When I first started reporting on the events industry, almost 18 years ago, there was an event season. It would start in March and run through to October, you’d have loads of Christmas parties, and then everyone would go snowboarding and skiing for the entire month of January. Trying to get hold of an #eventprof for an interview was a nightmare; everyone was too busy recharging the batteries and using up holiday entitlement that was never taken in the summer. Oh, how life has changed? Now, there is no “season”; the calendar is one long blur and the pressure to do more and deliver live events that “stand out” is notable.
In this issue, we chatted with Kilimanjaro Live/DEAG, IMG, and Culture Creative – three major producers of light trails. They have all commented (page 15) on how competitive the light trail market has become, yet all have plans to expand and grow. This is fantastic to hear. Because despite the pressures and all the challenges that come with organising and delivering events against a backdrop of rising costs and no staff, event professionals are still prepared to stick their necks out and go above and beyond. It’s because events get under your skin. This is what Arena Seating’s Terry Smith and Dave Withey believe. Collectively, they have more than 70 years’ experience of working in events, and they still love it. There’s a reason why we do what we do, and it comes down to a deep-seated passion to entertain people, make people smile, and connect. If you turn to page 44, you can read our interview with Terry and Dave, as we checked out the build at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium ahead of the Tyson Fury fight. Plus, there’s a fantastic chat with the team behind World Gymnastics Championships (page 31), and an awesome review of the most successful Event Buyers Live to date (page 21). Please look at the epic picture gallery and make sure you register your interest to attend #EBL 2023. It really is an event that is not to be missed.
Well, that leaves me with one more thing to say. This year, it’s been a pleasure to jump back on site with you and I cannot wait to do it all again next year. I think 2023 will have some challenges but it’s nothing we’ve not tackled before. So, until then, have a fantastic festive break and I wish you all the love, health, and happiness for the New Year.
Looking for new business opportunities? Check out the latest event tenders that are up for grabs 12 BANG ON Enable, organiser of Battersea Park Fireworks, discusses what steps it took to make the two-day event more sustainable
Culture Creative’s Zoe Bottrell, IMG’s Kathryn Stafford, and DEAG’s Stuart Galbraith discuss light trails; the challenges, the changes, and the opportunities to grow 21
Industry professionals attended Event Buyers Live 2022 and praised the event, calling it a massive success. StandOut reviews the “productive” and “seamless” industry event
Liverpool hosted the World Gymnastics Championships. StandOut chatted to the organising team that delivered several championship firsts
Matthew Greenwood is event director at British Gymnastics and is responsible for delivering a raft of large-scale events, including the recent World Gymnastics Championships. Matthew has extensive experience in organising world-class sporting events and has worked as a gymnastics manager and sport competition manager at London 2012 and LOCOG. In this issue, Matthew talks about the World Gymnastics Championships at the M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool, including new developments and event firsts.
Liam Worthy is director of LW Event Consulting. He is experienced in delivering event operations of the highest quality for the biggest and most logistically complex sporting events in the world, from the London 2012 Olympics, to the Tour de France Grand Depart 2014. In 2017, Liam formed LW Event Consulting and has since been involved in the delivery of some fantastic projects for some “great clients”. In this edition of StandOut, Liam discusses the intricacies and realities of running your own event business and the challenges that 2021 and 2022 have had on the events he delivers.
Stuart Galbraith is the founder and CEO of Kilimanjaro Live, one of the UK’s largest event promoters, and executive vice president of parent company, Deutsche Entertainment AG (DEAG) a pan-European promoter, venue operator and ticketing conglomerate. Stuart is also the co-founder of UK trade body LIVE, which works to ensure that the interests of live music and events in the UK are understood and communicated to the Government, policymakers, regulators, the public and wider industries. This month, Stuart talked to StandOut about the rise of festive light trails, ticket sales, and getting back to “normal”.
Tramlines Festival 2022 generated £3.8 million for the local economy, according to a report by the festival in conjunction with Bluegrass Research and Sheffield City Council.
The full economic impact report showed that the 2022 event raised more than £50,000 for charity, which went to the Tramlines Trust, Hillsborough Primary School, the NSPCC, and The Sarah Nulty Power of Music Foundation – named after the former Tramlines’ director – which gives
grants to people in Sheffield using the power of music to transform people’s lives.
The Tramlines Trust, created in 2022, has given out 42 funding grants with the inaugural round of funding totalling £30,183. This is distributed to a wide range of businesses who enhance, educate, or support the lives of local communities in the city.
Martin Smith, chair of the Economic Development and Skills Policy Committee at Sheffield City Council, said: “Tramlines Festival is arguably the most exciting weekend of
An independent economic impact report commissioned by the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland (RHASS) has found that the Royal Highland Show contributes £39.5 million annually to Edinburgh’s economy – more than Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations.
Held every year in June, the event attracts in the region of 200,000 visitors across four days to celebrate the best of Scotland’s food, farming, and rural life.
According to the stats, average visitor spend stands at £147. Visitors spend more on accommodation (21 per cent) than any other expenditure category, with overnight visitors typically staying in Edinburgh for 2.5 nights. This is closely followed by spending on food and drink on site, and other spending (both 19 per cent).
Mark Currie, RHASS director of operations, commented: “The economic impact and reach of the Royal Highland Show is significant, and this report demonstrates the importance of the show as one of Scotland’s largest and most well-attended events.
“Visitors and exhibitors come from far and wide to connect, be entertained, to sell and to buy, and it is widely acknowledged to be the best platform for rural Scottish businesses in the country.
“We are fortunate to have a loyal and engaged audience, and one that is only growing as the show evolves into a truly global event – this year more than 200,000 people from around the world tuned in to watch the show online.”
The 2023 Royal Highland Show will take place from June 22-25.
Slam Dunk Festival, the independent rock festival which takes place annually across two sites in Leeds and Hatfield, is expanding into Europe with two new events launching in France and Italy next summer.
Slam Dunk France will be a one-day, one stage, 15,000-capacity, indoor event taking place at Halle Tony Garnier, Lyon on June
Noisily Festival will welcome 6,500 festivalgoers to a new site in Barkestone Woods, just outside Grantham, Lincolnshire.
IPS has announced a management restructure. Karl Saunders has taken on the role of MD, whilst owner James Mason has become key account director.
The Classic at Silverstone – delivered by Goose Live – has rebranded and will now be known as Silverstone Festival.
2. Slam Dunk Italy will take place over two days across two stages on the beach in Rimini at Bellaria Igea Marina (Parco Pavese and Beky Bay), on the Adriatic coast close to Milan. The 10,000-capacity outdoor event will also offer camping and hotel packages across the weekend and will take place on June 2 and 3.
The 2022 World Rowing Coastal Championships has achieved ISO 20121 sustainability accreditation for the entire event.
The Business Visits and Events Partnership has rebranded as UK Events.
The Purple Guide has updated its chapters on worker welfare and safeguarding young people and children.
The Health and Safety Executive has published guidance to help employers support disabled people and those with long-term health conditions thrive at work.
Sheffield’s events calendar attracting huge talent to the city, bringing millions into our local economy, and putting on a fantastic show for our residents and visitors. As Tramlines has grown over the years, the organisers have always been keen and committed to giving back to Sheffield’s communities. Their funding into arts and culture, and towards our local charities makes a huge difference to many people and organisations, and we welcome their continued support to the place they call home.”
Looking for new business opportunities? Check out the latest event tenders
Sheffield City Council is looking to appoint a suitable provider to manage and deliver the city’s annual food festival, which includes chef demo areas, artisan market stalls, and a real ale bar. The deadline is 4pm on January 20. Email tim.dent@sheffield.gov.uk
The University of Central Lancashire has issued a tender for marquees and temporary structures, worth £260,000. It requires them for a variety of events, including graduation events, Lancashire Science Festival, an outdoor cinema, and open days. The deadline is 10am on January 6. Email npiecyk3@uclan.ac.uk
Wokingham Town Council is looking to expand its arts and entertainment provision and is, therefore, looking to partner with a company to deliver a concert in the town. Email Gemma Cumming – artsandculture@wokingham-tc.gov.uk – by 12pm on January 4.
Culture Liverpool is seeking a staging company to provide the main stage and smaller stages for the Eurovision 2023 fan village. The deadline is 10am on January 6. Interested parties should email joseph.lynam@liverpool.gov.uk
The University of Warwick is reviewing its approach to traditional graduation ceremonies. It wishes to appoint an experienced supplier to deliver an event in July 2023 that is “different and fun”. This tender is worth £300,000 to £525,000 and the deadline is 12pm on January 9. Email Debbie Cook –d.l.cook@warwick.ac.uk
Glasgow City Council has issued a tender. It wishes to create an events framework (Dynamic Purchasing System) for event services. This tender is divided into 16 lots, including power, fencing, trackway, AV, furniture, cabins, marquees, toilets, screens, staging, fireworks, lighting, waste, design services, mobile bars and grandstand seating. The deadline is 12pm on January 6. Email linda.o’dell@glasgow.gov.uk for more details.
The Imperial War Museum (IWM) has issued tenders for both furniture and marquees. It requires furniture and structures for the air show and major events at IWM Duxford. Email Lizzie Rowberry about either tender at erowberry@iwm.org.uk – the deadline is 5pm on January 16.
In the last two years, Battersea Park Fireworks has doubled in size. Read on, as Enable, the display’s organiser, discusses what steps it took to make the two-day event more sustainable
his year, Enable – a not-for-profit organisation that works in partnership with Wandsworth Council to deliver health, leisure and community services and events across the borough – took extra steps to ensure Battersea Park Fireworks 2022 was the most sustainable fireworks display yet.
Over two nights, more than 95,000 people gathered to watch rockets explode in the November sky, as well as experience a traditional bonfire and an alternative bonfire display.
As the largest single event that Enable manages, Gemma Bechervaise, event director, and her team (Annabel Dilks, James Crute, and Simge Uncular) recognised that they could make Battersea Park Fireworks – delivered by Titanium Fireworks –more sustainable.
Bechervaise explained: “We focused our efforts on reducing carbon emissions, choosing sustainable suppliers, and offsetting the travel of all the attendees by working with a Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) reduction project.”
Enable carried out extensive research to better understand how its audience traveled to the event, which has doubled in size in the last two years – 38 per cent of the display’s audience walked to the event and 43 per cent traveled by public transport.
The organisation worked with Event Decision to track and measure all greenhouse gas emissions from the event weekend [November 5 and 6]. Only one bonfire was lit to reduce carbon emissions. On day two, the event featured an “alternative” bonfire in the form of a light installation.
What’s more, no single-use plastic was issued on site, all waste was sorted with nothing sent to landfill, and truck movements and deliveries were minimised.
“The final sustainability report is still in progress, as we have to review all operations with our staff, suppliers, and contractors and process all data to understand our total carbon impact,” continued Bechervaise. “We performed this same process prior to the event based on data from previous years with the aim that we could use this report to address our areas of concern and identify where we could reduce carbon and improve our sustainability.
“We are hopeful that the work that the team put into this has significantly improved our results. Once we have the final report, any leftover emissions that we are unable to mitigate will be offset using certified offsetting schemes.”
The Battersea Park Fireworks display – which consisted of 750kg of explosive content – will be offset directly by Titanium Fireworks, which partners with a certified UK tree planting scheme to remove the same amount of CO2 from the atmosphere.
According to Bechervaise, Enable has taken part in workshops to create an organisation-wide action plan. This will act as a roadmap, with the aim of becoming fully carbon neutral. Enable wishes to change how it procures goods and services and is looking at how it can provide clean energy to traders at its events.
“We are also keen that our supplier and contractors support us in our sustainability goals,” Bechervaise added. “We are planning to go a step further by introducing environmental incentives and penalties for those who don’t work within our sustainability framework. We want to be educating our key partners on how they can work on our site and create less impact on the direct and wider environment.”
lluminated light trails have grown in popularity in the last decade, with many attractions and estates now offering them as part of a growing events programme. Their appeal is understandable, with thousands of people paying to walk beneath a web of festoon lighting and through kilometres of intricate and imaginative light installations. However, event professionals have recognised that competition has increased, and this has prompted many organisers to develop their events in a bid to “stand out”.
