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2023 Conference Programme

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Main Stage
    • Technology
    • Supply Chain
    • Diversity and Inclusion
    • Sustainability
    • Security
    • Social Responsibility and Ethics
    • Creativity
    • Major Events
    Main Stage

    How can the live events industry collectively work better to cope with broad challenges around geopolitics, economics and customer confidence while ensuring the Government more fully recognises and reflects its huge contribution to the economy and the public’s wellbeing?

    • Supply Chain
    • Security
    • Social Responsibility and Ethics
    • Major Events
    Main Stage

    National Government representatives and key event professionals reveal the huge amount of work that went into making the expansive Operation London Bridge, the funeral plan for Queen Elizabeth II, run smoothly and demonstrate to the world the expertise and professionalism of the UK event industry.

    • Diversity and Inclusion
    • Major Events
    Main Stage

    Is the industry doing enough to support female talent working on and off stage, while driving an increase in female audience members.

    • Technology
    • Creativity
    Main Stage

    From gamification and the Metaverse to the blending of digital and physical interactivity at real-world events, we examine what lies ahead for live event production.

    • Major Events
    Main Stage

    Representatives from the Association of Festival Organisers, Events Industry Forum and the Local Authority Event Organiser Group explore updates to the Purple Guide and address the latest licensing issues.

Technology Workshop
  1. Technology Workshop

    Halo introduce the Halo System v5 – the #1 most widely-used Incident & Threat Management Platform.
    With built-in machine learning and customer rules, Halo pro-actively alerts control room operators to vital information quickly and effectively, with a wide range of user-friendly inputs and automated workflows. This introduces a whole new concept of digital safeguarding for venue & event management.
    The system removes needs for unregulated WhatsApp groups, reduces radio channel pressure, and creates reports and debriefs of evidential standard – protecting your people, public, premises & brand.
    With 75+ feature enhancements, and 4 new modules in Accreditation, Live Video Feed Ingestion, Sustainability, and Crowd Management, the demonstration has something for everyone!

  2. Technology Workshop

    “They say there is safety in numbers. But when it comes to live events, we see it differently. We see safety in empowerment. Giving individuals the tools, the confidence, and the conviction to act decisively. Most importantly, we see safety as a right.”

    The Raven team will discuss how their vision is helping empower world-leading clients. They will provide an insightful overview of their Operations & Incident Management software, including key Case Studies of COP26, UEFA and Major Events.

  3. Technology Workshop

    The team from ‘You. Smart Thing.’ demonstrate how event organisers are using its travel demand management platform and easily integrated travel assistant interface, to generate personalised low-carbon travel plans for every eventgoer. Based in the EPS technology pod area, these sessions will reveal how monitoring and influencing travel is delivering significantly increased engagement and conversion opportunities, alongside environmental and social governance best practice for festivals, major sporting events, conferences, and the longtail of the cultural sector.

  4. Technology Workshop

    Take back control of your events business with Easol's all-in-one toolkit.

    Say goodbye to:
    ❌Waiting weeks or months to get paid out
    ❌ Giving away your customer data
    ❌ Charging hefty booking fees

    With Easol’s all-in-one toolkit for events, you can:
    ✅ Get paid weekly
    ✅ Take back control of your customer data
    ✅ Control and set your own fees

    Our experience experts Ciaran and Taylor will be on hand to give you a live demo of the platform.

The Education Hub
  1. The Education Hub

    2022 brought us new crowds, crowds with which we were unfamiliar and at times found difficulty in managing. Will this change again in 2023 or do we now need to plan for these crowds and their behaviors rather than just hoping they will change back to the ones we were used to?

    • Supply Chain
    • Social Responsibility and Ethics
    • Major Events
    The Education Hub

    What to consider when sourcing and managing caterers and how to add value to your show in doing so.

    NCASS has worked with event and festival caterers for nearly 30 years and supports thousands of independent food & drink businesses across the country. This session brings their expertise when it comes to the legal stuff & best practice together with insight into how curating caterers can bring added value to your event.

    • Major Events
    The Education Hub

    Craig Mathie holds multiple high-level posts, as former Managing Director of the multi-award-winning Bournemouth 7s Festival, VP of the National Outdoor Events Association, a Trustee of sporting charity The Steve Bernard Foundation, Ambassador for mental health charity Dorset Mind and Vice Chair of the Destination Management Board for Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. It’s safe to say that you are truly learning from the best when it comes to Craig, and in this session he is going to go through how an Event Management Plan works, and how you build one for your own event.

    • Security
    • Major Events
    The Education Hub

    Currently the International Netball Federation as Head of Events, Lindsay previously has worked across the most impressive sporting events in the world. Previously Director of Events at World Lacrosse, and Event Project Manager on the Netball World Cup which sold over 110k tickets and created a global celebration of the sport in the summer of 2019. Lindsay has also worked on a variety of other major international sporting events including as a Venue General Manager of the Badminton and Rhythmic Gymnastics venue at the London 2012 Olympic Games and as Event Director of the European Archery Championships in the UK, amongst others. Lindsay will be going through what it’s like to operate live events from a back-stage management perspective, and will offer knowledge on best practise procedure.

