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Chairman's Blog week-ending 13th July 2012

So, my second full week of being Chair of Eventia ends with yet more rain clouds looming, Olympic security guards going AWOL and a cavalcade of end of term school events unfolding around the country.  The big question is – what do the teachers really do with all the chocolate, bubble bath and gift vouchers they get at this time of year? 

So a week spent dodging showers while running around town on Eventia business has found me dropping into a Business Visits and Events Partnership (BVEP) meeting, hosting one of our ‘How To …’ seminars and then running a membership induction session.  The BVEP meetings are a great way of sense checking the key issues that the various associations across the breadth of the industry are thinking about.  Unsurprisingly the folks representing the Outdoor Festival world were looking as gloomy as the weather – the ‘summer’ so far has been a disaster for many of their members.  There was some interesting work presented by London & Partners on the events legacy from the Games which I can share with you here, just click to download. 

Our ‘How to Nurture Relationships’ seminar found me hosting a panel with Leigh Jagger from Banks Sadler, Gareth Crowder from Zibrant and Jo Austin from Lime Venue Portfolio sharing their experience and expertise with a packed room.  Talking about supply chain management might sound dull – but some of the insights and ideas discussed were really interesting and I hope that everyone that attended found it useful.   Our next ’How to…’ session on doing business in the BRIC economies is on Monday – and a few places are still available.

Then, for the first time in ages, I did a membership induction session on my own.  For the last 18 months or so this has always been a two-handed affair, with Rob Allen and myself enthusing away vigorously, in order to both attract new members and to give newly joined or existing members a clear idea of the many benefits that Eventia membership brings.  To my dismay I’ve discovered that these presentations had become known as the Pinky and Perky show , mainly due to the rather fetching pink checked shirt that Rob kept turning up in. 

I have no idea who came up with this scurrilous nickname for what is after all a serious bit of marketing for Eventia, but I should mention that Brian Kirsch, who heads up our regulation committee, would not be seen dead in a pink checked shirt.  I’m pleased to report that my solo effort seemed to be well received, even though I was alone and without the great passion that Rob brings to these things.  Many thanks to all those that came along, with a special thank you  to Rydges Hotel,  who hosted both events for us and as ever were both attentive and provided great service. 

The other rushing around this week took the form of a wave of emails flying around as we finalised the statement we’ve produced regarding the consultation process on the proposal to examine merger with the IVCA.  As all of you know creating something by consensus can be a tricky business, especially when people are travelling around, trying to keep up with the day job, in meetings and at events. 

Despite all of that we did manage to agree the final form of words and get it out to the principle contacts for every one of our members.  It is available on the website and if you’ve not had a chance to look at it yet, then please do so as your views, opinions and ideas are vital as we move this forward.  A really big thank you is due to Tracy and the team in Birmingham who had the onerous task of fiddling with umpteen track changes and pulling the distribution, FAQs and web bits together.  If you love track changes in Word you’ll have a vague idea of what a fantastic time Tracy has been having this week.  I hope that you’ve had a good week too.  It has been another busy one but moving in the right direction, with the added bonus of the chance to meet members and potential members.

Finally if you are not yet following Eventia on Twitter, then you are missing out on a small but quite nice membership benefit.  Every Friday someone has started putting up a “Friday Slice of Funk”.  So far we’ve had Hamilton Bohannon’s classic ‘Let’s start the dance again’ and today it was ‘Me and Baby Brother’ by War.  I’ve no idea who’s behind this odd innovation, but it is a funky way into the weekend.  Now get on the good foot y’all and have a good weekend.

Simon Hughes
Eventia Chairman