Events professionals and publishers gathered to discuss the importance of ensuring the commercial viability of events.

Ruby Sweeney, Founder of The Events Hub, and Nina Holmes, Head of Events, Newsquest Events Scotland & Northern Ireland led a lively discussion and generated some useful actions.

Ruby Sweeney stressed the need to set and define event goals, and to identifying different customer profiles to best meet their needs. She urged attendees to get creative and make every event as exciting for attendees as possible.

Nina Holmes challenged the audience to consider what they offer sponsors that others can’t and how to create interesting angles on themes to prevent them becoming an echo chamber.

Takeaways included:

• Plan ahead – try to ensure you aren’t reactive to events.
• Events within events – consider holding a micro event off the back of other core events in your sector. Delegates may already be in the same place. What else can you add?
• Feedback – capture as much delegate feedback as possible is key to driving plans for the coming year.
• Use trusted suppliers – using suppliers who work across different events in different sectors can help inspire fresh ideas.
• Widen your network – don’t just speak to people who already know who you are. Are there events on which you can collaborate with other publishers? Look at who has won awards/judged/spoken at other events in your sector, how can you get them to attend your events and bring a new network with them?
• Hot topics – what is your most read content, or most regularly accessed resource? This can guide your event planning.
• Back to basics – think about the time of year and location for your event. Make sure you are making these accessible to the widest possible majority.

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