Windsor Great Park Illuminated launched in 2021 and confirmed its return in August 2022. Produced by IMG and DEAG Entertainment AG/Christmas Garden Deutschland, the trail opened its gates in November and featured a new trail design and re-imagined installations.
“Windsor Great Park is an idyllic site, but it takes an awful lot of lights to fill a forest,” explained Kathryn Stafford, event manager at IMG. “This year, we went all guns’ blazing. The trail needed a bigger impact and needed new intelligent installations; we needed to bring the standards up to compete with other light trails.”
Stafford’s honesty is refreshing. Improvements needed to be made and
these were the catalyst for this year’s “new and improved” experience.
IMG worked with the Crown Estate to install hard-core access and hard-standing areas, because when you have 130,000 people walking through a forest, there is inevitably mud. Plus, the trail team learned that the event could operate over a shorter period; demand for the festive light trail tailed off after the New Year. In year one, the trail ran until January 8, 2022; now, the trail will finish on January 2, 2023.
“We looked at what we had delivered in 2021 and the areas of the trail that hadn’t worked,” Stafford continued. “We knew there were some fan favourites that we had to keep, such as our ‘hedge of lights’ as we call it.”
IMG went out to tender and appointed LCI Productions to produce this year’s 2.2-kilometre trail, which consisted of six large-scale flood-lit water fountains, a 30-metre tunnel of light, a bespoke 10m x 5m light installation of Windsor Castle, interactive fireflies, a fairy disco, and holographic deer, birds, and wildlife.
Rob Paul, design director of LCI Productions, worked with IMG and DEAG to create the trail, which included 60,000 lumens of projection, 100,000 fairy lights,
“Our brief was to look at what had worked and what hadn’t,” explained Paul. “We had to bear in mind the location and geography of the
Creating suspense helped with dwell time issues and encouraged visitors to move on from popular spots. IMG and LCI chose not to run with a particular IP or narrative. Instead, the storytelling related to the park and the forest surroundings. For example, carefully curated and thoughtfully composed “woodland tracks” encouraged contemplation whilst animated fairies which hopped through the trees encouraged guests to have a “winged selfie” moment.
IMG has a five-year deal with Windsor Great Park and is looking forward to establishing Windsor Great Park Illuminated as one of the leading light trails in the UK. The problem that Stafford now faces is that because the trail “is so much better”, dwell time has increased which has impacted on traffic management and car parking.
This is a nice problem to have and demonstrates that IMG and DEAG have taken on board feedback and developed the event. But the trail is not the only festive event that DEAG is involved with.
DEAG has a track record of operating successful Christmas light trail events
at locations across Europe, including Berlin, Paris, and Barcelona. In 2020, Stuart Galbraith, founder and CEO of Kilimanjaro Live, and executive vice president of parent company DEAG, brought the concept over to the UK, and now has three light trails at heritage halls and landscaped gardens in London, Nottingham, and Staffordshire attracting hundreds of thousands of people.
During the pandemic, the appetite for these kinds of outdoor COVID-safe events grew exponentially, creating some of the UK’s most popular Christmas attractions. But now, as the UK returns to “normal”, Galbraith says that it will be interesting to see what impact “normal” has on ticket sales, consumer behaviour, and crowd flows.
“In 2020, the light trails were a lifesaver,” Galbraith said. “They kept staff occupied and we sold 107,000 tickets. Now, we’ve sold 300,000 across three sites, it’s our first ‘normal’ year, and there is no COVID or Omicron looming or getting bigger. So, it will be interesting to see the sales patterns and I am looking forward to seeing how ‘normal’ turns out.”
According to Galbraith, commercially, trails “make sense” – staff that produce concerts and festivals in the summer months have “less to do” in the winter months. Therefore, staff expertise and a trusted contractor base can be utilised.
“What makes a good light trail? Quality of installation, artistic integrity, and customer appeal. I have also realised what represents good value for money. You can spend £50,000 on brilliant video mapping but if it doesn’t capture an audience’s attention it’s no good. The key is to ensure quality and have customers say that was value for money. And that could be spending £3,500 on a good photo opportunity. You must have balance, be creative, and be different every year.”
Galbraith is honest in his appraisal. He says that he has not yet nailed the model but every single year, improvements are being made and there is room for improvement. Unlike previous years, he is now happy to think about Christmas in October, and DEAG does have plans to expand, but that is dependent on the quality of the venue.
Sony Music and Raymond Gubbay launched light trails at three new locations this year; Leeds Castle, near Maidstone; Roundhay Park, in Leeds; and Hatfield Park, near Hertford. They join established trails at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, Dunham Massey, Cheshire, and Kew Gardens, London.
Each trail showcases the “natural and unique environment” of its individual location. The curated trails feature installations from internationally and locally renowned artists and soundtracks include classical and contemporary festive favourites that move guests as they walk through millions of lights.
Zoe Bottrell, director of Culture Creative, is responsible for delivering the trails, alongside a vast team of experienced operational and production professionals.
“I feel very privileged to be in the situation we are in considering the position the world is in right now,” she commented, explaining that Sony Masterworks acquired 75 per cent of Culture Creative Ltd this summer.
For years, Bottrell has delivered the Christmas at… light trail series. The success of the partnership resulted in Sony Music/Raymond Gubbay investing in Culture Creative. Together, they now curate seven trails in the USA, one in Melbourne, one in Paris, and 12 in the UK. With expansion in the pipeline.
However, trails only work if there is a “collective desire” between promoter and venue to want to create something special, Bottrell said.
She continued: “This year, we have launched a trail at Leeds Castle. We already have a light trail in Kent. But Bedgebury and Leeds Castle are very different venues
so we can deliver different shows. When you have a portfolio of landscapes, you can deliver site-specific shows, which is fun for us when we’re programming.”
Bottrell confirmed that the market is more competitive, as she reflected on Christmas at Kew Gardens’ tenth anniversary.
“We’re still delivering high-quality experiences,” she added. “It’s not just about pea lights. At Kew, we’re putting 300,000 people through the gardens and that’s because we’re changing 80 to 95 per cent of the content each year.”
Bottrell said that the supply chain and finding personnel remained a challenge and at some venues, they have had to change some installations because there were issues getting hold of materials. But it’s a worldwide issue; there are event personnel and materials shortages across the globe, including in USA and Australia.
“The market is challenging, especially for ticketed events,” Bottrell continued. “There are more challenges, there is more competition, fuel bills are up, production costs are up, there’s less furlough money in the pot, and people are now wondering what to do with themselves because there are no COVID restrictions. There are multiple reasons why things are harder. For example, my trucking bill to get stuff out will be totally different to the one to get stuff in. Nothing is staying still.”
Yet, despite the challenges, Bottrell is pleased with where the business is at, which she describes as being “in a good position”. Bottrell concluded: “We’re planning our shows 18 months in advance. In 2023, there will be up to four shows in Australia. We dipped our toe into Europe with Paris, we’ll expand in the States, and there are two or three venues that are on our radar in the UK. But the UK market is not our focus for 2023.”
A simple solution for those who need temporary communications. This solution has proven to be invaluable for sectors such as event organisers, council teams, TV and film crews, security and parking to name but a few, with both short and longterm contracts available.
Organising any event or general on-site communication requires total dedicated support and at DCRS, there is always a team on-call or on-site ready to assist you.
Call FREE: 0800 043 2688 email: sales@dcrs.co.uk www.dcrs.co.uk
Bespoke radio solutions for large, wide area events
Motorola digital and analogue radios, mobiles and repeaters
Wide area Nationwide coverage
WAVE PTX POC LTE & ICOM portables
A full range of audio accessories, radio allocation systems and voice recording available
Free radio license or free programming to your own frequencies
Delivery and collection to your specified addresses
On-site support and out of hours call-out, 24/7 if required
Industry professionals attended Event Buyers Live 2022 and praised the event, calling it a massive success. StandOut reviews the “productive” and “seamless” industry event
F antastic. Seamless. Extremely productive. Amazing. Informative. Fun. These are just some of the words used by events professionals to describe their experience at Event Buyers Live (EBL) 2022 last month [November 28-30].
The industry networking event, which took place at Carden Park Hotel, Chester, was a huge success according to feedback from both organisers and suppliers who gathered at the prestigious venue.
After another challenging 12 months, Event Buyers Live connected the live events industry. In fact, the event’s innovative badging technology – provided by Blendology – shows that 4,700 unique connections were made, and more than 630 meetings took place.
Neil Fagg, co-founder of EBL, said: “We strive to make Event Buyers Live the most productive, engaging, and worthwhile event we can, so it was fantastic to see so many events professionals networking and connecting. I know significant contracts have already been awarded and very interesting conversations have taken place. Watch this space for more collaborative partnerships.”
He continued: “We worked with Blendology for the first time in 2021 and their technology was just brilliant to use, so we engaged them once again. This meant our guests could ‘tap’ badges and digitally exchange details. The badging system facilitated an easy exchange of contact details so that events professionals could remain connected post-event.
“I love figures so reading the data has been so interesting. On average, each attendee made 20 new and unique connections. This, coupled with more than 630 pre-arranged meetings, shows the value of the EBL format. We created Event Buyers Live to facilitate honest conversations around procurement and infrastructure requirements and to introduce people to one another; people that we know who could work well together, and I am proud to say that we have done that once again.”
Emily Whitaker, senior event manager at Limelight Sports, agreed with Fagg. The event delivered an excellent opportunity to network and connect. She said: “Event Buyers Live was an amazing opportunity to connect and meet with suppliers and
other event organisers. It was seamlessly organised, with a wonderfully varied schedule. We met some really exciting new suppliers and attended some brilliant workshops and panel talks. The schedule was well balanced with a mix of meetings, talks, networking time, and some downtime. It was brilliantly organised by the EBL team, and nothing was too much trouble. Aside from the networking and insight opportunities provided at the event, it also felt like a great moment to celebrate the year with the wider industry and start to get really excited about the year ahead!”
Amy Foster, project manager at Royal Horticultural Shows agreed. She said: “Event Buyers Live is a truly fantastic event for event organisers and suppliers alike. Meaningful meetings with suppliers are surrounded by interesting talks and roundtable discussions as well as some fantastic dinners that allow networking with fellow organisers and suppliers in a relaxed setting.”
A
Event Buyers Live 2022 consisted of more than 630 supplier meetings, 15 content sessions, five Net-Walks (think networking and walking), and more networking than you could imagine.
Catherine Bishop, operations director at The Game Fair, described the event as “a staple in my event calendar” and said that it’s a “must” for any event organiser or contractor.
Alysha Sorhaindo, operations manager at Running High Events, attended EBL for the first time. Describing the event as “great”, she said: “It was great to meet other event organisers and hear their experiences, to meet suppliers faceto-face and discuss requirements was a lot easier and more efficient than the traditional email or call. The roundtable sessions I really enjoyed and were super useful. I learnt lots and made lots of new supplier contacts and connections.”
Event Buyers Live has built a strong reputation for solid business networking, an insightful education programme and the sharing of industry knowledge. Xsara Sharples, event manager at English Football League, said that she “loved the roundtables and workshops” and learned a lot from her time at the event. Similarly, Ian Fielder, operations director at Green Man Festival, described the workshops and roundtables as informative. He said: “Event Buyers Live is the most useful event we attend all year. It is great to have an opportunity to sit down with suppliers and discuss our projects in detail. The workshops and roundtable discussions are informative, and I always come away with new information and ideas. It’s also a lot of fun and a great opportunity to meet other people in the industry.”
Events professionals from Formula E, LS Events, Kilimanjaro Live, Method Events, Southampton International Boat Show, Amplify, Culture Liverpool, Bristol City Council, RHS, IMG, DHP Family, NW Live, Avantgarde, Cuffe and Taylor, Identity, Greater London Authority, Limelight Sports, and London Marathon Events attended the respected event, which facilitates pre-arranged one-onone meetings between organisers and suppliers. It gives events professionals the chance to sit down with each other and discuss project and procurement requirements.
Duncan Strain, director of Silent Noize Events, was just one of the many suppliers supporting the event. He said of his event experience: “It was our first time attending EBL and we were not disappointed. Brilliant organisation both pre and during the show and it was a fantastic opportunity to meet and network with many of the key players in the event industry.”
