International Confex, alongside Live Experience, underlined its position as the UK’s premier exhibition for the event industry in what organisers are calling the best programme in the show’s distinguished history.

The event celebrated its 30th Birthday in style with Confex Week packed full of industry discussions, education, meetings, buyer events, and promotional campaigns; both inside and outside ExCeL London. The week also saw the launch of both the Economic Impact Survey and the All Party Parliamentary Group Inquiry by Nick de Bois MP, who called the show “the place where the event industry speaks with one voice”.

“We’re incredibly proud of our show and our outstanding exhibitors this year; there was a buzz around the show, and the whole week, that underlined why Confex Week continues to be the most important dates in the UK event calendar,” commented James Samuel, Event Director, International Confex. “The product this year was superb, and in my opinion is the best we have ever produced, this is significant in making sure we get them back in 2014.”

This year’s event also saw the meteoric rise of Live Experience, adding yet more choice for buyers. “No other UK show exists that delivers the volume of buyer and exhibitor meetings that International Confex does,” continues Samuel. “We’ve had universally positive feedback from buyers within social networks and we were trending throughout the week.”

Samuel is equally aware of the tough climate the industry is operating in at the moment and is keen that the event plays its role in developing the industry in which it serves, “We’re not resting on our laurels, we’re on our first steps of a three year plan to grow this event and boost our industry, next year needs to be bigger and better again, and with the help of our exhibitors, buyers and our partners in the industry, I’m confident we’ll do it again,” he concluded.

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Lime Venue Portfolio’s showcase event drew over 200 corporate meetings and events buyers during the afternoon of the second day of International Confex at Excel yesterday (Wednesday 20th March 2013).

With a 25% increase in attendees from last year’s inaugural Unusual Made Easy Showcase at the Old Royal Naval College’s Painted Hall, the event underlines the continuing high demand for unique and unusual venues as meetings and events destinations. Guests were able to speak with representatives and familiarise themselves with the offerings of 46 of the venues in the UK’s finest collection of unique, unusual and sporting venues.

Engaging with Confex’s prestigious guest list of corporate event professionals including HRG and British Heart Foundation, Lime Venue Portfolio’s Unusual Made Easy Showcase kicked off at 3.30pm with a drinks reception. Delegates from the internationally acclaimed trade show were able to join the event throughout the afternoon, and meet with showcasing venues including Cheltenham Racecourse, Twickenham Stadium, Beaulieu and Edinburgh Zoo.

The menu for the event, created in association with Payne and Gunter and Leith’s at ExCel, reflected the unusual theme of the evening and included a starter station offering guests the opportunity to ‘Build Your Own Quiche with Goldfish Bowl Salad’, with a selection of assorted mini quiche cases to be filled to the brim with a choice of filling. Also on offer were ‘Savoury Knickerbocker Glories’ and a unique finger sandwich dessert station, featuring ‘Egg, cress and mayonnaise’ (coconut, shredded mango and fresh mint) and ‘Salmon and cream cheese’ (white chocolate spread with orange jelly).

Jo Austin, head of sales at Lime Venue Portfolio, said: “We’re delighted with the turnout at yesterday’s event. This has been a great opportunity to show some of our key buyers what our portfolio of venues has to offer, and has reinforced our reputation as a leading provider of venues for events. I’d like to thank our venues and suppliers for assisting us in making this event a success once again.”

Leading industry suppliers to demonstrate their products and services at The Unusual Made Easy Showcase included MCL, Eventologists, Payne and Gunter, Sternberg Clarke, Tubestation.tv, Bash Bars, Keith Prowse, Tavistock Avenue Photography, Bearfoot Graphics and Karen Woolven Floral Design.

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The first of the UK Economic Impact Study (UKEIS) results were announced by Meeting Professionals International (MPI) Foundation at International Confex today.

The results, which provide a detailed profile of the UK meetings and events industry, are the first of their kind.

