Louisa Daley analyses the UK’s international appeal, as the global market begins to return to the emerald isles.
As eventprofs, we are all familiar with conferences. We have probably hosted, or been to hundreds over the years, in the hope of our delegates (or our teams), coming away more knowledgeable and better connected.
However, expectations have undoubtably changed since the pandemic and simply attending and leaving a conference is no longer enough. Delegates want more, especially if they are travelling that little bit further. Therefore, event planners need to keep this in mind when choosing a conference destination.
To find out what some destinations are doing to attract international delegates and conferences, as well as understand why the UK and Ireland are the ideal place to host your next conference, I spoke to Adrian Evans, head of conference and exhibition sales; Jenny Jensen, director of business tourism, Liverpool Convention Bureau; Marshall Dallas, CEO of Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC); and Christine Roche, business events officer, Meet in Ireland.
A helping hand
“Due to live events returning, there is now more competition to attract international conferences. Destinations must go above and beyond the noise to catch the attention of meeting planners,” says Roche.
The good news is, destinations don’t have to do this alone, convention bureaus play a huge role in attracting more events to a city, region or country. For example, EICC recently took on the management of the Edinburgh Convention Bureau in June 2022. “Since then, we have dealt with over 100 new business event enquires for the city – of which nine are now confirmed,” reveals Dallas. Additionally, the convention bureau has helped the destination host familiarisation trips, and several individual site visits to showcase the city to prospective clients.
Convention bureaus can also help create initiatives which shine a light on a destination’s sectoral strengths, which is important because “conferences won’t come to a country or city unless there are really good alliance strengths in the area,” says Jensen. This can be reflected in Liverpool’s ambassador programme, Club Liverpool. “We work with academics and professional across the Liverpool City region, focusing particularly on the strengths that the region offers, and then work with those experts in those fields to attract those conferences to the city,” explains Jensen.
Dallas reminds us that it’s not just about working with convention bureaus though, it’s about “working collaboratively with venues, hotels, attractions and suppliers across the city so that we can present experiences which represent the best possible fit for each individual client. One client’s set of requirements will be quite different to another, and it’s important to remember that.”
International appeal
According to the destinations I spoke to, there are several ways to stand out and attract international conferences and delegates.
One way is to shine a spotlight on the unique cultural experiences that a destination offers, after all, “it’s one of the greatest appeals for international conferences,” according to Dallas.
This is because post conference, delegates want to go beyond a conference’s four walls, they want to explore the city and make the most of their time there. Whether that involves engaging with Liverpool’s musical and sporting heritage, exploring the 30,000 castles in Ireland, or attending festivals in Edinburgh – these destinations do not fall short of memorable experiences.
But what’s the point of these insightful conferences and memorable experiences if they are difficult to get to? Accessibility is therefore a must; and it’s always top of the list for event planners.
“Ireland is a very compact country. You can get from the East to West Coast in two hours and therefore easily check out our 45 centres of excellence,” says Roche. This also means Ireland has “the hustle and bustle of a city” like Dublin, and also “greener and more tranquil environments” like Shannon, Galway or Kildare. “We also have four international airports and are only 40 minutes from Manchester or one hour from London – making it easy for UK delegates to visit us,” she adds.
Although ACC Liverpool is located on a waterfront, and therefore “on an island site” as Evans describes, Liverpool still has all the amenities of a modern city within walking distance. “For conferences that do choose us, they can take over the city, which you can’t usually do elsewhere. We can provide a campus feel,” says Evans.
Over in Edinburgh, although it’s “a small and walkable city”, it also has reliable local transport services. This makes it easy to get around and visit its largest conference centre, EICC, which is located “right in the heart of the city,” says Dallas.
The bigger picture
Despite these unique differences and appeals, all destinations share the same commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and believe it’s the main focal point for international conferences heading into 2023.
“Events now come with a lot clearer goals which are carved out at the Request for Proposal stage,” says Evans. Jenson agrees, she adds: “CSR plays a vital role in the bidding process and decides whether a destination will win a conference. The destination needs to align with a conference’s purpose.”
Because ACC Liverpool are owned by the local authority, Evans and Jensen tell me that they must bring the right type of event, at the right time for the city. “This puts us in a unique position nationally where we can be more competitive because we’re not purely looking at the bottom-line for-profit perspectives, it brings in more social value,” explains Evans.
One form of CSR is legacy – what a positive impact an event leaves behind, which ACC Liverpool and Meet in Ireland is homing in on for 2023. “Whilst international conferences are about making sure that the businesses in the city benefit from it, it’s also about what else can it give to the local communities and residents,” says Jenson.
For example, both destinations want to make the most of having their experts within reach. “In the past, they fly in and then pack up and go home. We want more from that, we want to give it lets and get the experts out of the conference room. We want to use these opportunities to raise awareness of important areas (be it obesity, cancer, or neurodiversity) and use it to raise an agenda for the better of the country and for the better of the community,” Roche explains.
Another form of CSR is sustainability. “We have seen the demand for sustainable events and we have tried to respond to that,” says Roche. For example, in November 2022, the tourism board held a conference that focused on driving climate action within tourism businesses, which welcomed Minister Catherine Martin. Her Green Party is also driving a strong sustainability agenda in Ireland. “When it’s driven from the top, there’s generally greater buy in,” says Roche.
Similarly, Edinburgh has enhanced its sustainability programme, Step Change. “We now offer event impact reports, whereby we present clients with a post-event summary of the environmental and societal impacts of the conference. We have also recently established a partnership with RSPB Scotland focused on carbon capture, which sees us investing in the restoration of peatland in Scotland to mitigate the negative impacts of holding events,” reveals Dallas.
The time is now to push the agenda further in 2023 and create not only more conscious conferences, but ones that showcase a destination’s
culture.
