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Purpose Driven Events – Sustainability, Accessibility & Inclusion in Unique Venues · Event Industry News Podcast

0:05
So we move on to our second session of today.
0:08
I'm looking at sustainability, accessibility, and inclusion in
0:12
unique venues, and we'll start at the end and work
0:16
our way back. I'm joined first of all by the CEO of a company called
0:20
Event Decision, Matt Gray. Good to see you, Matt.
0:23
You and I have spoken on several occasions before and crossed
0:27
paths. Managing Director of Eventful, Claire Gardner.
0:31
Claire, welcome. Come along today. We've got the Deputy Head of
0:35
Events at Royal Museums Greenwich, Sophie Linin. Sophie,
0:39
thanks for all your help so far today, helping to facilitate all of
0:42
the panellists on these sessions. And Julia
0:46
Danmairi, who is the founder and CEO of TranslateAble,
0:50
joining us today. I've got it all right, I've got it all right,
0:54
didn't I? Yeah, lovely. Okay, good on the pronunciations today. So yeah,
0:58
Talking about accessibility and sustainability,
1:02
inclusion, and I don't know if any of you caught the first
1:06
session that was here a short while ago, and accessibility was
1:10
mentioned very, very briefly, which is almost like we thought about the production and linking
1:14
all of these conversations together today, because one thing that
1:18
we spoke about at the start of the first session today was misconceptions
1:22
and maybe preconceived ideas that event organisers might have when coming into a
1:26
unique venue about elements of accessibility.
1:29
First of all, physical accessibility is a big one,
1:33
and it's something that has to be sort of looked at. And maybe,
1:37
Sophie, I thought maybe if we could start with you, because you're from a venue,
1:40
from somewhere that has to deal with this day in, day out.
1:44
There's been significant changes and updates to legislation over the
1:47
years. You will always be abreast of things, but how important a part does it
1:50
play in the day-to-day sort of activities and operations of the venue?
1:54
It's integral. We appreciate that
1:57
our venues are different, but that is their charm.
2:01
And so what we try to do wherever possible is be as honest
2:05
and upfront with our clients at a really early stage about what that means for
2:08
their events, and that includes accessibility. And where our venues are accessible,
2:13
and the vast majority of them, all areas are accessible,
2:17
but where some venues have some accessibility challenges,
2:20
we put that in our very first communications with them so that
2:24
they're very upfront. We are really open to talking with clients
2:28
about the guests that they have coming, making sure that we
2:32
are able to accommodate them in whichever sort of format that they
2:36
need. And whether that means getting a
2:40
translator in, working with our AV company to create captions,
2:44
whether that means having additional staff to greet guests on
2:48
arrival and explain the route through of the venue,
2:51
all of those things. We try really to be as upfront
2:55
and clear and helpful and welcoming to everyone that comes
2:58
through our doors. I think it might be useful for this particular
3:02
panel to maybe give some context to the people sitting here, and indeed for
3:06
the recording, for anybody watching this back after today's event, as to the other
3:10
3, your backgrounds and why you're representing and
3:14
on the panel today. Matt, could we start with you and just tell the people
3:17
watching and sat here today what Event Decision is
3:21
and how you help venues and organisers? Of course, yes.
3:24
So I'm part of the team at Event Decision. We're 5 years old. We're all
3:27
We're a small team of event people. We're not
3:30
techies that have moved into your space. We're all firmly event profs,
3:35
and we, we do 2 things really. We measure the carbon impact of events,
3:38
so 27,000 events now we've, we've delivered reporting
3:43
on, and we look on a much wider basis on some of these other words
3:46
around purpose and responsibility. So responsibility
3:50
is a word I may say once or twice today, but Our elevator
3:55
pitch, if you like, is we help anyone anywhere deliver an event more responsibly.
3:59
And we've seen over 13 million
4:02
delegates' worth and 10,000 events' worth of
4:06
data going through that product that we call Impact.
4:09
So, and it involves every single— we were just discussing what these words are here,
4:13
which I'm sure we'll get to, and there's multiple meanings for all of it.
4:16
But if you want a broad view of sustainability
4:21
or social value, or how responsibly you deliver
4:25
your events with those people.
4:28
Claire, same to you. Tell us a little bit about Eventful so that
4:32
there's some context for the conversation. Sure. So Eventful will be 25 years old next
4:37
year. We're a venue sourcing, event management, and incentive agency.
4:41
Personally, I've been in the events industry for 30 years, giving away
4:45
my age slightly. But our
4:49
role in the food chain for events is very much finding the right venue for
4:52
a client. So that's very much understanding what it is that the client and
4:56
the audience needs from a venue and matching it with the venue.
4:59
So to Sophie's point about understanding what a venue from the
5:03
beginning can offer, it helps us put the two together. Sorry, we went
5:07
dark for a second because there's a
5:11
lighting panel at the back of the room that I think somebody leant on,
5:15
which is absolutely fine. Oh, it wasn't to tell me to shut up?
