UK Events Summit Guide October 2022

WELCOME

Major Events International work to help event organisers mitigate risk, minimise costs and maximise revenues/fan engagement. We facilitate safer, more profitable events with a longer lasting legacy. This directory of the MEI supplier network explains which expert companies have elected to join, and been accepted, into the MEI professional community and what type of support they can offer. It is therefore your reference document, updated annually. An updated list of our members is available on the corporate site at www.majoreventsint.com

The drive to deliver events with greater efficiency, higher impact for fans and greater profit for stakeholders, whilst managing risk, has never been more pressing as we face increasing costs and workforce pressures. Our aim is to make a contribution to this dynamic by facilitating a managed interface between event organisers, in whatever guise, and the experts who routinely support national and international events. This knowledge sharing and collaborative approach is at the heart of what MEI offers to support you to achieve your objectives.

The approach continues to evolve as we seek to improve clarity of communication. If you are a rights holder, please consider taking advantage of the offer of a free “round table” discussion and/or workshop with sector experts. Challenge us with questions you want answered, or simply let us know if there is any organisation in particular you wish to connect with: now, or in the future.

Andy Rice Chief Operating Officer Major Events International

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by kind permission of

Subject to Changes

THE JOCKEY CLUB

END OF DAY SUMMARY

GALA DINNER

Mark

SGSA WORKSHOP

FGH Programme

UK EVENTS SUMMIT PANELLISTS AND PRESENTERS

Panellists and Presenters

Chris Burr, Managing Director, G4S Evemts UK

Chris has over 12 years exeprience in the security and events industry. He has experience in leading teams across a broad geographical remit and wide customer base. He has also been successful in delivering events in line with customer and internal business objectives.

Victoria Brookes, Senior Security Manager, Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games

Victoria is an experienced staffing and workforce manager within the sport and entertainment industry, and she specialises in safety and security.

She has previously worked at Lords Cricket Ground before moving to work on the Birmingham 2022 Common wealth Games.

Claire Briegal, CEO, World Netball

Clare has been the executive lead of World Netball since 2013, she has driven the development and implemen tation of the federation’s strategic plan including the rebrand in 2021.

As a board member of Sport Liverpool, Clare oversees the delivery of Liverpool’s major sports events and bidding for future events.

Sarah Bickerton, Director of Events, Manchester Central

With a successful career in the events industry spanning 20 years, Sarah has extensive experience in and a passion for hosting major events. She has held senior positions at Manchester Central for more than 11 years and oversees event delivery and service to ensure all aspects are delivered to the highest of standards.

Stehphane Bazire, Head of Business, Sustainability & Partnerships, Silverstone Circuits

Stephane has specialised in event & venue management and sustainability development through his work on the ATP Tour, Extreme Barcelona Urban Festival and project management for Nissan Europe, Circuit of Barcelona-Catalonia and World Roller Games.

Currently he is working to drive forward the journey towards Carbon Net Zero at one of the worlds most iconic circuits, Silverstone.

Alex Balfour, Former Head of Content, Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games

Alex has been a highly successful senior executive with a world class record in creating, building and growing digital media in sport. Previous experiences including creating and managing the official digital channels for London 2012 Olympic and Paralympics, developed and implemented a digital commercial strategy for the UEFA Champions League and other UEFA club competitions and helped develop the Guardian newspapers first politics website.

Chris Barrett, Editor, Mash Media

Chris is an experienced writer and editor who creates compelling editorial, PR and marketing content across multiple platforms.

Richard Bate, Chief Safety & Sustainbility Officer, E Bike Grand Prix

Richard is the Chief Safety and Sustainability Officer for the E Bike Grand Prix, which is also part of the Cube International Group. He has become an accomplished Global Safety Leader, Vice President and Chartered Member of the Royal Institution of Occupational Health & Safety.

Richard also has over 30 years of experience in safety leadership roles in the sport, music and major global events industry, that included 3 Olympic Games.

Panellists and Presenters

Daniel Gidney, Chief Executive Officer, Lancashire Cricket Club

20 year veteran of leisure and entertainment industries. In addition to this large scale facilities management and catering through PFI projects.

