Welcome to the latest e-newsletter. We hope you find it informative, interesting and a useful guide to the events industry.

Highlights this issue:  Summer Eventia - programme updates, Eventia Awards - get those entries in, follow us on twitter, Howards Way Walk update and see what our 'Man About Town' has been up to.

IN THIS ISSUE

Events
News
Membership
Business Briefing
Corporate Responsibility

Eventia at Imex

Join us on stand G680 the Professional Development and Innovation Pavilion

Izania, Tracy and Harpreet will be representing Eventia on stand G680 in the Professional Development and Innovation Pavilion so come and say hello!

Eventia member Concorde Hotels and Resorts are also exhibiting at the show on stand F560, so come and discover their special promotions and find out more about what they have been up to. They are also holding a Champagne Cocktail reception on Wednesday 26th at 5pm and would be pleased to invite Eventia members along.  If you would like to attend please confirm by clicking the link I will attend.

The Eventia Awards

The Eventia Awards will be held on 26th November 2010 at the London Hilton, Park Lane

Deadline for entries: Tuesday 3 August

For more information about entering the Awards, please visit: www.EventiaAwards.com

Eventia Hosting Opportunities

Eventia attracts a wide mix of companies from all sectors of the industry, and therefore has proven to be an effective marketing platform for companies to showcase their services and facilities through hosting one of our many events held throughout the year.  We now have a new programme of events available, so if you are interested in getting your venue in front of potential clients click here.

Eventia Embraces Digital Age by Appointing Technology Partner

Eventia has appointed ActiveEvents, a division of the Active Network, as its technology partner following an industry wide competitive pitch.

ActiveEvents is among the world’s leading providers of integrated event technology solutions and the partnership will see the two companies working together to incorporate this technology into Eventia’s member communications. 

Eventia’s CEO Izania Downie said: “ActiveEvents has been appointed because of their extensive strategic and technology experience within the global events industry.  Our industry is at a tipping point in its understanding and adoption of technology.  The events industry is evolving and there is an ongoing debate around the fusion of digital and live. We believe the power of one-to-one human interaction will never be replaced but we must embrace the digital media age and understand its role within the fast paced evolving media mix. Events are staged to enable interaction and ActiveEvents’ vision of how technology can be harnessed to engage audiences adds value to this core philosophy.” 

Anthony Miller, director of strategy and business development ActiveEvents EMEA said: “ Our aim is to provide technology and supporting strategies which add value to all stakeholders and demonstrate how technology can be used to evolve this interaction through online communities, new media channels and cutting edge technologies." 

Click here for the full article

Picture left: Izania Downie, CEO, Eventia and Anthony Miller, Director of Strategy and Business Development, ActiveEVents EMEA

UK Events Market Trends Survey 2010

Deadline is now closed

This research asks venues to provide data on their conference and events business during the calendar year 2009, and includes questions on the number of events held, rates achieved, event duration and size, client type, together with projections for 2010.  We are now analysing the data and the results will be available to purchase from late June.

>find out more

Follow Eventia on Twitter

For up to the minute information on Eventia and the industry at large you can now follow us on twitter.

http://twitter.com/eventia

MIMA Need Your Support

Now in its 9th year, MIMA was created to raise the standards of marketing in the events industry and to recognise the marketeers.

Entry is open to any organisation engaged in the organisation or provision of product or service to the UK events industry. Your organisation does not need to be based in the UK but should be active in the UK market. The subject of your entry must have been featured in your marketing campaigns during the year from 1st June 2009 until 31st May 2010.

Do you plan to enter? Then simply complete the on-line entry registration and payment form now at www.meetpie.com/mimaregistration.asp. Then you have until 30th June to complete and return the entry application form – downloadable at www.meetpie.com/mima_entry.asp – and supporting evidence.

Is your marketing the best? This is your chance to find out! You could be a winner at the Gala Presentation Dinner on 18th October at the Park Plaza Riverbank London!

Be recognised for your marketing excellence and enter now!

Venue Location Service

We are now updating our systems and embarking upon a marketing programme to encourage more enquiries.  Watch this space!

In the meantime, if you need to find a venue then give us a try, the service is completely free and impartial.

>find a venue

Welcome to New Members

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

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: 

Advertising Opportunities with Eventia

Eventia are delighted to offer a range of advertising opportunities to members of the association. Each opportunity offers a unique platform for advertisers to establish and increase industry presence, gain exposure on an international level and strategically position themselves in the market.  This includes Job advertisements which can be featured on our website and included in the newsletter.

For more information click here

TOMS Update

The Council meeting on TOMS reform has now taken place.  The meeting was constructive and covered similar ground to the February meeting (albeit that it was much more technical than that initial meeting).  The next meeting is likely to be in June. 

Discussions on the 4 points raised in the Presidency paper were as follows: 

*        the TOMS opt-out - the most contentious area and not much consensus amongst member states.  The Presidency said it will take away the comments and look at this again more closely before the next meeting.  This is an important point for many suppliers of travel to business customers who typically would benefit from the introduction of the opt-out;

*        application of TOMS to wholesale supplies - there was some disagreement with this principle but most member states were seemingly in favour of this (not surprising perhaps as many apply TOMS already).  Should this point be agreed it will have a huge impact for many; 

*        inclusion of non-EU operators in TOMS - there was general agreement with this principle and discussions were focused on how to enforce obligations of newly taxable persons.  Again I think the Presidency has agreed to consider the enforcement points; and

*        option to calculate TOMS over a period (ie not supply by supply) - very little discussion as this was not seen as contentious at all. 

Other matters discussed were the definition of travel services and the meaning and relevance of the single/multiple supply concept in the context of travel (which is interesting).  There was also discussion on a number of legal drafting points.

A dedicated Minister for Tourism

John Penrose was announced as Tourism Minister

This is seen as good news for a number of reasons;

• It fulfils the Conservative’s pledge to have a dedicated Tourism Minister
• His constituency is Weston-Super-Mare so he will have an inherent understanding of the importance of tourism
• He has a strong business background (JP Morgan and McKinsey) and was the shadow Minister for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform so he should view tourism from a business/economic perspective and be understanding of regulatory burden
• He is highly thought of in the Conservative Party and tipped for higher positions in future
• He is well connected in the Party, being a friend of Oliver Letwin.

This follows the appointment of Jeremy Hunt as Secretary of State at DCMS. As the former Shadow Minister Jeremy Hunt is familiar with the work the Partnership contributed to in the Tourism Report which included a number of positive provisions for greater appreciation of the role of Events in the visitor economy.

The Coalition

Click here to view a copy of the full coalition document which has just been released. There’s a fair bit of tourism-related agreements including RDAs, Licensing and alcohol taxation and better regulation, but one item really stands out: We will take steps to improve the competitiveness of the UK tourism industry, recognising the important part it plays in our national economy.

Tip of the month!

Use LED lighting – it can reduce your carbon footprint by more than 70%.