iGaming Business magazine iGB 111 July/Aug | Page 92

iGB Live! Spotlight
Stuart Dacre,
event director
iGaming Business: With iGB Live! bringing together several
events from the Clarion portfolio, you will be a new face
to some of the attendees. What was your background
and how did you come into the event director role?
Stuart Dacre: From starting my professional career by chasing an
egg-shaped ball around it quickly transpired that this was not going
to build me a house! Following several recruitment meetings, a
desire to replicate a team environment led me in the direction of
either PR or advertising. I chose the latter.
Working within an aggressive publishing culture where anything
niche was perceived as a potential to launch a new product, many
of which failed, the company I was working for quickly adopted an
events-first strategy to mitigate the print losses. From there I discovered
events and their underlying marketplaces for buyers to meet sellers.
“The bums-on-seats model
has been challenged
and from initial feedback
we believe it to be truly groundbreaking”
After spending 10 years at a major event organiser involved
in the construction and security markets I was approached by
Clarion to work on ICE Totally Gaming. I had of course heard
about ICE. While most people in the events industry knew about it,
those outside of the community really didn’t understand quite how
magical that event is!
Fast forward four years, with the event occupying its currently
enviable position in the market, I was approached to support the
launch and growth of iGBLive! and our affiliate events portfolio
globally, which is incredibly exciting to be a part of.
What have you found most challenging about stepping into
your predecessor Shona ODonnell’s shoes?
The gambling industry is incredibly vibrant. Being seen by
stakeholders as part of their industry is something that all event
professionals aspire to. Shona is 100% part of the industry and the
growth of both the iGaming Super Show and the iGB Affiliate events
is testament to Shona’s dynamic leadership of these events. If I am
able to continue on this legacy then I will be doing a bloody good
job! So in a nutshell, the challenge will be maintaining these brand
values while supporting Clarion’s gaming strategy, but also ensuring
customers remain at the heart of everything we do.
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iGamingBusiness | Issue 111 | July/August 2018