    • Diversity and Inclusion
    • Creativity
    • Major Events
    The Education Hub

    In an employee-led, LinkedIn dominated recruitment market, is a CV really still necessary? We believe so - it’s your side of the conversation in response to the job advert opener. It allows you to articulate who you are, your aspirations and what you can bring to the party.

    Our illustrious panel will discuss how to make your CV work for you and how it can play an important part in developing your personal brand.

  2. The Education Hub

    Following our panel discussion, NOWIE will host a drop in session for participants to get feedback and tips on their own CV. Find out if your introduction really tells people anything, whether you still need to be listing all your jobs and whether your CV tells employers about the job you want rather than just the one you have.

The Futures Stage
    • Technology
    • Supply Chain
    • Creativity
    The Futures Stage

    Events create worlds that inspire and reward guests. So, how do we gain inspiration, how do we spur creativity and how do we create the extraordinary? A case study from Johnnie Walker's recent global activation, on how production and creative work to create extraordinary experiences.

    • Technology
    • Creativity
    • Major Events
    The Futures Stage

    The first of our marketing masterclasses, five hacks on how you can use social media to promote your event, better, quicker, easier.

    • Supply Chain
    • Sustainability
    • Creativity
    The Futures Stage

    Sporting events are going green, and there is much we can learn from them. Here we look at some of the emerging events, that are re writing the green rule book.

    • Technology
    • Supply Chain
    • Creativity
    The Futures Stage

    How do we turn great ideas into tangible, touchable and physical worlds? How do we go from concept to reality without losing quality? Here, Andy Fennhiggins shares three case studies that pushed the boundaries of possibility and made them real. From Talisker to Tudor and Johnnie Walker Blue Label, these are events that matched the creative ambition thanks to great businesses with great people.

    • Technology
    • Creativity
    The Futures Stage

    If you can't be found online you can't be found. In our second masterclass we look at how Google 4 is changing the way you can be found on line, and what you need to know before it all changes in July 2023.

Main Stage
    • Technology
    • Creativity
    Main Stage

    This panel of promoters, tech and marketing professionals explores how the event industry can work better to engage with and excite a new generation of fans.

    • Technology
    • Supply Chain
    • Sustainability
    • Diversity and Inclusion
    • Major Events
    Main Stage

    Mass participation events are a uniquely powerful way of supporting physical and mental good health while raising huge amounts of money for charity. Is enough being done to support this vitally important sector and how is it evolving?

    • Supply Chain
    • Major Events
    Main Stage

    Key venue operators focus on the main issues impacting the sector, including what the major new openings around the UK will mean for promoters, suppliers, and event attendees.

    • Technology
    • Supply Chain
    • Sustainability
    • Major Events
    Main Stage

    A panel of experts explore the immediate initiatives, solutions and practices available to dramatically reduce the environmental impact of events.

    • Technology
    • Creativity
    • Major Events
    Main Stage

    A UK-wide festival that involved a programme of live events in 107 UK locations, Unboxed engaged an audience of 18 million across the four nations. This session explores what and who was involved in the project, the challenges overcome and effort to provide value-for-money from the Government’s £120m project.

Technology Workshop
  1. Technology Workshop

    Halo introduce the Halo System v5 – the #1 most widely-used Incident & Threat Management Platform.
    With built-in machine learning and customer rules, Halo pro-actively alerts control room operators to vital information quickly and effectively, with a wide range of user-friendly inputs and automated workflows. This introduces a whole new concept of digital safeguarding for venue & event management.
    The system removes needs for unregulated WhatsApp groups, reduces radio channel pressure, and creates reports and debriefs of evidential standard – protecting your people, public, premises & brand.
    With 75+ feature enhancements, and 4 new modules in Accreditation, Live Video Feed Ingestion, Sustainability, and Crowd Management, the demonstration has something for everyone!

  2. Technology Workshop

    “They say there is safety in numbers. But when it comes to live events, we see it differently. We see safety in empowerment. Giving individuals the tools, the confidence, and the conviction to act decisively. Most importantly, we see safety as a right.”

    The Raven team will discuss how their vision is helping empower world-leading clients. They will provide an insightful overview of their Operations & Incident Management software, including key Case Studies of COP26, UEFA and Major Events.

  3. Technology Workshop

    The team from ‘You. Smart Thing.’ demonstrate how event organisers are using its travel demand management platform and easily integrated travel assistant interface, to generate personalised low-carbon travel plans for every eventgoer. Based in the EPS technology pod area, these sessions will reveal how monitoring and influencing travel is delivering significantly increased engagement and conversion opportunities, alongside environmental and social governance best practice for festivals, major sporting events, conferences, and the longtail of the cultural sector.

  4. Technology Workshop

    Take back control of your events business with Easol's all-in-one toolkit.