5:17
Welcome! And you're done! It wasn't the
5:21
modern technology of the hook round the neck and off the stage. OK,
5:25
that's good to know. Julia,
5:27
TranslateAble, tell us a little bit about the business and again
5:31
some context. So we provide a range of inclusivity
5:36
services really, so language services that can be interpreters,
5:40
translation, captioning as well. We've got the lovely Mel here providing
5:43
sign language, and I've been in the events industry for 20 years.
5:47
I used to be event operations, so on the organising side, and have
5:52
become a supplier since, and we basically work with all types of organisers,
5:55
from agencies to conference organisers,
5:58
exhibition organisers, to also partnering with venues
6:02
to provide language services.
6:06
I was thinking about this particular session today, and obviously we're here because we're under
6:10
the Unique Venues of London showcase today and that sort of banner,
6:14
but I was thinking actually, do we need
6:18
to steer the conversation specifically down sustainability,
6:22
accessibility, inclusion, diversity in unique venues, because really this
6:26
is a conversation for every venue, really, isn't it? There isn't just a unique
6:30
aspect to it just because, you know, there might be, you know, potentially with the
6:34
physical access requirements in some older buildings and things
6:38
like that, but when we talk about other elements of accessibility, really this
6:42
is applicable to all events now, isn't it, Matt? Absolutely. I mean, we'd hope
6:46
some of the services that Julia has to provide and that you do or
6:50
don't across different areas of your venue and that you advise your clients on They're
6:53
like event planning 101. Like, if someone can't get to your event or
6:57
can't understand the content or can't see the screen,
7:01
you're doing something fundamentally wrong. So,
7:05
and some of those areas are, you know, almost legislated in terms
7:09
of accessibility. So, and you're representing a brand during that event,
7:13
and probably the worst sin for that brand is being
7:17
called out on some of this stuff. You know, we've all seen over
7:21
the years a LinkedIn post going, I tried to get— I went to an event
7:24
in London last year held by a really massive registration
7:28
platform that happens every year, and they
7:32
invited somebody to come and talk about
7:36
actually this stuff. And he was based in— is based
7:39
in York, and he declined the invitation.
7:42
He's wheelchair-bound. The only reason that he didn't want to come,
7:46
and he's an expert in all this, is is just, this is far too much
7:49
hard work and that venue is really tricky. And that's not
7:53
great when you can't attract a speaker. Sure. So it's
7:57
becoming more and more the norm, I think. Hopefully Julia will agree.
8:01
And the venues and the agents are far more tuned in than
8:05
they used to be. Please. I'll say, yeah, I do agree
8:09
that kind of people are using these kinds of services more. But I think
8:13
from my side, what I've also noticed, although people are more open to using these
8:17
sorts of services, the focus does tend to be a
8:21
lot of the time on budget rather than thinking about the individual
8:25
that's going to benefit from the services that come from this.
8:29
So I think there's kind of maybe some thinking to be done as to what
8:32
we prioritise in events, that kind of rather the budget
8:36
or the people at the end of it. From a consultative point
8:40
of view, Claire, I don't know whether or not there's— is there still a reactive
8:44
approach to this subject as a whole rather than a proactive approach?
8:47
Is it people coming saying, we've had this specific request from somebody who's attending our
8:51
event? Yeah, I think particularly our role
8:55
as the agency, we don't have to be purely reactive to what the client's
8:59
looking for. We can be proactive in that. So looking at the RFP
9:04
process from the very beginning when we're speaking to venues, making sure we're gathering that
9:08
information based on an understanding of who the audience is and
9:13
who is attending and any requirements that we know exist, but not everybody
9:17
shares what requirements they have. So we, we need to be looking at—
9:21
yes, people— I myself am partially sighted, so I'm very sort of keyed
9:26
into that side of things, but also neurodivergence and quiet spaces within
9:31
a space, as well as people with physical disabilities. So if
9:35
my team, when they're doing site inspections, has all this in mind—
9:38
this is why site inspections are so important. When a client says they don't want
9:41
to do a site inspection, I'm really nervous. So it's important
9:45
for us to have those site inspections and do the walk and see
9:49
it through the eyes of as many diverse people as possible.
9:53
It's interesting you mentioned about the quiet spaces, because if you ask me,
9:56
I'm fortunate enough, I have, you know, I moonlight as the
10:00
host of the Event Industry News podcast, so I get to speak to a lot
10:03
of people from a lot of different backgrounds, and the quiet room
10:07
is the thing that I've seen probably the most progress with in
10:11
the last sort of 2, 3, 4 years. I'm curious, just a show of
10:15
hands, who's deployed a quiet room or, you know, a sort of quiet
10:19
space at an event? Okay, is it something that was done because
10:24
of a particular request, or is it something you just incorporate as
10:28
standard? I'm curious to sort of maybe find out. What was it?
