Conference News editorial director Martin Fullard shares his observations from International Confex and the Event Production Show , which include a renewed sense of energy for sustainability , and event managers turning their backs on virtual

do appreciate that it is my job to attend events for a living , therefore it should come as no surprise that I have been back on the circuit since mid-2021 , when Step 3 ( remember that ?) was activated , and restricted capacity events were allowed to run .

By September last year , things were largely open again and that period until November was incredibly busy . I would stop short of saying it was normal , the spectre of the pandemic still loomed , as evidenced by the rise and fall of the Omicron variant .

It was only this week , however , that I truly felt the events industry was back for real .

International Confex returned to its usual spot in the calendar ( 8-9 March ) at ExCeL London , alongside the Event Production Show , the

Publishing Show and the PA Show . Indeed , other non-Mash Media-run events also took advantage of the descended eventprofs crowd too , with the likes of Fast Forward 15 , isla , Micebook and ICC Wales bringing people together under a greater umbrella . It was busy , too . You know I work for Mash Media , so you would expect the usual platitudes , but anyone who was there would agree that the aisles were full . I didn ’ t speak to many exhibitors this year , but I ’ ve heard some great stories of deals being done worth £ 180,000 and more .

A great buzz , a great reunion , and a great deal of new opinions , too .

Here are some of my thoughts and observations .

Virtual insanity I hosted a couple of intimate roundtable discussions over the two days and an unmistakable trend has begun to emerge : organisers are turning their backs on virtual events .

I ’ m not too bothered if that upsets some people , if I ’ m honest , as with the power of hindsight the world of virtual events was somewhat of a Wild West during the pandemic . Let me add some context . When the pandemic struck , a whole raft of new platforms entered the marketplace to compete

“ We have had the chance to rethink the purpose of events – even the normal ones – and there is a genuine enthusiasm to be leading the way .”

against more established ones . At the last count , there were 819 of these platforms available , and despite their idiosyncrasies , they all do a similar job . Yet no two pricing structures are the same . In one instance you will be charged for each registration – and have to pay regardless of whether someone actually turns up – and in another , you may own the system outright .

There has also been some shady behaviour when it comes to data ownership . Event managers were inexperienced in buying into the marketplace , and I have heard so many examples of nasty surprises