Event Industry News Podcast

This week’s episode welcomes James Tucker, COO at GovNet, a well-established UK event supplier that delivers public sector conferences, expos and training courses, from local government and housing to the NHS and higher education sector.   A self-proclaimed “tech geek”, James joined the family-run business around 18 months ago to oversee the day-to-day operations.   This edition of the Event Industry News Podcast explores the significance of human interaction and networking, engagement metrics of virtual events compared to live events, and the importance of post-event customer engagement.   Also, we talked about the impact of new technologies across the sector and using data to make strategic and informed business decisions.   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.

This week’s guest CEO of TEN6 Creative, Matt Culverhouse. In a more relaxed format than normal, Matt and I chew the fat about the importance of human connection at events.   The two elements that Matt identifies as a “worry” are the exhibition environment and networking as they are difficult to replicate online.   Matt’s background working for some of Europe’s largest venues coupled with his creative arts education gives him a unique understanding of live event management - from both the agency and hospitality perspectives.   Matt oversees live events of all sizes and levels of complexity, including managing production, creative and logistics for shows as large as 85,000 attendees. An expert in project management and negotiating contracts, Matt has worked all over the world, always delivering a commitment to personal service to surpass the expectations of clients and attendees.    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

This episode is sponsored by Grip, a leading AI-powered event matchmaking solution for virtual and hybrid events.   Montgomery Events, a subset of the Montgomery Group, focus mainly on food, drink and hospitality events as well as several different niche events in the UK and Netherlands.   My guest this week is managing director, Lori Hoinkes, who started with the company three 3 years ago with an early project being to harmonise data by streamlining suppliers using a good CRM system, and subsequently, building two tech systems for internal use:   Bento: This system was built to help the company better categorise exhibitors, sponsors and visitors. They recently used this to create six key-personas of visitors to identify which type would be more valuable to exhibitors. This process resulted in a 33% increase in attendance.   Sherlock: This system was built to facilitate a ‘health check’ of an event analysing, social listening, survey data and lead generation.   The analysis and targeted process has made the t

Starting her event career in 2007 with Reed Exhibitions, my guest this week, Katie Morhen, has helped some of the largest exhibition organisations drive attendance and increase sales.   Founder of 52eight3, a specialist marketing agency, the company recently announced the launch of a new free-to-attend training event aimed to support marketers and connect the wider exhibition community.   The need for effective liaison between sales and marketing teams is more important than ever. In time gone by, sales teams would be prioritised to receive training ahead of marketing personnel; organisations may need to consider levelling the support across the whole team if they want the best chance of “getting their audiences back” 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.

This week’s very special guest is Saastock founder Alex Theuma. Following a career in IT, Telecoms and Cloud, Alex moved on to creating a powerful network across the Saas founder and investor community.   During the recording, Alex talks about the pivot to virtual and the launch of SaaStock Remote which open its virtual doors tomorrow (10th June 2020). And, shares his opinion about the future of events and how he’s leveraging technology to serve his global community.   This episode will no doubt be of interest to event organisers around the globe.   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.

Joining the podcast this week is William Thomson, author, event consultant and head honcho at Gallus Events.   The digital and online event world is new territory to many event professionals, but William started his digital event journey more than a decade ago.   In this episode, he offers insight into monetising events, how to make sure the content for attendees is on point and how to produce long-term evergreen content that can generate recurring revenue, post-event.   Further delving into the digital event world, we also touch on a new online course; a learning framework for members of the industry looking to organise online events.   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.

Joining me this week is Caitlin Kobrak, digital producer at George P. Johnson.   Managing social media campaigns for mega-events such as Cisco Live, we discuss her favourite social media tools and tactics.   Platforms that were once thought to be relevant only to teenage audiences, Caitlin explains how this landscape has changed over the last two years, and, how businesses can use consumer-focused platforms like TikTok to feed a B2B event campaign on other business-oriented platforms.   Lots to learn from this edition including, how to measure social post success, how to best focus your efforts and how social media for events could look in the future. 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.

