Event Industry News Podcast

Robin Kemp is head of creative development at Culture Liverpool. In this episode, Robin talks through the city’s celebrated River of Light installation – the event’s seventh edition runs from 21 October to 6 November across Liverpool Waterfront in a 2km loop. Robin details the background – how November 5th fireworks held in parks out of town spawned the inaugural River of Light in 2016, winding its way back into the city and helping to address, to mitigate, the hospitality industry’s traditional autumn challenges – 150,000 people enjoyed the event in 2021. He goes on to discuss the River of Light’s evolution and its geography. How the show has moved from 50/60 smaller works, which didn’t flow for the target audience which wants scale, and the subsequent move to a fraction of that number, altogether bigger and more spectacular.  Robin Kemp tells podcast host James Dickson about working with topical themes, Rhythm of Light last year inspired by Liverpool’s links with music and Unexpected Twist for 2022, in step

The events sector lost huge numbers of fantastic, talented people to other industries as a product of the lockdowns.   In this episode Mike Frost, co-founder of recruitment consultancy Expocast, and Alex Hewitt, CEO and head of strategy at AOK Events, a company that saw its staff numbers cut by 70 per cent across the pandemic pinch point, join host James Dixon to discuss the state of things.   A good balance between want and supply, the podcast looks at whether this is a recruitment crisis – considering the weight of opportunity at the delivery end, where the bulk of the redundancies were, while senior vacancies are outstripped by candidates.   It highlights the importance of culture and environment in a company’s recruitment allure, going on to consider the likes of creative marketing and attracting talent from outside events – how experience doesn’t have to be everything if the training model is good.

Lawrence Coburn, is co-founder & CEO of Twine, an employee connection programme launched in 2020 that operates out of San Francisco.  In this episode, Coburn talks through selling DoubleDutch, another business he launched - an early leader in the mobile event app space, to focus Twine on the networking element or “software that brings people together”. Lawrence Coburn goes on to discuss developing the business, riding the Covid-19 wave and the cost of competing, building a web version and partnering with proven event tech platforms. How working with Zoom – a hard to get alliance launched just two months ago - put the accelerator down for product-led growth. The subsequent trajectory of usage/ the user experience, watching the dashboards, cultivating a viral loop and more besides. A fascinating, fast-paced half an hour.  

Josh Katz is founder and CEO of YellowHeart, which he describes as a made-in-NYC, blockchain live event ticketing platform powered by distributed ledger technology.   A fanatical music fan since childhood, Katz moved from promoting shows to record label world in the mid-1990s. He went on to start his own ‘non-traditional’ label, selling it in 2016 to fund a deep dive into crypto, blockchain and, ultimately, YellowHeart.   In this episode, Katz talks host James Dickson through Web 3, NFTs, cutting out the middlemen to working directly with artists, touts, transparency, security, fragmentation, enhancing the fan experience through recognition/rewards and more besides.

Jenny Morgan founded Pact Three inspired by the 2020 wild fires, which were in her North West America back yard. Pact three partners with teams seeking to be more conscious towards the community, planet, and their employees, working with organisations, assessing their social and environmental impact. In this episode, which, as the title suggests, is about the positives, Jenny digs into the motivations behind her business discussing what it does and how it helps. Passionate and motivated, Jenny goes on to discuss the value for events clients in Pact Three working outside the sector too, understanding sustainability, staffing and the recruitment process, the younger generation and their better grasp of environmentalism and the flaws in pursuing perfection. With host James Dickson putting the questions – ‘do’ the regular prefix – Jenny Morgan goes on to talk measurables, certifications, doing things differently and much, much more. 

With eight years in the sector, Tinique Hay conceived Hay Events, a solution for entrepreneurs and small business management, in 2018. The company launched in lockdown, providing Hay with an opportunity to hone her virtual and hybrid event skills. In this episode, Tinique Hay talks host James Dickson through her background, her inspirations for the new business and why she singled out the entrepreneur niche. Hay highlights the trials of taking a company from theory to practice through the eye of the Covid-19 crisis and finding its physical event form in January this year. She goes on to discuss using social media, building her portfolio via recommendations and word of mouth, budgets, strategy, planning and evolution, sponsorship 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.

