MAY | NOEA COLUMN
Why ‘these’
campaigns
really matter
Susan Tanner, CEO, NOEA welcomes
diverse associations, but also a united voice
I
t seems that a perennial subject that this industry
likes to return to is the amount of trade associations
that represent it. It’s a worthy debate, but one in which
I always give the same argument; ‘if they show value to
the industry and to their members’ have as many as they
like.
However, where it does get confusing is the diff erent
‘voices’ of the industry, and the often-disparate
commentary we have out there in the real world. This
is just one of the many reasons why campaigns are so
important for our industry. Not only do they present
and address hard and important issues within the
world of events, but they bring everyone behind them
into a central narrative that says something about the
industry’s ethics and values, as well as its issues.
For some time, NOEA has been a driving force
behind the call to ‘Ban Sky Lanterns’ at outdoor events,
something I am both professionally and personally
passionate about, both as the organisation’s CEO, but
also as a farm owner myself. On a very basic level this
is about the damage these gimmicks cause to the
rural community; they scare livestock, cause fi re, are
completely without control and they are lethal to both
the rural and urban communities they travel across.
Fine, on that basis alone it remains negligent for
an event organiser to use them. However, on a wider
issue, this is about the values of an industry. Are we
an industry that is happy to endorse the act of setting
off multiple fi reballs into the air without any control
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whatsoever? Are we happy to be an industry that is
seen by the outside world as pretty, but with little
responsibility or idea of consequence? What are our
ethics and best practices? What does this say about us
and our approach to health and safety of spectators,
our rules around drugs and drink; are we in short, a
responsible bunch of people that deserves recognition
from business or government?
But there is one more layer to the importance of this,
and many other, campaigns. When we get behind them
collectively, and speak out, it shows us to be exactly the
opposite of the above. Thankfully this is a campaign
that has gained industry wide support, and shows a
side of the industry that provides the platform of safety,
reassurance and responsibility that major sporting and
cultural events can be built upon, from the Olympic and
Commonwealth Games, to major global festivals.
We’re also showing those outside of the industry that
we care about the environments that we work with. That
we are considerate to the communities that we aff ect
every time that we have an event. That we put the safety
of those communities fi rst and foremost in our event
design, and that the culture of the organisers involved is
one of care, consideration and responsibility.
So, support the ban on Sky Lanterns, and many of
the other worthy campaigns that are out there, not just
because its right for us as an industry, but because it
shows those outside of our world, that the people within
it are worth listening to.
“Is the industry
happy to be
seen as pretty,
but with little
responsibility
or idea of
consequence?”