Conferences & Events Feature Heading
Benefit from getting back to live events After enduring the shutdown of the events industry through COVID, GB looks at the up-and-coming conferences & exhibitions of interest to the public sector
Businesses Awards. The reinsurance After grinding to a halt during lockdown, scheme is scheduled to end as more than 440,000 conferences planned on 30 September in and meetings worth £4.9bn The line with the Government’s took place across the Live Even Living with Covid plan. UK from May last year, according to the Reinsura ts Events strategy annual UK Conference Scheme, nce in Wales and Meeting Survey w h ich closes in A new strategy to help (UKCAMS). create jobs and spread The UK entered has paveSeptember, d economic prosperity has lockdown on 23 March t h e wa for a bus been launched today by 2020 to curb the spread y summe y Wales’ economy minister, of Covid-19, but small r events se ason Vaughan Gething. business events for up to 30 The National Events were permitted to run between Strategy for Wales 2022-2030 late July and October of that year, builds on the unprecedented growth before the second wave took hold. of events in Wales over the past two decades. This prompted the Government to apply its During that time, Wales has supported major ‘Step’ system in January 2021, which enabled international events such as the Ryder Cup in restricted capacity events to run from May 2010, Womex 2013, the NATO summit in 2014, before a full unlocking took place in July - cut Ashes Tests, the UEFA Champions League Final short at the end of November as the ‘Omicron’ in 2017, and stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race variant spread, writing off December for many in 2018. organisers and venues. The new strategy has been developed in partnership with the events industry and is Live events reinsurance designed to encourage outstanding, crossThe Government’s Live Events Reinsurance Wales events that support the economic, Scheme, which closes in September, has paved social, cultural and environmental well-being the way for a busy summer events season, of people, places and the planet. It is aimed at giving event organisers the ability to insure ensuring that events expand on the contribution against the most severe coronavirus-related risk. they make to the seven goals of the Well-being The Government acted as a reinsurer to support of Future Generations (Wales) Act. names such as Munich Re, Beazley, Arch, Dale The strategy recommends identifying and Underwriting Partners, Hiscox and Ark. promoting Wales’ natural assets, such as The scheme has already provided over £100 coastlines and landscape, so they can be built million worth of cover. Events supported across into the delivery and promotion of events in the UK include Wimbledon, The BRIT Awards, Wales. Birmingham’s Spring Fair and the London Art Gething, said:“Wales is well known for Fair. It has also supported important community our warm Welsh welcome and outstanding events such as the Shaftesbury Book Fair, the hospitality. What has been achieved in the last Cardiff Half Marathon and the Gloucester Quays twenty years in terms of hosting and delivering Christmas Outdoor Ice Rink. events in Wales is nothing short of remarkable. In the West Midlands, events totalling £13 From being a new and relatively unknown host million have been covered, including the and generator of events – we’ve now reached a National Running Show and MACH 2022 at stage of maturity with extensive experience and Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre. More an impressive list of successes as part of our than £3 million has been spent towards events reputation as an events host. in the North West, including Virgin Radio’s Big “Covid, of course, interrupted this growth, Thank You Tour and the Federation of Small
and the impact of the pandemic cannot be underestimated. The events sector was one of the first to close, and last to open. The importance of events to the visitor economy and the well-being of the nation was recognised by the support the Welsh Government provided to the sector under the Cultural Recovery Fund and the close, open and robust engagement we had with stakeholders during the pandemic. “That level of engagement and vital cooperative working between the sector and Government was one of the few positives that came from the pandemic. Our work will now continue to draw on the partnerships forged over the last two years – this is a strategy for the whole sector – for us to deliver together – and make amazing things happen in unusual and unlikely places.” Sustainable future Meanwhile, events industry sustainability body isla is seeking nominations to expand its advisory board, ensuring it is as representative as possible of all industry stakeholder groups. The advisory board was created to contribute to isla’s primary aim of supporting the events sector’s transition to a more sustainable future. The expansion aims to provide insights and sentiments from across a variety of sector and stakeholder groups and organisations, driving increased collaboration. Anna Abdelnoor, CEO and co-founder, commented: “Collaboration is fundamental to ensure a common vision as we advance our industry. We want to create an inclusive, representative, and committed advisory board to enable us to better inform, and accelerate, the work we’ve achieved since our launch in September 2020.”
FURTHER INFORMATION Live Events Reinsurance tinyurl.com/5adshck6 Wales Event Strategy tinyurl.com/2kmmkchj
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