Isolation Blog #2 BE Specialists - Why We Exist!

PREAMBLE

In my new role as a lecturer on ‘Business Events in a Global Context’, an elective subject at Torrens University as part of the Laureate Universities Network, I have had time to reflect on the importance of event management specialists and the role of event professionals in business events. It is a time to reflect of how the MICE Industry and Tourism Industry can bounce back as COVID-19 restrictions are lifted, with a resumption of leisure travel and when meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions recommence.

Are business event professionals the silver lining to the post COVID-19 economic growth?

Live Peace in Toronto 1969 Album Cover John Lennon - Iain McMillan 1969

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The Business Events Council of Australia [BECA], our industry peak body, is engaged with government on a COVID-19 Business Events Response and Recovery Framework which aims to sustain the business events industry over the next 12 months and position it to rebound and grow effectively following the pandemic.

BECA confirmed on Friday 8 May 2020, as the Federal Government’s 3 Phase RoadMap to a COVIDSafe Australia was announced, that the government now acknowledges a difference between uncontrolled mass gatherings and business events, which are controlled and provide far more safety measures. This is a milestone acknowledgement whereby ‘events’ shall be considered differently from this day forth. It does however behove the industry to set and follow new procedural guidelines, which are in fact already in development.

Recent research conducted on behalf of BECA by EY and published on 30 March 2020 for the 2018-2019 financial year, demonstrates that the value of the business events industry has grown by 30% since FY14, directly contributing $35.7 billion to the Australian economy in FY19. A most significant contribution.

The industry is said to have employed 229,000 people in FY19, with wages approximating $11.1 billion, as 43.7 million people attended 484,000 business events in Australia in FY19.

Notwithstanding this contribution many executives don’t appreciate what the term ‘business events’ encompasses and what they actually cover in our portfolio of service delivery.

BECA defines a business event as “any public or private activity consisting of a minimum of 15 persons with a common interest or vocation, held in a specific venue or venues, and hosted by an organisation (or organisations).” For Example; a congress, convention, conference, symposium, seminar, forum, incentive, activation, product launch and other marketing event, special celebration, courses, public or trade show, exhibition, AGM/ EGM, corporate retreat, study tour and training program.

The demand for a business event is driven mainly by organisations choosing it as a forum to communicate messages, to educate or train, to promote a product, to reward or celebrate, to collaborate on issues and solutions, or to generate resources.

Business Events therefore are an essential element in the corporate, association and government delivery of information and services. They are managed by a skilled set of individuals who have developed knowledge in the delivery of seamless events through educational event management courses, and more critically in the hands-on experience in extensive planning and on-site meticulous management of the event brief.

So, Business Event Specialists, Why We Exist?

Whether employed as a consultant, in an event agency, as an in-house corporate meeting planner, an association event specialist, a customer service executive within a hotel or venue, or working within government or an NGO with event management skills, we all have the basic skills to transform a conceptual idea into reality as a live event.

All of us are critical in getting the business events economy back on track, however in this ‘new normal’ events environment there are additional skills and awareness that need to be developed, and then brought to the attention of clients who are contemplating holding a business event post-COVID-19.

It includes not only awareness of the ever amending government restrictions during the recovery but also how they apply in the market and more importantly how a client’s objectives can be matched with a venues ability to meet new guidelines in the delivery of outcomes.

Those aware individuals able to work within the new normal should be consulted before planning gets too far down the track.

Business Event Specialists are a unique breed working with a myriad of suppliers in the planning and execution of an event, tying together all the ‘loose’ ends to deliver an event. We work together with the hospitality industry and venue executives and utilise the expertise of audio-visual, creative, design, production, marketing, PR, transport, destination management, tourism and other suppliers of goods and services to make an event a success. In the new normal we need to be advisors, a professional aptitude that has always existed but one that becomes ever more essential during the recovery phase.

Business Events Specialists are strategic thinkers and not simply logistics managers. We advise on strategic event management, working closely with the event concept owner to understand implicitly the raison d’être of the event and key objectives to be achieved.

I maintain that we exist as a pivotal ‘link in the chain’ between the ultimate decision maker(s) and ‘owner of the event concept’ and the final delivery of an event design with objectives, KPI deliverables and a series of metrics to measure the return on investment [ROI].

Because of the immediacy of service consumption, events are intangible and the event experience is perishable,therefore no two events are ever the same. Business Event professionals therefore focus on the essentials and aim to deliver consistency between events, wherever possible providing improvements in the design and quality of goods and services in repeat events.

An important consideration, as we come out of isolation, will be where to hold a specific business event with well-defined criteria in objectives, numbers, location and dates. A vigilant decision maker can no longer leave it up to a Google search or corridor chat about what worked last time, however, needs to engage with a business events professional who is well versed on the post-COVID considerations, guidelines and expertise.

Business Events Specialists should be engaged by organisations early enough in the planning of a business event and certainly before any final decisions are made, as a strategic approach in the Recovery Phase of the RoadMap to a COVIDSafe Australia.