A key part of the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) since January 2009, Dawn Lauder has been head of international conferences at the venue for nearly six years. In this episode, Dawn digs into her learnings from COP26, which was at the SEC in late 2021 making equally sought-after and stellar steps - not least $130tn towards net zero and climate risk disclosure for companies. Dawn talks host James Dickson through the ‘corona-coaster’, the prestige of hosting COP26 despite the tension wrought by Covid-19 in the run-up, the sense of team it fostered, the “off the charts” media coverage, maintaining that sense of purpose, why it’s worth reading the subsequent Sustainability Report, how hosting the summit has influenced Dawn Lauder’s manifesto for change 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.

Yaw Owusu, executive manager at Playmaker Group (PMG), has curated the Liverpool International Music Festival (LIMF) since 2013.   Typically focused in Sefton Park, Covid 19’s impact on the city’s celebrated portfolio for live music has seen a telling switch in LIMF’s structure for 2022. This episode is the story of a festival working for its surrounds, for its community – fans, artists and promoters.   Recorded two weeks ahead of the event, Yaw discusses how, coming off the pandemic, with Liverpool venues suffering, LIMF model 2022 is moving indoors - delivering a cultural tour of the city and making sure venues “get the fair end of the stick”.   In a fascinating 40 minutes Yaw talks inclusivity, logos and theming the event around Liverpool’s huge appetite for music.   This year the theme, and the formula for his longlist of potential players, is Power To The People & Purpose – a mission Yaw fully explained to performers so they can play a full part in its delivery.   To keep up to date with all the new

Working out of Boston on the US east coast, Devin Cleary is VP Global Events for Bizzabo, the event experience operating system, and a regular on the podcast.   In this episode, the focus is back on event tech - in the particular context of 2022, the uptick in optimism, getting back to live events and analysing the changes post-pandemic.   Devin Cleary highlights the new air of confidence, going on to compare tighter commercial purse strings with consumer spending and balancing the cost/sustainability equation in light of the big virtual/hybrid steps taken through the last two years plus.   Cleary goes on to talk, at some pace, about on demand, getting creative and the happiness hangover, the podcasts model, the greater post-event follow-up, a host of invaluable show floor tips, be it in-person, hybrid or virtual, delivering takeaways 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.  

Formerly senior logistics manager for Jack Morton Worldwide, Adam Goodman founded full-service creative agency ACA Live in 2008. In this episode, Adam talks host James Dickson through his 20 years plus in events world, from studying hospitality business management in Leeds via a conference and banqueting role at the Langham through to setting up ACA. With drinks brands a core component in the company’s impressive list of clients, then and now, that’s the focus as Adam discusses their presence, their value, at green field sites, adding to the audience experience, the post-pandemic appetite for the festival model, its pain point, using technology, social media, 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.

Rick Stainton, the man behind creative agency Smyle, founded One Industry One Voice (OIOV) in the eye of the pandemic as a ‘coalition of associations and businesses created to champion the entire events industry’.   In this episode, Rick explains why OIOV has recently been rebranded The Power of Events (TPOE) – a partnership with, but not limited to, Greenwich, Westminster, Surrey, Leeds Beckett, Bournemouth, UWS, Edinburgh Napier, Ulster, Swansea and Cardiff Met.   A persuasive speaker with a whole lot to say, Rick talks about the Covid-19 impact and his ‘diplomatic crusade’ which brought OIOV together two long years ago, getting commitment from myriad trade associations and businesses.    Rick goes on to mention the opportunities and the recovery process, the potential for newcomers, as well as the lack of respect from the media and government, and how that fits with a ‘completely party agnostic, non-lobbying’ TPOE.  

Jelmer van Ast, founder and CEO at Conference Compass, a company – based in the Hague – which is behind customisable event engagement platforms, comes back to the podcast some 12 months after last time. In this episode, Jelmer talks event adaptability with host James Dickson, the science of technology and increasing engagement. He goes on to discuss investing in product development and, crucially, why organisers have to build in an ongoing level of malleability post-pandemic. Despite the inherent fear of dramatic change, it’s ‘adapt or die’! 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.