10:31
Mine was a request. A request. It was a
10:35
prom that I organised For a school, and they asked for a quiet
10:39
space for a prom for a school. Fantastic.
10:42
Fantastic. And yeah, I guess something we were
10:47
talking on the first panel today, Sophie, was the importance of these
10:50
really detailed venue visits. And once you can get a client through the door
10:54
to actually see the spaces, you can look at what's achievable.
10:57
Absolutely. We actually won't accept a signed contract
11:02
until a client has done a show round for a myriad of reasons. But the
11:06
ability to stand within a space,
11:09
understand how it flows, how it feels,
11:13
and pick up on spare rooms, spare spaces,
11:17
things that can be transformed into quiet places.
11:22
What the distance is between the stage and the person who's going
11:26
to be sat right at the back. How it feels as somebody
11:30
when they're first coming. What that walk from the station looks like. All of that
11:33
is really, really important for our clients to understand because at the end of the
11:36
day, we don't just want the client to be happy at the end of the
11:39
event. We want all of the guests to have come. They're not going to remember
11:43
the nuances of the suppliers and who was in. They're going to remember, I went
11:46
to the Royal Observatory and I had a fabulous time. I went to the National
11:49
Maritime Museum and I had a wonderful time. Or I went to one of those
11:52
venues and I didn't have, you know, I didn't feel welcomed. I didn't feel included.
11:56
I didn't feel wanted. All of those things. And that's the opposite of what we
12:00
want. To achieve. I've had the good fortune of having both
12:04
Julia and Matt recently on the Event Industry News podcast
12:08
to talk about this subject, and I can't remember which one of you said it,
12:13
and it might have been both of you, that was all— everything that's on the
12:16
screen here actually can be accessed and used
12:20
and has a benefit to every attendee regardless of
12:25
any specific requirement that they might have. So actually, when people
12:30
are still maybe pigeonholing translation services, for example, or closed
12:33
captioning, Julia, as something that might have to come for a specific request or
12:37
to benefit a specific attendee or
12:41
group of attendees. It actually has a benefit to the entire audience,
12:44
I think. Yeah, exactly. There's a stat that
12:49
the younger generation— I can't remember the age exactly— but about 62%
12:53
of the younger generation now will watch a programme
12:56
in English with English subtitles. So I
13:00
know that a lot of people think captions, it's for accessibility, but actually
13:05
a lot of people just use captions in general.
13:10
But I do also think sometimes we make it a bit difficult for people as
13:13
well to know what we provide at events. So there are lots of organisers who
13:17
will do things like captions, provide sign language interpreters, but then
13:20
don't tell anybody about it. So nobody actually knows that
13:24
they can attend the event, that the event will be accessible. So I think that's
13:27
also a big part of it, making sure that people know what it is that
13:30
you're providing as well as providing it. Is that something that you would sort of,
13:33
you know, organisations and events that you're working with— Well,
13:37
on the first bit, all my kids watch closed caption, so that I can't
13:41
tell they're watching TikTok under the table at dinner time.
13:44
But yeah, I mean, going back to the title, Purpose-Driven Events, I mean,
13:48
you know, let's Let's move from theoretical into real. This is an event today,
13:51
right? The purpose of that, presumably for you guys, if you're corporate,
13:55
agency, association, whatever you are, is to learn more
13:59
and see more venues upstairs. And damn sure their purpose is to
14:03
sell their space. So that's the ultimate purpose
14:06
of the event. It's revenue and awareness generating. And all
14:10
this other stuff is there to facilitate that.
14:14
This stuff isn't compulsory, right? It's not compulsory to take the food from
14:19
over there, I think it is on this side, and redistribute
14:24
that to the community afterwards. That's not the— it is a purposeful thing, but it's
14:28
not the purpose of the meeting. Or to calculate the social value that
14:31
even this event here is generating as we're sat
14:35
here. There's a budget associated with the event and the proportion of
14:39
that in pounds can be associated with social value.
14:43
All that stuff is there. All this, you know, we're all sitting here able to
14:47
support you guys in delivering a better
14:52
event by doing some of this stuff to facilitate you educating
14:57
your salespeople or selling your space or whatever
15:00
it is you do to make the pounds and shillings go round and round.
15:04
This stuff just makes it better. And there's tools out there,
15:08
which if you want to go back and listen to our podcast, I will talk
15:11
about forever, that can actually really help you
15:15
do this stuff and show you how good your product is. You've got some KPIs
15:20
or ROI on your event, acronym city.
15:23
The idea of the event is, is to sell stuff or
15:27
educate people. This stuff just helps you do it better. And there's
15:31
tools that will help you and show you How good is your event
15:35
compared to other people's? Compared to the person you're sitting next to right now.
