Soaring Communications

Posts Tagged ‘Recession’

Tip-ex 2010, which took place from 27^th-29^th May was a great success for the organisers and demonstrated how as a town Harrogate can pull together and generate long term reward for a huge range of businesses.

HIC’s director, Stuart Quin “Economic changes over the last two years have impacted businesses of all sizes.  Where a town like Harrogate can work together to help a business facing tough times it is in our best interest to provide support and we look forward to welcoming Tip-ex back next year.”

Tip-ex, which is the UK’s only exhibition dedicated to the tipping industry was scheduled for 2009 but cancelled due to the recession.  Rather than impose heavy cancellation fees on an already beleaguered exhibition, HIC agreed to postpone the event, preserving long term revenues and ensuring the event’s success.

Despite the downturn in the economy and the cancellation of the 2009 show, more than 2,000 visitors attended, using a variety of the town’s business and leisure facilities, including hotels, restaurants and pubs.

One key factor of the event was the use of the Crescent Gardens – the council car park – for the spectacular display of several brand new tipper trucks.  Images of this have been and will continue to be used throughout the tipping industry, increasing regard for Harrogate as a world leading business tourism destination.

Quin continues: “Events like Tip-ex have a huge economic impact on Harrogate, providing revenues for businesses of all sizes.  Harrogate is a beautiful destination and the use of an outdoor space such as Crescent Gardens adds to the town’s superb business events infrastructure through the use of unusual spaces.  It has become more crucial than ever that the town works together to secure and keep these valuable business events – the ability to provide this, and other, outdoor space is an important element in the offering.”

As the upturn continues to improve business the Barbican is investing further in people by recruiting Oliver Hargreaves to join its Corporate Sales team.

The Barbican’s Head of Corporate Sales, Anthony Hyde says “This appointment shows that despite the recession the Barbican is continuing to invest in its staff in order to strengthen our position as Europe’s leading combined conference and arts centre.  We are looking at the future positively and Oliver Hargreaves will bring additional energy to the team.”

Oliver Hargreaves will focus on working with new and existing clients specialising in the conference suites, cinemas and any meetings with fewer than 300 attendees.

Oliver joins the Barbican with a degree in Events Management with Marketing Management from the University of Gloucestershire. He has also spent a year working with the Cotswold Conference Centre.  Oliver says “I am looking forward to working with such an experienced team and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.”

Paul Bridle , leadership methodologist, has conducted extensive research into the business practices of companies who have been successful in recent years and continued to do so through the economic downturn.  From more than 250 video and audio interviews  plus countless written documents from business leaders and highly successful entrepreneurs  , he has identified, collated and concentrated the following five practices:

• Think global
• Be a Master of your Craft 
• Protect the brand
• Take risks but have attention for detail.
• Work with the best

Above all Paul’s research has demonstrated that those businesses seeking to survive the economic downturn need to change their thinking as he explains:  “Businesses after a recession are never the same as they were before. Rather than focus on the way they did things in the past, they will have looked to the future  and reinvent themselves.”

“The five practices mentioned are all about having focus on the important things that will grow their business in a new era.  Business Leaders will discover that life after the recession will be a new challenge unlike what they are used to.  Now is not the time to bury their heads in the sand .  It is time to think different, look for new ways to do business and be focused on the right things”

Delaware North Companies (UK) Ltd has employed Lindsey Ford  as a special events co-ordinator at Wembley Stadium.  Delaware North Companies (UK) Ltd is the global hospitality and food service company managing all the catering as well as MICE events and non-match day business at Wembley Stadium .

Lindsey’s role is client focused, leading them through the operations process from the moment of confirmation to the execution of the event.  Lindsey joins the team after a short period working on a non-permanent basis, during which time she has already worked on a variety of events from small meetings and conferences to large scale dinners and exhibitions across the Stadium’s range of suites and meeting rooms.

Lindsey previously worked as a membership and events executive at The Tourism Society where she primarily organised events and promoted membership.

Delaware North Companies (UK) Ltd , Jackie Boughton: “Despite the recession and a gloomy outlook for the future from the industry, competitors and economists, we remain resilient.  Sales are strong, we are ahead of target and Lindsey’s long term presence on the team will allow us to grow and develop the service levels we are so well known for.”

MPI’s plans for the next 12 months under the leadership of Anthony Hyde will include greater focus on the development of regional events, international relations and business opportunities.

Regional Activity

Over the course of the last twelve months there has been an upsurge in regional activity, particularly in the North.  This will continue, expanding into other parts of the UK, including Ireland.  To reflect this focus the MPI UK chapter will henceforth be known as MPI UK and Ireland

Whilst MPI  members based in Ireland have always been a part of the UK chapter, this change will show greater recognition of their involvement and create additional networking and educational opportunities to support them and their work.  Changing the name to reflect this is just the first step in the process.