Louise Findlay-Wilson is founder/managing director of award-winning agency Energy PR and an investor in green energy.   In this episode, under the umbrella ‘Consumers’ attitudes to events’, Louise talks about shows’ sustainability initiatives pre-pandemic having to catch up with the public’s invigorated passion for the subject, how quickly negative, and positive, communications can spill out from an event, how crucial it is to get the message right from the start of a campaign and how the collective social consciousness has sharpened up, and become more particular, over the last couple of years.   Louise uses Energy PR clients to detail her thoughts, telling host James Dickson about the Packaging Innovation Show’s zero landfill policy and how the green room at Plant Based World is truly green – everything in there being plant based.   Louise and James also discuss making use of venue ‘downtime’, where possible, for community projects, how shows have stepped up, incorporating tech to make takeaways digital rat

Ex-pat American Dax Callner, strategy director at creative agency Smyle and president of the Experiential Marketing Measurement Coalition, returns to the EIN podcast 18 months after his last appearance. In this episode, which has more answers than questions, Dax’s primary focus is a job Smyle did for the National Grid and how that relationship started during lockdown. Dax looks at best means of telling the story that helps brands connect with their audiences and how Smyle’s creative/stratgic expertise solutions helped National Grid  to revinvent its capital markets day. Dax Callner tells host James Dickson about the power, the potential, in dumb questions, how National Grid is ‘super cool’ in its initatives, picking key stories and ‘rock starring’ them, updating antiquated systems, finding key high emotion moments in the room and online, creating a sense of intimacy via video and much more.

Founded in 1991, Sledge is an award-winning event, content and creative agency. In this episode, Ben Heaysman, film and content creator at Sledge, discusses the company’s experience with the hybrid model pre-pandemic and bringing it to bear for clients caught out by lockdown; framing shots, lighting, sound quality et al. Among much more, Ben tells host James Dickson about crafting content to keep a virtual audience engaged, gamification, indoor v outdoor shoots, studio time, audio-only presentations and changing technology. 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.

A digital/tech mind working in the event industry since 2014, Ryan Kenny launched Seatlab at the end of last year, raising capital to revolutionise ticketing with blockchain technology.  In this episode, Ryan, who thinks and talks quickly, explains the premise for Seatlab, how its NFT (non-fungible token) or ‘smart contract’ solution amplifies and secures proof of ownership, beating touts, bots and fraud in the process. Ryan tells host James Dickson about bridging the gap between traditional tickets and NFTs, how simple the system is to use, the control it gives, royalty splits and the benefit to artists in the resale market, educating people in the ideas, getting the world to listen and more. Much more.

Denzil Rankine, author and thought leader in the global events and exhibitions industry, founded AMR in 1991 as a specialist in due diligence before developing the business into a strategy consultancy. In this episode, after doing the background on AMR, Denzil talks about writing Reinventing Live – The Always on Future of Events with Marco Giberti through lockdown, before digging into the company’s new Exhibition 3.0 framework.     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.

Simon Howard, a professional host and compere with more than 200 virtual and 100s of live events in his portfolio over the course of some seven years, came to the job after a considerable tenure as an event manager in both hemispheres. In this episode, Simon discusses ‘Why the right event host is more important than ever’, looking at the pandemic impact on his role in the short-term and its legacy as the world started to open up again. He talks about tailoring his practice in engagement to lockdown events, getting people involved physically, leftfield thinking, being unpredictable, the difference between a good storyteller and a good host, relating to an audience and, of course, much more.

Hong Kong-based Hoyin Cheung founded interactive virtual event platform Remo in 2018, to ‘humanise the online event experience, and bring people together worldwide’. Triggered by his background in social media and years spent managing remote teams across eight years in marketing, Remo rings the changes. In this episode, Hoyin talks connectivity, what’s stopping us from cultivating online relationships every bit as deep, meaningful and enriching as those that develop in person, developing the idea for Remo, the time spent in testing and market research, Covid-19’s ‘accelerator’ impact, changing the business post rather than pre-pandemic, how it works and much more.

Founder/CEO of customer acquisition agency MCM, John McMahon, added to his lockdown To-Do list researching and writing The Power of Leading With Empathy, which was published in January to much acclaim. A product of interviews with business leaders and fellow agency owners coupled with John’s own considerable experience - empathy is a cornerstone to his leadership style at MCM – this episode looks at the motivation behind the book and its ambitions. Aimed at anyone running a small team, in any sector, John McMahon discusses being described as a ‘soft leader’, the limits of the workplace, the benefits of working from home on the back of all the pandemic lessons, the power of trust and much more.