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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Thorns Group is launching a specialist new service to transform event, exhibition and conference space with its new Black Box draping solution.

The company has launched Classic Drapes, under the umbrella of Classic Technical Services, to offer a creative and versatile system for sectioning off theatre and seminar areas at conferences, exhibitions and corporate conventions. The new Black Box draping is already in popular demand, can maximise height, and provides a perfect backdrop for staging and themed areas ensuring that the eye is drawn to the centrepiece and not distracted by the background.

Classic Drapes, which can be customised for any event size, can also greatly assist the acoustics of theatres or live act areas as well as screen any void spaces. Using a revolutionary but simple system, the drapes can be installed in areas vast or small and have a highly professional visual impact.

Adam Aston, Exhibitions Director for Thorns Group, said: “Adding Classic Drapes to the existing portfolio of Thorns’ Group through our production arm Classic Technical Services is a natural progression for the company. Classic already delivers a range of audio-visual and PA systems and we are constantly striving to add innovative ways to offer clients even more creative input. The specialist drapes service does just that.”

He added: “We have already had a really positive response from not only conference and exhibitions organisers but also experiential and event organisers looking for an alternative solution for creating individual areas and to offer a dramatic or more effective finish. The Black Box solution is a uniquely effective way of creating defined spaces and feature areas.”

Each week Thorns Group supplies furniture and catering equipment to huge exhibitions, large hospitality areas at sporting events and festivals as well as conferences and conventions. The company is a market leader in the industry, constantly updating the products and services offered to meet the call for new and innovative looks.

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office* – the UK’s leading business event for PAs, office managers, and executive support professionals – has named Breast Cancer Campaign as its official new charity partner for 2013.

Given that thousands of office professionals are already key fundraisers for Breast Cancer Campaign, the charity is the perfect fit for office*, says event manager David Maguire:  “We’re delighted to be supporting a charity, which is so close to the hearts of the majority of our visitors to office*.  We hope this new partnership will further help to raise awareness and funds for the innovative research carried out by Breast Cancer Campaign.”

Combining a comprehensive training and development conference with a major trade exhibition, the 2012 event, which included the 2nd annual National PA Day, saw 175 leading business suppliers and service providers joined by over 3,687 office support professionals from thousands of different organisations from all across the country.  This year’s office*, which returns to London’s Olympia on 8-9 October, with a host of new speakers, exhibitors, and supporters, is expecting its fourth edition to be its biggest show yet.  This can only be good news for Breast Cancer Campaign, which is looking forward to meeting thousands more potential supporters at office* 2013.

Offices around the country support wear it pink, in aid of Breast Cancer Campaign, by pulling on something pink and helping to raise an average of £2million each year.  wear it pink is the UK’s biggest, pinkest fundraising day and money raised funds vital breast cancer research.  Sadly, one in eight women will face their own battle against breast cancer in their lifetime, which is why on Friday 25 October, Breast Cancer Campaign is urging everyone to join them in the fight against breast cancer and wear it pink, helping them to raise as much as possible to fund some of the most innovate breast cancer research.

Annabel Tompkins, wear it pink, senior manager at Breast Cancer Campaign says:  “Events like wear it pink in aid of Breast Cancer Campaign are vitally important in helping us raise money to support the 50,000 people who are diagnosed with breast cancer each year. We are continually staggered by the generosity of people taking part in wear it pink – and we would like to thank office* for their support, which will help Breast Cancer Campaign to save lives and reduce the impact of a breast cancer diagnosis.”

To register for a fundraising pack or to find out more about Breast Cancer Campaign’s flagship fundraising event – wear it pink, please visit www.wearitpink.co.uk.

office* returns to Olympia’s National Hall, London, on 8-9 October.  The show provides the best opportunity of the year for corporate buyers to see all latest products, services, technologies, and venues on offer from 200 of the country’s leading business to business suppliers.  Recent new additions to the 2013 exhibitor list include Global Travel Management; Quorn Business Travel; Wines Select; Urbanbite, one of London’s leading online food delivery providers; The Travel Professionals; Elsworth – Commercial Property Consultants; Reflex office products; DC Direct; Germany’sLebkuchen-Schmidt, the oldest mail order company for Lebkuchen (German gingerbread) and pastry delicacies; MBM Omega, an independent supplier of office products and print services; and Embarque, a new executive minicab service operating in London providing point-to-point and airport transfer services.

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