Craig Walkley, event sales consultant at PKL Group, concurred. He commented on his experience: “It was my first experience attending Event Buyers Live and I found it an excellent opportunity to meet potential clients in the industry. What sets it apart from other networking events is that the set meetings were with buyers who had chosen to meet us, meaning we could have good conversations about how we may be able to support them as a business.”
Paul Sinclair, client development manager, at Five Star Group, also enjoyed his time at Event Buyers Live and valued the opportunity to sit down with event organisers that are looking to secure infrastructure and services for future events. He said: “Event Buyers Live was a fantastic opportunity to meet with so many great minds from within the industry, and something I would highly recommend to suppliers in live events.”
Event Buyers Live 2022 featured several firsts. The organising team introduced a series of Net-Walks, a fireside chat with Parklife co-founder Sacha Lord during the gala dinner, and extended education sessions so that topics such as sustainability and crew welfare could be given more airtime and discussed at length. Plus, diversity, equity, and inclusion were at the core of the event.
Ben Whur, director of Proud Events and EBL’s advisor on DEI, was lead ambassador at Event Buyers Live. He said: “Event Buyers Live wanted to highlight the importance of educating ourselves so that we become a more diverse and inclusive industry to be a part of.
“This year, I was fortunate enough to work with the EBL team on diversity, equity and inclusion and was honoured to chair a discussion with some incredible panellists. I was equally honoured to work with a team of industry ambassadors to support the event and to develop a diverse and inclusive place to do business.
“The event was a great success and without a doubt, EBL is the stand out industry event of the year. Now that the event is over, I will be working with Neil and the team to assess feedback and look at how we can make EBL 2023 even better.”
Fagg added: “This year has not been without its challenges; we know that life on site has been tough and that there have been a series of common obstacles that people have had to navigate. Therefore, I appreciate the time that everyone has taken out of the office. Their input has been invaluable and has helped make EBL what it is… the place to do business, the place to network, and the place to learn.
“I would like to echo Ben’s comments and just want to say a massive thank you to everyone that attended and supported Event Buyers Live 2022, and who made it so special. From our speakers, our ambassadors, our sponsors and event partners, everyone played their part, and delivered what is the best EBL yet. Roll on 2023.”
With special thanks to Carden Park, Swift MRP, Visions, RedBox Events, iVentis, Blendology, Fantastic Fireworks, Tysers, 2CL, isla, NOQ, Aniseed Photo, and our charity partners ecolibrium and Mental Health UK.
To register your interest in Event Buyers Live 2023, visit www.eventbuyerslive.com
As the UK’s largest and greenest equipment rental provider, we’ve been delivering temporary infrastructure solutions for over 50 years. Everything from planning, plant, power and welfare to complete 360°, managed solutions. Reducing emissions, improving efficiency and safety, we support your events all the way.
Leave the how to us.
The Stage Bus is an event production and stage hire company with a difference; all of their stages are solarpowered! Based in Birmingham and covering outdoor events nationwide, The Stage Bus proudly boasts an eight-strong fleet of stages that are amongst the most innovative around. Visit their website for more information or call their friendly, knowledgeable sales team.
Liverpool
More than 35,000 gymnastics fans were lucky to get their hands on a ticket to the 51st World Gymnastics Championships. Held at the M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool, the championships hosted more than 400 athletes from 72 competing countries.
The competition was a demonstration of stamina, strength, and creativity; but we’re not talking about gymnasts. The event’s delivery team achieved Gold and delivered several championship firsts against a backdrop of timing and budget challenges.
Matthew Greenwood, event director at British Gymnastics, was just one of many key individuals that played a pivotal role in delivering the first World Gymnastics Championships (with spectators) event since 2019. The sporting event in Liverpool was the culmination of a multi-year journey. In fact, it was the culmination of an eight-year journey; British Gymnastics identified the international championships in its 2015 event strategy and made an official bid to host the event in Liverpool, partnering with Liverpool City Council.
In May 2018, the International Gymnastics Federation revealed that British Gymnastics and Liverpool City Council had been successful in their bid and planning soon started.
Jen Falding, strategic lead for major sports events at Liverpool City Council, worked closely with Greenwood and his team, including In the Round’s Terri Lynam, creative and spectator experience director of the championships, Stuart Campbell, COO of the World Gymnastics Championships, Liverpool City Council’s Sarah Vasey, in charge of delivering the event’s first ever fan zone, Mindy Davies, sport services manager, Emma Burton, competition manager, Alex Harris, scoring and results manager, and Symphotech’s head of safety Eddy Grant, who was engaged to deliver safety management. He said it was the local organising committee’s aim to run the best World Gymnastics Championships; it was his job to ensure that such a “beautifully choreographed event” was a great experience for the audience, athletes, contractors, and the 406-strong volunteer army, aged from 18-85 years old, who clocked up a total of 15,000 hours and worked across 30 different roles.
Lynam oversaw all things creative in terms of look and feel, including content, entertainment, lighting, and music for the
venue, sports presentation, fan zone, and athlete wrap party. The creative brief was to liaise with production, operations, and culture colleagues to deliver the creative theme Welcome to Our World. She focused on youth, new technology, interactivity, innovation, and edginess, and married each element with an “unexpected twist”.
A seamless spectator experience was key. She commented: “All of these elements in larger events are usually split between several teams so having the opportunity to influence all these elements meant the experience across all the areas was more consistent and tied together more cohesively. Our brand, the colours, and whirlpool logo provided a fantastic opportunity to make the event bright, vibrant, and youthful and I wanted these elements across the lighting, music, and physical branding pieces as well.”
According to Greenwood, a high level of sports presentation is now the norm for major gymnastics events. “Everything we do has the needs of the gymnasts at its heart but making the World Championships into a show and giving these amazing gymnasts a great stage on which to perform at their best is paramount to our planning,” he explained.
With that in mind, how did Lynam go about meeting the creative brief? “It was a collaborative approach,” she continued. “Gymnastics is quite a formal sport. We needed our Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) colleagues to buy into the different and innovative approach I wanted to take. That meant presenting our ideas about a less formal opening ceremony and creating – with ADI – an opening sequence that incorporated digital content and moved into live speeches and performances as well as innovative fan engagement technology.”
ADI was appointed as the official event presentation provider and was responsible for the delivery of a range of event solutions, including full management of the event presentations, in-bowl and external LED displays, content, and digital applications in the championship fan zone.
ADI’s production team brought new concepts to the arena during the busy competition schedule. For example, a giant cubic LED screen was used to deliver the live broadcast, competition standings, event information and educational content, and British Sign Language was displayed on screens for the first time.
The championships had to feature an immersive environment that would keep spectator engagement high throughout nine days of competition.
To achieve this, ADI installed thousands of metres of digital displays across three separate locations. Once installed, the screens displayed “atmosphere-building content” that was crafted in-house by ADI’s Studios team. Plus, 15km of fibre was laid to enable the content to be delivered to the displays in real-time.
But that was not all. ADI delivered several innovative digital solutions that focused
on audience participation and interactivity across the ACC Liverpool complex. Teaming up with audio specialist Cue Audio and stadia game expert Piing, ADI brought smartphone light shows, fan cams, multiplayer gaming apps, and interactive digital walls to the event.
One of the most successful interactive features was QGlo – a bespoke smartphone application used to deliver a synchronised light show inside the main competition arena.
Each day, before the gymnasts took to the floor, the lights on the audiences’ smartphones would flash in time with music, which meant that the devices could be held aloft inside the arena to create a spectacular in-bowl atmosphere. Thomas Taylor, ADI’s global head of sales, described QGlo as a “sustainable Coldplay moment” as it negates the need for LED wristbands. The integrated light capture technology is all that’s needed to deliver a moment of “hype”.
Welcome to Our World as a theme gave Lynam and her team lots of creative licence. Her approach was to be bold and brave and push the boundaries with lighting, music, and entertainment choices. As gymnastics is a complex sport to watch as a fan, it was important that ticketholders were educated as well as entertained. She continued: “Working with ADI and our other agencies in Novum, Adlib, Voiceworks.ai, and Theatresign to create this event was fantastic. It was a collaborative process.
“ADI has fantastic technology, a wide array of screens or canvases as they say and a great content creation team. Every month, we ran a stakeholder workshop to present creative ideas and make decisions in a collaborative way. There are so many technical components to gymnastics that you need to work around – lighting, noise, and graphics that can’t move during competition, so it was extremely
important to ensure the sports presentation elements didn’t overshadow the athletes but incorporated them and elevated them. As nearly 80 per cent of our audience was new to the sport, I knew education was also going to be vital so that we could create long-term gymnastics fans and a legacy for the sport.”
Technology and sports presentation made a huge difference to the spectator experience, said Greenwood. He explained: “The ‘venue take-over’ using the ADI screens was innovative and it was the first time that football-style perimeter LED screens have been used at a gymnastics event in the UK.
“The work that ADI also did with Swiss Timing to enable the LED screen located at each apparatus to show the details of the competing gymnast and the score they achieved made it much easier for those new to gymnastics to follow the competition. Those new to the sport need simple, easy-to-understand information whereas the die-hard gym fans are interested in the minutia of the scores, so having the range of screens allowed us to offer something for everyone. This was a great step forward.”
ADI’s Taylor was the overall contract delivery lead, whilst ADI’s Richard Hale and Alex Ashworth were executive producer and creative lead respectively. Craig Robinson was project manager.
Lynam described ADI as “true partners” and were considered as part of the team where collaboration was the essence of a close working relationship. Greenwood concurred. He commented: “British Gymnastics has worked with ADI for several years, mainly on the provision of LED screens for use as scoreboards and for in-arena VT and graphics. This relationship has steadily grown, but the World Championships was the first time we have worked with ADI in their capacity of providing both the technology and creative content for sports presentation. The expertise they have in terms of the technology they provide is reassuring in what can become quite a complex process with so many constituent parts. They did a great job of pulling all these disparate systems together seamlessly from the perspective of the spectator audience. However, it is the people that make working with ADI such a pleasure.
They clearly have a strong desire to bring the sport to life and are always willing to go the extra mile to overcome challenges and deliver the presentation at the best possible standard.”
All the competition and training facilities were co-located within the ACC Liverpool complex giving the event a compact feel. Furthermore, fans, athletes, volunteers, and stakeholders were able to enjoy the atmosphere created by the proximity of the facilities. This made Lynam’s job a little easier, as she oversaw all production elements, including city animation.
Lynam continued: “My team worked on the programme for the fan zone, delivering brilliant street theatre acts, community and gymnastics group performances, sponsorship activations, live podcasts, and meet and greets. This, combined with some great interactive pieces, meant the 18,500 people who experienced the fan zone were blown away and 45 per cent said it was the reason for deciding to come to the event.”
The fan zone was delivered by the same team responsible for delivering a successful fan zone at the Netball World Cup in 2019 and it was a first for a major gymnastics event in the UK. Plus, it was free to access. This was an important point. The organising team wished to make the event inclusive and accessible and give people an opportunity to experience the event even if they could not get championship tickets.
Falding, who worked with Grant to ensure the event was delivered safely, explained that the championship had exceeded ticketing income forecasts. But it was not the only reason to smile. The home crowd had plenty to cheer about. Team GB surpassed its bestever World Gymnastics Championships medal haul set in Glasgow in 2015 with an incredible six medals, including a silver for the women’s team and a bronze for the men’s team.
Greenwood continued: “It is always the icing on the cake when British gymnasts have success at a home championship. In this case, it was Great Britain’s best-ever result at a World Championships, with both teams qualifying directly for Paris 2024. Therefore, seeing British Gymnasts stand on top of the medal podium and listening to the national anthem is always special.”
L ED screens play a huge role in how attendees experience an event. They show vital messaging, enable clear communication, and display unmissable content, engaging audiences and drawing them in. But a screen is only as good as the content that appears on it, says Thomas Taylor, global head of sales at ADI.
“More and more, we’re advising clients on the content that they should create,” he explains. “Our biggest service expansion is in content creation. It’s no longer about delivering screens, it’s about what goes on the screen and keeping audiences engaged.”
