In these rather uncertain times, it is worth reminding ourselves that the UK events industry is a really significant part of our economy. Would you believe that it is worth £42.3 billion in terms of direct spend by event delegates, attendees and organisers, and we have seen an 8% rise year on year? The best estimates suggest the industry employs over 570,000 people, with over 1.3 million ‘events’ held every year. UK exhibitions attract over 13 million visitors each year with 20% being from outside the UK .These events, according to Eventbrite, generate over £11.0 billion in spend.
But maintaining this incredible position relies on the creation of new events to sustain the growth and to offer continued value to the UK economy.
We know that developing new event concept is a challenge for any business and so we at FM Future have developed a one day workshop designed for exhibition organisers to ignite innovation and help them launch new shows quickly and cost-effectively!
So, what does the course look like? And how can it help you to generate new ideas and take it from concept to reality?
Like many training courses, we start the course by considering the ‘Big Picture’. Often new show ideas are right in front of you and we begin by looking at trends. This is sometimes uncomfortable, but really useful to highlight the big trends and consider their impact on our smaller world.
Then we begin to look more specifically at ‘WHY’ shows exist and why they succeed?
We really believe that the core purpose of any new event is to solve a problem. To deal with the pain points in an industry. And they are far more likely to succeed when they have a clear mission – a strong WHY? That everyone gets and works towards.
Emma Barrett MD of Broadway events understands the way to success.“You’ve got to immerse yourself in your sector! Feel their pain. Build relationships with everyone you can, associations, magazines, potential suppliers and of course visitors, you never know when you can use someone's advice and help to get the show off the ground. Create a clear vision that stakeholders accept and understand.”
Effective launches, in our view, will only succeed if the organiser has really looked at their market, and understood what part of the market offers the best opportunity. You need to ask yourselves questions such as, is it a nice idea or a really good idea?
Mike Seaman of Racoon Events has had success with the Running Show. He believes that:“Work in a market that you know and love! If you are launching a new event, then customers will be inherently cautious about working with you in the first year in case you fail. Being able to demonstrate a clear knowledge of the market is crucial to engendering trust. If you can speak passionately about your event concept it is infectious and your customers will want to be inspired to support your vision.”
Once you feel confident you have an idea that it is really strong, then the next stage is to ‘Develop the Story’.
Following a proven formula that has been used by storytellers for centuries, we look at how to galvanise the industry behind the concept. To give you and your team the confidence to take it to the market, and to inspire a market
The industry will be sympathetic to a story that has been really well thought through.
Mike Seaman suggests that organisers must “seek and embrace criticism. Write a detailed business plan and then ask friends and colleagues to criticise it. Challenge everything dispassionately before the show is in the market to ensure that you have a rock-solid plan, ahead of the launch. And then we begin to look at more of the details, the frequency, the format, the floor-plan and of course the finance.
For many exhibition and events organisers it the financial aspect that holds them back. For us, this is the easy bit. The massive investment and potential financial risks.”
We, FM Future, really believe that you can avoid huge financial risk by planning carefully and developing a strong timeline using the ‘GO-NO-GO’ formula. Setting your costs against clear ‘GO-NO-GO’ point and consistently reviewing your progress. The key to this is your ability to STOP or Fail fast. This will help you to avoid getting it wrong and losing too much.
Mike Seaman concludes, “Be confident and decisive but have clear deadlines for every aspect of the campaign, this will help you succeed or fail fast.”
But for many, this course is only the beginning.
We have already worked with a number of organisers and have launched events after our one day course with their Event teams.
Event LaunchPad is delivered as a Half day ( 3 hours ) or Full day to up to 20 delegates by industry professionals Frazer Chesterman and Marcus Timson.
With over 45 years combined experience of launching Trade Shows, Exhibitions, Conferences and Summits in a variety of markets, over 4 different continents, Frazer and Marcus deliver this exciting session to help organisations develop and succeed.
Interested in finding out more? Contact us at frazer.chesterman@fmfuturenow.com or marcus.timson@fmfuturenow.com