Key profile findings include:

• Over 1,301,600 meetings took place in the UK and attracted 116.1 million attendees who accounted for spending just under £40bn in 2011
• Meetings took place in 10,127 meeting venues across the UK
• Venue occupied 60 million square metres or the equivalent of over 6,000 football pitches
• Over 81% of meetings were held for the corporate sector
• 64% of meetings were classed as small meetings with fewer than 100 attendees; nearly 30% were for between 100-500 attendees and 6% attracted more than 500 attendees
• The most prominent income for meeting organisations was from delegate registration fees (38.1%) followed by exhibitor fees (31.6%) and sponsorship (19.5%)
• The largest expense for meeting organisations in the UK was venue hire (17.4%)

The project is led by the MPI Foundation, whilst the research has been undertaken by researchers at the International Centre for Research in Events, Tourism and Hospitality (ICRETH) at Leeds Metropolitan University on behalf of the UK meetings industry.

The findings were introduced by MPI Foundation International Board member and MCI Group Vice President – Industry Relations, Patrick Delaney who commented: “The level of detail provided by this research is truly fantastic, particularly the regional and city specific information, which allows us to develop a clear picture of the sector within this country.  Ours is a growing industry, these figures show its current scale and set the benchmark for the future.”

Patrick continues: “The project would not have been possible without the support of all our investment partners and on behalf of the MPI Foundation I would like to once again thank them for their input.”

International Confex, event director and MPI UK & Ireland President Elect, James Samuel: “The UKEIS is the most important research ever undertaken by this sector and this profile data provides a clearer picture of the industry than we have ever previously had.  As the figures are broken down and further information becomes available we will gain a true insight into not just the size of our sector but also its impact and position in the world around us.”

ICRETH representative Glenn Bowdin announced the details of the profile information, commenting: “This is the first time this level of information has been gathered in the UK, it is also the first time this type of study has been conducted in such detail.  This is a significant milestone as this announcement demonstrates the size and shape of the sector. The full reports over the coming months will show more profile information and most importantly demonstrate the critical role the meetings industry plays in the UK economy. These profile findings are just the start of establishing the full economic picture, which will be announced at The Meetings Show UK in July, 2013.

UKEIS Profile Findings:

The research team from the ICRETH has reviewed published reports and other secondary data from 2011 and analysed over 3,460 survey responses from venues, meeting organisations and destination management organisations across the UK as well as from attendees and exhibitors in the UK, France, USA, Ireland and Germany to provide the following information:

• Over 1,301,600 meetings took place in the UK and attracted 116.1 million attendees who accounted for spending just under £40bn. Over half of the attendees came to consumer shows and exhibitions, nearly 40% attended conferences.
• Meetings took place in 10,127 meeting venues across the UK, 27.7% were large hotels (more than 50 rooms)with meeting facilities. Almost 20% were classed as unusual, unique or special event venues and 14.2% were purpose built convention or exhibition centres. In total the venues occupied 60 million square metres or the equivalent of almost 6,000 football pitches and offered a total seating capacity of approximately 8.5 million seats.
• On average each venue was used for 125 days in the year. Large hotels with meeting facilities held all types of meetings conferences, consumer shows, exhibitions and incentive events. More trade shows and business exhibitions were held in purpose built conventions and exhibition centres. Small hotels hosted more incentive events. Resort properties, university / educational institutions and unique and special event venues without bedrooms proved a popular choice for conferences.
• On average meeting organisations staged 147 events in the year. Over 81% of meetings were held for the corporate sector, 6.3% of meetings were for Associations, 5.2% for Non-Government and not-for-profit organisations and 4% for Government and public service organisations.
• 64% of meetings were classed as small meetings with fewer than 100 attendees; nearly 30% were for between 100-500 attendees and 6% attracted more than 500 attendees.
• The average length of a meeting was 2 days. Over half (53.8%) of meetings in the UK in 2011 were a single day or less in length. Most meetings happened in March and April (272,926) while far fewer meetings happened in December (46,346). Within England, the Greater London region hosted the most meetings (362,500) followed by the South East (163,349) and the West Midlands (143,210). In other home countries, Scotland hosted most meetings (86,524), Wales hosted 75,802 and Northern Ireland hosted 20,447 meetings over the year.78.5% of people attending meetings were from within the UK and 21.5% were international attendees. In 2011, the total spending generated by international meetings attendees was £10.8 billion and by national meeting attendees was £21.3 billion. The total spend by people who accompanied attendees to the meeting host destination was £7.7 billion. Exhibitors attended events that on average took place over 4 days, spending 3 nights at host destinations, attendees on average spent 2 nights at host destinations.
• The largest expense for meeting organisations in the UK was on venue hire (17.4%), equipment / production (13.4%) and food and beverages (11.9%).  The most prominent income was from delegate registration fees (38.1%) followed by exhibitor fees (31.6%) and sponsorship (19.5%).
• The largest spend for attendees was on accommodation (20.6%) followed by meeting registration fees (18.7%). 10.3% of attendee spend was on air transport with food and beverages from restaurants, cafés and bars accounting for 9.5% and 5.8% spent on fees to attend optional programs such as reception events, dinners and social events.
• UK venues spent most on salaries and wages (18.6%), maintenance and repairs (17.8%) and other administrative expenses such as professional fees and contracted services (17%). The highest amount of revenue was gained from meeting space rental (58.1%), followed by exhibition services (14.7%) and food and beverage (11.5%).
• Out of the four key business tourism markets surveyed, US attendees (£3.9 billion) spent more than the other business tourism markets Ireland (£2.5 billion), Germany (£1.2 billion) and France (£0.9 billion).

