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We then have our Business Leader
Forums, where senior members from
the venue, apartment and hotel
sector and agency leaders come
together. We debate and discuss
issues and as industry partners,
work together to build a better future.
Is there a strategy; what does the
next 2-3 years look like for the
association?
We are in the final stretch of our
current five-year strategy as
introduced by our Board in 2016, so
2020 will see us deliver year five,
where we will review and reposition
the association following four years
of key strategic delivery. 2020 is a
year of reflection, where our key
strategy is regeneration. After two
decades, it has become essential
and timely to really strip the
association back to its foundations
and look at who we are and what we
need to be to be future fit. A year
ahead of change, movements and
restructuring will lead us well into our
next five-year strategy in 2021,
making HBAA as relevant and as fit
for purpose as we can be.
Our members are going to be on a
journey of reflection and change as
they manage their businesses
through Brexit and find their footing.
We are committed to being ahead of
the game, to ensuring we are a point
of industry reference, knowledge and
support for our members while these
changes take place. We also commit
to not allowing the loud noise that is
Brexit to hinder our ability
to look at the wider
industry and its
evolution, innovate,
inspire and
educate our
members.
Over the next
2-3 years we will
see HBAA evolve
into a new,
regenerated
association.
2020 will kick that
off with restructure
in our senior team:
we will expand our
board of directors
recruited for specialist areas, to
direct, focus and deliver to our
membership relevant support,
content, education and engagement,
with a view to being the industry
association of choice.
We will also continue with our
focus on advocating and supporting
mental health, not because it is
trendy right now as a social
movement, but because we truly
believe in it and the impact it is
having on society and our industry.
We will be looking at the agency
model a lot more in 2020. Do you
think agencies can continue
relying on commission? A number
of venues don’t seem to appreciate
the value of agencies.
It is a story as old as time. It isn’t
new that there are venues who
debate the worth of agencies and
paying commission for the business
they bring to their properties. It is
one that has always fascinated me,
because I see the clear advantages
of having a network of national and
global agencies working extremely
hard with their own clients to sell
and promote properties, securing
business and revenue for them. I
pay commission to my sales team
for business they bring into our
agency, so why should it not be the
same for a venue to pay for an
agent who brings them business
revenue? What is the difference
between a hotel representation
company that is paid retainers by
properties to promote it?
As agencies we can take our
www.conference-news.co.uk
Big Interview
business to many venues in one
location that fit a client brief and
it’s often through considering our
recommendations that our clients
make the decision of where to place
their business. We are ultimately
going to promote properties which
support the work we have done to
bring in this business and which pay
commission.
HBAA has over 200 venue
organisations as members who work
with agencies on the
commission-based business model
as supported by our Code of
Practice; they understand the value
of the agency sales channel and they
see the financial benefits of these
working partnerships.
And what about venue-finding; can
agencies continue to offer this as a
free service?
HBAA is proud to have a varied
landscape of agency businesses as
members, from those who offer
solely venue-finding to those who
offer full creative event services.
Each of our agency members has
a viable business model according
to the expertise and services they
offer, and the way their clients work
with them.
All successful businesses must
be agile to remain fit for the future in
all disciplines, including their business
models, and HBAA will continue to
foster discussion at a senior level over
how working practices remain mutually
beneficial for our members.