15:40
Dax, you're on your own now, aren't you? How good's your event product compared
15:44
to theirs? And now you can tell. So all this stuff,
15:48
which is quite wide, and social impact, and D&I,
15:52
or E, or whatever you want to call it within that— they all have different
15:56
definitions. But there are tools out there that help you actually quantify
16:00
all this stuff and demonstrate therefore demonstrate your value to
16:04
your boss and to your organisation. And it's
16:08
kind of sustainability and responsibility in events is growing
16:12
up finally. I'm curious to ask,
16:16
or maybe another show of hands out here, social impact is
16:20
a phrase that always sort of piques my curiosity when I see it.
16:23
I'm like, okay, what do we actually mean by social impact at events?
16:27
Anybody sat in the audience here organise events and they have
16:31
something in their business or in their organisational structure that monitors
16:35
or looks at social impact?
16:39
Yes. Do you want me to explain? Excellent, but please, yeah, I'd love
16:43
to know. Let me get you a mic, Dax, because then we'll get this
16:46
on the recording. It's a very broad category, but I look
16:51
at things like community engagement, Are we working with local people?
16:55
I look at fair treatment of workers and just other elements that
16:58
make sure that we're delivering a positive social benefit
17:02
either geographically or employee-wise with the event.
17:08
Anyone want to pick up on that? Events aren't— we're
17:12
not building hospitals, any of us, are we? We're not building a bridge to connect
17:15
between here and the South Bank. We're doing short-term interventionist
17:20
stuff, but it still has a real value. Yeah, and certainly within
17:24
Unique Venues particularly, I would hazard that
17:28
at least 85% of the venues upstairs are charities.
17:32
The reason they are
17:36
part of Unique Venues of London is because events is not their sole purpose.
17:40
Their sole purpose is as a museum or an art gallery or engagement
17:44
with the local community or whatever it might be. And events generate
17:48
really valuable revenue that goes right back into the organisation. So I
17:52
know that of my events, the value
17:56
that we give goes right back into our engagement
18:01
with our local communities, our schools programme, our academic work.
18:06
All of that is why we do what we do. And I'm sure I could
18:09
go and work somewhere commercial and get paid a lot more money, but that's not
18:12
why I do it. I do it because I know that I'm benefiting something
18:16
bigger than myself. And when you are hiring
18:20
a unique venue to, to host your event,
18:23
not only do you know that your money is going not to line
18:27
a fat cat's pockets but to go back into that, but also I think the
18:30
guests that are attending that event get more out of it. They get that experience,
18:35
the educational element, they get to exist somewhere
18:40
that perhaps they've never been to entirely, that isn't
18:44
sort of a bland conference centre or a kind
18:48
of very commercial set-up event venue.
18:51
You're in a gallery, you're in, you know, somewhere that is
18:55
exciting your brain and your purpose, and then ultimately
18:59
you're going to bring your family back and your friends, and it feeds into all
19:03
of those things. Things. I think that's where unique venues can really benefit that social
19:06
impact for an event. And social impact
19:10
and social value is more on the radar now, and in fact
19:14
it's linking again into the next session that we've got here, which is going to
19:18
be talking about, you know, the next generation of event organisers. And again,
19:22
it's a conversation that I've had many times, and I think that maybe one
19:25
of the key drivers of improving accessibility and
19:30
seeing this as the norm in events rather than specific add-ons is because
19:33
of a better attitude from the younger generation. I don't know if that's something that
19:36
you would agree with, Julia, or whether or not you think that the younger generation
19:39
coming into the industry will be a driving force in all of this stuff just
19:43
becoming part and parcel of organising an event. I'm not sure
19:46
it's necessarily the younger generation, really. I think it's
19:51
everyone's responsibility to do that. I will
19:55
give a shout-out to one of the unique venues that we work with, Carlton House.
19:57
Terrace. So they basically, kind of accessibility inclusion,
20:01
super important to them, and kind of they will go
20:04
out and seek companies to work with to provide accessibility
20:08
services. They'll put them forward to people that come and do events at their venue.
20:12
A lot of their, I think all their front of house staff are BSL
20:15
trained as well, so anybody that comes into their venues, they can
20:19
speak British Sign Language to them.
20:23
So I don't think it's necessarily the younger generation that is the
20:27
driver, but going back to the point that Matt made about
20:32
that kind of we're not the kind of the purpose of
20:36
the event, I kind of feel that DEI is a bit of a driver.
20:40
I kind of feel like we build events to engage
20:44
people, to teach them something.
20:47
So I think it's super important that everybody can engage in it in a way
20:51
that they're comfortable with, which is why for me I kind of think that things
20:55
like sign language, things like caption are a necessity
20:59
just to make sure that everyone does feel comfortable, everybody can engage
21:03
as well. I've just scribbled down here sustainability
21:07
and training because I know when we started
21:12
to kind of have the conversation in the events industry about sustainability, and Matt
21:16
and I joked about this, about, oh, we've got to recycle our coffee cups,
21:19
you know, that's sustainability, you know,
21:23
we've got to have bamboo plates and it's all going to be recycled.