Eoghan Gill, Director of Strategy, Foamhand

Eoghan is the Director of Strategy for Foamhand and has been involved in the management of security, stewarding and training on major events for over 20 years. Eoghan has also managed and led teams at two separate Olympic games (London 2012 and PyeongChang 2018), two PanAm Games (Toronto 2015 and Lima 2019), two Commonwealths (Glasgow 2014 & Gold Coast 2018), Two Ryder Cups (Kildare 2006 & Newport 2010) and one European Championships (Baku 2015).

Joe Cusdin, CEO, Iventis

Joe is the founder of Iventis, a collaborative event mapping platform, following 10 years working with major events. He is a leading technical expert in the event industry, specialising in GIS, Crowd Modelling and Software Development. He’s worked across the world in major events including London 2012, the Baku European Games 2015, and Dubai Expo 2020.

Graham Dames, Business Development Manager: Events Infrastructure, Sunbelt Rentals

Graham is the Business Development Manager for Sunbelt Rentals and has two decades of experience in sales and customer based roles. He is ensuring that businesses are operating commercially to deliver events-based projects of all shapes and sizes around the UK and Europe.

Grahams other areas of speciality will include supporting tenders and looking to build long lasting partnerships with both new and existing clients.

Ric Robins, Head of Operational Expertise Propositions, Met Office

Ris is the Head of Operational Expertise Propositions, where he is accountable for the operational expertise products that sit at the core of expert weather services that are offered by the Met Office. He is a regular speaker at industry events where he demonstartes how to exploit the opportunities and manage the threats that are caused by various weather events.

Phil Davies, Head of Safety and Security, ECB

Phil has over a decade working in safety and security moving from the Lancashire Constabulary to the ECB. At the the ECB he has been responsible, as Head of Security for the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019 and most recently the Head of Safety and Security for the ECB. He has also worked on the The Ashes in 2019, ICC Champions Trophy in 2017 and also the the lead planner and COVID-19 enforcer for the ECB’s International Summer in 2019.

Steve Davies, Operations Director, Lancashire Cricket Club

Steve has been in the events industry for over 10 years. Before working for Lancashire CCC he was working for Merlin Entertainments, where he held roles such as head of operations at Alton Towers and operations director at Chessington World of Adventures.

James Dean, Director UK Commercial Strategy, ESL Faceit Group

James is the Director of UK Strategy and Commercial for the ESL Faceit Group. ESL operates the UK’s longest running national esports tournament, the ESL Premiership. This spans across four gaming titles and ESL still holds records for the largest ever online audience for a UK esports tournament.

Panellists and Presenters

Trudy Lindblade, Chief Executive Officer, Glasgow 2023 UCI World Championships

Trudy is the Chief Executive Officer of the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships and joined the organisation in October 2020.

Having spent more than 20 years leading, planning, and delivering major international events in Australia and around the world, Trudy has a strong background and experience working on complex large-scale major events working with governments, local organising committees, event hosts and international and national sports federations in the process to support government ambitions to deliver positive economic and social outcomes.

Joanthan Gregory, Group Commercial Director, The Goodwood Group

Jonathan is the Commercial Director for the Goodwood Group, but has past experiences in the same role for the Bahrain International Circuit and Leicester City Football Club.

Jonathans commercial experience has been gained across the sports and entertainment industries working for rights holders, governing bodies, venues and events.

Emma Holling, Festiva Director and Event Manager, Underneath The Stars Festival

Emma is the Festival Director and Event Manager for the Underneath the Stars Festival in Yorkshire that is all about art and music.

Emma is involved in the running of the festival which includes over 400 volunteers, a number of international artists and thousands of attendees over the course of 3 days at the beginning of August.

Gareth Lloyd, UK Sponsorship Sales, ASM Global

Before working for ASM Global Gareth was the Head of Partnerships for Birmingham Commonwealth Games in 2022. Here he was responsible for leading the team who developed the innovative and very successful partnerships for the Commonwealth Games.

Gareth has a number of years experience in the sports, events and venues industry, while specialising in creat ing mutually beneficial partnerships between brands and rights holders.

Dimitris Drakoulis, Managing Partner, Thridium

Dimitris works on technology for the protection of crowds in stadia and large event infrastructures. This includes the specialisation of the evacuation of stadia in response to crises and threats.

