Jacqui Kavanagh, CEO of EDGE Venues, surveys the UK landscape of meetings and event procurement post pandemic.
Nearly every aspect of the meetings and events industry has changed over the last five years. Our style, content, and delivery have all changed as the outcomes and objectives of events have evolved to meet the changing needs of business, people, and what we ask of them. Budgets available for events, and how they are accounted for, have also changed.
Venues, technology, destinations, perceptions, and accountabilities are also changing, and our industry has finally been recognised for the value it brings to organisations which is a real positive. Delivered well and professionally, events, be they live or virtual, are critical to communications strategies to businesses in the modern world. They fast track change and deliver through a controlled environment. Businesses need these strategies and tactics to remain competitive and they see events as an effective partner in their ambitions.
This changes the pressure on the agency world. Before, our focus has been on fighting to prove the importance of events, it then shifted to showing the returns, now it’s about demonstrating that the continued investment in what we do creates long term value, long term change, and competitive edge for businesses.
The ‘why’ of events
All the above also sits with the ‘why’ of events, which is now also being scrutinised more than ever. This should be welcomed as it shows more value being put on investment, and also more return expected from it. It also adds rigour to the process and to how event costs are measured. Investments, whether related to communication or business growth, are also increasingly about reflecting values both culturally and environmentally. The return isn’t just about tracking the behaviour change the event induced, it’s about understanding how perceptions towards the business have also been altered.
Therefore, it’s not just about what the event says, it’s how it says it. The transparency of the process, selection, risk management, and delivery are now of equal importance to the creativity, experience, and overall cost of an event. This represents a new respect events have about themselves, and how they are seen by an increasingly appreciative business world.
From an agency point of view, we have to build this into the systems we use. Sustainability can no longer be just a box ticking exercise but should be a more expansive investigation of venue and supplier action and values. At the same time agencies need to be at the cutting edge of the ever evolving conversations that cover ESG behaviour of business, and the promises they make to their audiences. We need to build these promises and purposes into the support network we build around an event, and we need to be rigorous in selection criteria.
Venues and suppliers
In the meantime, the structure of meetings and events is changing, both in terms of length, style, catering, and format. This has impacted the buying and selection process of venues and, while there is a desire for different and funky venues, there is also the need for slick, flexible, quality, and affordable delivery of events. This is still a challenge for venues.
The need for information at every stage of the journey can be challenging for venues, and, as this information feeds the decision-making process, it needs to be accurate. Pricing needs to be flexible, as do contracts. Venues need commitment and have challenges on rising prices. Planners need information, value for money, ESG commitment, and other metrics that allow them to assess venues and match the offering to the needs of the corporate objectives.
Added to this is the increasing importance of accessibility. Going beyond physical access to the venues, this is a trend that has entered the event proper, upping the importance of issues such as sign language, audio description and wellbeing. The pressure is on for venues to provide a complete solution to event planners.
Again, this adds in more criteria and rigour for agencies and our staff.
Challenging yes, exciting, absolutely. Venues and hotel groups are delivering ever more interesting and innovative responses to these changing dynamics.
There is a real move for collaboration whereby niche suppliers – those with a more personalised service offering – are merging to deliver excellence and creativity. These support services are becoming powerful partners alongside the venue and the event planners themselves.
People
In the meantime, it’s no secret that our industry lost a very high number of well trained, professionals during the last few years. We are no longer an attractive career choice to young talent and a big number of our future professionals are choosing to go elsewhere, and to industries that have perhaps more steady prospects.
People are our superpower: we need the right skill sets, but also the right personalities to adapt to this changing and challenging world we’re operating in. For those entering our industry from others it may be intuitive and easy to adapt to, for others – including some of our senior professionals – it means retraining and rethinking.
For me, hospitality and events remains the most exciting and open industry, with no barriers to creativity, strong job security, and the opportunity to travel.
Long before any structured approach to diversity, the hospitality industry has long supported people from all areas of life. There is no glass ceiling, and it engages all people at all stages and ages of life. This is an industry that keeps on giving and continually challenges itself to do more.
Responding to the technology challenge
It’s clear that the digital revolution is alive and well in the majority of industries, accelerated by Covid and the boost digital solutions received during that time. However, technology is expensive and can be daunting. As an industry, meetings and events, being so diverse, has lagged behind other service industries.
This has meant fewer players, and expensive solutions rarely delivering to the various – and quite specific – needs of the different constituencies in our sector. It’s true that event and delegate management, virtual and hybrid meetings have taken centre stage. After all, they dealt with the most immediate need during the pandemic. What has been missed, though, is the rise of the requirement for data at the decision-making stage of the journey, to support all aspects and needs of the modern business world.
Businesses need to control on what and how they spend their money as they constantly face judgment by stakeholders. ESG, risk, and spend on events needs to be controlled. Events, however, by their very nature, need that personal touch and creativity to deliver the return on experience, objective, and investment. At EDGE we believe our technology and digital solutions need to reflect this.
We need to accept digital solutions to reduce manual processes and control our costs. This in turn frees up strategic thinking and creativity, and allows for analytical evaluation to establish true value.
We need to adapt, become curious, and deliver what is now the norm in other professional business solutions, and we need to do this with an open mind to change in what is an exciting time for the industry, and for event professionals, past, present and future.