ADI recently provided screens and sports presentation services to World Gymnastics Championships at M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool. The Preston-based business provided the event with 27 screens and several interactive experiences inside the official fan zone as well as digital LED totems and digital wayfinding.
ADI had six months to work on the project. Ideally, the event LED screen specialist would have liked 12 months to work on the championship and whilst the event was a huge success, Taylor believes so much more could have been achieved with more time.
Taylor continued: “What stood out about our involvement at World Gymnastics Championships? My team. I am most proud of the team who took ownership and drove the project forward in the busiest year. Without the team, the event wouldn’t have happened and with such positivity.”
It certainly has been a busy events season for big screen providers. PRG worked with LarMac Live to supply more than 3,000 square metres of LED across six stages at Creamfields and has just helped to deliver MDLBeast Soundstorm. Video Illusions provided video services for the Tyson Fury fight at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and Sleek Events worked with iMAG to deliver a huge screen for the CBI Annual Conference.
ADI, which is currently developing new modular and mobile products that will enter the events market in the next 12 months, had a busy season too. The event business has worked with Formula E, Red Bull Racing, Amaury Sport Organisation, and London Marathon Events.
For example, more than 38,000 runners passed beneath a new finish gantry at the 2022 TCS London Marathon in October.
Lisa Thompson, TCS London Marathon event lead, explained: “One of the huge successes of the marathon was our incredible new finish gantry. This had digital displays on both sides, with the runner-facing side displaying messages of support and congratulations to participants as they finished. In addition, the finish gantry also provided a unique viewing position for hospitality guests.
“To enable us to transition smoothly to this new finish gantry, which was 9m in depth, we built a trial half-size version in 2021, which was significantly larger than the gantry used in previous years. This was crucial to enable us to successfully deliver the amazing new gantry for 2022.”
ADI worked with London Marathon Events to deliver the gantry as well as mobile screens, 31 totems, digiBoards, and sports presentation services. What’s more, with an ambition to provide a more environmentally friendly solution, the totems were powered by batteries rather than generators. This is a more sustainable and cost-effective solution. It’s a great example of innovation and is demonstrative of the steps that big screen and LED display providers are taking to ensure organisers can deliver “stand out” events, sustainably.
RENTALS@BRADSHAWEV.COM WWW.BRADSHAWEV.COM/EVENT-HIRE
For more than a decade, Liam Worthy has worked within the events industry, delivering large-scale sporting events. Now, as director of LW Event Consulting and an experienced industry freelancer, he reflects on his freelance life and lessons learned
In the summer of 2005, a friend from my local cycling club asked me if I wanted to work on an event with him for a few days. It sounded like a no-brainer; working on an event, travelling the length and breadth of the country, staying in hotels, and following my favourite sport –and getting paid for it! I tried to work out where the catch was!
Little did I know, but 17 years later, I’d be working in events full time, running my own event management business, and working with long-standing clients to deliver some amazing events.
Early in my career, I was lucky to learn some key lessons that I still swear by now: Don’t be afraid to say no. If you say yes to everything, you’re either going to let your standards slip or you’ll compromise your mental health and family relationships.
Be open, honest, and helpful. Having this approach gains instant respect. If you remain open and honest, then you’ll never need to have a difficult conversation with clients or contractors. Being helpful is a trait that can be easily underestimated. When the going gets tough, people appreciate support and
helpfulness. Plus, no matter how perfect and detailed your preparation and planning are, you’ll need other people to help you out one day too. And that’s really when you find out whom you can trust and rely on.
Build positive and professional relationships. I pride myself on building positive and professional relationships with clients and stakeholders. I’ve found people respect and value this approach, in an industry where stakeholders can too often be left in the dark during the latter stages of planning. Again, it comes back to building those open and honest relationships with everyone you interact with.
Thanks to the pandemic, my 2021 event season only lasted six months but that season was possibly the hardest of my career so far. Postponed events from earlier in the year meant a jam-packed calendar from May to October, delivering events I would usually plan and deliver over 12 months. This was a real test and left me questioning my love for the industry. 2022 needed careful consideration to ensure that I didn’t get near
to the intensity I saw in 2021, but equally I had confidence that with my key events returning to their regular slot in the calendar, I could resume my regular event cycle and consider new clients based on that spread of work.
2022 started with a new client and event. Human Race’s Cancer Research UK London Winter Run event was a new one on the calendar but having worked hard to develop trusting relationships with Westminster City Council, Transport for London, The Royal Parks, MET Police, London Ambulance Service, and London Fire Brigade over the years, this left me with only the City of London as a new stakeholder for me to get to know.
RENTALS@BRADSHAWEV.COM WWW.BRADSHAWEV.COM/EVENT-HIRE
RENTALS@BRADSHAWEV.COM WWW.BRADSHAWEV.COM/EVENT-HIRE
Over the years, I seemed to have developed a bit of a niche in providing complete course management services for clients on their road events. These were the services I delivered on behalf of Human Race. Detailed planning can usually start anywhere between three to nine months before an event of this nature, or even longer for an international major games/international event. However, regardless of the project length, it always starts with establishing stakeholder contacts, reviewing debrief notes from the previous year, and onboarding key contractors.
I’ve developed quite a clear project structure, which seems to work well when applied to any road event and avoids any duplication of work. This is essential when you need to manage your time across various concurrent projects.
Throughout the year, I can have up to three or four projects live at any one time but scheduling and overlap are key. While one could be in the early stages of planning, one could be mid-way through, one approaching delivery, and one being wrapped up with a detailed debrief report. I’ve found that it is essential to not overload yourself at any time with multiple back-to-back event deliveries otherwise managing workload and potential curve balls can become challenging. Of course, it isn’t always that simple.
For quite a few years, May has been my busiest month. Planning is ramping up for the ASICS London 10k, which is in midJuly, and there’s the delivery of one of my biggest events of the year – the Hackney Half Marathon. However, in 2022, RideLondon moved dates to the weekend following Hackney. It’s an event I’ve been involved in since its first edition in 2013. Dropping one or the other was never an option, especially with my new role of route safety manager for the RideLondon Classique. Instead, I needed to carefully plan my time between January and April to ensure I had gotten each project to the state of planning required.
But whilst in the thick of the detailed planning, I was approached by the Commonwealth Games and asked if I would consider providing a turnkey solution for Birmingham 2022’s Marathon, Time Trial, and Road Race events. Of course, these opportunities don’t come along too often. The answer was always going to be “yes”. Luckily, I’d had some initial warning some months prior that the project might be coming my way. As a result, I was able to tentatively approach some trusted contacts, whom I wanted to be part of the team and who were only too willing to hold some dates in their diaries.
The Commonwealth Games was a great success and was incredibly enjoyable to be a part of. I worked with a client that I had worked with on multiple occasions so there was immense trust on both parts.
I knew that while I would be given the autonomy to deliver the role as I felt was needed and appoint the team I wanted, I had full confidence that up to that point the client had put in the detailed work and planning with stakeholders and internal departments to ensure we had the best opportunity to deliver the events to the highest of standards.
In early September, I was due to deliver the parade route operations and logistics for Hackney Council’s showcase event – the Hackney Carnival, which attracts 100,000 residents onto the streets for a day to celebrate the borough’s diversity. Detailed planning for an event of this nature involved a thorough multi-agency approach. Regular planning meetings – both on-site and virtual – were held with multiple stakeholders to ensure plans were fully joined up prior to
delivery. The event didn’t quite go ahead as planned due to the sad passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II just 72 hours before it was due to take place. By contrast, the team ended up working closely with colleagues at Hackney Council to deliver the local proclamation of King Charles III outside Hackney Town Hall for around 300 people. Not quite the day that was planned!
During event delivery, I’m either based in the control room or a vehicle ensuring the full course is set up as required. Whichever role I’m in on event day, being able to bring in trusted staff that I work with throughout the year always gives me confidence. Whatever the scenario on the ground, I’ve got a team with the right attitude and experience to help resolve any issue. I’ve often had to push and persuade clients to allow me to use staff I trust and know have the right experience for the role, even sometimes when budgets can be tight. But I know the resilience this offers them in delivery and it’s something I believe is worth fighting for.
RENTALS@BRADSHAWEV.COM
WWW.BRADSHAWEV.COM/EVENT-HIRE
Being able to provide consistency to the staff in briefing documentation, level of preparation, the standards of delivery expected, and the knowledge that they have my full support and trust enables them to take hold of their areas and make key decisions on the ground while understanding the reporting structure.
GOING FULL CIRCLE 2022 finished with me working on one of my longest-running client’s events – the Oxford Half Marathon. The event has a real community feel and the route goes right through the city’s historic centre. However, like most historic city centres, pavements and streets can be narrow and intertwined, meaning the event has a real overlap between areas. Oxford as a city isn’t that huge, so to fit a 13.1-mile half marathon in it is a bit of a challenge. For example, mile 1.5 is also mile 12 and is also one of the start pens. In addition, mile 12.8 runs the opposite direction through the start pens and 100 metres after the finish line, participants walk off back to the race village using the route that was mile 1 and mile 2! Confusing?
Thankfully, on the Oxford Half, we have a well-established team who never get complacent and have an equal dislike of the worst event planning phrase: “Well, we’ve always done it this way”. As a result, we challenge each other’s plans across departments and roles, and always approach the event delivery as if it were our first time delivering it – by running through the management of the multiple reconfiguration locations in the lead-up to the event, both between management and the delivery teams. For an event of this nature, it is incredibly important and is a
clear illustration of how reliant everyone is on one another within the organisation and delivery team.
As we approach the end of 2022, contracts for 2023 are being negotiated and planning is well underway for my second Cancer Research UK London Winter Run with Human Race. The cycle of managing concurrent projects at different stages of planning and delivery continues.
Sometimes I must take a step back to realise how lucky I am to have almost accidentally stumbled upon a career I’m so passionate about and that has given me so many incredible experiences and allowed me to meet so many talented and equally passionate individuals. However, the biggest success of all is that some of these people are now great friends. I have no doubt I’ll remain in contact with them for a very long time – regardless of how my future career pans out.
RENTALS@BRADSHAWEV.COM WWW.BRADSHAWEV.COM/EVENT-HIRE
remember you as a snotty nose kid, scratting around on your hands and knees,” laughs Mike Goodall, managing director of Ringcraft Boxing Facilities. Goodall is in good form, as he embraces Arena Seating’s Terry Smith, managing director of the Membury-based event seating supplier.
StandOut joins Smith, Goodall, and Dave Withey, sales and marketing director of Arena UK and Europe, at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. In just 24 hours, Tyson Fury will fight Dereck Chisora at Spurs’ ground, which has been transformed into an arena – with the help of Arena Seating’s flat tip-up seats – for the WBC world heavyweight boxing match.
“This is something special,” adds Goodall. “To have 60,000 people in this stadium, watching boxing, in the first week of December is extraordinary.”
Goodall is a long-standing client of Arena Seating and delivers world-class boxing
facilities for Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions, amongst others. He and Withey go back a long way. “We have a good relationship,” says Goodall. “Dave knows I call a spade a spade and I tell him what I am going to pay and if he doesn’t like it, hard luck.”
Withey and Goodall laugh. Goodall is what you’d describe as “old school” and is open about some of the professional arguments that he and Withey have had over the years. However, there’s respect and it’s obvious that their working relationship is built on trust and unashamed honesty.
It’s indicative of the Arena Seating business; Smith and Withey are both proud of the relationships they have developed with clients. Between them, they have more than 70 years experience of working in events and temporary seating. For example, Withey has worked with The Queen’s Club since the first ever Queen’s Championships. Now, Robomagic is a
new touring client, and the business is bidding on Paris 2024. But, 50 years of Arena Seating. How does it feel? “Tiring,” chuckles Withey.
“But still exciting,” adds Smith.
UNDER YOUR SKIN Smith unofficially joined Arena Seating in 1972, as he joined his dad – Ron Smith, who founded Arena Promotional Facilities – in the van on jobs.
