02/2021

‘A Sustainable Events Industry by 2050’

A roundtable held last week underlined the importance of creating a roadmap for a more sustainable events industry, in line with the objectives laid out by the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), the organisation which takes on responsibility for the global push to reduce carbon in the atmosphere.

The meeting, which was convened by UK based Positive Impact Events, bought together experts from the UNFCCC, as well as representatives from the British Standards institute, VisitEngland, VisitBritain and the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Events. The UNFCCC has already worked with both the sporting and fashion industries to help create frameworks that will see these sectors reach the carbon targets set out in the Paris agreement.

However, one of the major barriers to success is a funding gap that exists to drive the project forward alongside the events industry and in partnership with the UNFCCC. Positive Impact Events has identified the need for around £30,000 worth of investment that will finance a task force and the human power needed to create a framework for use primarily in the UK industry, before being replicated around the world.

Without funding, the UK events industry could fall behind other sectors of business in a year when one of the key climate change events takes place in the country; COP 26.

Miguel Naranjo, Programme Office at UNFCCC, referenced the UK’s hosting of COP 26, taking place in Glasgow later this year, as the incentive to “do it now”, with Fiona Pelham, CEO, Positive Impact Events, describing a future where the Prime Minister could announce to the world plans to make the UK events industry carbon neutral by 2050.

Mr Naranjo added that an ‘ambitious timeline’ could see the framework set up in advance of COP 26 and that businesses within the industry could contribute in shaping how it could serve the wide diversity of organisations within the events industry. He said: “It is voluntary and collaborative – but it needs to be ambitious: net-zero by 2050 is the basis. And it needs to be transparent, so everyone outside the sector can see what we are doing.”

Theresa Villiers, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Events underlined that, while the main priority of the group was to help the industry on it its feet again, it was ‘striking’ that public interest in ‘environmental matters’ had been ‘undimmed’ by the pandemic.

Positive Impact Events now looks to work in partnership with the industries key associations to bridge for the £30,000 funding gap and take on the responsibility of working with the UNFCCC to create a globally credible, sector specific, framework for the events industry.

10th February 2021: The Business Visits & Events Partnership (BVEP) have said that with still no sign of a roadmap to reopening, event businesses, suppliers and event professionals, having faced nearly a year without trading and employment, are now on the brink of collapse from the lack of government support.

In a major industry-wide survey, coordinated by the Production Services Association, and carried out at the end of last year, research found that 72% of the 1700 companies and freelancers surveyed, including those from BVEP partner organisations, reported that only approximately three to four months of liquidity was left.

The real damage in the Industry is felt acutely by the freelance community, with over half now predicted to be receiving less than the minimum wage as they rely on work in the events sector for at least 80% of their earnings.

Simon Hughes, Chairman of the BVEP, said, “Our partner organisations, covering all the main sectors of the events industry, from business events to cultural events, have expressed their alarm throughout the last year. Now a whole industry sector is on the brink of collapse, and the results of this survey confirm our worst fears. While the Government may praise the holding of the G7 Summit this summer, COP26 in the winter and the Festival in 2022, the success of these events is likely to be severely impaired if no immediate support is given. It is now time for the government to act decisively and provide the help necessary to save the UK’s events industry”.

With nearly all businesses seeing their event schedules wiped out, the vast majority of those surveyed see no events for at least three months after any lifting of restrictions. However, 66% of organisers and agencies say they cannot run any of
their events sustainably and less than 6% say can operate profitably under existing COVID and social distancing regulations.

The majority, (61%) of event businesses indicate that less than 20% of their 2019/20 turnover is covered by Government support, including furlough payments, CBILS and Bounce Back Loans. A further 18% only received up to 40% of their past turnover in support
30% of self-employed workers in the Industry have found themselves not eligible for any support at all. Only 17% were qualified to apply for Universal Credit and 55% of respondents were unable to apply for the Self-Employment Income Support scheme.

75% of event businesses indicate that at least 60% of original capacity is needed to be financially viable, so a lifting or easing of social distancing requirements is essential or support for business and freelancers must be provided whilst restrictions remain in place.
In their budget submission to the Treasury last month, the BVEP put forward proposals for an Event Recovery Fund for both outdoor and indoor events costing just £377 million, arguing this would significantly improve the prospects of the events industry to chart a course back to profitability by the 3rd quarter of 2021. This support would be significantly less than that allocated to the Arts and Creative Industry sectors, where the Government has already provided a £1.57 billion Cultural Recovery Fund, despite the benefits of sustaining the entire £70 billion sector being much greater in terms of delivering economic growth.

Andy Lenthall, General Manager of PSA, said “As suppliers to every part of the live events sector, production relies on a healthy ecosystem, from organiser to attendee. Every part of this supply chain is in crisis, every part of the supply chain needs support to ensure an events industry that is at the heart of economic recovery and future growth, especially at a time when our Government is promising to assume a new position on the world stage.”

In other research into the event supply chain, carried out by ESSA, 63% of the workforce in supply companies had been made redundant by the end of December and this was likely to rise to 80% by the end of Q1 2021. Fears are that at this level, there will not the resources necessary to deliver the volume of events now being pushed back in Q3 and Q4 of 2021. With more event suppliers failing and their inventory being sold off, this will be a severe constraint on the ability of the sector to recovery without urgent funding being released by local authorities and extensions to rate relief and extensions to furlough.
Andrew Harrison, Chief Executive of ESSA said, “From our recent Freedom of Information requests what I am seeing is that in the case of local authorities the funding is there, it is not even new money that is being requested. It is the fair distribution of funds already granted to local authorities who have not created the mechanisms to support these event companies. The disparity and inconsistencies between authorities in how they have issued grants is actually staggering and of the likes I have never seen”.

