Feature to which students , so its not a case of companies picking a specific person .
We have five students at Manchester Metropolitan . They have their places and will start next September . The first five places have been funded and the idea now is to get the funding for next year .
Our timeline is that by April we want to know who we are going to work with . We are speaking to universities at the moment about who we are going to work with next year and then we have until March to get the funding for the following year .
We want to choose one university to take each group of students through their three year course . So we want more businesses and universities with great event management courses to get involved .
So far we already have The Hub , DRPG , TRO , Identity , and Mash Media involved .
What should businesses do if they want to get involved ? It ’ s not just events companies who can pledge , it ’ s anyone associated with all of the MICE , events and experiential sectors .
Get in touch with me , get in touch with Gabby .
We can have sessions with them and answer questions in a completely safe space with no judgement .
“ Why is it not important ? When I ’ m asked , it is one of those no-brainers . Less than 10 % of our industry is black or brown . That ’ s wrong .”
By doing that they want to help , which is the biggest step . If they want to help they ’ ve got to do something about it . From there if they ’ re committed we put them in touch with the universities so they can go through the logistics and financials .
All universities are classed as charity organisations , so it ’ s actually tax relief .
How can REACH help the exhibitions industry cope with recruitment problems ? There ’ s two separate issues . The bigger issue is we are all quite blinkered with regards to ensuring people have actual experience in the industry . That ’ s not going to help equality , diversity and inclusion ( EDI ) at all because less than 10 % is a very small talent pool . That ’ s just moving people around . That ’ s not growth .
There ’ s a whole demographic that nobody is tapping into . That demographic will bring a whole wealth of experience , because they are people who have never been in the industry before . That ’ s a whole influx of new people with different ideas and different approaches .
On a more human level it is just wrong that our industry is stuck at this level .
We talk about mentoring women , but 70 % of the industry is already female . There are certainly conversations to be had about encouraging women into more senior positions , but there are women there waiting to be mobilised and talk about it . This demographic , the reality is 90 % of our industry is white .
Any final thoughts ? We have to talk about it . We have to ask ourselves ‘ how can we help ; what can we do ?’ EN
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