“I’d just follow my dad and play around whilst he put seats up and down,” explains Smith, as we watch the crew install the final seats for tomorrow’s big fight. “I officially joined in 1993 and Dave joined in 1977. Dave and I would jump from site to site in the summer, putting up seats. We had a lot of fun, travelling around the country, coming home, and telling our mates in the pub about things they could only dream of. We worked hard and
played hard. It wasn’t glamorous; it was extremely hard work but it’s the industry we’re in. It gets under your skin and the romantic thing is, we’re still working with our mates now – whether they are clients, staff, or suppliers.”
The seating system that Smith [Ron] designed 50 years ago is still being used today; it’s one of Arena Seating’s “bread and butter” systems. “When Terry’s dad designed the first system, it was more important for promoters and organisers to get the numbers in,” explains Withey. “Now, there needs to be a balance between comfort and capacity. People weren’t as tall as you and me; now we have to factor in comfort in the seat, leg room, and great views to give people a good customer experience.”
In 2010, Arena began developing the Clearview seating system, a reconfigurable and demountable seating system. It was unveiled ahead of London 2012 and caused a stir at the time of its launch.
“There wasn’t another system in the world like it,” Withey adds. “We needed a new product in our portfolio. We started designing it in 2010 and now that system goes all over the world.”
Smith confirms that the system is being “redefined”. Together, Smith and Withey have been listening to clients to see how the system can be engineered to improve on build times, storage, transportation, and sustainability. They believe that Arena Seating is leading the way because it has a range of products that clients want. However, Smith’s 20-year stint as operations director has also given him an advantage. He knows the challenges that clients face, and he also understands the pressures that each crew member faces, as he has done every single job that he now asks his crews to undertake.
“Up until becoming MD in 2018, I was very much working on site,” Smith continues. “My focus was on operations, and it has 100 per cent made me a better MD. As we look out over the stadium now, there’s a guy over there cleaning the seats in cold temperatures. I’ve done that job, and I know how that guy feels. You’re working in an exciting environment, but the job isn’t. Trying to flog that crew member to do a 12-hour shift is not the right thing to do. Productivity is key and so is giving crew members proper working conditions, breaks, and welfare facilities. Plus, it’s down to me and the team to design equipment that is easier to build, lighter and quicker.”
Both Withey and Smith agree that the pressures on the crew have increased over the years. Health and safety, deadlines, and promoters/organisers don’t want to pay for extra days and long complicated builds. It’s because there are pressures on costs and there’s every chance that some events would not go ahead without “flexibility”.
Smith says that the industry has changed and there is an increased focus on collaboration and partnerships. Arena Seating is pro-actively working with clients to improve welfare on site, for example, and a greater work/life balance. However, everyone recognises when they need to go above and beyond to deliver projects on time. It means that Arena Seating is having to work smarter in a world that is getting smaller and more competitive.
“When you’re in the trenches, you have to dig in and get events over the line,” says Smith. “That’s why collaboration and building relationships are so important.”
Smith is honest in his appraisal as he looks back at his career and the business his dad started. Smith continues: “My biggest mistake, because I was operational and behind the scenes, was that I guess I never felt like I had a loud enough voice, or I was listened to enough. My opinion was strong and well developed but I would hesitate. I was always thinking someone else has a better opinion or more experience than me at being a senior exec. It’s probably not a mistake but something I have learned over the years. But, now, I am at the top table, my opinion is good and well placed and I am able to bring the worker aspect to the management. I see myself as the guy on site and I make sure I stay close to the boots on the ground and the realities of what we do rather than getting too distant from it.
“Would dad be proud of what Arena has become? One hundred per cent. He’d be ecstatic and 50 years ago he’d probably never have envisaged getting to this scale, globally.”
Smith and Withey confirm that Arena Seating is looking to grow. The UK is a “mature market”, but the Middle East is an area of focus, as is Asia, and Australia is also on Arena Seating’s radar.
Withey adds: “Where do I think Arena Seating will be in 10, 20, 30 years? I think we will have diversified into other areas of the industry, doing things that we don’t necessarily do now. Yes, Arena does seating, structures, and ice rinks – we’ve grown rapidly in the last 15 years. I think we’ll be completely global and have offices all over the world.”
Smith concurs and concludes: “I think we’ll be taking that Arena family, philosophy, and approach into other parts of the world. That hands-on, transparent collaborative approach with clients so that events continue to be successful. It’s one of the reasons why we have a brilliant events industry.”
I f you are interested in event design and décor, you will probably have heard about Pantone’s Colour of the Year for 2023; Viva Magenta 18-1750. According to Pantone, it’s a shade of red that promotes “joyous and optimistic celebration”. For Ian Harvey, managing director of Furniture on the Move, the shade is a big hit; a deep red wine colour that he can easily accommodate if that’s what his clients desire in 2023, and beyond.
“The events marketplace is busier than ever at the moment,” Harvey explained. “We have been everywhere this year. From Silverstone to Wimbledon, from CarFest to Glastonbury. We’ve worked with distilleries in the far north of Scotland to the Eden Project in Cornwall.”
He continued: “We’ve got several key shows already booked for 2023 and in January, we are taking on an additional warehouse (17,000 square feet) to accompany the 35,000 square feet we already have.”
It has been a busy year for many event furniture providers. Xpect Furniture has delivered significant volumes of furniture to events, including Oktoberfest and Birmingham 2022, and Thorns has had a bustling summer too. Jon Noonan, managing director of Thorns Group, said: “All of the large consumer-led events that we supply have seen a resurgence post-pandemic. Hopefully, this trend continues. Our calendar for 2023 is proving very promising at present and we are seeing real positivity.”
Such positivity is leading many event furniture specialists to invest in new items. Thorns has invested more than £1 million in new stock, including velvet stools, large rectangular poseur tables, lockable cupboards with cable management, outdoor deck chairs and bean bags. Xpect Furniture has added Soft Sofas and a Gerlin chair and stool to its portfolio, and Mark Clarke has launched a range of rustic chairs, benches, stools, and tables made from local, sustainable, coppiced Hazel and sustainably managed native woodlands of sweet chestnut, oak, and ash.
However, whilst design and aesthetics are incredibly important to organisers, event furniture experts have noticed an increase in the number of #eventprofs asking about sustainability.
For example, Harvey said that clients are focused on sustainable design, more so than budgets. Harvey explained: “Recycling and sustainability are at the very top of our client’s agenda for 2023, so we are expanding our new and existing ranges to introduce more of those items with FSCcertified timbers and recycled products. We are talking to a new company about using recycled fabrics on their upholstery and have just imported some new ranges from our trusted partners in Italy and Poland that use recycled composites in their tabletops.”
However, a fine balance needs to be struck between the constant drive for sustainability coupled with the desire to offer an aesthetically pleasing and fit-for-purpose solution. Noonan believes that a huge emphasis will be placed on recyclable and reusable furniture, that is supplied sustainably. For example, delivering furniture in reusable casings and constructing it on site to cut down on vehicle movements and transportation costs.
Similarly, Xpect Furniture is looking at ways it can be more sustainable. For instance, Stuart Wilson, sales director at Xpect Furniture, explained that when purchasing new furniture items, it looks at their versatility and whether the items are recyclable; how could each item be used in a variety of event environments?
According to Wilson, the trend for bold and bright furniture continues as client’s recognise that the right furniture at an event gives impact. He also believes that events will bounce back, and that the industry is in for a “bumper year”.
Harvey concluded: “Events are all still there and bigger than ever. It’s been a fantastic year after so much worry and pain from lockdown. 2023 looks to be shaping up in the same way and we are cautiously optimistic about it. If everyone talks themselves into a recession, it will happen… so let’s not!”
Is Le Bon theory, which states that crowds are mad, bad, and unpredictable, outdated?
Rupert Crayston, group head of health and safety at The Goodwood Group, and Ravi Sharma, group head of health, safety, and security at bet365, are both members of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health’s (IOSH’s) Sports Grounds and Events Group. Following the fatal crush at a Halloween party in Seoul, South Korea, they look at some of the key factors in ensuring safety at events with large crowds
The recent scenes in Itaewon, South Korea, were a tragic reminder of what can go wrong when large crowds gather. Sadly, we find ourselves asking if this is a case of history repeating itself, with many previous examples, including Bradford City stadium fire in 1985, Monsters of Rock festival in 1988, Roskilde Festival in 2000, and Duisburg Festival in 2010.
Many past events in the UK have led to changes in legislation and guidance, which have largely been effective. For example, the Fire Safety at Sports Grounds Act 1987 followed the Bradford City disaster, and the Safety at Sports Grounds
Act 1975 was brought in following the Ibrox Stadium disaster in 1971.
Many fatalities, however, were associated with inadequate crowd control. There can be devastating consequences of poorlymanaged spaces so we want to highlight the pertinent points surrounding crowd management in a venue, space, or event.
Prior to the construction and use of a space where it’s anticipated that crowds will gather, designing out funnels, bottlenecks, pinch points, and areas of restricted flow is important. These issues can directly impact
crowd flow rates in a venue. If bottlenecks are unavoidable (for example, with the use of a bridge or tunnel), then additional control measures should be established. These additional measures can include traffic routes, signage, sufficient stewards, and options to avoid peak times etc.
A view must be taken on where crowds are likely to gather, and how they’re likely to react. There also needs to be an understanding of how a given space will be used. For example, crowd dynamics will differ from a sporting fixture to a festival or nightclub due to the timing of dispersal from an area and how crowds utilise a space.
Pedestrian routes must be kept clear from obstacles, concessions, promotions, or any blockages that could hinder safe walkways. Access and egress routes from both indoor and outdoor venues must be carefully controlled to ensure they can accommodate the volume of traffic that is intended. Particular attention must be given to locations where crowds can converge.
When determining capacities for a given space, consideration must be given to adopting methodology in line with a recognised standard. BSEN 13200, BS9999, or fire risk assessment guidance may well be used, among others. However, the floor space must be considered along with the emergency exits for both outdoor and indoor venues where crowds gather. The general topography of a venue may also influence the safe capacity of a given space.
Once a view on safe capacities is achieved, understanding the size of the crowd through ticket sales, popularity of performer and previous year attendance numbers will give an indication on how the space is likely to be occupied.
In addition to the venue itself, a good understanding of what’s happening around and away from the venue is important. Close liaison with transportation services will help you to predict and react to crowd movements.
The crowd dynamic will change based on the location, venue, music, type of event, demographic, and reason for gathering.
Considering these factors in a risk assessment will adjust the type of controls that are likely to be applied to a given space. Where crowds gather to see a performer(s), the nature of the music can have a significant impact on the crowd. Provocative music can cause surges and mass movement, for example.
In certain settings, there may be opportunities to separate and divide crowds, much like supporters at football matches, or provide accessible spaces in venues to support more vulnerable occupants in crowd situations.
Another useful thing to do is review social media trends as these can give a good indication of crowd behaviours prior to a gathering.
Providing crowds with visibility and access to the focal point will ease crowd tensions. Big screens and good vantage points will naturally encourage crowds to use less crowded spaces.
Crowd density is also a major factor, especially when people or spectators move or enter a crowd, as generally, they cannot see the spaces at the front of the crowd, or they cannot see how densely populated the front of the crowd is. This clearly will impact the situation.
Basic crowd psychology indicates that people in crowds will not realise the risks until they are in the “situation”.
The particular “pinch points” from increased density of more people coming into the area will clearly be a factor. The media reports suggested that in the case of Itaewon, people were converging on a given area. Unconfirmed reports would suggest crowd flow rates, the topography, and crowd density could have all exacerbated the situation.
Those responsible for space or venues where crowds gather must have structures in place that allow them to react to early indications of issues, provide routine management or resources, and enact any emergency procedures.
Close relationships with external bodies or organisations like local authorities, fire, police, and ambulance will ensure relevant interested parties have an opportunity to liaise and communicate what controls are required with the responsible person.
It will also inform them of any emergency response plans and personnel and equipment to respond effectively.
Communication with the focal point (performers), safety officers, stewarding, security, and medical and emergency services is key. There should be one source of truth for messaging. This may be through advanced systems or even generic messaging apps. In emergency situations, the best communicator may be the performer, who is likely to be trusted by the crowd.