21:26
But you mentioned about the training, the BSL training,
21:30
and sustainability is investment in people as well.
21:33
It's reducing turnover of staff in a venue or an organisation
21:37
because that makes your business a more sustainable business. So the training
21:41
element— I see you nodding, Sophie— You know, that's an
21:45
important part of it and is often overlooked when it comes to the subject
21:49
of sustainability, I think. Absolutely. I mean, we've just trained
21:53
all of my events team, and it's going through the whole wider museum, but I
21:56
made sure that my events team were done very early of
22:00
just basic carbon literacy training, you know,
22:03
and being able to take people
22:08
who are excellent at what they do and actually take them out of their comfort
22:11
zone and show them just different things and experience,
22:15
whether that is inclusivity training or neurodiversity
22:18
training around how to talk to people, sustainability training,
22:21
all of those different things create a more well-rounded person. It gives them
22:25
more, more kind of hopes and aspirations
22:28
and dreams of which to achieve, and I think it, it makes a company better.
22:32
And, and so everything kind of works holistically
22:35
in that, in that frame of mind. Is there a potential
22:40
that— again, I'm looking at you, Claire, as questions are popping into my head about
22:44
going back to the subject of unique venues and why we're here today— that there
22:48
could be, again, a misconception logistically that doing
22:52
an event in an old building or historic building in
22:56
London could perhaps have an increased carbon
23:01
impact compared to doing it outside of a big city?
23:04
Is that a consideration that ever comes into play? I think it is a perception
23:08
and it is something that we— there is an education element.
23:11
And something that's sort of come into my mind as everybody's speaking is the
23:16
why a venue is chosen. There's a lot of reasons.
23:19
And a lot of time when a venue is chosen, you've got an invite to
23:22
go to a conference, you don't know why that venue was chosen.
23:25
It's just where the conference is happening. So to your point,
23:28
Sophie, about what you do at your venues and
23:33
what what the Carlton Terrace offers. Do all the attendees know that? Is that communicated
23:37
to all the attendees? After the event, is there opportunity
23:41
to share some of the historical impact, getting a sense of place?
23:45
So I think there's a big role of the comms teams
23:49
who are putting on these events as well to make sure that's all
23:54
communicated. But to be specific with your question about unique venues,
23:57
it's perception. But also there's a lot of unique Grade
24:01
II listed, Grade I listed hotels out there that have same challenges.
24:05
So it's not just unique venues. And as everybody
24:09
has different challenges with different
24:13
things, some hotels— like, I really
24:16
struggle with patterned carpets. If there's patterned carpets on stairs, that's something
24:20
I really struggle with. But that's not something you can you
24:24
consider when looking at a venue. That's something that I struggle
24:28
with. I just think there's a big communication
24:32
piece there that needs to happen so the audience understand why a venue
24:36
is selected. I've never come across
24:40
that before, what you've just said about the patterned carpets. But as soon as you
24:43
said it, it makes complete sense. Who's come across it before?
24:46
Who's never come across what Clare's just said before?
24:50
And who did what I did, which is go, oh wow, that makes so much
24:53
sense. Yeah, of course. You know,
24:56
why is there not a resource platform? Is it, you know, why is there not
24:59
a platform with all of these little golden nuggets of information on
25:03
there, Matt? I have to be honest, none of our platforms actually
25:07
talk about patterned carpet, but I think we know why they do patterned carpet,
25:11
right? Yes. Yeah, yeah. So, um,
25:14
yeah, I mean, when it comes to carbon stuff, we We tend to delineate stuff
25:18
inside and outside the room. So the biggest decision that
25:22
you will make, if you're making one on the basis of the carbon footprint
25:27
of your whole event, is your destination. Bar none.
25:31
You could literally serve Argentinian beef out on
25:35
plastic straws and do all that stuff within your event, and the
25:38
largest part will be getting there. So choosing where your destination location
25:43
is by far the most when it comes to carbon. Even for this event
25:47
here, I'm not going to say by a show of hands who drove here.
25:51
No one drives to Somerset House today. So assuming
25:55
we've all come on the District Line or whatever, it'd still be the largest
25:59
part of this event, even including the— and then there's the Ubers
26:02
probably with people with all their stands and stuff. So,
26:06
but whereas everything— so that's outside of the Inside the room
26:09
on carbon, it's relatively small,
26:13
but it's massively visible. It's the most annoying thing
26:17
about events. Outside the room, huge impact,
26:21
and nobody sees it. You're not even considering it. We're all
26:24
in our own worlds at these events. Inside the room, your food,
26:28
your lanyard— there was loads of talk about lanyards in the early years.
