Welcome to our new look e-newsletter, designed to complement our new website and strengthen our new brand image.

Highlights this issue: The Eventia Awards enter now! Events in Action and Events in Action PLUS – get organised and Make those events happen, welcome new members, re-launch of CIPS and TOMs reforms.

IN THIS ISSUE

Events
News
Membership
Business Briefing
Corporate Responsibility

The Eventia Awards

The Eventia Awards replaces the Eventia International Awards and Eventia UK Awards which honour outstanding business-to-business and business-to-consumer events overseas and in the UK, combining two great events to create the key awards and networking night for the whole industry.

Simple concept. Greater focus.

Categories and entry details are now available online, click here to enter.  Deadline for entries is 22nd October 2009.
Press release

Planning More Engaging Events

Friday 9th October 2009, 9-1pm, London

A workshop supplied by Crystal Interactive, this event offers practical tips on planning events that are ‘fit for purpose’ and is free to attend. 

More information

To register

Member Inductions and Networking

Tuesday 20th October 2009, Holborn Bars, London

These events are for anyone interested in learning more about Eventia and are free to attend.

More infornation and to book

Events in Action

Monday 23rd November 2009, Devonport House, Greenwich, London.

Gain a better understanding of the world of events and get organized with our one day training workshop for anybody wishing to gain a better understanding of the world of Events.  Suitable for all newcomers to the industry and those who have less than 2 years experience.  This unique course will take you through the 4 stages of event planning.

More information and to book

Events in Action PLUS

Tuesday 24th November 2009, DeVere Canary Wharf, London

Once you’ve ‘Got Organised’ then go that step further and ‘Make it happen!’ by turning the theory into practice.  Events in Action PLUS gives you that next step by providing you with the practical, operation and business skills to make your events happen! Suitable for anybody within between 2 and 5 years industry experience the course focuses on sales and marketing, finance, communication and management skills.

More information and to book

Social Media Active

Monday 16th November 2009, London

Gain a better understanding of the communication revolution and why social media is an important business and marketing tool for event planners.  This is a half-day workshop designed to provide new adopters of social media with practical techniques and tips to improve online marketing and communication strategies.

More information and to book

VAT Rule Changes Imminent - Be informed

Monday 7th December 2009, The Studio, Birmingham

Following the success of this event in September and the wealth of questions it threw up from the attendees we are running this course again in December with a more practical application and opportunity for a longer Q&A session.  This event is run in association with Saffery Champness Chartered Accountants.

More information and to book

Eventia and ITM Form Strategic Alliance

Events industry association ‘Eventia’ and the recently re-named “Institute of Travel and Meetings’ have announced the signing of a new strategic alliance.   The charter detailing the alliance lists partnership activity and developments targeted at meetings and events professionals in the UK & Ireland across key areas such as membership, Corporate Responsibility, education and training, industry relations, regulation and legislation, awards and  representation.  Knowledge Sharing and Enhanced Output is Target of Partnership.

Click here for more information.

UK Events Market Trends Survey 2009

The UKEMTS, formerly known as the British Conference Venues Survey, is one of the key ways in which the value of the business events sector to the national economy is measured and provides a vital insight into the current state of the industry from a supply-side perspective.

This report is now available to purchase either visit www.eventia.org.uk, contact Sarah Malkin (sarah.malkin@eventia.org.uk) or telephone: tel: +44 (0) 121-212-1400 for more information and an order form.  The cost of this report is £175.

Network at MIMA

Friday 16th October, Park Plaza Riverbank, London

Now in its 8th Year, MIMA recognises the best marketeers in the business for the creativity and effectiveness of their campaigns.

The gala presentation dinner brings together the leading event buyers and suppliers to share best marketing practices and network, particularly during the reception and networking desserts. Tables of 10 or 12, and individual seats are available at £130 + VAT per ticket.

Further details available at www.meetpie.com/mima

Welcome to New Members

Eventia would like to welcome the following companies as new members of the association:

The Esprit Group, Think Meeting, Inmarsat Conference Group, Bournemouth University, University College Birmingham, MR Congress & Incentive Gmbh, De Vere Venues

Reminder of 'Member Only' Benefits

We are highlighting here some of the benefits of being a member of Eventia, just as a little prompt so you don’t miss out on any of the services we provide:

Access to members only area of the website for research and reports.

For example:

Eventia Standard Terms & Conditions

As a professional body representing the industry, Eventia continuously aims to develop and set guidelines of best practice.

The Regulation Committee in consultation with agency members has developed a template of Standard Terms and Conditions for contracts between agencies and corporates. These guidelines are available online for all agency members to use, login, and access the document here.

Relaunch of CIPS Guide to Events Services with Appendices

For anyone that missed the eblast in August, the above has been relaunched together with a series of appendices which can all be found on the Eventia website.  You will need to log in to access and then if you click on Articles and go to the CIPS Guide the appendices will all be shown on the right hand-side menu as ‘related articles’.  Anyone having trouble logging in contact: sarah.malkin@eventia.org.uk

TOMS Reform

It has been confirmed that it is the intention of the Spanish Presidency of the EU to start the negotiation process for reform of TOMS.  Spain holds the Presidency in the first half of next year. 

It is expected that the starting point for the negotiations will be the last draft text prepared by the Italians when this subject was last on the agenda in 2003.  That text would have been harmful for many travel businesses so many saw it as a welcome development that no agreement could be reached 6 years ago.  It will now be important to try to influence the thinking of member states as the negotiations progress. 

With this in mind Regulation Committee Chairman, Brian Kirsch and Committee member and VAT expert David Bennett will be meeting with HM Treasury officials next week to discuss the UK approach to the negotiations.

Commenting on the new review, Eventia Regulation Committee Chairman Brian Kirsch said “We anticipated that the Spanish EU Presidency would see TOMS reform back on the agenda. Whilst we hope this will provide an opportunity to clear the air and settle the issue between member states, we are concerned that any change should not be detrimental to the travel and events industry, so we will work closely with government and other representative bodies in the travel industry on this.”

You can find out more about TOMS at our seminar in December.

Backing UK Tourism: Destination Recovery - Travelodge Survey

Please see below the main recommendations of the above report.  To view the full version please visit the website and click on Articles.  You will need to log in so have your username and password handy.

1. Responsibility for tourism within Government should sit within the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (DBIS) reflecting the sector’s economic importance.
2. VisitBritain’s should provide more help to sub-national and private sector bodies to market their areas.
3. Tourism policy and strategy functions should return to Government from VisitBritain.
4. Government should provide a stronger oversight for tourism delivery of the RDAs through clear national policy guidance or performance frameworks or reallocating resources to help fund VisitBritain’s activities.
5. The English Tourism Intelligence Partnership should be funded within existing budgets from central government.

Click here for more information

Tip of the month!

Check your office energy bills.  Businesses typically receive estimates for gas and electricity and rarely read the meter readings for actual consumption figures.  You could potentially be in credit, if you haven’t read your meters for a while.

The changing face of CSR

With the noticeable shift of corporates focussing on Corporate Responsibility, Eventia have re-evaluated the work of the CSR Committee and renamed this group the Corporate Responsibility Working Party.  The team will shortly be releasing some guidelines to help members put a meaningful Corporate Responsibility Code of Conduct in place where there might not be one currently.  These guidelines will help members identify key issues, set targets and measure progress and results. The new email address will be corporateresponsibility@eventia.org.uk which replaces csr@eventia.org.uk.