Event Industry News Podcast

In the event industry for more than 20 years, monitor engineer to director of operations at Tramlines, where he’s worked since it started in 2009, and much more besides, Timm Cleasby is a perfect festival season guest.

In this episode, Timm talks host James Dickson through the hard work behind Tramlines’ evolution from city centre to Hillsborough Park and how it’s scaled up while containing costs.

He goes on to highlight the benefits of being in a part of Sheffield used to hosting big events – not least the combination of great public transport network and ‘local’ audience fostering significant sustainability.

Over an engaging 40 minutes Timm discusses the show’s regional impact, changing Hillsborough’s cultural stamp, building a relationship with the local authority et al, Fringe at Tramlines and much more.

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Business development manager Zoe Arnold has been with Emirates Old Trafford for six years, a time of significant change beyond the boundary which has seen Zoe honoured with a Rising Star award from the WLA (Women Leaders Association), a leadership development consultancy that focuses on female leaders.

Twelve months since sales director Angela Hobson set the field on the podcast, this episode sees Zoe talking host James Dickson through the impact of 100 extra bedrooms that have come into play at the Hilton Garden Inn Hotel as part of the ground’s infrastructure. How it means no longer having to turn away big events that require accommodation – Zoe cites the Association of Optometrists by way of recent example with two hundred rooms booked for two nights.

They go on to discuss hosting two Foo Fighters shows, fast turnarounds between events, repeat business, record revenues, and simply being part of such a massive operation all during a busy cricket season.

Zoe stresses the value in Lancashire Cricket Club’s private ownership, which sees profits ploughed back in. And so the development continues.  

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Chrissie Beck, founder of sustainability consultancy for the live events industry, Worlds Better, joins host James Dickson in this episode of The Event Industry News Podcast.

Chrissie has worked in delivering events all over the world for 20 years and in her current role focusses on ensuring that sustainability targets are being met for agencies, event production companies and on delivery following observing how many companies were letting themselves down in their approach towards sustainability.

Last week saw the launch of the 'Delivering Sustainable Events' course. Developed by Worlds Better in partnership with the Event Academy, the course exclusively for experienced event managers will give professionals the knowledge and skills to deliver holistically sustainable events.

Topics covered include:

How sustainability should be viewed as a collaborative effort across the industry and not as a competition

The real reason why sustainability is important for the Event Industry

How small changes during event production can make a big difference

Click here for more information on the Delivering Sustainable Events training course

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• The challenge of delivering sustainable events that are indistinguishable from less environmentally minded events.
  

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• The importance of knowing to say no for the right reasons in case sudden changes could break an event.

• Valentina’s opinion on hybrid events and how best to approach them as two events in one

• Turning regular events into experiences, often overlooked but the little things really take an event to the next level

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In events since 2012, and in technology for about the same amount of time, Zach Butler is director of Amsterdam-based TNW Events.

Launched in 2006, full name The Next Web, TNW is a product of its founders’ interest in the future of tech. Buoyed by The FT buying a major stake, and ultimately acquiring the company, 2024 model TNW has four business lines: media platform www.thenextweb.com, commercial real estate, events and open innovation consulting programmes.

In this episode, Zach digs into the extraordinary – 6,000 per cent – growth in the TNW Conference numbers over its 18 years, emerging technologies, internationalism, and connecting dots across the community.

Talking to host James Dickson, he goes on to discuss the social aspect at events, changing the world through tech, sustainability and creativity. How the business has changed, the FT integration and its benefits, the pick of the platforms and relationships with suppliers. 

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Clare Gossage is COO & co-founder at The PIE (Professionals in International Education), which since launching in 2011 has become the sector’s hub, ‘transforming knowledge and networks’.

This episode is a deep dive into The PIE, looking at its history, its drivers and the big splash it’s made in events-world.

An avowed internationalist, Clare studied languages, taking a job in marketing at the University of Arts, London, after she graduated. Meeting Amy Baker and Jane Gilham and discovering there wasn’t a media platform that addressed the whole of the billion-dollar international education sector, brought a team together to build one and call it PIE.

Taking questions from host James Dickson, Clare discusses the brand’s evolution, from its digital news platform, still going strong, the quarterly print magazine that ‘folded’ during the pandemic, to the awards and to PIE Live.

The conversation focuses on the founders’ fluidity, their nous, and how, without any experience of the industry, that overcame ‘cultural nuances’ and took their events across the world to extraordinary success.  

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Joining business exhibitions mainstay CloserStill Media in January 2021, from Ocean Media Group, and taking his tech acumen into events-world, was an ambition realised for head of digital & CRM, Rakim Asher.

In this episode, Rakim discusses that career journey, exploring the ‘head of digital’ role, finding the right tech and scrapping old-school show guides.

With host James Dickson putting the questions, Rakim goes on to talk pressure of time, the power of collaboration, analysing data and high purchase intent.

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John Regis is global technology adoption manager at London-based publishing/intelligence/exhibition giant Informa.

This episode looks at his career path before turning its attention to the now.

John details the brief behind the job title, which he helped create, before discussing how systems are used effectively, inside the Informa walls and across its portfolio.

Prompted by host James Dickson, John goes on to detail the time he takes studying new platforms and understanding the people set to use them, before introducing any tech. He talks about learning from Formula 1, the future of hybrid events, and the value in having specialist teams for live and digital elements working together to deliver a show.   

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Ashley Kendall is director of international business development at Sorenson Communications, leading solutions servicer for the deaf and hard-of-hearing.

Andrew Dewey, vice president, EMEA, for Strategic and Business development at the same company, is also Interim CEO at the Royal Association for Deaf people.

With an interpreter on hand, this episode delivers insightful background from Ashley and Andrew, highlighting their drive, their motivation, to make events more accessible.

They look at the evolution of sign language, right through to it being recognised as an ‘official language’ in the UK two years ago, going on to discuss the growth in the number of interpreters since the 1990s, video interpretating, sharing resources and the value of booking people early in event planning. How last minute doesn’t work.

Look out too for the technology lever, the Spice Girls’ late 1990s arena tour, and understanding the broad reach of sustainability…

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