JUNE | NOEA COLUMN
Celebrating
the greats of
the industry
NOEA’s CEO Susan Tanner on Eavis’
impact
O
n the front page of this month’s Access is
none other than industry icon Michael Eavis,
an industry legend and a fan of the National
Outdoor Events Association.
Michael was the recipient of the first ever ‘i’ award at
our 2017 NOEA Awards.
The ‘i’ award was purposefully created to be
ambiguous. There are so many emotive words that begin
with ‘i’ - inspirational, iconic, and incredible - all of which
can be applied to Michael, and his towering career in the
events industry.
I’ve met Michael on several occasions, and have
enjoyed his company both personally and professionally;
he remains a humble, happy and interesting man, and
he very quickly won over many of the other guests at the
NOEA Awards, dressed as he was in Black Tie from the
waist up, and shorts and wellies from the waist down.
Seeing him on the cover of this month’s edition
reminds me of both how great a man Michael is, but
also how he represents so many other great people, and
businesses, that go above and beyond for the industry.
It would be remiss of me not to mention NOEA’s own
Futures Supporters as among this kind, starting with
GL events UK, and also including the great people at
A.C.T National Ltd, Arnold Clarke and most recently
SeeTickets. I should also give special mention to the
many council members that have served NOEA over our
now 40-year history.
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These people, and the businesses that support them,
take the decision to go beyond the promotion of just their
own businesses but to invest further time and money in
the betterment of the industry that they work in.
Without their time, expertise and investment NOEA
couldn’t do what it sets out to do; to regulate, reflect and
represent the best of the industry and to make steps to
safeguard its future, so others can prosper in it.
Like Michael, these people are trying to do their own
little bit to present this industry at its very best and
become an icon of all the good it can be.
They don’t always succeed, and few can really claim to
have come near to Michael’s own unique impact on the
world of events, but they continue to make efforts, and
make a difference.
One of the things that I also feel is a characteristic
unusually common amongst our industry is the humility
of how we do things. When speaking to Michael he’s
incredibly self effacing, almost embarrassed about his
own success.
Equally, when I ask our supporters or many of our own
volunteers, the answer is the same as an event organiser
who receives positive feedback from his audiences; ‘it’s
just what we do’ they say. Thank god it is, without them
this industry would be all the poorer.
“Like Michael,
these people are
trying to do their
own little bit
to present this
industry at its
very best”