26:31
It's like, do the best you can. It's not going
26:34
to impact your carbon. Everything inside the room, it's just what
26:38
it looks like. Food, you put it in front of your people's faces. Of course
26:42
they're going to go, oh, it's an event about sustainability and they're serving beef.
26:45
That's dreadful. Well, that's an optic. That's your
26:49
choice. That's your brand and your customer's choice what you serve. And the serveware
26:53
and your bamboo plates and all that stuff, that's great. There's usually
26:57
crockery on site. Just please use it. So there's
27:01
loads of disparities in the carbon side as well. The biggest choice from
27:05
a venue perspective, from an agency perspective, will be where do
27:09
you put it? Where's everyone coming from? I'm curious to know whether or not
27:13
the exhibitors who are upstairs, whether it was specifically part of
27:17
the sustainability aspect restricting the exhibitors.
27:20
I don't know if you've all noticed upstairs, they've only got one or two pull-up
27:25
banners. It's fairly consistent. They were told specifically what they could and couldn't bring
27:29
because of the space restrictions. But it also meant that the types of pull-up banners
27:33
that they've got, they could travel on the Tube because they throw them on their
27:37
shoulder and bring— Nobody's got big— Is there anybody that we can ask? Where's Event
27:40
Industry News when you need them? You're UPL. Was that a factor?
27:44
It was a factor. I won't say it was the
27:48
factor, but it certainly was a factor that was discussed. OK, well,
27:53
there you go. And there's no harm in that, I don't think. I think that's
27:56
one of the points, is that you don't have to say. Yes, it was.
27:59
Yes, it absolutely was. You could say yes, it was a small part of it,
28:02
but a small part of it is better than no part of it.
28:05
And sometimes these elements are actually competing with each other because,
28:09
like the sustainability in travel, if somebody— the gentleman you
28:12
mentioned earlier travelling from York— it's not always possible to travel,
28:16
you know, by public transport. They may need to have vehicles
28:20
which does have a larger carbon, but then it improves their accessibility to
28:24
that venue. So sometimes you're having to look at payoff,
28:28
as it were, between the 2 elements.
28:32
I'm looking at time and half an hour in. I'm certainly
28:36
not going to wrap things up. But what I am going to do is give
28:39
people who have sat here today the opportunity to maybe pick the
28:43
brains of the experience that we've got on stage. Has anybody had an event or
28:47
had a request from a client where it falls into this subject matter,
28:51
sustainability, accessibility, that maybe they would like to
28:55
sort of put their hand up and be willing to ask our panel if they've
28:57
got any guidance or advice. Anybody come across this and would like
29:01
to share something? Silence again, Matt.
29:05
Oh, okay, we hand the mic again.
29:10
So because we're at this Unique Venues event,
29:14
this is a 2-sided question. One is, what should we expect
29:17
venues to tell us from a data standpoint connected to this?
29:22
And secondly is, what should organizers ask of venues
29:26
in their brief when it comes to these elements?
29:29
Would you like to jump in with the first part?
29:33
I can do either or both. I mean, as far as I'm aware, from an
29:37
event decision perspective, it's entirely up to the organizer what they want to share.
29:40
It's their event. If they want to say this event here was—
29:43
I'm not asking about what to share with attendees. I'm asking about the relationship between
29:47
the organizer and the venue and what should the organizers
29:50
be expecting venues to provide them from a data standpoint
29:55
connected to these and what questions should the organizer
29:59
be asking the venues when they're trying to assess if the venue is a good
30:02
fit for them from social responsibility? I see. So questions each way between organizer
30:07
and venue? Well, shall I let the venue have a crack at that
30:11
first? Otherwise I can— Sophie? So I think it's
30:15
always going to be dependent, and I will be very frank.
30:19
We, with my venues— I have 5 venues— and
30:23
we are not yet able with the
30:27
systems that we have in place— all of my venues are Grade I listed— and
30:32
we are not yet able to provide really accurate kind
30:36
of electricity data for a specific event
30:40
timeframe. We have estimates that we can give based on previous events
30:44
of a similar sort, but it's really, really difficult to give accurate
30:48
data. So we're always very honest. If somebody wants to be
30:51
able to— they say, I want to be able to exactly track my carbon footprint,
30:55
I need this information from you— we'll say, this is what we can provide and
30:59
This is what we can't, and we have lost business on the basis of not
31:01
being able to provide that. And we accept that, and it is something that we're
31:05
working internally to continue to get better at. The National Maritime Museum,
31:09
for example, is really tricky because it gets electricity from about 5
31:13
different points, and we just can't work out how to measure
31:17
all of them, make it specific to the event, and then merge them
31:22
all together. What I always really recognise,
31:26
and I say this as a board member of UVL rather than as
31:29
a venue, is when venues are working towards specific
31:33
goals. So when I get a client coming to me
31:37
and they say, do you have a sustainability policy? And I say, yes, here is
31:40
our sustainability policy, and that's it,
31:44
I go, well, that was a tick box. They haven't read it,
31:47
they don't care about it, that was an irrelevancy, they just needed to tick
31:51
on a form somewhere internally that they've checked. What I like to
31:55
know is what goals are they currently working to? Are those goals
31:59
being measured? Do they have timelines in place? And are they on
32:03
track to achieving those? And if they're not on track to achieving those, why aren't
32:07
they? Or if they are, what's the next goal? So I like to ask really
32:11
in-depth leading questions like that, and that usually gives a better indication of
32:16
where a venue is at in their sustainability journey, and it is a journey.