There must also be effective communication with the crowd via either PA or messaging. Social media management is a powerful tool in avoiding crowding, as early communication via channels accessible to a large proportion of the crowd can ease crowding, tensions, and further reduce the risk.
We must consider whether event organisers understand basic crowd science. For example, are we au fait with modern theories or do event organisers still believe in the outdated ‘Le Bon theory’ of crowds being mad, bad, and unpredictable?
As we can see, there are many things to consider when managing the safety of large crowds. It is crucial that organisers get this right, drawing on the expertise of health and safety professionals, as we know the consequences can be deadly.
What plans have you made for your event business? Matt Storey, partner at The White Storey, talks candidly about how a recent personal matter has made him plan for the future
’ve just had a tumour removed from my head. Yep – it made me sit up a bit too. First, the surreal announcement that I had a suspected Fish Tank Granuloma (WTF?) followed by the news that what had been classed as a harmless cyst was, in fact, cancer. A squamous cell carcinoma since you ask.
Absorbing a curve ball of this magnitude prompted me to confront a whole set of potential futures not hitherto included in our five-year plan. The need to provide for contingencies was rammed even further home when the lady who runs our payroll became impossible to get hold of around the same time. It turned out she was up to her neck trying to unpick the terrible mess left by the owner of a company who had suddenly – and permanently – left the building.
All this morbid contemplation has led me to ask a few industry friends what, if any, provisions they have made for the continued smooth running of their business following an impromptu meeting with their maker. The response? Blank looks all around.
The whole subject of risk mitigation belongs at the most tedious, arse-achingly boring end of running an events business, along with paying the VAT, P32, National Insurance et al... The time spent on such soporific activities could be so much more pleasurably used building an immersive Fraggle Rock or flying a DeLorean across town. However, there’s nothing quite like a tumour to make you look a bit beyond next week.
Company owners realise that for the sake of employees and stakeholders we have a duty to ensure our business could continue to run for at least six months should we suddenly find ourselves bereft of life. Bills must be paid; ditto salaries and wages, but have you ensured that all passwords and bank details can be accessed by a few key people if you abruptly cease to be?
On a personal note, you’re likely to have your family or inheritors’ interests front of mind – so they receive a fair pay out from your share of the business. And it will be in your fellow directors’ interests for the company to be able to function with the option of selling in the future.
A swift glimpse on a solicitor’s website had me gagging on terms like Deed of Anti-embarrassment (really?) so I’m not even going to pretend I understand all the legalities beyond grasping that every company will have its own peculiar set of circumstances. There’s not much point in looking for a Dummies’ Guide on the subject in the business section of Waterstones.
So, in preparation for shuffling off your mortal coil, it looks like a session with a corporate solicitor is the smart move here and having been gently nudged in that direction by my recent brush with mortality, I’d recommend any other event business owner do the same.
Because, as my old grandpappy used to say: Prevention is better than cure. Hardly an ideal maxim on this occasion, but you can be confident that not making continuity arrangements for your business will end up messy. And it will certainly cost more to untangle the situation after you’ve run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible than if you had put the right plans in place while your metabolic processes remained intact!
The whole subject of risk mitigation belongs at the most tedious, arse-achingly boring end of running an events businessI MATT STOREY
After an explosion of sustainabilityrelated activity in 2021, we have seen a further maturing of industry response to climate change, with more environmental services on offer, new research and reports, more collaboration across the industry, and more new resources becoming available.
One litmus test of the appetite for sustainability is engagement in industry events. The Green Events and Innovations (GEI) conference continues to grow in reputation and the rebranded Vision:2025 Sustainable Events Summit (SES) at The Showman’s Show 2022 attracted record attendance.
Music Declares Emergency (MDE) continues to be a strong voice for the planet. Its Turn Up the Volume Survey found that 82 per cent of music fans were concerned about climate change. This is more evidence that music and events play a vital role in inspiring change.
On travel sustainability, there has been positive movement. ecolibrium launched a Sustainable Travel Guide for Artists and the Music Industry in collaboration with MDE, and the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST) released a report about influencing festival travel choices: From carbon footprints to cultural influence: engaging live music audiences on travel choices.
A Greener Festival announced new certifications for tours, arenas, and suppliers, with impressive strides being made by participants such as Bring Me the Horizon, which reduced tour emissions by 38 per cent.
Julies Bicycle and Vision:2025 launched the Zero Waste Festivals Project to explore the challenges and solutions of sustainable waste management at outdoor events. Working with specialist consultancy Resource Futures, and guided by an industry working group, the report is due January 2023.
Perhaps the biggest sector-innovation of 2022 is the development of the Green Events Code. The code is intended to provide clear minimum standards and shared targets for sustainability that are understood and adopted by all stakeholders across the outdoor festival and events industry – event organisers, local authorities, and the supply chain. After a year of consultation with the industry, the draft code has launched as a working version, with further development in 2023 and a planned launch in 2024.
Live Nation took a bold step on its journey to eliminating single-use plastics, with a £5m strategic investment in TURN Systems, a tech-based reusable cup system. Festival Republic (UK) used only palmoil free HVO biodiesel at its UK festivals; and worked with the London School of Economics to measure and display the carbon footprint or “food print” of 1,500 meals with more than 300 food traders.
There’s plenty to celebrate this year; Glastonbury continued its ban on singleuse plastic bottles saving an estimated
1.7m plastic bottles. At the other end of the spectrum, HebCelt, a small event in the Outer Hebrides, trialled green hydrogen power. Norfolk and Norwich Festival, a 17-day multi-venue/location arts festival, eliminated generators and chose a meat and fish-free menu, and Shambala festival removed disposable hot cups from its ecosystem and worked with food impact assessor NOMM to provide traders with a food carbon calculator, presenting food impact labelling at the point of sale. Whilst in Ireland, Native Events’ Body and Soul festival used 100 per cent compost loos and Dublin Pride notably decarbonised carnival floats.
And finally, a few things to watch out for in 2023! Live Green (Sweden) is set to run a masterclass series and festival academy as part of the European Festival Sustainability Lab project. Music Declares Emergency has launched an initiative called Fan Club 2023, which aims to engage music audiences directly, and we eagerly await the Zero Waste Festival Report, which will provide the basis for developing waste policy in the sector. This is due in January.
Of course, there is more – get in touch if you know about any other exciting projects, and I will share it with the industry. In the meantime, tickets are on sale for the 15th Green Events and Innovations conference in February, and I hope to see you there!
The events industry took positive steps to put sustainability at the top of the event agenda. Read on, as Chris Johnson, chair of Vision: 2025, looks at some of the key achievements in 2022
82 per cent of music fans are concerned about climate change. This is more evidence that music and events play a vital role in inspiring change
FS Europe is a UK-based, privatelyowned event flooring specialist. The company provides indoor and outdoor events with temporary flooring hire for both vehicular and pedestrian use; services are available throughout the UK and mainland Europe.
Using leading products that have been manufactured from recycled materials where possible, EFS Europe has extensive experience working with all manner of events providing temporary walkways, temporary roadways, marquee flooring, disabled access roadways, pedestrian walkways, and custom event carpet. The company’s flooring can also be manufactured to purchase upon request.
Whether you need a temporary access road, sports hall protection, pedestrian flooring, wedding flooring, indoor or outdoor carpet, or a fully carpeted exhibition hall, EFS Europe has the capability to satisfy your requirements. The staff at EFS pride themselves on maintaining strict operational standards to deliver only the best results using the safest possible procedures.
You will have seen the company’s event flooring coverings in use at events, such as the Christmas light trail at Kew Gardens and West Midlands Safari Park, Creamfields, Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, CarFest, and Leeds Festival. In addition to this, EFS Europe’s event carpet was installed at COP26. The carpet was fitted by EFS’ inhouse team, uplifted, and then recycled at the company’s UK recycling plant.
Having extensive stock both in the Midlands and Scotland, EFS Europe can quickly react to orders and requests, delivering and installing nationwide and further afield.
This month, EFS Europe is giving one lucky StandOut reader the opportunity to win a family ticket for five people to “depart reality and enjoy the fantasy” at LUMAGICA in St Albans; a new, unique, and exciting light and sound experience, packed with fabulous installations appealing to all ages.
The winner is entitled to a family (two adults and three children) ticket to LUMAGICA, St Albans. The ticket is valid until January 2024. The prize is subject to availability. There is no cash alternative. The prize is non-exchangeable. One winner will be selected at random by the competition organiser whose decision is final. Standard T&Cs apply.
Event Hire Association
2450 Regents Court, The Crescent, Birmingham Business Park, Solihull, B37 7YE
T: 0121 380 4600 W: www.eha.org.uk
E: membership@eha.org.uk
Event Production Services
The Pack House, Drayton St. Leonard, Oxford, OX10 7BG
E: info@epsoxford.com T: 01844 278446
Press Red Rentals Limited
Unit B10 Court 2000, Bridgnorth Road, Madeley, Telford, TF7 4JB
T: +44 (0) 1952 587049 W: www.pressred.biz
B-Loony Ltd
Cape House, 105 Bellingdon Road, Chesham, Buckinghamshire, HP5 2HQ
T: 01494 774376 E: sales@b-loony.co.uk W: www.b-loony.co.uk
Bar Live Events
Unit D215, Parkhall Studios, London, SE21 8DE T: 0208 761 8424
E: nick@barlive.co.uk W: www.barlive.co.uk
Cambridge Event Bars
T: 01223 785401 M: 07837 707057
E: Info@cambridgeeventbars.co.uk W: www.cambridgeeventbars.co.uk
Pop-up-Pubs
T: +44(0)1993 832155
E: info@pop-up-pubs.com W: www.pop-up-pubs.com
Symonds Event Bars
Drakewell, Stoke Lacy, Bromyard, Herefordshire, HR7 4HG
T: 01885 490267
E: info@eventbars.co.uk
W: www.eventbars.co.uk
Instant Marquees
DD: 01840 219047 | M: 07748 165 827 www.instantmarquees.co.uk
Versatile Venues
Creative Mobile Solutions
Wireless Hill, South Luffenham, Oakham, Rutland, LE15 8NF T: 01780 720 217 E: info@versatilevenues.co.uk W: www.versatilevenues.co.uk
Bradshaw Event Vehicles
New Lane, Stibbington, Peterborough, PE8 6LW T: 01780 782621
E: enquiries@eventvehicles.co.uk W: www.eventvehicles.co.uk Twitter: @Bradshaw_EV
Electric Wheels Ltd
Units C1 & C2, Neaton Business Park, Watton, Thetford, IP25 6JB T: 01953 882175 M: 07711 648707 M: 07725 761970 E: info@electricwheelshire.co.uk W: www.electricwheelshire.co.uk
Event Buggy Hire
T: 0113 393 4100 E: brian@eventbuggyhire.co.uk W: www.eventbuggyhire.co.uk
Hopkins Machinery
T: 01633 680754
E: hire@hopkinsmachinery.co.uk W: www.hopkinsmachinery.co.uk
Cube Modular Ltd
Unit 1, St. Modwen Park, Norton Road, Broomhall, Worcester, WR5 2QR
T: 01905 955814
E: theteam@cubemodular.co.uk W: www.cubemodular.co.uk LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/cubemodular/ Twitter: @CubeModularLtd Instagram: @cubemodularuk
Qdos Event Hire Ltd
Fernside Place, 179 Queens Road, Weybridge, Surrey, KT13 0AH
T: 0845 862 0952
E: enquiries@qdoseventhire.co.uk W: www.qdoseventhire.co.uk Twitter: @QdosEventHire
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Qdos-Event-Hire/ Instagram: @qdoseventhire
Joseph House, Northgate Way, Aldridge, Walsall, WS9 8ST
T: 01922 472 900
E: events@wernick.co.uk W: www.wernick.co.uk/events
Twitter: @WernickEvents Instagram: @WernickEvents
Event Traffic Control Limited
Baldersby Gardens, Ripon Road, Baldersby, Thirsk, North Yorkshire, YO7 4PS
T: 08000 246 800 E: info@eventtc.com W: www.eventtc.com
Just Go Parking
Unit 7 Broadway Green Farm, Lightwater, Surrey, GU18 5SU
T: 01276 590325
E: contactus@justgoparking.com W: www.justgoparking.com
Phoenix Events (East) Ltd
St. Georges Works, 51 Colegate, Norwich, Norfolk, NR3 1DD T: 01603 952312
M: 07592 739928
E: admin@phoenixeventseastltdco.uk W: www.phoenixeventseastltd.co.uk
Falcon Cleaning and Support Services Ltd
Specialised Cleaning and Support Services (Nationwide)
31 Oldbury Road, Enfield, EN1 3QN
T: 0208 798 2699
E: events@falconcss.co.uk
W: www.falconcss.co.uk
Ace Crew Ltd
Units 3 & 7, Princess Court, Horace Road Kingston upon Thames, KT1 2SL
T: +44(0) 20 7924 6569 M: +44(0)7947 88 66 99 W: www.acecrew.co.uk
Rodeo Crew
128 Wey House, 15 Church Street, Weybridge, Surrey, KT13 8NA
T: 020 8075 7799
E: bookcrew@rodeocrew.uk W: www.rodeocrew.uk
Site and Stage Ltd (SAS)
Festival and Event Crew Nationwide
T: 0207 205 2434 M:07770 521521 W: www.siteandstage.co.uk
Iventis
Think Tank, University of Lincoln, Ruston Way, Lincoln, LN6 7FL T: 01522 837205 W: www.iventis.co.uk E: info@iventis.co.uk
Eamon Kerrigan: E: Eamon.kerrigan@iventis.co.uk
Odin Events Ltd
Unit 1 RoundHouse Farm, Marston Meysey, SN6 6LL
T: 0800 030 6881 E: info@odinevents.com W: www.odinevents.com
Airstream Facilities Ltd
T: +44 (0) 1885 400223
E: info@airstreamfacilities.com W: www.airstreamfacilities.com
Bunkabin
Tweedale Way, Oldham, OL9 7LD T: 0345 456 7899
E: hires@bunkabin.co.uk W: www.bunkabin.co.uk
Caboose & Co
Unit 1, St. Modwen Park, Norton Road, Broomhall, Worcester, WR5 2QR T: 01905 955814
E: theteam@cubemodular.co.uk W: www.cabooseandco.com/ LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/caboose&coltd/ Twitter: @CabooseandCo Instagram: @CoandCaboose
Zoo Events Group Ltd
Stockton Dairy, Stockton, Warminster, BA12 OSQ T: 01258 840233
E: info@zooeventsgroup.co.uk W: www.zooeventsgroup.co.uk
Controlled Events
T: 0203 286 6392
Victorious Events E: info@victoriousevents.co.uk T: 07869 701 616 W: victoriousevents.co.uk
Ethix Management Unit 15 Kempton Gate Business Centre, Oldfield Road, Hampton, TW12 2AF
T: 0208 487 3508 M: 07836 736734 W: www.ethixmanagement.com
Productions Hire Limited Unit 20, Glebe Farm, Fathinghoe, Brackley, NN13 6DN W: www.productionhire.com E: Louise@productionhire.com T: 01280701117 M: 07566202535
Blue Yonder Events Ltd
T: 07432 214607 w: www.blueyonder-events.co.uk
First class Resilience, Readiness, Communication & Control for incidents or pre-planned events.
