Event Industry News Podcast

Joining me this week is Caitlin Kobrak, digital producer at George P. Johnson.   Managing social media campaigns for mega-events such as Cisco Live, we discuss her favourite social media tools and tactics.   Platforms that were once thought to be relevant only to teenage audiences, Caitlin explains how this landscape has changed over the last two years, and, how businesses can use consumer-focused...

This week’s episode welcomes Rachel Butler, head of marketing and brand communications at Marble LDN; an award-winning live experience agency with a heritage steeped in festivals, music and the arts.   Rachel and I discuss the company's recent report - The State of the Experience Industry .   In an industry that’s constantly evolving and, in a few short decades, has totally transformed, the report...

Based in London and founded in 2016, Esports Insider is a business news site, agency, media and events company. Joining me this week is Sam Cooke, managing director and co-founder.   In this episode, Sam and I discussed the explosion of e-sports. E-sports attracts huge audiences which presents major brands with high-impact sponsorship opportunities but, they are currently missing out.   It’s a cha...

My guest this week is Jason Allan Scott, an award-winning Entrepreneur, Podcaster, Bestselling Author and CEO of A Podcast Co.   In this episode, we discussed how podcasting can be a powerful alternative to launching a virtual event. If you’re an organiser with a focus on delivering great content, then podcasting should be considered as it drains far fewer resources than virtual event platforms.  ...

With almost zero exhibitions taking place at the moment due to Covid-19, Acier Events, an onsite exhibition sales company, is another business that saw its usual activity evaporate overnight. But, it’s just the beginning for founder Chloe Richardson, with virtual now being the new norm for the foreseeable future. In this episode, Chloe talks me through the steps that organisations should take to m...

This week’s episode takes me (virtually) across the pond to the U.S.   My guest this week is Brian Fanzo, founder of iSocialFanz, a company which has helped launch digital and influencer strategies with the world’s most iconic brands like Dell, EMC, Adobe, IBM, UFC, Applebee’s, and SAP.   Fanzo, a seasoned podcast host and presenter, is now hosting virtual events - another online product born out...

Many organisations in the industry have had very little choice but to pivot to a virtual solution. Swoogo, an event registration platform, is no exception. Joining me this week is Molly Falco, the company’s director of marketing, who explains what was achieved in just 40 days. The company’s ethos has always been ‘Make Things Easy’ so the first step was to create a place for customers’ virtual even...

Once again, it’s been a big week for the industry. Since our last broadcast, Edinburgh Festival, Wimbledon and The Open Championship have all been cancelled. But, is there already light at the end of the tunnel? On 3 April, China hosted what organisers claim is the first major trade fair to take place in the country following the Covid-19 pandemic. China’s first reported death was 11 January and r...

In the second in a series of ‘Lockdown’ podcasts, I’m joined by Grip founder, Tim Groot. Grip is an intelligent Event Matchmaking solution designed to connect relevant people in the physical event world. Up until 4 weeks ago, Grip hadn’t hosted a virtual event but were forced into delivering a solution in less than 24 hours. The pivot from physical to virtual is upon us and Grip has already facili...

The UK, in effect, is in Lockdown. As we all know, the event industry was one of the first sectors to be hit by the Covid-19 outbreak. In this must-watch edition of our podcast, I talked to Craig Mathie, MD at Bournemouth 7’s about this year’s postponed festival. Bournemouth 7’s decision to move the event from May to August Bank Holiday was for reasons including “giving the virus the best possible...

In this special edition of the Event Industry News podcast, Matt Rakowski from DBpixelhouse joined editor, Adam Parry, to discuss the petition for the government to offer more economic support to the event industry. Created less than a week ago, the petition has gained huge traction, attracting over 111,000 signatures so far. Having created the petition and written a series of letters to governmen...

Speaking from the headquarters of the esteemed AV and technical supplier in the event industry, Universal Live , James had the pleasure to talk to the events director of EVENTIT, Judith Wilson. Kicking off a week today (19th March), EVENTIT is an annual gathering of meetings and event professionals that takes place in Edinburgh. It is co-located with the bi-annual Business Events Leaders’ Summit (...

