INTERVIEW tepping into the role of
S AEO chair sooner than expected , Matthew Butler says he has big shoes to fill , but has set himself a planetsized task of accelerating sustainability . The CloserStill Media group managing director ’ s rise to the role was hastened by Julie Driscoll ’ s departure from Hyve to Olympia London in November , but he says he could not be more proud to represent the industry as it pushes forward from the pandemic with a drive to improve . Having made a far better than predicted recovery , Butler is channelling the industry ’ s drive to build back better by empowering organisers to run more sustainable events and work towards net zero by 2050 . “ The AEO board will now champion sustainability as the big focus for the foreseeable future . I don ’ t expect to have all the answers , but we ’ ve got to start by working out what good looks like ,” he says . To realise their aims , the AEO board has agreed that each member company will select a representative for a new sustainability group to share work streams and best practice . “ We want the COOs , the sustainability champions , the heads of operations , to commit to being part of the AEO group for sustainability , because we believe they ’ re going to be the right champions to really make a difference .
Championing sustainability
The new chair of the Association of Event Organisers Matthew Butler welcomed EN editor Emily Wallin into CloserStill ’ s Kensington HQ to talk about his vision to improve sustainability in the exhibitions industry
“ The people that are further ahead will hopefully educate the people that are further behind , so we can all be at a point where we ’ re all in the same place and can help each other because we ’ re not competing with each other on sustainability .
Matthew Butler
We ’ re all going to help each other on it .” The cross-association sustainability group will then empower more collaborative work with venues and suppliers he says . That collaborative nature is one of the highlights of working in exhibitions for Butler . When it comes to his inspirations within the industry – he struggles to single out just one hero , because there are so many incredible operators he says . “ There ’ s a lot of people in the industry that I highly respect . I ’ ve got big shoes to fill coming in as AEO chair after Julie ( Driscoll ) and Carina ( Bauer ) they are very impressive operators , both of them . When it comes to other inspirational people in the industry , the one that springs to mind the quickest is Lisa ( Hannant ). Getting her ( EN Pioneer ) award was absolutely incredible . What an operator . But there are other people in that group of great operators . Alison Jackson is absolutely brilliant . They ’ ve done it , they ’ ve done the tour , they ’ ve got the t-shirt , multiple t-shirts in fact .” For now , Butler is looking forward to wearing his own ( sustainably sourced of course ) AEO chair t-shirt with pride – and championing the whole industry to the wider world . “ We ’ re so strong as an industry . We just need to be recognised for what we actually do .”
Summer — 13