MEET South West Programme

Convention Bureaux are tasked with supporting local business events in the region, so how come you’ve never worked with one? In this open session representatives from two of the region’s convention bureaux (Destination Bristol and Visit Bath) will outline what they do, the diverse range of clients and events the support, and crucially – how they help event managers deliver even better events.

Delegates will leave the session with a head full of ideas, insight into what’s possible in the region and how convention bureaux can make your job easier. It’s so much more than venue finding!

In this frank presentation Ben will consider the common themes and principles required to deliver great events; drawing on experience gained working with global leaders and mass participation events for 500,000, through to the delivery of Bristol’s year as European Green Capital.

Sharing insight into many high profile events – this will be an inspiring (and eye-opening!) session.

Event technology knows no bounds. From facial recognition and AI to RFID and the (humble) event app – the possibilities are endless. But what’s possible is not always practical, and what’s practical is not always useful.

In this session self-confessed event technology nerd Paul Harris will introduce some of the cutting-edge tech used in events today, identifying trends and the not-so trendy, sharing predictions of what is coming next, and looking at how we can all use tech to make our events more successful.

“Our event was great. If only we had filmed it.”
“We filmed our event but it didn’t come out very well.”
“We talked about doing a live stream but we had too many other things to think about. It was just too much hassle.”

This session is designed to ensure these aren’t the kind of comments flying around after your next event. We will unpack the key things you need to be thinking about in order to get the most out of your live events filming, covering;

• What makes a great events film?
• Shooting Smart. How to plan the filming for your event.
• How to make the most of resources, making the best decisions and common pitfalls.
• Fast turnaround pros, cons and considerations.
• Live coverage options
• Live streaming in a nutshell

Whether you are a seasoned events organiser or marketing professional who has made many films before, or whether you are going to be doing it for the first time, this informative and packed session will give you practical tips that will help you get more effective content from your next event.

Interested in exploring how to keep your head in the notoriously high pressure world of event management? Lucy’s Sailing through chaos session will provide valuable insights and techniques that harness the strength and control that you need. If true resilience in your professional practise is something that you’d like to build, this hands-on session is a must.

Mixing the serious task of ensuring compliance with a light-hearted approach, this session will shine a spotlight on GDPR and events – looking specifically at:

• GDPR myths (consent, email marketing, who/where is in-scope)
• Common data protection challenges for event and marketing companies
• What good – and bad – practice looks like

Delegates will leave the session with a list of key data protection risks to look for in their own events and an understanding of how to go about managing them.

Ideas, trends and innovations for exemplary events

An effective sustainable event requires real commitment on the part of organisers, as well as state-of-the-art knowledge – and also a degree of creativity and innovation. The most important factor is to be a true champion of sustainability from the outset, always looking to see what can be done better and ensuring a virtuous circle by setting standards for all the companies and organisations involved.

This presentation will cover tips, ideas and trends from the macro to the micro, from creating sustainable policies for events, demanding more of venues and buildings and eradicating waste in everything from ticketing and badging to food and drink provision. Finally, ideas for how to make everyone involved into a champion of sustainability too, helping everyone raise benchmark standards.

Events can be costly and increasingly command a large part of our marketing budgets. But how do you know whether you’re spending the right amount, in the right places, at the right times, to get results?

This session looks at a few simple ways you can begin to collect meaningful data from your events, pre- and post-event, and use that to determine event ROI and justify your spend. You’ll hear about high-tech and low-tech solutions, with practical examples from real world situations.

Who are you asking to your events? Who are you not asking? How do people feel when they’re there?

This is a short, sharp exploration into your possibilities in events, events management and the events supply chain to make your events better for everyone.

Instead of beating ourselves (or other people) up about the lack of diverse people visible speaking/ on panels/ in audiences at events, we’ll explore how we can all do more for diversity and inclusion on our own doorsteps.

• Where am I responsible?
• What am I doing? What am I not doing?
• Who’s missing?
• What’s missing?
• What can I do about it?

There’ll be questions, examples and actions you can take away to create your best events that include a wider range of people and thinking, so more people feel like they belong in your events and the networks, communities, and supply chains around them.