E: info@controlledevents.com W: www.controlledevents.com
EVENT MANAGEMENT
2Can Productions
T: 029 20 100256
E: info@2canproductions.com W: www.2canproductions.com
Blue Yonder Events Ltd T: 07432 214607 w: www.blueyonder-events.co.uk
LFX Events
Stockport BIC, Gtr Manchester, SK5 7DL T: 0161 408 2220
E: enquiries@LFXevents.co.uk W: www.LFXevents.co.uk
LFX Safety
Stockport BIC, Gtr Manchester, SK5 7DL T: 0161 408 2220 E: enquiries@LFXevents.co.uk W: www.LFXevents.co.uk
Symphotech Safety. Production. Noise Management Claire Feeney T: 0871 711 5264 E: claire@symphotech.co.uk W: www.symphotech.co.uk
Festivall Services
www.controlledevents.com
Saltem Ltd
Eliot Park Innovation entre, 4 Barling Way, Nuneaton, Warwickshire, CV10 7RH T: 02476 796455
W: www.saltem.co.uk
The Circle, 33 Rockingham Lane, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S1 4FW E: hello@festivall.services M: 07547 509 409 T: 01144 055 044 W: www.festivall.services
uTRAC
24A Lower Abbey St, Dublin 1, Ireland
T: 0808 189 0334
E: hello@utraconline.com W: www.utraconline.com
DWT Exhibitions
Trailer Hire, Sales & Management
Jubilee Park, Honeypot Lane, Colsterworth, Lincolnshire, NG33 5LZ
T: 01476 860833
E: pip@dwt-exhibitions.co.uk W: www.dwt-exhibitions.co.uk
Inchmere Event Design Ltd
Swan Close Studios, Swan Close Road, Banbury, OX16 5TE
T: 01295 661000
E: alastair@inchmere.co.uk W: www.inchmere.co.uk
TCM Trailers Ltd
Watery Lane, Lichfield, Staffordshire, WS13 7SE
E: emily@tcmtrailers.co.uk W: www.tcmtrailers.co.uk
Festival Gas
Priors Revel, Church lane, Middleton, Nr Tamworth, B78 2AL
T: 07930 758893
E: simon@festivalgas.co.uk W: www.festivalgas.co.uk
1st Defense Fire & Rescue Services Ltd
Morris Farm, Old Holbrook, Horsham RH12 4TW
T: 01483 200911 F: 01483 200994
E: admin@1stdefensefire.co.uk W: www.1stdefensefire.co.uk
Fuchsia Exhibition Services Ltd
13 Oak Park Industrial Estate, Chelmsford Road, Great Dunmow, Essex, CM6 1XN
T: 01371 644800
E: info@fuchsiaevents.co.uk W: www.fuchsia-exhibition-services.com
Instant Marquees
DD: 01840 219047 | M: 07748 165 827 www.instantmarquees.co.uk
Coir Store
E: andy@coirstore.co.uk T: 07884303082 W: www.coirstore.co.uk
CTN Exhibitions Limited
Unit G3A, Halesfield 19, Telford, Shropshire, TF7 4QT
E: Sales@ctn-uk.com T: 00 44 1952 680423 W: www.ctn-uk.com
Event Flooring Solutions Ltd
T: 01509 768 252
E: sales@efseurope.co.uk W: www.efseurope.co.uk
Gigtent UK
Sonas House, Button End Harston Cambridge, CB22 7NX E: info@gigtent.co.uk W: www.gigtent.co.uk T: 01223 870935
Furniture On The Move
Unit B, Canada warehouse, Chittening industrial estate Worthy road , Avonmouth, Bristol, BS110YB T: 0845 459 9875
E: info@furnitureonthemove.co.uk W: www.furnitureonthemove.co.uk
GBJ Event Hire
Graham Jones
T: Office. +44(0) 207 205 4226 E: hire@gbjeventhire.co.uk W: www.gbjeventhire.co.uk
BiemmedueUK & Arcotherm
Units 15 & 16, Ecclesbourne Park, Clover Nook Road, Alfreton, DE55 1RF
T: 01773 836999 | E: sales@biemmedueuk.com W: www.biemmedueuk.com
Cooling and Heating Solutions Ltd
T: 01590 681 434
E: sales@candhs.co.uk W: www.coolingandheatingsolutions.com
Spica Temperature Control Solutions Ltd
20 Crowsport, Hamble, Hampshire, SO31 4HG
T: +44 (0) 2380 453841 M: +44 (0) 7780 638976 E: kay@spicasolutions.com W: www.spicasolutions.com
Arc International
St. Clare House, 30-33 Minories, London, EC3N 1PE
T: +44 (0)207 977 7637
W: www.apex-ins.co.uk/arcinternational
Tysers Insurance Brokers
71 Fenchurch Street, London, EC3M 4BS
T:+44 (0)203 037 8000
E: tim.rudland@tysers.com W: www.tysers.com
Laser Grafix
Unit 4A Stratton Park, Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, SG18 8QS W: www.lgfx.co.uk UK office: +44 1767 315948 Dubai office: +971 4887 9808
Illumin8
Contact details: Neil - 07710 700759 or Ian - 07568 430704
E: sales@illumin8lights.co.uk W: www.illumin8lights.co.uk
Essential Supplies UK Ltd
Unit 22, Trevol Business Park, Torpoint, Cornwall, UK, PL11 2TB t: 01752 817 140
e: sales@essentialsupplies.co.uk w: essentialsupplies.co.uk Facebook: www.facebook.com/esssupplies/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/essential_supplies/ LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/3015168/admin/ Twitter: twitter.com/ESSSupplies
EMF Technology Ltd
Unit 27 Freemantle House, Kingsclere Business Park, Kingsclere, Hants, RG20 4SW
T: 020 8003 3344
E: info@emftechnology.co.uk W: www.emftechnology.co.uk
Mobile & Modular LED Screen Hire
T: 0333 600 6000
24 hour response
E: sales@lightmedia.co.uk W: www.lightmedia.co.uk
Tech AV Ltd
London, Essex, Birmingham
T: 0345 257 9969
E: lee@techav.events
W: www.techav.events
YSLV
London & York
T: 0800 080 3310
E: hire@yslv.co.uk
W: www.yslv.co.uk
Alternative Stretch Tents
Building 15, Gateway 1000, A1 (M) jct 7, Stevenage, SG1 2FP T: 01920 830256 E: info@alternative-stretch.co.uk W: www.alternative-stretch-tents.co.uk
Crocker Bros 8 – 18 Station Road, Chellaston, Derby, DE73 5SU T: 01332 700699 W: www.crockerbros.co.uk E: sales@crockerbros.co.uk
Event-in-a-tent
Unit 108, Abby Road South, Wrexham Industrial Estate, LL13 9RF T: 01978 661449 E: info@event-in-a-tent.co.uk W: www.event-in-a-tent.co.uk
Fews Marquees
Chessgrove Park, Ditchford Bank Road, Hanbury, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, B60 4HS T: 01527 821789 W: www.fewsmarquees.co.uk
Sonas House, Button End Harston Cambridge, CB22 7NX E: info@gigtent.co.uk W: www.gigtent.co.uk T: 01223 870935
Instant Marquees
DD: 01840 219047 | M: 07748 165 827
www.instantmarquees.co.uk
Tentickle Stretch Tents UK Ltd
Langley Brook Business Park, Unit 3B London Rd, Tamworth, B78 2BP
T: +44 121 7401385
M: +44 7826 843099
E: jorg@tentickle-stretchtents.co.uk W: www.tentickle-stretchtents.co.uk
Top Cat Big Tops Tents & Marquees Ltd
The Old Stable Yard, Gasworks Ln, Achynlleth, SY20 8BY
T: 01654 700030
E: info@topcatbigtops.co.uk W: www.topcatbigtops.co.uk
Location Medical Services Ltd
The Medical Centre, Shepperton Studios, Studio Road, Shepperton, Middx, TW17 0QD T: 0870 750 9898
E: mail@locationmedical.com W: www.locationmedical.com
First Aid Cover Ltd
250 York Road, Battersea, London, SW11 3SJ
T: 020 8875 5758
E: enquiries@firstaidcover.co.uk W: www.firstaidcover.co.uk
MET Medical Ltd
T: 0203 627 9042
E: info@met-medical.co.uk W: www.met-medical.co.uk Aniseed
Ace Plant
Blackpit Farm, Silverstone Road, Stowe, Buckinghamshire, MK18 5LJ
T: 01908 562191
E: info@aceplant.co.uk W: www.aceplant.co.uk
Hopkins Machinery
T: 01633 680754
E: hire@hopkinsmachinery.co.uk W: www.hopkinsmachinery.co.uk
Four Jays Group
Barling Farm, East Sutton, Maidstone, Kent, ME17 3DX
T: 01622 843135
E: enquiries@fourjays. co.uk W: www.fourjays.co.uk
LOOS FOR DOs Ltd
Bakers Court, Forge Road, Kingsley, Hampshire, GU35 9NZ
T: 01420 588 355 E: info@loos.co.uk W: www.loos.co.uk
Site Event
The Depot, The Avenue, Lasham, Hampshire, GU34 5SU T: 01256 384 134
E: event@site-equip.co.uk W: www.site-equip.co.uk
Zoo Events Group Ltd
Stockton Dairy, Stockton, Warminster, BA12 OSQ
T: 01258 840233
E: info@zooeventsgroup.co.uk W: www.zooeventsgroup.co.uk
ATD Electrical
Unit 93, Greenway Business Centre, Greenway, Harlow, Essex, CM19 5QE
T: 01279 507890
E: office@atdelectrical.com W: www.atdelectrical.com
CB Potts Electrical
Rose Cottage, Watergore, South Petherton, Somerset, TA13 5JQ
T: 0780 8049034
E: ben.potts@zen.co.uk W: www.cbpottselectrical.co.uk
Ace Seating Hire
T: 01832 273353
E: info@aceseating.co.uk W: www.aceseating.co.uk
McKenzie Arnold
Grove House, Faulkbourne, Essex, CM8 1SH
T: 01376 350999
E: martin.jackson@mckenziearnold.com W: www.mckenziearnold.com
Newman Event Services Ltd
Crowd Management, Festival & Event Security/Stewarding.
