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Summer Eventia has maintained its reputation as the UK’s premier gathering of events and live marketing professionals. The influential conference, celebrating its fifth anniversary in 2010, was hosted in Glasgow for the first time earlier this month. More than 230 delegates descended on the Scottish Exhibition + Conference Centre (SECC) to exchange ideas and engage in a range of learning and social activities, which put them in touch with leaders, speakers and colleagues from across the global industry spectrum.
Eventia is recognised as the official trade body of the UK’s events and live marketing industry providing leadership and representation on important issues to Government, regulators and the corporate community.
This year’s conference was opened by Councillor Gordon Matheson, Leader of Glasgow City Council and Chair of Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, who addressed delegates on Glasgow’s event and conference credentials as well as the city’s cultural treasures, renowned shopping and ease of access.
Other highlights over the two days included:
– A keynote speech by Dr Dominic Swords, an expert in economic intelligence, formerly for the Bank of England, and a leading business economist at the Henley Business School. Dr Swords mapped out the current economic landscape and told delegates that a strong focus on private sector, profit-driven growth will resonate throughout the events industry in 2011.
– Canadian speaker Claire Smith, Vice President of Sales and Marketing from the Vancouver Convention Centre, who provided a great insight into what London 2012 and Glasgow 2014 can learn from Vancouver’s hosting of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
– Google UK’s Andrew Barke who discussed the rise in video marketing and the use of YouTube to amplify brand and increase the life-span of event activity. Mr Barke told delegates they needed to ‘wake up to video’ as Google predicts that 90% of web traffic will be made up of video by 2013.
– A chat show style debate on what the new political climate means for business and how it will affect economic recovery. Former editor of The Herald newspaper Charles McGhee hosted a frank interview with Dr Dominic Swords, politician John Greenway and Dr Lesley Sawyers, Chief Executive of the Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI).
Glasgow City Marketing Bureau also hosted a gala networking dinner with the aim of treating delegates to an experience of ‘the spirit of Glasgow’.
The evening was staged within the city’s Old Fruitmarket venue, where a Victorian street market scene was brought to life with period entertainment including a flea circus, tarot reader, costumed characters and Scottish dancers.
Scott Taylor, Chief Executive of Glasgow City Marketing Bureau (GCMB) – who co-chaired a session on destination marketing with Leigh Jagger, CEO of Banks Sadler, during the conference – said: “This year’s Summer Eventia was a resounding success, both for the organisers and for Glasgow. Attracting a conference of this pedigree and scale to the city, which commands global experts, speakers and key industry decision makers, is testament to Glasgow’s excellent reputation as a first choice business events destination.”
Mark Saxby, the new Chair of Eventia and Group Sales and Marketing Director at events agency WorldEvents, said: “Events like The Summer Eventia are an essential way to do business and the hospitality afforded to us by the Glasgow City Marketing Bureau was second to none. Our main networking event at the Old Fruitmarket was amazing as was the experience of the ‘spirit of Glasgow’ over the past 100 years. Glasgow was an ideal partner for our flagship event and feedback already shows that many delegates will be back.”
Ben Goedegebuure, Director of Sales, Scottish Exhibition + Conference Centre, added: “Summer Eventia presented us with a fantastic opportunity to engage with valuable industry professionals who have now experienced the venue and Glasgow as a premiere business destination first hand. We will continue to build relationships with these industry professionals in order to attract events to the city in years to come.”
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