International Relations

After several highly successful exchange events and missions to visit overseas chapters, the MPI UK and Ireland chapter plan to work more closely with their international counterparts, sharing ideas, strategies and opportunities.  Whilst this is initially likely to focus on European neighbours there are plans to take this initiative to other regions in time.

Business Opportunities

The MPI UK and Ireland Chapter is also seeking new ways to expand business opportunities for members.  With this in mind, the Sponsorship VP role, held by Samme Allen  has been changed to Chair of Partnerships and Business Opportunities.

A variety of new sponsorship initiatives have already been launched and prices fixed at 2008/2009 levels to support members in the face of the recession.  The “I Buy MPI” discount scheme will be more heavily promoted and there are already several partners joining the MPI UK and Ireland stand at Event UK next month.

Samme Allen, Chair of Partnerships and Business Opportunities, MPI UK and Ireland Chapter:  “Last year’s focus on sponsorship was extremely successful, generating great feedback, particularly from Reval Hotels.  This has created a new approach for 2009/2010 providing us with a chance to support more members, whilst financially benefiting the chapter.  We have already secured our first sponsors for the year and expect more to join in the near future.”

MPI UK and Ireland Chapter, president, Anthony Hyde :  “I firmly believe 2009/2010 will be a great year for the chapter as we grow our membership, international and business relations.  These new initiatives offer substantial benefits and opportunities for our members and I look forward to the impact they will have on their roles and as individuals.

In a recent survey of the CRN’s (the Congress Rental network’s) global membership it was clear therecession  is taking its toll with 57.1% of members reporting a decrease in sales over the last 6 months.  Attendance at events remains roughly balanced with 45% seeing a decrease in numbers and 46.4% seeing numbers remain the same.  The remainder have seen a slight increase.

On a more positive note 59.9% have seen their enquiry numbers either remain constant or increase.  Whilst there have been some exceptions to the decreasing sales  figures with 25% of members seeing growth and increased of market share.

The changes appear to have occurred across the board, from corporate clients to event organisers and NGOs.  Although the decline from the corporate and event organisers  has had a bigger affect as they represent 60% of CRN members’ business.

CRN chairman, Jo Debono: “Whilst  some of these figures appear worrying at first glance there is still some great news in the survey.  96.2% of clients cite quality as a key reason for buying our members services, price comes well down the list and clearly shows clients are willing to pay for a better, guaranteed service during challenging times.  This is outstanding news and really demonstrates the importance of CRN’s stringent membership criteria and our desire to work with the best.  With a clear message and such a strong buying reason our members are focused on conversion rates, seeking new business and marketing  opportunities wherever possible.”

A recent news story on Events Review discusses refferals’ place in the event industry in the current climate.

http://www.eventsreview.co.uk/news/2009/03/16/Statistics_shows_power_of_referrals_in_recession

Nexus Collections annual sales trends report clearly shows an increase in customer referral based sales.

The review, now in its third year, breaks down the company’s annual sales of over 500,000 conference /promotional bags worldwide, identifying trends amongst key buyers in the MICE industry.

As the economic outlook declined and fears of recession  grew, referral based sales leapt from just 30% last year to a huge 52% share of Nexus’ business.

The increase pushed search engine / internet leads down to third place.

Exhibition sales (particularly International Confex) remained steady at 25%.

1. Referrals 52%
2. Confex 25%
3. Website/search engine 20%
4. other 3%

Nexus Collections, managing director, Nick Jones: “It is understandable that companies want to work with people  they trust during difficult times.  These figures clearly show a shift in purchasing tactics away from internet searches with their inherent focus on the cheapest option to a clear need for trust and reputation.”

What a week!  Just three days after Obama  is sworn in as President, which the world media proclaims one of the greatest moments in history, official figures are released in the UK announcing the fact that we are in recession – as if we had all missed the last few months of negative press about the economy!

Personally, I don’t plan to have a recession! As the saying goes (and please forgive me for not quoting the source) – we plan for the worst, whilst hoping for the best!  I have decided to be 100% optimistic…  Why?

People need PR now more than ever!  Companies that increase their profile during a recession  achieve two things:

Firstly, they position themselves perfectly to win any business available during the downturn.  Companies hiding or running away from marketing opportunities stagnate and fall behind – fatal mistake in troubled times.  There is still plenty of business out there in almost all industry sectors; the market just becomes more competitive. 

PR provides great credibility, it is third party endorsement so those people achieving coverage and cuttings are cementing their position as experts and thought leaders.  The cowboys  will be uncovered and fall by the wayside.

Secondly, by positioning a business as an industry leader you are front of mind and best placed during the inevitable recovery.  When budgets and currency start to flow once more, which they will, companies with high profiles will be first in line for new customers.

Why is PR so powerful in a recession?  Because the right campaign  creates your voice, crafts your message and positions you just where you need to be.    And lets not forget – as more companies hold back on budgets and freeze their PR activity, those continuing will benefit from less competition for space in the media – whether it be web, print or broadcast.