This week’s episode welcomes Rachel Butler, head of marketing and brand communications at Marble LDN; an award-winning live experience agency with a heritage steeped in festivals, music and the arts.   Rachel and I discuss the company's recent report - The State of the Experience Industry.   In an industry that’s constantly evolving and, in a few short decades, has totally transformed, the report covers what an experience is, how it plays a role in a marketing strategy and how corporates and business value live experience.   But, what will experiences look like in the future? Buyer’s predict that sustainability and technology will shape things to come - with AR and VR both playing key roles.   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 London and founded in 2016, Esports Insider is a business news site, agency, media and events company. Joining me this week is Sam Cooke, managing director and co-founder.   In this episode, Sam and I discussed the explosion of e-sports. E-sports attracts huge audiences which presents major brands with high-impact sponsorship opportunities but, they are currently missing out.   It’s a challenge for the e-sports community to convince brands of the return on marketing investment. Sam hinted that one of the objections to overcome is the misconception that the audience is a certain narrow demographic, when in fact, it’s much wider than you may think.   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.

My guest this week is Jason Allan Scott, an award-winning Entrepreneur, Podcaster, Bestselling Author and CEO of A Podcast Co.   In this episode, we discussed how podcasting can be a powerful alternative to launching a virtual event. If you’re an organiser with a focus on delivering great content, then podcasting should be considered as it drains far fewer resources than virtual event platforms.   This edition of our podcast is packed full of hints, tips and tricks to get the most out of podcasting, including ways to develop monetisation streams. www.apodcastmasterclass.com next course starts 20 May - see site for details Jason@JSJVS.Com   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.

With almost zero exhibitions taking place at the moment due to Covid-19, Acier Events, an onsite exhibition sales company, is another business that saw its usual activity evaporate overnight. But, it’s just the beginning for founder Chloe Richardson, with virtual now being the new norm for the foreseeable future. In this episode, Chloe talks me through the steps that organisations should take to make a success of the digital model and highlighted that events should remain at the heart of the customer to make it a success. She also accepted that the rebook process might take a while longer due to more effort being needed during the pre and post-event periods. I found this episode really interesting and the ideas shared can be applied to many business types. 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.

This week’s episode takes me (virtually) across the pond to the U.S.   My guest this week is Brian Fanzo, founder of iSocialFanz, a company which has helped launch digital and influencer strategies with the world’s most iconic brands like Dell, EMC, Adobe, IBM, UFC, Applebee’s, and SAP.   Fanzo, a seasoned podcast host and presenter, is now hosting virtual events - another online product born out of the social distances measures currently in place around the globe.   In this feature-length special episode, Fanzo shares hints, tips and best practice at virtual events including:   Being the ‘Best’ Virtual Event Speaker Content-Bridging Attendee Engagement Create great audio and video without spending thousands $$$$$ Choosing the best platform   Brian highlighted that the demand is there right now having received 17 enquiries this week already.   Whether you’re an organiser, professional speaker or just starting out, you’ll take something away from this edition.   Post Covid-19, I feel virtual elements will play

Many organisations in the industry have had very little choice but to pivot to a virtual solution. Swoogo, an event registration platform, is no exception. Joining me this week is Molly Falco, the company’s director of marketing, who explains what was achieved in just 40 days. The company’s ethos has always been ‘Make Things Easy’ so the first step was to create a place for customers’ virtual events to live within the existing Swoogo product. Using a single sign on (SSO) process, data is transferred from the streaming platform securely by Swoogo rerouting the link to one of its own. This cool feature also prevents uninvited people accessing meetings, or in Molly’s words “Zoom-Bombing”. One feature I really like is that this new offering is Streaming Platform agnostic - meaning organisers can use their preferred platforms rather than being forced to learn another. It’s also possible to use multiple streaming platforms simultaneously. In contrast, Molly went on to tell me that Swoogo will soon be launching

Once again, it’s been a big week for the industry. Since our last broadcast, Edinburgh Festival, Wimbledon and The Open Championship have all been cancelled. But, is there already light at the end of the tunnel? On 3 April, China hosted what organisers claim is the first major trade fair to take place in the country following the Covid-19 pandemic. China’s first reported death was 11 January and reports today (7 April) show zero new deaths due to the outbreak. If the UK were to follow the same timeline, then major events could start as early as the end of May. If events do get the go ahead as soon as May then marketeers may need to act quick. This week, my podcast guest is Tag Digital’s Laura Davidson, a specialist in digital event marketing who highlights best event marketing practice. Serving 2,000 events annually, Laura also shares key-analysis from when events began to cancel in Asia through to the more recent cancellations in Europe and the UK. If you’re interested in taking part in a podcast then

