius has stayed in step with Hossenally’s original ambition – and the company name - to provide promoters with a better means to sell tickets and to manage all aspects of the business. In this episode, Reshad Hossenally details his role in the recent flurry of Liverpool test events, which, with clinical tests for audiences either side, required no social distancing and no face masks. He talks about Event Genius’ cashless payment system as well. Crucially,

With a background in big events, from London and Southampton Boat Shows to the International Festival for Business, James Gower was a perfect fit with The Game Fair when he was appointed managing director in 2015, and still is.   In this episode, James Gower talks about the Fair’s considerable history – the late Prince Philip famously branded it the ‘shop window of the countryside’ - before digging into fallow 2020 and the positive impact that had on the 2021 show. How build time was cut from 12 weeks to four, adjustments to the site layout, new elements to the audience – a product of the lockdown reconnection with the great outdoors - and much more besides.

A self-confessed ‘tech nerd’ at heart, Anthony Vade worked in AV and event production Down Under before moving to Canada in 2010, initially for more of the same. Over the last few years though Vade has stepped across to the design field, joining Swiss-based Event Design Collective in its Toronto office as director for North America 12 months ago. In this episode, Anthony Vade digs into his background, and details the CED in his current job title, before detailing exactly what Event Design Collective does for organisers. With plenty of hand gestures, he talks bringing about change, facing the challenge of the events and tech mindset collision, digital dexterity, partnership relationships and why it’s worth budgeting for some tech redundancy. To keep up to date with all the news, subscribe for free here. If you would like to take part in a podcast, then please complete our submission form.

Manchester Central, formerly GMEX, has been home to, among many other things, festivals, standalone concerts, consumer shows, trade shows and conferences, not least those by the Labour Party and the Conservative Party. Tellingly, CEO Shaun Hinds, who is also director/vice chair of the Association of Event Venues, featured on the EIN podcast pre-pandemic, in October 2019. This episode, in a wholly different world, sees Hinds talking about Manchester Central events before, during and after lockdown. How staff and suppliers to the venue worked right through the installation of NHS Nightingale North West at the site, how the event industry was “absolutely fundamental” in establishing the chain of those facilities across the country and the lack of understanding in the corridors of power about the planning and delivery that goes into live events nevertheless. Hinds also discusses the resurgent appetite for the live model and how that will stimulate new event genres, making better use of outdoor spaces, vaccine

Sophie Bannister, head of creative development at communications agency M&C Saatchi Talk, is responsible for delivery of all campaign implementation, including social, content and experiential activations. In this episode, Sophie Bannister gives host James Dickson her take on everything from lockdown media days via Zoom, and other platforms, understanding the consumer journey, and rethinking content, through to planning live events again post ‘freedom day’. To keep up to date with all the news, subscribe for free here. If you would like to take part in a podcast, then please complete our submission form.

Josh Hotsenpiller launched ‘hybrid events and 365 engagement software’ business JUNO Live in March 2020, at the top of the Covid-19 storm, responding to demand from clients of his other businesses, CrowdHub and Wisdom Capture. In this episode, Josh Hotsenpiller discusses, among other things, the thinking behind JUNO publication ‘All events are hybrid: a planning workbook’. Rife with sporting analogy and self-help missives the conversation touches on variables, the power of empathy, making challenges smaller, the benefits of a pen and paper approach, user generated content and how removing boundaries is the future of the world…   To keep up to date with all the news, subscribe for free here. If you would like to take part in a podcast, then please complete our submission form.

Jack Shannon is CEO and co-founder at California-based experiential growth marketing platform Recess. Launched in 2010, Recess is tech designed to marry brands with perfect match live events and venues efficiently – without all the searching/emailing and calling. Crucially, there are 100s of brands and agencies signed up, so Recess is a balanced equation. Jack Shannon explains the switch he and his business partner made 11 years ago, from event organisers to facilitators, and the attendant value in truly understanding the challenge prior to rolling out Recess. This episode goes on to look at the difference between ‘unfair advantage’ and seizing opportunities, the behemoth of the US collegiate system, the pandemic impact, creative thinking and, because Shannon thinks and talks quickly, much, much more…. To keep up to date with all the news, subscribe for free here. If you would like to take part in a podcast, then please complete our submission form.

Pedro Góes is CEO at InEvent, an integrated end-to-end events platform which has customers in 67 countries and the likes of Facebook, Coca Cola, KPMG, Bosch, Santander among its users. The July 2021 launch of subsidiary platform EventMarket is at the core of this episode, Góes detailing its capacity to hook clients up with proven local agencies around the world, giving InEvent a new level of global reach. Host James Dickson asks about the impact, the spoils, of joining the Y Combinator seed accelerator program in 2019, just ahead of the Covid 19 crush, and how much it helped InEvent adapt and deliver through the pandemic. Pedro Góes also highlights how consumer tech companies are waking up to the value in event tech and much more besides. To keep up to date with all the news, subscribe for free here. If you would like to take part in a podcast, then please complete our submission form.

Dodge Woodall and Craig Mathie, owner/founder and managing director respectively, design and deliver Bournemouth 7s, a sport and music festival that’s established itself as a sell-out fixture attracting 30,000 fans over a May weekend, typically, and 400 teams playing a variety of competitive/social sports. In this episode, Woodall and Mathie discuss the impact of the government’s stop, start, stop again approach to live events – or most of them. They highlight the lack of understanding, the myriad flaws in Westminster’s approach to financial support for the sector, how Dodge Woodall has dug deep to keep the Bournemouth 7s team together, the value of relationships through the festival’s 14 years and much more besides.  

Mike Seaman, CEO at Raccoon Events and chair of the AEO UK Organiser Group, wrote a passionate response to the Prime Minister extending restrictions through to July 19. Published on www.raccoonevents.com – under the News tab – Seaman asks ‘Why are exhibitions being discriminated against?’ In this episode, referencing his post, Mike Seamon talks about the value of the sector, coping with moving shows, getting freelancers and the rest of the supply chain back to work, the built in ‘track and trace’ at live events, why big businesses/big personalities have stayed quiet and whole lot more. To keep up to date with all the news, subscribe for free here. If you would like to take part in a podcast, then please complete our submission form.

Christopher Bo Shields, co-founder of Totem, started out in theatre, as a lighting and sound technician, before going on to launch Lock On Productions at the turn of the century. Lock On slowly became more of a media comms agency, ultimately developing tech solutions and Bo Shields co-founded Totem Hybrid in June 2020. In this episode, Christopher Bo Shields talks about the past, his thoughts on the event industry model through the pandemic, changing strategy as the goalposts moved, the new values of virtual, data, capacity to test events online and accessibility over broadcast ‘quality’ before focusing on Totem’s own hybrid platform. To keep up to date with all the news, subscribe for free here. If you would like to take part in a podcast, then please complete our submission form.