Below is the full list of investment partners involved in the study:

• IHG
• Reed Travel Exhibitions
• Barbican
• ExCel
• ICCA
• IMEX
• International Confex
• Meetings & Incentive Travel
• SITE
• The Meetings Show UK
• Conde Nast
• London & Partners
• Q Hotels
• SECC
• Visit Scotland
• Visit Wales

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IML Worldwide, a specialist in the provision of interactive event technology and a global leader in harnessing audience insight, has provided a unique, custom audience interaction solution for client Six Degrees Medical Consulting, which enabled over 3,000 sales reps spread over 78 meeting rooms in 3 hotels up to 1.5 miles apart to share input, insight and learning during a three day event in a large west coast city in the US. This huge undertaking pushed the technical boundaries of interactive training and has created a new event benchmark for IML.

The initial event brief from Six Degrees Medical Consulting was a tall order, as in addition to the sheer scale of the operation, the solution needed to ensure training sessions and results were delivered fast, reliably and securely, with 100% accuracy and that attendees’ learning could be measured. With these highly complex needs testing the limits of achievability, IML’s solution involved both custom development work as well as the introduction of two preparatory ‘Train the Trainer’ meetings which took place prior to the main medical sales training meeting in January 2013.

The technical solution involved a great deal of testing and troubleshooting as the hotels were spread over 1.5 miles of an urban area dense with competing Wi-Fi networks. IML connected the three hotels via a VPN connection, ensuring everything was secure. The 78 breakout rooms throughout all 3 hotels were mapped out, detailing which remote base station the IML Connectors (small but fully-featured devices including microphone, speaker, multichannel audio, keyboard, messaging and voting abilities, data tracking and a full-color screen) in those rooms would connect to – all of which were patched through another secure connection to the central control room. Backup systems were devised and tested at each step of the process, including laptops, routers, VPN points and servers, guaranteeing that if any one thing went wrong, it could be patched in immediately and other aspects of the system
would not go down as a result.

According to Richard Fisher, CEO of IML Worldwide, “It’s always great to work with such a professional and visionary company as Six Degrees Medical Solutions. Very few consultancies could conceive, put together, plan and manage such an impressive, complex event to such a degree of detail. It helps that we have an existing relationship and were able to work together to tailor the technical requirements to meet the demands of the client and I am really pleased that our team in the UK and USA were able to deliver such a robust, secure solution.”

When the meetings began, the central control room broadcast content to each room where a facilitator and a moderator aided in its delivery. Delegates viewed the content on screen and participated by answering questions with the polling and messaging functions of their devices. The results from all three hotels combined were displayed instantly on-screen in each room. Instead of relocating when the breakout sessions began, everyone was able to stay
in their room and participate in the group work that was better suited to smaller numbers. Pre-tests, post-tests and PIN numbers were used to track responses, reward high-scorers with prizes and measure collective learning.

“This event proves that IML Worldwide is a partner we can rely on – a highly complex event with a number of technical challenges has been executed successfully on a grand scale. We are delighted with the result and the high end service and consultancy we received from IML Worldwide throughout the
planning and execution process.” says Colin Buchanan, Partner at Six Degrees Medical Consulting.

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