“I'm in regular contact with venues, agencies and planners across the UK and many are currently unaware of the impact of Brexit on UK GDPR and EU GDPR, and the action they now need to take to ensure their business continues to operate legally,” says Michael Begley, managing director of venuedirectory.com, the largest data centre of venue information about the UK MICE industry.

“There are some simple and immediate steps that organisations should take in order to address data protection regulations and ensure that events can continue once the world opens up again. To support our industry on the road to better business I've partnered with data protection expert Arvi Virdee from Smartec to launch a series of short and focused webinars to guide them through this challenge,” Michael Begley explains.

How Brexit has affected the event industry’s EU data

The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force in 2018, requiring organisations to put data protection measures in place when either offering goods and services or monitoring the behaviour of individuals within the EU. GDPR's reach is global, so can impact on any company regardless of where in the world they are based. Failure to comply can lead to hefty fines and considerable reputational damage.

The UK’s GDPR regulations are now separate from the EU’s GDPR regulations, following the trade deal which came into effect on 1 January this year. This means there are now two data protection legislations instead of just one - UK GDPR covering individuals in the UK and EU GDPR for individuals in the EU. Businesses holding both types of data, will now need to adhere to each of the two separate legislations.

The UK is now officially considered a ‘third country’ under the EU GDPR. This means that UK businesses serving EU consumer will need to ensure they comply with both the UK and EU GDPR measures.

What does this mean for the business events industry?

There are two actions that meetings and events organisations now need to take:

1. Firstly, UK companies which hold data for the EU now need to review and update their existing data sets. This is to determine which proportion is EU data (and therefore subject to EU GDPR regulations); which is UK data (subject to UK GDPR regulations) and which data falls outside of both of these categories, for example, data sets for individuals based in America or Asia.
2. Secondly – and perhaps more significantly - UK businesses need to appoint a representative within the EU to deal with any queries. These could be queries around a data breach or a data subject access request. This representative should reside in any one of the 27 EU countries, - preferably the country in which a business has the most dealings - and therefore be in situ to deal with requests from individuals, companies or authorities.

UK businesses need to appoint an EU representative only if they do not already have a branch or office in the EU. If they do, this branch or office would act as the representative, although privacy notices would need to be updated to this effect.

It’s important to note that these new measures work both ways. UK law now requires EU companies who hold UK data to have a representative in the UK, and EU based companies need to review and separate their data sets to determine which is now subject to UK GDPR regulations.

What are the implications UK businesses don’t undertake these two activities?

The meeting and event industry is truly global with many different companies – venues, DMCs, agencies and corporates - all involved in planning a single event. This means that there are many different kinds of personal data often shared between these organisations – and across borders - to allow them to perform their service. For example, if you’re a UK agency hosting a conference in Dubai, with delegates from all over Europe, you’ll be affected by these changes. If you’re a London based agency using a DMC in Greece, you’ll be affected. If you’re a global agency with offices in London co-ordinating an event in New York with attendees from across the globe, you’ll be affected.

The upshot of not adhering to the new data protection requirements is potential loss of business. For example, if a UK venue is approached by an EU based corporate but doesn’t meet EU GDPR measures, they will not be able to fulfil the essential requirements for delivering the business.

Webinars to support event professionals

Michael Begley continues: “Event professionals should act now, using this current time when meetings and events are currently on hold, in order to ensure they’re fully prepared and have the correct elements in place in order to do business again.

“Having access to the right information and support is crucial and I hope to provide support through a series of forthcoming webinars. We've partnered with data protection expert Arvi Virdee from Smartec to run a series of free webinars guiding event professionals through the process.”

The Effect of Brexit on UK - EU data webinar takes place on a choice of 2 dates:

Wednesday 17 February at 14.00 GMT or Thursday 18th February 2021 at 10:00 GMT

Registration is free - https://brexit-gdpr.smartecbs.com

Local hotel plans to make a success of it! New Managing Director will pick up the baton to ensure that they not only survive Covid, but come out fighting fit.

The past 12 months has been difficult for all businesses – not least those in the hospitality sector. But one local hotel, Aubrey Park, remains hopeful that they can bounce back once lockdown restrictions are relaxed.

In March 2020, the hotel’s Managing Director, David Timmis, postponed his retirement to stay on and put his full weight, experience and expertise behind the business. This has kept it running throughout these turbulent times and planning for new horizons when the lockdown ends.  

David has been the brains behind some enterprising initiatives at the hotel including:

• “Home-office in a Hotel” (with great WiFi) offering upmarket desk-space
• Being the “go-to” hotel in Hertfordshire for dog-lovers
• Socially-distanced meeting rooms, for team gatherings and client appointments

Exciting leisure days offering socially-distanced activities (and perhaps take a walk in their beautiful, historic grounds).

Now that all of these initiatives are in place and the Hotel’s future is secured, David is handing on the baton of Managing Director to a new face, Rafael Gonzalez. Rafael is an experienced and successful hotel manager who has worked in the industry for over 25 years.

Rafael, is raring to go, adding new ideas and exciting plans for the Hotel. They already provide a superb events and wedding venue (which is getting booked up already, as there will be great demand once lockdown finishes…)

He is eager to welcome all new and regular guests who come to the Hotel for business or leisure. He will ensure all those delayed and special celebrations are memorable moments to remember for years to come! After all, we all deserve a break after the many months we have had to endure.

In view of this, as soon as travel can happen again, Aubrey Park will be offering special discounted rates to all our Key Workers Heroes welcoming them with a Guarapita a famous and refreshing cocktail from Rafael’s home country, Venezuela.