EVENT REVIEW
2018
www.kentision-live.co.uk
Contents Kent Vision LIVE is owned and organised by Revolution Events Ltd. www.revolution-events.com
Review written and produced by G and C Media Ltd. www.gandcmedia.co.uk
INTRODUCTION
On May 16th 2018, at the Kent Event Centre, Kent Vision LIVE once again brought together the largest gathering of business professionals in the South East, with a 10% increase in delegates over the previous year. High profile keynotes, practical workshops and interactive roundtables saw the visitors inspired, informed and involved. Such was the value they gained that a massive 99% of those surveyed said they would attend again. Exhibitor feedback also reflected a busy day, with deals being done and plenty of leads to be followed up. This anecdotal feedback was reflected in the levels of re-bookings made on the day, and over the following weeks. Over the following pages, we go into more detail as we review this one-of-a-kind event, key moments from the day, what goes into making it happen and just some of the value it brings to the business community of Kent and the wider South East.
CONTENTS
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ENGAGING THE AUDIENCE
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CELEBRATING SUCCESS
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SPREADING THE WORD
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SUPPORTING NEW BUSINESSES
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DEBATING THE BIG TOPICS - BREXIT
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AN UPWARD TREND
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POSITIVE EVOLUTION Kent Vision LIVE 2018 – Review
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The Big Networking Breakfast
CELEBRATING SUCCESS The Big Networking Breakfast kicked off the fourteenth running of Kent Vision LIVE in 2018, with a refreshed format injecting a renewed energy into this popular part of the day.
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ollowing a lively networking session accompanied by a new, Kentish, breakfast menu, the revised format drew the largest audience seen for many years. In a session designed to celebrate success, representatives from the breakfast’s sponsors – Maidstone Borough Council, the Kent and Medway Growth Hub and the Kent and Medway Business Fund
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– shared details of how their initiatives were supporting the Kent business community, and in turn the Kent economy. Each sponsor then introduced a
Kent Vision LIVE 2018 – Review
business they had worked with who shared their success stories, the lessons they had learned on their journeys and offered inspiration to the audience.
Some inspiring success stories already at this morning's @KentVisionLIVE breakfast #impossibleisnothing
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Start-up Flash Briefings
SUPPORTING NEW BUSINESSES Support for the start-up sector remains a key Kent Vision LIVE objective.
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ith this in mind, 2018 saw the introduction of a new element designed to add value to this section of the audience. As the main exhibition opened, and with the backing of the same group of sponsors that supported the breakfast, we introduced a series of three start-up flash briefings, designed to encourage tomorrow’s success stories. With the focus on
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the challenges and opportunities facing a start-up audience, the sponsors once again shared details of how they can help aspiring entrepreneurs, and they introduced a further set of companies who shared their experience of their start-up journeys. Feedback was extremely positive and our hope is that a member of the audience could be joining us in the years to come to share their success stories.
Quote-right An informative and valuable source of resources/ support avenues across Kent. Thank you.
Kent Vision LIVE 2018 – Review
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The Big Business Lunch
DEBATING THE BIG TOPICS - BREXIT Once again, a refreshed menu was well received, and there was a real buzz during the Big Business Lunch as senior representatives from across the Kent business community networked ahead of what proved to be a lively debate.
Quote-right Very good event and excellent business discussions.
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haired by Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce CEO, Jo James, the theme of the debate was the implications for travel and the workforce in a postBrexit Kent. The panel was made up of representatives from the lunch’s sponsors, Brachers and Kreston
Kent Vision LIVE 2018 – Review
Reeves alongside outgoing CEO of Visit Kent, Sandra Matthews Marsh and Allan Buckwell, Emeritus Professor at the Institute for European Environmental Policy. Together the experts provided a spread of perspectives in answer to the wide range of questions posed by the audience.
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The Big Business Lunch
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Event Content
ENGAGING THE AUDIENCE The continued growth in the audience at Kent Vision LIVE reflects the quality of the content available to visitors.
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evelopment of the content programme is an area of the event that benefits from significant research, planning and investment. This ensures the content spread is adding value to the audience, recognising key challenges and opportunities across the spectrum of disciplines and sectors represented, and delivering content
not available at other events. Our traditional headline keynotes included BBC business reporter Steph McGovern and sales expert and star of the Apprentice, Ruth Badger. They featured alongside experienced commentators from national organisations such as the Bank of England, the Institute of Directors, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), the British Retail
Quote-right Steph was brilliant and a true inspiration - she was the main reason I attended and I wasn't disappointed.
