Recruitment
What in the ( Exhibition ) World is going on ?
Miranda Martin , MD of tfconnect , recommends examining transferable skills when hiring for events
H aving been an organiser for 15 + years , with stints at Brand Events , Montgomery and SME London , working across B2B and consumer , indoor and outdoor , exhibitions , events , and festivals , I ’ d humbly say I know my way around an events business . But most recently , ( for the last four years ), prior to my thus far short tenure at tfconnect , I ran Tom Kerridge ’ s Pub in the Park in London , an outdoor food and music festival series serving 140K visitors annually . I currently find myself looking back in on the exhibitions world I now re-inhabit .
While the core principles of running any event remain the same in my view – in short , creating an epic value proposition and building and delivering a receptive community – what strikes me is the divide between festival people and exhibition folk . Yet the transferable skills that serve both sides of the event industry are glaringly obvious and rather desirable .
One can ’ t deny that Consumer , especially outdoor , is a gamblers ’ game , with a more exciting (!?) risk profile and nail-biting revenue generation timeframe . It breeds a certain type of show person , and often highly skilled creative , content , visitor experience and digital marketing talent . Trade poses a more secure financial profile , with commercially ambitious , savvy , and focused entrepreneurs at the helm . The exhibitions world seeks to ‘ festivalise ’ its events in an ongoing movement towards customer centric , experiential shows . And festivals wish to change their financial profile by diversifying revenue generation away from ticket sales only . The perfect solution is a flow of talent between the two , to drive creativity and ‘ festivalisation ’, as well as commercial safeguarding . While it doesn ’ t appear that talent moves between festivals and exhibitions that often , I believe it ’ s because they don ’ t see the opportunity that lies before them .
I ’ ve been buoyed to see phenomenal growth in exhibitions . Certainly , when global clients talk about Y-o-Y performance , the
Above : Miranda Martin
‘ Talent appears not to be moving between festivals and exhibitions that often , possibly because they don ’ t see the opportunity that lies before them ’
narrative is positive with stories of up to 250 % increases in revenues in some regions in the past year . And with this growth comes a need for great talent , and there are some exceptional candidates out there right now , from commercial leaders , PD ’ s , MD ’ s and COO ’ s to marketing , digital and transformation specialists .
We ’ re also seeing a focus on commercial rigour , especially in the UK , which begs the question about systems , process and culture . Many have become used to a mix of home and office working , but how effectively can a business instil commercial best practice with people at home ? We are seeing businesses move incrementally , to increased days in the office .
One of my first outings in my role as MD of tfconnect was to attend International Confex , co-located with The Event Production Show in the UK . The ‘ event for events people ’ attracted a truly global representation of our eco-system , for a roaring two days of the industry at its finest . A self-fulfilling cycle of positivity with suppliers investing in impressive stands , organisers roaming the aisles with money to spend , and people like me bumping into so many familiar faces . It was wonderful to see the industry at its best , back to pre- Covid levels , and to talk to lots of brilliant people exploring exciting opportunities .
There is nothing better than a good old fashioned , live , face-to-face experience . This interaction is truly fundamental to the human spirit . In a crude way , Covid validated what we do in a profound sense that some may not have realised otherwise . That said , the M & A activity we ’ re seeing will continue to diversify product and services , with the trend towards a mix of exhibition , conference , confex and media continuing .
www . exhibitionworld . co . uk Issue 2 2024 39