Working with SME London managing director Tim Etchells , a trade show veteran who has been in the industry for 35 years , the pair were able to combine the event ’ s essential ingredients . A ‘ business festival ’ is what Carter likes to call it , and certainly not your classic B2B trade show . Carter and Etchells got together in November 2019 to begin planning after the former had been working on the event several months prior .
“ We believe it ’ s a really good balance ,” says Carter . “ Tim is obviously so experienced in the exhibition world . Combining that with my background , we wanted to create something that had real energy to it . We wanted to make it as much a festival as a business conference .”
Etchells admits that it took him a while to get his head around Carter ’ s idea , but once he did , he realised “ the time was right to change ”.
“ Covid has been helpful for that , people are looking for new things ,” he says . “ What this business festival has done is create a lot of energy in the venue .”
He adds , “ I ’ m not normally very arrogant but I arrogantly said to the BDC chief executive Dominic Jones that this
“ We wanted to make it as much a festival as a business conference ”
will be one of the best launches at the venue this year .”
After being cancelled twice having been first scheduled to take place in March 2021 , the two-day show - Etchell ’ s 11th launch at the BDC - finally opened its doors on 25 May to host 5,296 attendees .
The show had so much going on that the lineup of talks almost felt overwhelming . Adding to the event ’ s festival feel , clashes were no doubt unavoidable for some . While many trade shows only have one or two talks on at once , here you had to spend several minutes working out where to go next .
“ Jason had a vision that he wanted to be really generous with the content ,” says Etchells . “ B2B trade shows are quite boring in that there ’ s normally only one seminar going on at one time . Here we ’ ve got about seven . It ’ s like looking at a menu at a restaurant , not knowing which one to choose .”
The show was complimented its By Night events , promoted by SJM Concerts . The separate ticketed evening events , which were predominately B2C , saw the likes of DJ Annie Mac and comedian Grace Dent plug their podcasts at sold-out shows at Islington Assembly Hall and The Union Chapel .
“ We pushed it out as an international show and we certainly achieved that ,” says Carter , who adds that CEOs were flying out from countries as far out as Mexico and India .
“ It ’ s got many sides to it – it ’ s got that grassroots element supporting new creators , but also the sparkle of big presenters , and also some serious business with big chief execs .”
Defining the audience Etchells says his background helped in terms of defining the show ’ s audience ,
26 — July