On this week’s episode of the Event Industry News podcast, we welcomed Avantgarde’s digital creative director, Thom Greybe. Avantgarde is a global brand experience agency that has been designing measurable experiences for 35 years. Its 10 locations include Berlin, Cologne, Dresden, Dubai, London, Munich, São Paulo, Shanghai, Vienna and Zurich. Speaking about the power of experiential events, Thom...

On today’s podcast, our host, James Dickson, was joined by not one but three guests: DBpixelhouse’s creative director, Alastair Reece; marketing manager, Matt Rakowski; and sales manager, Adam Price. DBpixelhouse provides experiential solutions for temporary and permanent installations. It works directly with creative agencies, event organisers and brands to create memorable experiences for events...

This week, we were joined by the managing director of the event industry’s charitable social enterprise, EventWell. Helen Moon joined us ahead of Event Wellbeing Day on 26th February to discuss the important issues surrounding mental health within the event industry. With one in three event professionals suffering from ill mental health each year, EventWell is dedicated to providing the industry w...

On this week’s episode of the Event Industry News podcast, James is joined by Anita Howard, the director of the ICE community. This community is renowned in the industry for supporting in-house corporate event planners with its ICEAWARDS, ICEPAPERS and, more recently, its ICEINSIGHTS. Established in 2015, the ICEAWARDS were created exclusively for in-house corporate planners and to recognise and s...

Joining James this week on the Event Industry News podcast was Lennart Hohneck, the business unit lead for event management platform Fanomena . Joining us from his offices in Germany, Lennart discussed the company’s rebrand from Eventbaxx and the advantages a digital goody bag has over a physical one. Founded in 2015, Eventbaxx was created to provide a digital version of an event goody bag. It is...

Joining the podcast from Copenhagen, Denmark, was professional keynote speaker, Samuel Scott. With a background in journalism and marketing, Samuel turned his professional attentions to being a keynote speaker in 2016, where he delivers marketing truths “with the mindset of an expert trade journalist with nothing to sell.” Commenting on the rarity of attaining a keynote speaker with absolutely no...

VP and head of marketing from Certain, James Huddleston, joined podcast host, James Dickson, for this week’s podcast. In the episode, Huddleston discussed how event marketers can revamp their event strategies for the new year. Huddleston has been a senior figure at Certain for three years, first as the senior director of product marketing before becoming VP and head of marketing in September 2019....

Joining our podcast host, James Dickson, on this week’s podcast was ICC Belfast’s head of digital, Charlie McCloskey. During his time with us, he discussed how the venue utilises digital marketing to drive revenue and increase exposure. Charlie is the first head of digital at the ICC Belfast, having joined in April 2018. He designs and delivers the digital strategy for the venue, using its website...

Speaking from Universal Live’s Bradford base, our podcast host, James Dickson was welcomed by its commercial manager, Neil Clappison, and creative graphic designer, Gaby Watson. On this episode, Neil and Gaby explained the creative design process the team at Universal Live undertakes with each project and how it may differ from client to client. They delved into the various tools, hardware and pro...

Fifth Element Group is an award-winning live experience company that is recognised throughout the world for creating large-scale galas, events, fundraisers, conferences and activations. On today’s podcast, president, Aaron Kaufman, spoke to our host, James Dickson, on how to keep events “real”. Speaking from the head offices in Canada, Aaron stated that Fifth Element Group was born from him discov...

Joining the Event Industry News podcast this week was Deborah Henley, the founder of Vivacity Consulting. Deborah is a professional speaker and former event booker with training in psychology. Though her education in psychology may not be event-related, she stated that it has given her a deeper understanding of audiences, languages and how to engage people. Deborah used her time on the podcast to...

For this week’s episode, podcast host, James Dickson, spoke to CEO and founder of Conference Compass, Jelmer van Ast. Founded in 2010, Conference Compass is an event app provider for the conference sector. Speaking during the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) Congress, Jelmer explained the benefits of designing and developing an app for one specific sector.  Due to the event...

Founder and MD, Holly Moore, from Make Events joined our podcast host, James Dickson, on this week’s episode to discuss the role of women in the event industry as well as her personal journey.  Make Events is a corporate event agency based in Cheshire that revolves around creating the “ultimate experience” for top brands including Garmin, Myprotein and Twitter. Last February, Holly ran an event fo...