Event Industry News Podcast

Fifth Element Group is an award-winning live experience company that is recognised throughout the world for creating large-scale galas, events, fundraisers, conferences and activations. On today’s podcast, president, Aaron Kaufman, spoke to our host, James Dickson, on how to keep events “real”.

Speaking from the head offices in Canada, Aaron stated that Fifth Element Group was born from him discovering a “gap in the industry” 16 years ago when clients’ expectations were not being met properly. Aaron wanted to merge the management and design of an event into one firm.

Transparency between event planners and clients regarding fees is critical for a successful relationship. Aaron explained the planner should break down each rental/purchase to the client who then, in turn, appreciates where their money is going. Hiding costs suggests the planner is not confident they are providing good value for money.

Aaron also claimed that healthy competition is ideal within the industry. “Going after” your competitors and their clients is something that should be practised to stir up business for companies. However, he stressed that this needn’t result in bitterness between event professionals.

“We’re in business to do business.”

He also stated that he uses business practices to obtain his objectives. As an event organiser, he needs to create memorable experiences for his clients, therefore, if “any solution” gives him the opportunity to do that, he will absolutely do it: “That’s business ownership.”

Overall, Aaron believes that organisers should follow solutions that will help them continue to conduct business. Though the event industry is fuelled by creativity, it is fundamentally a business.

If you would like to feature on an episode of the Event Industry News podcast, please email [email protected].

On June 23rd, 2016 UK voters will go to the polls in what’s being described as the biggest political decision for a generation. Whether we stay in or out of Europe is now the subject of media campaigns by both sides of the debate, with each side offering vastly differing views of how we could be affected.

However, when it comes to the events industry, the only viable decision is to remain in the EU according to one industry professional.

In the latest episode of the Talking Events podcast, Robin Carlisle from Mobile Promotions says that there are simply too many benefits to event companies travelling around Europe to even contemplate any other decision. The company works with high profile clients to deliver brand activation events, marketing promotions, and event production, which regularly sees them travelling around the continent.

Robin thinks that the ease with which they can move around makes staying in an easy choice.

“Compared to way back when being in the EU has made life so much easier. Being able to travel across borders without ATA Carnets – which listed every item you were carrying – is so much better than the traditional nightmare that it used to be. Way back when you could easily loose a couple of days by being held up at a border waiting for stuff to be checked. I have been one of those that was in doubt, but from what I’ve read and what I’ve considered I’m now 100% in favour of staying in.”

Joining the same episode was Nic Howden from All Access Communications, who shared Robin’s view on staying within the EU. Nic told the podcast that a vote to leave could mean lots of small little barriers being created by countries that may be unhappy with that decision.

“I can imagine there being a few more little trip wires being put up. Whether it’s big businesses or small businesses, in the short-term life would be made a lot more difficult fairly quickly.”

In the second episode of a two-part discussion, podcast host James Dickson is once again joined in the studio by Tom Allan, project manager at True Staging, Matthew Blood, business development manager for Twickenham Experience Ltd, Kevin Monks, company director at Blackout Ltd, and via live feed, Robin Carlisle, managing director of Mobile Promotions Ltd.

Following on from last week’s episode, the panel discusses whether event organisers are being pushed by their clients towards sourcing new venues and whether this has helped to remove any pigeon-holing of certain venues for certain events. The guests also discuss the difficulties of working within sensitive venues like private houses, listed buildings, and Cathedrals, along with the challenges those venues face when marketing themselves and sourcing new business.

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Founder and MD, Holly Moore, from Make Events joined our podcast host, James Dickson, on this week’s episode to discuss the role of women in the event industry as well as her personal journey.

Make Events is a corporate event agency based in Cheshire that revolves around creating the “ultimate experience” for top brands including Garmin, Myprotein and Twitter.

Last February, Holly ran an event for her staff. She believes that the best way to drive a message home is through a live event and so she put this into practice for her own team which served as the delegates to the two-day conference.

This event allowed Holly to communicate the agency’s strategy for 2019 as well as remind the team of Make Events’ core values.

“The event was two-pronged: to drive the message of Make Events forward for the financial year and to give them [her team] the experience of an event that they loved so that they could sell it to clients,” Holly said.

She stressed that the devil is in the detail when it comes to planning. During her event, delegates (her team members) were presented with their favourite beverages and snacks while their favourite quotes were written on their bedroom mirrors.

Holly also wove research into the event and ensured all sessions were no more than 22 minutes. This has been proven to be the length of time an audience’s attention is captivated, so any content beyond this point of time is more likely to be wasted.

“Everyone’s attention span is so much shorter than what it used to be. If you leave more time for Q&A, the sessions become much more authentic.”

If you would like to feature on a podcast episode, please email [email protected].

For this week’s podcast, our host, James Dickson, invited Geoff Revill, co-founder and managing director at Krowdthink Ltd, to discuss his new app, KrowdSafe.

Based in Devon, Krowdthink Ltd is a safety firm that aims to alter the way in which social media platforms deliver value in a mobile age.

In response to the terror attacks that took place in 2017, the Home Office launched the Improving Crowd Resilience competition in order to find solutions to improving security across the private sector.

The idea for KrowdSafe won the team at Krowdthink almost £250,000 of government funding to develop it to improve security at large events.

Transforming the crowd into a “participatory threat sensor”, Geoff explained that the app allows members of the public to draw security’s attention to possible threats, e.g., an abandoned backpack, a dropped knife, pick-pocketing, etc.

Creating a direct line of communication between the crowd and security, the app allows users to upload images and specific locations of anything they believe may pose a threat.

Stressing that the app is not a replacement for 999 calls, Geoff advised that users engage with the app if they have suspicions about people, activities or objects. This allows officials to intercede before anything dangerous happens, therefore preventing emergencies.

“What we are effectively doing is creating an environment that is much more hostile to the mischievous and the malicious,” Geoff said.