In the second in a series of ‘Lockdown’ podcasts, I’m joined by Grip founder, Tim Groot. Grip is an intelligent Event Matchmaking solution designed to connect relevant people in the physical event world. Up until 4 weeks ago, Grip hadn’t hosted a virtual event but were forced into delivering a solution in less than 24 hours. The pivot from physical to virtual is upon us and Grip has already facilitated several thousand virtual meetings over the last couple of weeks. Whereby is now fully embedded into the Grip platform and has now rolled-out the additional features to clients including Clarion, Informa and ITB Berlin. Tim explains virtual meetings has improved the quality of the data and increased interaction and adoption rates. Tim also highlights that this current situation will change events forever and may even accelerate a change in how exhibitions are delivered. If you’re interested in taking part in a podcast then please complete the application form

The UK, in effect, is in Lockdown. As we all know, the event industry was one of the first sectors to be hit by the Covid-19 outbreak. In this must-watch edition of our podcast, I talked to Craig Mathie, MD at Bournemouth 7’s about this year’s postponed festival. Bournemouth 7’s decision to move the event from May to August Bank Holiday was for reasons including “giving the virus the best possible chance of passing”.Whilst this is no doubt a crisis, Craig explained that this industry is used to “planning for the worst and we’re constantly balancing severity and probability”. Before the 2019 festival, Craig explained that a viral outbreak was one of the table-top exercises and that his multi-phase business continuity plan is now been rigidly worked through. To keep abreast with the latest happenings from within the event industry, subscribe to the Event Industry News newsletter.

In this special edition of the Event Industry News podcast, Matt Rakowski from DBpixelhouse joined editor, Adam Parry, to discuss the petition for the government to offer more economic support to the event industry. Created less than a week ago, the petition has gained huge traction, attracting over 111,000 signatures so far. Having created the petition and written a series of letters to government officials, Matt discussed exactly what he wants the petition to achieve and who should benefit. Listen in to learn exactly what the event industry is lobbying for, what this “economic support” might look like and what else the government could do to support event professionals.  Furthermore, learn what you can do to help support this petition and to get it discussed in Parliament. If you haven’t signed the petition yet, you can do so here. To keep abreast with the latest happenings from within the event industry, subscribe to the Event Industry News newsletter.

Speaking from the headquarters of the esteemed AV and technical supplier in the event industry, Universal Live, James had the pleasure to talk to the events director of EVENTIT, Judith Wilson. Kicking off a week today (19th March), EVENTIT is an annual gathering of meetings and event professionals that takes place in Edinburgh. It is co-located with the bi-annual Business Events Leaders’ Summit (BELS) and comprises education, networking and lead-generation. Celebrating its fifth edition, EVENTIT is returning to the Edinburgh International Conference Centre where it was hosted in its first year having been hosted in Glasgow for the past three years. The Scottish event industry is worth £3.5bn. This includes events that are hosted outside of Scotland but created by Scottish companies. EVENTIT was created to help bolster that industry, not just in Scotland but across the UK. Commenting on the location of the show and the notion that it is purely for Scottish companies, Judith said: “When we first set it up,

On this week’s episode of the Event Industry News podcast, we welcomed Avantgarde’s digital creative director, Thom Greybe. Avantgarde is a global brand experience agency that has been designing measurable experiences for 35 years. Its 10 locations include Berlin, Cologne, Dresden, Dubai, London, Munich, São Paulo, Shanghai, Vienna and Zurich. Speaking about the power of experiential events, Thom stated people seek out places and events where they can “feel something and see something different.” He continued: “I don’t think digital necessarily relates just to screen-based content in the experience arena, I think it actually starts to become a lot more interesting, a lot more part of the story-telling.” The fast advancement of technology in recent years, such as smart devices and the internet, has made people used to digital technology: it has become a part of daily life for most people. However, technology such as an “84-inch touchscreen” isn’t a usual occurrence so it is important to observe and monitor

On today’s podcast, our host, James Dickson, was joined by not one but three guests: DBpixelhouse’s creative director, Alastair Reece; marketing manager, Matt Rakowski; and sales manager, Adam Price. DBpixelhouse provides experiential solutions for temporary and permanent installations. It works directly with creative agencies, event organisers and brands to create memorable experiences for events and venues. Because their services are better demonstrated than explained, Matt explained that they created the PixelLab -  a space in which the team can showcase its latest content and digital experiences: “Some of our solutions are quite difficult to explain, but if you’ve got someone there physically experiencing it, then it makes it a lot easier for them to get what it is that we do.” DBpixelhouse encourages its clients to adopt experiential solutions, so Alastair stated PixelLab allows the team to practise what they preach. Augmented reality, touchscreen apps and multi-faceted digital solutions are just som