RecFest is one of the very few successful examples of real festivalisation in B2B exhibitions .
Imagine thousands of recruiters attending thoughtprovoking education sessions from hundreds of sectorleading speakers , whilst whizzing on Waltzers , having their faces painted in glitter and raving to top name DJs in a big top .
Founder Jamie Leonard started trying out different disruptive ideas to bring excitement to his business events for the talent acquisition industry , before hitting on the idea for a full festival .
Now at home at Knebworth House – famed for being home to some of the biggest rock concerts of all time – last year ’ s event saw 4,200 visitors . RecFest 2023 is going to be even bigger , with 100 sector leading speakers , 10 stages , and more than 70 ‘ awesome ’ activation sites .
Nimble Leonard says being independent gives them the “ nimbleness ” to adapt quickly and respond to what their attendees want from a day out of the office .
“ Some of the bigger event companies seem to turn like the Titanic , and it ’ s difficult for them to keep up with the pace of change in the market ,” he says .
But the freedom to dream does mean entrepreneurs need a great team to rein them in when necessary .
“ Four out of five ideas I have , I get told no . You can ’ t have yes-men [ in an independent business ]. You
Wrecking the mould
Bringing the talent acquisition industry together with a full-on festival including top name bands and DJs , RecFest founder Jamie Leonard is not just breaking the trade show mould , he ’ s wrecking it . EN Editor Emily Wallin spoke to the disruptive entrepreneur about the need to build excitement but also track success .
can have yes-men in big corporates , but when you come up with stupid ideas on a weekly basis , you need a lot of people that can say , ‘ that ’ s really stupid . Let ’ s not do that ’, and be willing to listen to them and learn from it .
“ You wouldn ’ t start a business unless you were a risk-taker , but you need people that are very risk averse to worry about the effects your ideas are going to have .” The epitome of an independent organiser , Leonard is buzzing with new ideas to make his event fun – but is keen not to resort to gimmicks . Each hair-brained scheme has to add ROI .
“ The key thing is value for the audience ,” he explains . “ This stuff can become gimmicky really quickly , unless there ’ s a value for the audience . Why are you doing it ?”
As well as the biggest ever UK event , this year will also see RecFest rolled out to America . Being independent gives Leonard more freedom to decide the future of the business – but does not mean making reckless decisions .
“ We know it works over here , but we had no idea if what we have will work over there . So you have to do due diligence and more comprehensive , than just
16 — Spring