32:19
Some of our venues within the, the 90
32:22
member venues are really far ahead and they are able to give
32:26
really accurate things and they're leaps and bounds. Some of them are really small and
32:30
they're just trying to get rid of single-use plastic on their site,
32:33
but that is as valiant an effort as some of the really larger stuff
32:37
depending on the scope of opportunity that they all have.
32:41
So I always look for really really smart objectives,
32:45
timed goals, things that
32:49
they can talk honestly and accurately with you about,
32:52
and where they're doing well and where they're not.
32:56
Okay. Did we get the second part of that as well? Is that all?
33:00
Yes. Excellent. Thank you very much. Just to add to that,
33:06
so we deal with 200 agencies on behalf of corporates and
33:10
corporates direct. In the last 3 weeks,
33:13
we've had 3 massive corporates that we've all heard of
33:17
that we're desperately not allowed to mention their names. I don't know why,
33:20
because it's a good thing. And they're moving their Scope 3 stuff
33:24
from a payment to a consumption base, which in real language what
33:28
that means is they've said to their supply chain agencies, venues,
33:32
and other suppliers, we want the carbon footprint of what you're doing for
33:35
us. We don't— it's wonderful that you're ISO this or
33:39
Ecovadis that or a B Corp or whatever you are. Well done, thank you,
33:42
crack on. We want the actual impact of what you're doing for us.
33:46
Haven't seen it so much over 5 years. Last 3 weeks, 3 of
33:50
them. 3 of them combined probably do half a million events.
33:53
So whether that's— I don't know if that's rolling out across wider corporate,
33:58
um, or if it's just coincidence But 3 of them have said— so if
34:01
you're an organizer out there and you don't know how,
34:05
I would suggest you find out how you can do that. It doesn't
34:09
matter if you go to Julia's venue and they can't provide you the exact
34:13
kilowatt-hours that you've consumed. There are
34:17
people— Event Decision can get it close enough that you will not know.
34:21
It doesn't matter that you don't know if 21 or 22 meals were served.
34:25
You've got to find out how you could do it. I'd love for you
34:29
all to just do it tomorrow, but in reality, find out how you might
34:33
do that, because by the time a client's asked, it's too late.
34:36
Like, you're faffing around trying to find a supplier, and there's agencies out
34:40
there not too far from me that measure every single event that
34:44
goes through the door. Isn't that right? There is.
34:48
I mean, but that— just speaking from an agent's perspective, perspective as well.
34:51
Not all our clients request this data. So this
34:55
is our company's policy, both Eventful and our sister agency Cheerful 21st.
35:00
Any events that we're fully managing and we're on site for, we work
35:03
with Event Decision to capture that data, whether the client wants it or not.
35:07
We then know the events that we're producing, what that data shows.
35:10
So I think it's something that we as an agency can also
35:14
drive the conversation forward as well. Julia, did I see you wanting
35:17
to come in on that? I did. It was just on the organiser side of
35:21
things, just because I used to work on healthcare events. So the
35:25
kind of questions that we asked of the venues really, really depended on the audience
35:28
that were coming to the event. So there was one particular show that we used
35:31
to go really, really in-depth on, and it'll be things like,
35:35
can you provide big bottles instead of sachets because some people can't tear sachets?
35:38
Can you provide chairs with arms in your catering areas because people people need
35:42
it to stand up? Do you have kind of chunkier
35:46
cutlery so people can grip? So the questions that I asked as
35:50
an organiser really depended on the audience that we'd have
35:54
coming. Even something like if it was something a
35:58
bit more of a healthy kind of event, asking the caterers what menus they could
36:01
provide to cater to the audience. So all the questions we asked are tailored
36:05
around the audience we had coming to the event, but it also did help if
36:08
venues were really forthcoming with what they could do.
36:11
As I mentioned, Carlton House Terrace, them saying, actually, all of our staff
36:15
are trained in BSL. It's helpful if venues are transparent with what they can
36:19
also do. There's a couple of great examples there about
36:22
real practical questions. The arms on
36:26
chairs for people to be able to stand up, chunkier cutlery.