Jon Drape, Director, Engine No. 4

Jon is a Director at Engine No. 4, music festival and event production specialists. Their current client list includes Parklife, Kendal Calling, The Warehouse Project and Snowbombing among others.

Michael Emery, CEO, Joymo

Michael is the CEO of a streaming platform, in Joymo, that prioritises grassroots sports and is available for clubs, athletes, coaches and fans.

The Joymo platform allows users to film using their own camera equipment, as well as generate revenue through ticket sales and advertising opportunities as well.

Pippa Ganderton, Product Director, ATPI Halo

Pippa is spearheading the delivery of ATPI’s sustainable travel approach by managing all aspects of their carbo reduction portfolio. She is also leading the global Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Steering Group for ATPI. This has involved bringing together expertise from key areas of the business in order to define the forward-think TMC’s sustainability path.

Panellists and Presenters

Steve Heap, Chairman of Events Industry Forum, General Secretary of Association of Festival Organisers

Steve Heap has been the general secretary of the AFO since its formation in 1987. He is also the director of Mrs Casey Music and Co-Director of Towersey Festival. He has more than 40 years’ of experience in the festival and events industry and is currently chairman of the Events Industry Forum EIF)

James Robinson, Managing Director, Limelight Sports Club

James has been been working as part of mass participation events for the past 10 years this includes The Great Run Company, Lagardère Sports and WME-IMG. In his past roles he has been involved with World Triathlon Series, ITU World Championships as well as over 30 more annual international events.

Now as part of Limelight Sports Club they have acquired IMG Mass Participation and Virgin Sport. This has resulted in an increase in turnover and gross profit in the last 2 years.

Tom Sammes, Head of Strategy, The Jockey Club

Tom has been able to combine creative flair with strong analytical skills to break down complex problems and come up with innovative solutions to deliver business objectives. He has also had previous experience as part of the European Tour as strategy and business development manager.

Craig Mathie, Managing Director, Bournemouth 7s Festival

Craig heads up a team that delivers one of the UK’s favourite, multi-award-winning sport and music festival in the form of Bournemouth 7’s. It welcomes 30,000 people each year across 3 days, with 100 live acts and DJ’s.

Diane McLeod, Head of Workforce and Volunteering, London Marathon

Diane is the Head of Workforce and Volunteering for the London Marathon, but also has previous experiences at multi sport events including London 2012, Glasgow 2014 and Baku 2015.

Ronan Moore, Managing Director, uTRAC

Ronan has over 15 years in the live events industry working across production, management and stage building. He is now the Managing Director of uTRAC Online, which is an online workforce management system for the temporary labour provision industry.

Graeme Nicholson, Regional Sales Director, Heineken

Graeme has a wide range of experience in sales, New Business and account management. He has helped strike partnerships between Heineken and a number of large sporting clubs such as Manchester City and Lancashire Cricket Club.

Jonathan North, Digital and Content Lead, MCC/Lords Ground

Jonathan is the Digital and Content Lead for the MMC, where he is skilled in digital strategy and content creation. Before this he was the Digital Communications Manager at UK Sport, Watford FC and Paralympics GB during Tokyo 2020.

Panellists and Presenters

Rick Stainton, CEO, Smyle Creative and Founder, The Power of Events

Rick oversees the growth strategy of Smyle Group, a 100 strong team based in London. It owns leading creative agency Smyle, that delivers live and video projects for some of the top global brands in a range of sectors including IT, Telco and Media.

Sue Storey, Chief Executive Officer, Badminton England

Before joining Badminton England Sue was the Chief Executive at Volleyball England, where she provided leadership in the development of a ten year strategy, secured an increase in funding, improved commercial income and helped drive an increase in junior participation across the country.

Before this she spent a number of years at the Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA) and made a significant contribution to improving safety, security and service at major sports venues across the UK.

Eric Stuart, Chair, UKCMA

Eric is the director of Gentian Events, Chair of the United Kingdom Crowd Management Association (UKCMA) and Chair of the Global Crowd Management Alliance (GCMA). He is also a board member of the Events Industry Forum (EIF).

He is a Crowd Safety Manager for events ranging from music festivals to Edinburgh Hogmanay and is also engaged with crowd management at complex ‘crowded space’ environments across the US, Canada and UK.

