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Eventia Acts on Member Views

Following a Board Meeting held in London on 15 October, Eventia today announced it will hold its annual Awards Ceremony in November 2010.

The decision follows a consultation exercise involving Eventia members and responds to views expressed by a number of industry leaders.  Responding to the feedback, Eventia has now decided to move its annual awards to November. Other months were considered closely but members responded overwhelmingly that November was their preferred option. It is also the month when the UK side of Eventia’s awards historically took place.

The principle driver for the date change was the proximity of the February date to the M&IT Awards. Although the two awards ceremonies have co-existed within 10-20 days of each other for the last 4 years, the situation was compounded this year by the inclusion of a number of supplier awards as a result of Eventia combining its UK and International awards.

It is also hoped that this will relieve the pressure on budget holders to sponsor, attend and support two awards so close to each other. It was also felt that assuming the economic climate continues to improve, clients will be happier to sanction the submission of awards by the time November comes along.

On the subject of the awards themselves, the Eventia Board has decided to reduce the number originally proposed. The focus will be on the projects delivered by entrants demonstrating how they have thought creatively and added value to client briefs to deliver against their commercial objectives. Acknowledgement will be made of the suppliers involved in the event specifically recognising the destination, venue, DMC and transport providers where applicable, rewarding their contribution to the success of the winning project.  Eventia feel this change will encourage collaboration between agencies and suppliers and will reflect the broader community of Eventia members. Outside of these 11 project categories there will be 4 supplier categories and 7 special categories. In total the number of awards has been reduced to 22 and Eventia will be publishing full details in due course.  The qualifying period for entrants has been extended to include 31st August 08 to 30th June 2010 and the deadline for entries had been extended to Tuesday 3rd August 2010.

From a charity perspective, as the Events Industry Association, the Board felt it only appropriate that Eventia continue to support the charity Meeting Industry Meeting Needs at its awards event.

Commenting on the changes Izania Downie, Eventia CEO said, ‘At a time when the industry is still experiencing challenges we have taken the opportunity to resolve the issue of the proximity of the two events once and for all. It has never been more important that all key stakeholders in the industry remain unified in promoting the professionalism of what we do and the need for live events.’ 

Izania went on to say, ‘Eventia has seen its membership rise by over 10% this year, despite the challenges in the economy. Fundamentally as an association we are here to represent our members and it was very important to us to respond to their concerns surrounding the timing and format of this event.’