Message from the President

PRESIDENT – TOM CLEMENTS

Hello there, normally I would say “Happy New Year”, but having such a bad 2020 and 2021 probably only recovering in the summer I’m not sure if at this stage members would agree, but I am optimistic that from end of May beginning of June we should get our industry back up and running. Before I mention the dreaded Covid-19, I just want to say that this year’s “Year Book” is now only available on line, we at NOEA HQ felt that producing it in print wasn’t in keeping with our sustainability programme and it is the correct thing to do, it will mean though that as the year progresses we can keep the “Year Book” updated and relevant to what is happening in the industry, which is better for our members, the industry and the environment. I probably looked like the ‘cat that licked the cream’ in Bath in November 2019 when I was elected your president, it was a tremendous honour and following on from our convention we had the biggest and I think best awards dinner ever. Three short months later we had been attacked by Covid-19 and everyone’s and our whole industry changed over night, if only I could of seen that!

On 23rd March 2020, the Prime Minister made the announcement that would change everyone’s life and turn the country upside down. Sadly as I write this in January 2021 we are still in lock down and the events industry has had no business since that fateful day in March 2020. Yes there have been some who have organised drive in movies, drive in concerts and a few other type events, but in reality events cannot happen when we have to social distance. Until the social distancing is lifted we wont get our industry going again. Sadly the caseation of all events has not only caused mass redundancies it sadly has resulted in the demise of some well known companies and brands within the industry, my heart felt sorry that they didn’t manage to survive and many thanks for all the years of support and wish them all the best in the future, they will be a loss to us all. I don’t really want to dwell to much on how the pandemic has effected the industry we all know what it has done, but myself and our Chief Executive, Susan Tanner have been working virtually and full time on behalf of our members, Susan and I sit on a number of industry representative boards, with the view to getting the industry up and running again and feeding back into governments what funding is required for the industry, so as we can move forward and work our way out of the pandemic and once again build the industry in the leader it was 12 months ago. It has been tough, “Zoom” meeting after another, civil servants and in some instances other associations just going round in circles failing to understand what the industry is, what is required to get going and why finance by way of grants is required to keep us solvent. They weren’t aware that most of our events happened between May & September with a Christmas season as well, they weren’t aware that to say organise an event in June, the planning starts in October or November the year before, they didn’t know how much infrastructure we use, they didn’t know that we can be in a field building and marking out 6 weeks before the event, in short they honestly thought we turned up a week before an event placed the infrastructure and opened gates, so we have had to educate them which has been hard as we were never really on their radar. We have managed to get our points across and whilst the government has provided furlough and the self employed scheme, we have managed to get extra funding through the Arts Council and Event Scotland, which a number of members have been successful, which hopefully has kept them solvent, we as an industry certainly haven’t had as much offered as the hospitality industry, but Susan and myself will keep working away to hopefully bring more funding that can benefit members. Some of you might remember that James Heapy was our champion in parliament as the chairman of the All Party Parliament Group on Events (APPG), James was promoted after last years election to Defence Minister and sadly the position has remained empty for a year when we really needed someone to champion our industry. Susan went to work on this and had James Heapy source a likely (and willing candidate) who whilst might not be from an event background certainly would take our causes. The Right Honourable Theresa Villiers MP has agreed to Chair the APPG with the first meeting this month, which is great news, now we can get our needs and requirements championed in parliament. We have been looking at the industry and what we think is required to keep us all going as we embark into the world of events again, these are being fact checked as I write so look out for press releases and emails highlighting what we need the government to do the sustain the industry as we ‘’Build Back Better’ It has been a very hard 9 months, I personally think we have 3 or 4 months more, hopefully the vaccine will have