Bloxham Mill, Barford Road, Bloxham, Oxfordshire, OX15 4FF T: +441295 722844
E: enquiries@newmanevents.co.uk W: www.newmanevents.co.uk
Protegimus Security Ltd
Unit 1, Station Terrace,Station Road, Kegworth, Derbyshire, DE&$ 2GE T: 01509 670424
T: 01332 792991 (voicemail)
E: admin@protegimus-security.com W: www.protegimus-security.com
Provide SESS Ltd
The Courtyard, 87 Southampton Street, Reading, RG1 2QU T: 01189 875949
E: info@provide-security.com W: www.provide-security.com
Right Guard Security Event Security Consultancy Security & Crowd Management Traffic Management
CSAS Traffic Officers
T: 01227 464 588 T: 0207 241 5525
E: info@rightguard.co.uk W: www.rightguard.co.uk
Staged Events Ltd
Meadow View, Newnham Lane, Old Basing, Hampshire, RG24 7AU
T: 01256578055
E: info@wearestaged.com W: www.stagedevents.com
SafeSite Facilities Ltd
Unit 1, Martello Enterprise Centre, Courtwick Lane, Littlehampton, West Sussex, BN17 7PA
T: 0800 114 3228
E: info@safesitefacilities.co.uk W: www.safesitefacilities.co.uk
Social media platforms: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ safesite-facilities-ltd
Twitter: https://twitter.com/safesitefac Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SafeSiteFacilities-Ltd-467996143326191
Complete Staging Ltd
T: 01282 862777 | W: www.completestaging.co.uk E: gary@completestaging.co.uk
IPS (Impact Production Services)
29 Mount Avenue, Bletchley, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LS E: enquiries@ips.co.uk W: www.ips.co.uk T: 01908 657950
Triple A Events Ltd
Unit D4, St Georges Business Park, Castle Road, Sittingbourne, Kent, ME10 3TB T: 0800 7723242 M: 07875492625 W: www.tripleaevents.co.uk Twitter: @tripleaeventsuk Facebook: /tripleaeventsuk
Phoenix Events (East) Ltd
St. Georges Works, 51 Colegate, Norwich, Norfolk, NR3 1DD
T: 01603 952312 M: 07592 739928
E: admin@phoenixeventseastltdco.uk W: www.phoenixeventseastltd.co.uk
Road Traffic Solutions
60-64 Oswald Road, Scunthorpe, DN15 7PQ
T: 01724 848 246
E: dan@roadtrafficsolutions.com W: www.roadtrafficsolutions.com
Cap Trac Limited
The Stables, Loke Farm, Weston Longville, Norwich, NR9 5LG
T: 01603 880448
E: info@captrac.co.uk W: www.captrac.co.uk
Fews Marquees
Chessgrove Park, Ditchford Bank Road, Hanbury, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, B60 4HS
T: 01527 821789
W: www.fewsmarquees.co.uk
Gigtent UK
Sonas House, Button End Harston, Cambridge, CB22 7NX
E: info@gigtent.co.uk W: www.gigtent.co.uk
Mehler Texnologies UK Ltd.
Hollinwood Business Centre Albert Street, Oldham, Lancs. OL8 3QL
E: info-uk@freudenberg-pm.com W: www.mehler-texnologies.com
LH Woodhouse
Wolds Farm, The Fosse, Cotgrave, Nottingham, NG12 3HG Delivering successful events
T: +441159 899 899
E: sales@lhwoodhouse.co.uk W: www.lhwoodhouse.co.uk
NEPTUNUS Ltd
Cob Drive, Swan Valley, Northampton NN4 9BB
T: +44 1604 593820
E: sales@neptunus.co.uk W: www.neptunus.co.uk
Tentickle Stretch Tents UK Ltd
Langley Brook Business Park, Unit 3B London Rd, Tamworth, B78 2BP T: +44 121 7401385
M: +44 7826 843099
E: jorg@tentickle-stretchtents.co.uk W: www.tentickle-stretchtents.co.uk
The Theatre Tent Company
Unit 4 Grimes Close, Birstall, Leicester LE4 3EN
E: sayhello@theatretent.eu W: www.TheatreTent.co.uk T: 01162674151
TT Tents Ltd
North Waltham Business Centre, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG25 2DJ
T: 01256 397 551
E: sales@tttents.co.uk W: www.tttents.co.uk
Worldwide Structures Ltd
Ayrshire Farm, Sharcott, Pewsey, SN9 5PA
T: + 44 (0) 1672 565 060 / +44 (0) 7875 027369
E: enquiries@w-sl.com W: www.worldwidestructures.com
J & J. Carter Ltd
Unit 2, 34 Walworth Road, Walworth Business Park, Andover, Hampshire, SP10 5LH T: 01264 721630
E: sales@jjcarter.com W: www.jjcarter.com
RedBox Events
Balbir House, Norton Green Road,Stevenage, Herts, SG1 2LP T: 0333 242 7920 W: www.redboxevents.com
Zoo Events Group Ltd
Stockton Dairy, Stockton, Warminster, BA12 OSQ
T: 01258 840233
E: info@zooeventsgroup.co.uk W: www.zooeventsgroup.co.uk
All Weather Access
County Farm, High Roding, Dunmow, Essex CM6 1NQ
T: 01371 700510 M: 07801 751137
E: henry@all-weatheraccess.co.uk W: www.all-weatheraccess.co.uk
GT Trax Ltd
High Tree Farm House, New Road, Warboys, Cambridgeshire, PE28 2SS T: 01487 823344 E: info@gttrax.co.uk W: www.gttrax.co.uk Twitter: @GTTrax
Exhibition Traffic Management Services Ltd
Perton House, Roslin Road, London, W3 8DH
T: 0203 567 1479
E: ops@exhibition-traffic.co.uk W: www.exhibition-traffic.co.uk
Event Traffic Control Ltd
Baldersby Gardens, Ripon Road, Baldersby, Thirsk, North Yorkshire, YO7 4PS
T: 08000 246 800 E: info@eventtc.com W: www.eventtc.com
JTM Signs
Unit 20 H T M Business Park, Abergele Road, Rhuddlan, Rhyl, LL18 5UZ
T: 01745 590056
E: steve@jt-m-signs.co.uk W: www.jtmsigns.co.uk
Road Traffic Solutions
60-64 Oswald Road, Scunthorpe,DN15 7PQ T: 01724 848 246
E: dan@roadtrafficsolutions.com W: www.roadtrafficsolutions.com
Expo World Logistics Ltd
Unit 5, Norton House,Fircroft Way, Edenbridge Kent, TN8 6EL
T: 01732 866881
E: info@expoworldlogistics.com W: www.expoworldlogistics.com
GAC Pindar
Medina Chambers, Town Quay, Southampton, SO14 2AQ
T: 02380 489924
E: pindar@gac.com W: www.gacpindar.com Twitter: @GACPindar
Stagefreight
Evanston Avenue, Leeds LS4 2HR
T: 0113 238 0805 / 0113 279 7898
W: www.stagefreight.com
Bradshaw Event Vehicles
New Lane, Stibbington, Peterborough, PE8 6LW T: 01780 782621
E: enquiries@eventvehicles.co.uk W: www.eventvehicles.co.uk
Twitter: @Bradshaw_EV
The Convention Centre Dublin (The CCD)
Spencer Dock, North Wall Quay, Dublin 1, Ireland T: 00353 1 856 0000
E: sales@theccd.ie W: www.theccd.ie
Iventis
Think Tank, University of Lincoln, Ruston Way, Lincoln, LN6 7FL T: 01522 837205
W: www.iventis.co.uk
E: info@iventis.co.uk
Eamon Kerrigan: E: Eamon.kerrigan@iventis.co.uk
Grist Environmental Event Services
Head Office, William Road, Devizes, Wiltshire, SN10 3EW
T: 01380 735045
E: events@gristenvironmental.com W: www.gristenvironmental.com
Liquiline Ltd
Ash Tree House, Tarrant Hinton, Blandford, Dorset, DT11 8JA
T: 01258 830324
E: office@liquiline.co.uk W: www.liquiline.co.uk
Show Site Services Ltd
Unit 18 Weybridge Business Centre, 66 York Road, Weybridge, Surrey, KT13 9DY
T: +44 (0)1932 228416 W: www.showsiteservices.co.uk
MTD (UK & Ireland) Ltd
Unit 1 Westerngate, Hillmead Enterprise Park, Langley Road, Swindon, SN5 5WN
T: +44 (0)1264 773 818 M: +44 (0)7557 868 909 E: oliver.smith@mtd.net W: www.mtd.net
Wicked Event Water Services
Kevin: 07909 771996
E: info@wickedeventwaterservices.com W: www.wews.biz
Attend2it
Unit 8 Park Farm Industrial Estate, Ermine Street, Buntingford, SG9 9AZ
T: 01763 877 477 T: 01763 878 086 E: info@attend2it.co.uk W: www.attend2it.co.uk
RedBox Events
Balbir House, Norton Green Road, Stevenage, Herts, SG1 2LP T: 0333 242 7920 W: www.redboxevents.com
SimpliWifi
Unit 13, Leominster Enterprise Park, Leominster, Herefordshire, Hr6 0LX
T: 0800 298 9434
E: hello@simpliwifi.agency W: https://simpliwifi.agency
Editor Caroline Clift caroline@standoutmagazine.co.uk
Publication manager Sarah Bourne sarah@standoutmagazine.co.uk T: 01795 509113
Sales executive Holley Wilkinson holley@standoutmagazine.co.uk
Design and production Jack Witcomb studio@standoutmagazine.co.uk
Digital and web developer Matthew Coppard
Credit control Janine Walmsley creditcontrol@standoutmagazine.co.uk T: 01795 509103
Publisher Neil Fagg neil@standoutmagazine.co.uk T: 01795 509101
Managing director John Denning
StandOut Multimedia Limited, Park Grange, Evegate Business Park, Smeeth, Ashford, Kent, TN25 6SX www.standoutmagazine.co.uk
No part of this magazine may be reproduced or stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form – electronic, mechanical or physical – without express prior permission and written consent of the publisher. Contributions are invited and when not accepted will be returned only if accompanied by a fully stamped and addressed envelope. Manuscripts should be typewritten. No responsibility can be taken for drawings, photographs or literary contributions during transmission or in the editor’s hands. In the absence of an agreement the copyright of all contributions, literary, photographic or artistic, belongs to StandOut Multimedia Limited. The Publisher accepts no responsibility in respect of advertisements appearing in the magazine and the opinions expressed in editorial material or otherwise do not necessarily represent the views of the Publisher. The Publisher cannot accept liability for any loss arising from the late appearance or non publication of any advertisement. Information about products and services featured within the editorial content does not imply an endorsement by StandOut magazine. © 2022. StandOut Multimedia Limited, Park Grange, Evegate Business Park, Smeeth, Ashford, Kent, TN25 6SX
Extreme temperatures have caused event professionals to seriously look at their temperature control requirements. Heating and cooling experts chat
