Venue finding platform Hire Space hosted its ‘Venue Talk’ event at 41 Portland Place, which took place on 7 September.
The event brought together a community of over 50 venue managers across London to explore event booking trends, sustainability in venues, and provide insights into working effectively with corporate planners.
The event focused on education and demonstrated how the industry is fighting back to succeed in this still-challenging landscape.
Event agenda
The event started with a market booking snapshot from Peter Heath, MD of Venue Performance, who reported that booking levels in 2022 are superseding 2019 levels, followed by a session with Benjamin Edmonds, head of promotions at Hire Space, discussing how venues can work effectively with digital-first agencies.
The following panel discussed how venues can stand out from the crowd on sustainability, and welcomed Mark Bannister, head of production and operations for COP26, Carina Jandt, founder of EventCycle, and Duncan Reid, CEO of Reset Connect.
Cameron Roberts, editor of Conference News, moderated. The panellists recommended a variety of ways venues can try to battle the cost of energy crisis, such as writing to their local MP and switching to a Power Purchase Agreement. They also stressed the importance of switching to 100% renewable energy.
For the final session, Anna Fox from EMA Executive Council and former head of events at Liberty Global, and Victoria Potter, global head of Events at Permira, discussed how venues and corporate event planners can work together effectively in 2022 and going forward.
Both panellists were positive about the future of events – describing them as increasingly important to businesses’ communication strategies – whilst sounding a note of caution about the potential for an uncertain few months.