    Say goodbye to:
    ❌Waiting weeks or months to get paid out
    ❌ Giving away your customer data
    ❌ Charging hefty booking fees

    With Easol’s all-in-one toolkit for events, you can:
    ✅ Get paid weekly
    ✅ Take back control of your customer data
    ✅ Control and set your own fees

    Our experience experts Ciaran and Taylor will be on hand to give you a live demo of the platform.

The Education Hub
  1. The Education Hub

    Is there such a thing as a career in events? Termed the 'butterfly' effect, how do event graduates grow their potential through their degree and into the world of events? How does the pupa grow and when/if do they emerge as a butterfly? In this session we will talk to a number of event alumni about their experiences of 'flitting' around, sucking up knowledge, experience and inspiration. The flutter of their wings may also influence your choices about the different roles and opportunities of working in the events industry.

    • Sustainability
    • Diversity and Inclusion
    • Social Responsibility and Ethics
    The Education Hub

    How the sustainability agenda continues to challenge and transform the UK and Ireland Event industry. We’ll be discussing all things environmental, social, and governance. Their impact and how to best plan your next event sustainably as possible.

    • Major Events
    The Education Hub

    Craig Mathie holds multiple high-level posts, as former Managing Director of the multi-award-winning Bournemouth 7s Festival, VP of the National Outdoor Events Association, a Trustee of sporting charity The Steve Bernard Foundation, Ambassador for mental health charity Dorset Mind and Vice Chair of the Destination Management Board for Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. It’s safe to say that you are truly learning from the best when it comes to Craig, and in this session he is going to go through how an Event Management Plan works, and how you build one for your own event.

    • Security
    • Major Events
    The Education Hub

    Currently the International Netball Federation as Head of Events, Lindsay previously has worked across the most impressive sporting events in the world. Previously Director of Events at World Lacrosse, and Event Project Manager on the Netball World Cup which sold over 110k tickets and created a global celebration of the sport in the summer of 2019. Lindsay has also worked on a variety of other major international sporting events including as a Venue General Manager of the Badminton and Rhythmic Gymnastics venue at the London 2012 Olympic Games and as Event Director of the European Archery Championships in the UK, amongst others. Lindsay will be going through what it’s like to operate live events from a back-stage management perspective, and will offer knowledge on best practise procedure.

  2. The Education Hub

    What could/should the events industry look like in 2050? What are the aspirations of the next generation of event leaders for the industry? What factors matter and what can be done about it? This session will be a lively debate about possible utopian or dystopian futures and the role that events can play in this. Will there be events in the future and what might 'good' events look like? What should it be like to have a business and to work in events?

The Futures Stage
    • Supply Chain
    • Sustainability
    • Social Responsibility and Ethics
    • Major Events
    The Futures Stage

    The Green Events Code - establishing sustainability best practice for outdoor events Vision: 2025 is the outdoor event industry's steering group for climate action. They provide the industry’s roadmap for a shared journey toward net zero and the knowledge to help get there; tools, resources, guides, news, case studies, green suppliers directory, and events that connect people.

    • Technology
    • Supply Chain
    • Security
    • Major Events
    The Futures Stage

    The end of 2021 and season of 2022 brought us some difficult lessons - some expected, but some surprises. 2023 will be another challenging year, but what do we know, what have we learnt, and what can we do better?

    • Supply Chain
    • Technology
    • Security
    • Major Events
    The Futures Stage

    It's tempting to imagine that when you've done a risk assessment, you've thought of everything… Slips? Check… Trips? Check… Falls? Check, check and check. But what if your brain is playing subtle tricks on you and blinding you to important detail? In this session we'll explore some of the failures in risk perception that we all suffer from, examine how these are problematic for live event management, and suggest some solutions to help you manage your inner cave-person.

    • Technology
    • Supply Chain
    • Sustainability
    • Diversity and Inclusion
    • Social Responsibility and Ethics
    • Security
    • Creativity
    • Major Events
    The Futures Stage

    The Access All Areas (AAA) 30underThirty programme is designed to celebrate the young, exceptionally talented individuals in the outdoor and live events industry; showcasing their achievements and rewarding their passion, creativity and brilliance that makes them the leaders of tomorrow.
    Every year since its launch in 2018, we unveil a list of 30 event professionals under the age of 30 who we believe will path the way to success in our industry, they break barriers, ignore the status quo, demonstrate passion, skill and ultimately push the industry forward.
    If you are interested in becoming a 30Under30 winner, download our free submissions guide: https://share-eu1.hsforms.com/1WDc1yEFmTf-SJUJDn22EBQf5drn

  1. The Futures Stage

    What are you doing to bring new people into the industry? UKEVENTS have supported the creation of the Events Apprenticeships Framework that is aiming to produce inclusive and accessible apprenticeships that meet the needs of the events industry. Are the various apprenticeships on offer a way of growing the skills and knowledge in your business? Trying to break down the barriers to entry, this session will discuss the opportunities and processes involved in making the most of event relevant apprenticeships.