Over 2100 workshop, keynote and roundtable seats booked across 31 sessions
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Kent Vision LIVE 2018 – Review
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Event Content
Consortium and the Chartered Institute of Marketing. Together this programme of keynotes was designed to appeal to a broad audience, engaging and inspiring them. The more practically focused workshop programme aims to give the audience tips and advice they can take back to their business and start to implement immediately, with the benefits that brings. In this group, we once again had support from Google and a range of local business representatives. Our focus on the content also extends to its format, which this year saw a new addition – rountable discussions. The introduction of a www.kentision-live.co.uk
I can die happy knowing I’ve been in the same room as The Badger from The Apprentice. Waited 12 years for this.
stream of roundtable discussions was designed to focus on more niche, but no less important, business topics. These included the role of the charity sector, the impact of GDPR on lead generation, the impact of infrastructure investment and motivating and rewarding staff. The traidional keynoyes and workshops only offer a one-way dialogue while this new format gave the delegates the
opportunity to have a voice and to be involved in broader discussion with their peers. It enabled them to share their experience and ask pressing questions under the facilitation of a subject expert. The roundtables were a resounding success with over 115 delegates booking a place ahead of the event and more still joining on the day. As a result, plans are already under way to build on this element for the 2019 event.
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Event Promotion
SPREADING THE WORD Of course, even the best content programme would be wasted if it was not well communicated.
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he 2018 event saw several initiatives and activities aimed at driving awareness and which contributed to a growth of 10% in the number of delegates that preregistered for the event, and a further increase of 15% in the number who planned their agenda for the day. An overarching campaign - ‘Unlock your business superpowers’ - was launched with a strong visual component and themes that cut across the event’s communications programme, encouraging visitors
to meet and indeed become a business superhero. This campaign was supported by a clear segmentation of the programme, and how it was promoted, to relate to key business disciplines which included general business management and leadership, marketing, finance, HR, technology and sales. The objective was to help prospective delegates see how elements of the content programme directly supported them and their roles. This segmented approach also extended to the way
several marketing channels were used, with targeted communications aimed at key sectors. Alongside this new approach to targeting our audience, across the range of communications the team ensured messages were benefits focused, making it easier for prospective delegates to see the value they will gain from attending the event. Overall the promotional campaign resulted in more than 2100 seats booked across the programme, with many delegates attending multiple sessions.
Event Promotion
Over 2.4 million emails were sent to promote Kent Vision LIVE 2018
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Kent Vision LIVE 2018 – Review
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Visitor Growth
AN UPWARD TREND The breadth and value of content and the success of the promotional campaign also contributed to a 10% increase in delegates attending on the day.
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oreover, delegate feedback carried out following the events showed an increase in satisfaction with the relevance and quality of the keynotes and workshops, the range of exhibitors, the networking opportunities and the overall value of the event. It is also encouraging to see that 93% of survey
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respondents believe they could or will do business with someone they met at the event: an excellent outcome for the economy of the area. However, possibly the most telling statistic is that 99% – a figure higher than it has ever been – of delegates said they would attend again. A testament to the value they gained and the appetite for an event of Kent Vision LIVE’s quality.
Kent Vision LIVE 2018 – Review
Edit 96%
of survey respondents rated the relevance of the keynotes and workshops as good or excellent
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Business Vision LIVE
POSITIVE EVOLUTION As part of the forward strategy for the event, we announced a change of name for 2019.
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his decision to evolve the brand name to Business Vision LIVE was made to reflect the scale and quality of the event and is designed to reduce any misconceptions that the event is a local networking forum while reinforcing the fact that it is on a par with national events. While the event is and always will remain a Kent based event, the audience already represents businesses from across the South East. The aim is that
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future growth in delegate numbers will be supported by visitors from further afield, attracted to what is an event relevant to businesses regardless of their geographical location. For exhibitors and sponsors, this represents an opportunity to increase their reach
and generate business from a wider audience. With the majority of exhibitors based within Kent and Medway, this result will see a positive impact on the local economy. For delegates, growth in the event opens up the opportunity for additional content and the value that brings.
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Revolution Events Ltd Hawkwell Barn, Maidstone Road, Pembury, Kent TN2 4AG
01892 820930 www.revolution-events.com