Peter Swordy, Director, Health Safety and Compliance, Londond Stadium

Peter has an extensive experience around manging major events at various sporting stadia around the UK. This includes Selhurst Park, Carrow Road and the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

Chris Thompson, CEO, You. Smart. Thing.

As CEO Chris lead the vision and strategy for ‘You. Smart. Thing.’, and an amazing team of talented individuals! We enhance visitor experience and engagement by guiding people to destinations, venues, and events the smart way: personalised; accessible; sustainable.

Goc O’Callaghan, Experience Analyst, Crowd Dynamics International

Goc is also the founder and festival director for ArcTanGent, which is an award-winning, critically-acclaimed independent festival which focuses on experimental rock music, attracting an international crowd of 12,000 people every August.

Claire O’Neill, Co Founder, A Greener Festival

Claire Co founded the A Greener Festival in 2006, which looks to set the standard for green events across the UK. The A Greener Festival now delivers sustainable events training globally, consults with major music and events organisations on their sustainability strategy and actions.

James Price, Head of Communications, Lancashire Cricket Club

James has worked at Emirates Old Trafford since 2015, in that time he has been part of the team that delivered the ICC Cricket World Cup, Ashes Tests, The One Love Concert after the Manchester Bombings and the behindclosed-doors, bio secure international cricket at Emirates Old Trafford.

Panellists and Presenters

David Griffiths, Senior Advisor, Sport and Entertainment, Miller Insurance

David is the senior advisor for sport and entertainment at Miller Insurance, where he has over 25 years experi ence working with Interational and National Federations, professional leagues and clubs.

David has held previous positions at a number of global and independant brokers and has devleoped himself as a sports sector specialist.

Param Kanabar, CEO and Founder, NoQ Group

Param is the CEO of NoQ Group, where he created an app with the intent of eradicating queueing when order ing food and drinks at major events. Param focuses on driving the sales and marketing of NoQ and since 2020 has participated in over 150 events to increase the reach and awareness of the group and its app.

Bev Ward, UEFA Women’s EURO Host City Lead, The FA

Bev led the original bid for England to host the Women’s Euros in 2022, which ultimately brought success for English women’s football. She was also the lead on managing the host cities throughout the delivery of the Women’s Euro and is now a consultant on a bid to host it again in 2028.

Shaun Whatling, CEO, Redmandarin

Shaun, for the last 14 years, has worked with a number of Europe’s 100 biggest businesses. In the last decade he has also helped consolidate Redmandarin and their Olympic Consulting IP and had 5 Tokyo Partner clients.

Shaun is an expert at helping clients find smart solutions which help achieve business objectives, cots less and delver added value to the business and their bottom line.

Jon Dutton, Chief Executive Officer, Rugby League World Cup

John is the Chief Executive Officer of the Rugby League World Cup for 2022 after leaving his post as the RFL Director of Projects and People. He led the successful bid for the tournament which included a £25m funding award from HM Government.

He has also previously served in roles for the PGA European Golf Tour, Manchester FA and ran his own sports consultancy company.

Rahul Bissoonauth, Chief Commercial Officer, Yunus Sports Hub

Rahul is an experienced commercial director who has led strategy and fundraising projects for hundreds of diverse-led organisations and non-profits across the UK and around the world. Clients have included the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, UEFA, Magic Bus, TAFISA, Beyond Sport, and several other award-winning organisations in sport and the wider charity sector.

Philip Atkins, CEO, Off to Work

Philip is the founder and CEO of Off to Work, the idea behind Off to Work was that something better could be added to the industry in terms of the quality of the staff that were being brought into it and the way that they are dealt with.

With over 25 years in the hospitality industry behind him, Philip remias hugely passionate about that and the events industry and is looking to create additional synergy between Off to Work and their clients at every opportunity.

Ken Scott, Head of Inspectorat, Sports Ground Safety Authority

Ken has been Head of Inspectorate at the SGSA since 2016. He has been involved in local government, including being chair of the Safety Advisory Group for Sunderland Football Club.

SAVE

Federations, Host

About the Event

Federations

6th Edition of Major Events International’s summit supports

Sports Federations, Host Cities and Expert Suppliers. The Summit

be returning in 2023, once again in Lausanne, Switzerland, designed for delegates to engage with their target communities. Delegates will experience being part of themed workshops, central presentations, bespoke briefings

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