SUMMER | AGENDA
‘Wellbeing’
Esports, fan zones
and ‘festivalisation’
set to grow major
events
According to data and expert opinion
presented at the MEI Summit in Villa Park,
Birmingham, major event opportunities are
growing.
Esports is set to grow 18.4% from US$805m
(2018) to $1,580m in 2022, divulged Nicolas
Besombes, associate professor in Sports
Sciences, Paris Descartes University, who
outlined increased opportunities for revenue
from streaming, sponsorship and media rights
within the sector.
Andy Rice, COO of Major Events
International, went on to detail the increased
creative opportunities through major events,
nodding to Royal De Luxe Theatre’s work.
“What Cirque Du Soleil has done for circus
(contemporised and glamorised), the Royal
De Luxe Theatre has done for street art. The
Sultan’s Elephant of 2012 (pictured) and the
visits of the Giants to Liverpool were both
their creations. The Soundscape installed
by Martyn Ware on the Millennial Bridge
also deserves a mention for sheer innovation
and imagination. I predict we will be seeing
more production teams creating shareable
experiences within a cityscape.”
He also outlined how stadia and venues can
cash in, or add value using ‘festivalisation’ and
entertainment opportunities. “Tottenham
Hotspur have added a DJ to the team at their
new £1bn home. Andy Purnell DJ’d for every
home match after their move, including a
large festival-style stage outside of the ground
on the final game of the season. Circa 5,000
fans stayed for two hours after the match.
He also DJ’d at the THFC fan zone in Madrid
ahead of the Champions League Final which
lasted for five hours and entertained over
10,000 fans. It is certainly a growing trend.
“Sponsor sponsored fan zones now spring
up for all significant England games around
the country. This trend will continue into
September for the Rugby World Cup. I
Lorraine Thorne, venue sales
manager Royal Horticultural Halls
anticipate London becoming a massive
European Festival site in July 2020 to coincide
with the semi-finals and finals of the Euros,
which will be held at Wembley.”
Giles Stanford, director of global projects
at MEI member CSM Live, agrees this trend
will continue because of the political strategy
to generate inward investment, visitors and
publicity.
“City Centre events have always been there
but now they are getting more attention and
thought because of the power of social media,
it is a proven way to raise profile, investment
and so create a new audience.”
Stanford expects to see an increase in large
public open-air city-wide theatres. “Whilst
expensive, these can be highly original and
compelling. We will continue to see changes
in sports presentation, with cities becoming
the arena for new sport formats such as 3x3
basketball; variations of modern pentathlon
and biathlon, skateboarding, sports climbing
and many more.”
Rice concludes: “The IOC is only too aware
that it has an aging core audience and is being
proactive and innovative in its courtship of
the younger generation, why else even begin
a conversation about the possibility of Esports
becoming part of the Olympic family?
“You only have to look at the Paris 2024
exhibition sports: breaking, sport climbing,
skateboarding and surfing, to identify the
direction of travel. Interestingly, all these
sports have deep cultural, non-stadium based
roots.”
‘Well-being’ is the right buzzword for
our industry right now.
Across the UK, 15.4m days are
lost due to stress, depression or
anxiety with each person affected
taking around 25.8 days off per year
according to the Health & Safety
Executive. That’s a huge dent in the
bottom line whilst putting pressure on
everyone else on the team.
This year we hosted a free wellbeing
festival De-Stress Fest which saw
nearly 200 organisers receive 140
treatments and learn how they could
reduce stress at work and at home.
Treatments such as Access Bars
‘de-frag’ the brain restoring a sense of
calm when overloaded, rebalancing
the mind and body allows equilibrium
to be restored and aromatherapy oils
can achieve calm and relaxation in
an office environment through using
a diffuser. The survey that followed
showed that it was exactly what people
wanted, but more of it.
The Royal Horticultural Society,
which owns the Lindley and Lawrence
Halls has pledged to improve mental
wellbeing in the workplace through
the ‘Time to Change’ campaign, set out
to end discrimination against mental
health. We have Wellbeing Champions
who can signpost employees to the
appropriate person for their needs
and around World Mental Health Day
on 10 October we will have a week of
wellbeing programmes for staff to
enjoy. In fact, it is the intention that we
have a wellbeing activity every month.
Stress Matters created a pledge
purely for event industry, and run
Mental Health First Aid workshops to
train line managers how to deal with
colleagues suffering stress and how to
spot the signs.
So, let’s take stock of all the things
available to us and take time out to
achieve more.
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