36:31
Again, quick show of hands, who might have asked a question similar to
36:34
that, those questions of a venue before?
36:37
Who's never thought to ask something as simple as that?
36:40
And again, there's no right or wrong answer to this. It's just— that's why we're
36:43
all here. It's an opportunity to learn and find out
36:47
things. And Julia, there's one thing that I haven't asked you that I wanted to
36:50
ask, and it relates— you provide services
36:55
that I would historically have said, oh, you provide those to the event organizer.
36:59
What is the split now in your business at TranslateAble,
37:04
where you provide your services to event organisers but to venues directly?
37:08
How many venues now come to you to say, we would like to engage you
37:11
with these services? So quite a few. We find that kind of a lot of
37:15
people that we've— it does seem to be more organisers, but they're kind of recommended
37:19
by venues. Interesting. Okay. Again, I keep mentioning Carlton
37:23
House Terrace, but they basically will kind of have that
37:27
in proposals to their clients saying, have you thought about accessibility
37:31
services? But most of our services are direct to organisers,
37:35
but a lot come via venues. So there's still clearly, and same
37:39
with you I guess Matt, and the more the venues understand about
37:43
this, the more that they can then push that out to organisers. And again,
37:47
we've talked, we've used the word cyclical a few times today already,
37:51
there's that, you know, communicative process that goes on then between venue,
37:55
organizer, attendee, and background again. Yeah,
37:58
interesting. Any other questions before we sort of start to wrap
38:03
up and look for final thoughts from our panel?
38:06
Okay, well, we'll come across. Matt, maybe, you know,
38:09
a nugget takeaway, something that you give people today if they are thinking about any
38:13
of these subjects today, particularly sustainability one. Yeah, just prepare yourself
38:16
when your clients ask for this stuff because they will. 5 years ago,
38:21
I wasn't involved in any of this stuff and I was answering
38:25
RFPs for an agency going, oh, we try not to fly wherever
38:29
possible, i.e., go away, we're not interested.
38:33
And, you know, 5 years ago, to calculate
38:37
the carbon footprint of an event, let alone the social value, or even benchmark
38:41
your performance, all of you lot, so we can show how good you are.
38:44
Just, it didn't exist. So it's come on so quick that
38:48
in the next few years, try not to be surprised by client requests,
38:52
which we all see as demands, don't we? Before I come to you, Claire,
38:56
I'm just going to share something very quickly that just— I remembered something from an
38:59
event I did 3 years ago now where we asked people
39:03
how far they traveled and by what means to get to the event,
39:07
by way of trying to measure carbon impact and travel and everything.
39:11
And the person was connected to an organization
39:15
that promotes sustainability. And on their registration,
39:18
because I was able to access that data, it said that they traveled 1 mile
39:22
by car to Excel.
39:27
What they didn't mention on the registration— what they didn't mention on their registration
39:32
was that they'd flown from Portugal into London City Airport
39:37
And sometimes when we're capturing this information and reporting it back, I think we do
39:39
have to be brutally honest. If we're going to make any sort of positive
39:43
impact in any of these subjects, people have to be honest with their
39:47
data and with their responses. And that's organiser, attendee, anybody connected
39:51
has to give honest responses and provide,
39:54
because otherwise the data is just going to be warped. I just thought I'd throw
39:57
that in there because I remember just seeing that and chuckling at it. Actually,
40:00
you don't. You'll have most of that information already. You know where your people come
40:04
from if you're an organiser. You don't need to ask them everything. You don't come
40:07
from Lisbon to London by train. So, you know,
40:10
somebody who can do this stuff can just go, oh yeah, there is a flight
40:14
there. So don't worry that you don't ask every single thing.
40:18
We know what the footprints of events look like. Apologies, I was interrupting the
40:22
wrap-up there. Claire? That's OK. I think for me it
40:26
is this wider Looking beyond the practicalities,
40:29
the capacities, and is there natural daylight. It's looking
40:34
at why you're choosing a venue and the bigger picture. So looking at
40:37
the sustainability, the accessibility, and the considerations of
40:41
the audience. Understanding why you're choosing a venue for
40:45
more than just the practical side of things. Sure.
40:48
Sophie? I would just really encourage everyone to
40:52
to head back up to that showcase and talk to the venues. I think there
40:56
is a misconception that unique venues are a bit sort of stuck
41:00
in the mud, or that they're not able to answer a lot of the questions
41:03
and queries that we've looked at today. And I think unique
41:08
venues are really trying really hard to help and make everything
41:11
better. And I think they also offer a really exciting,
41:16
different alternative that actually fulfils a lot of these queries
41:20
just by the very nature of what they are. So I really hope that if
41:24
you haven't been upstairs already, that you head back up there and get chatting to
41:27
lots of those lovely venues. And Julia, final thoughts,
41:30
maybe a nugget of advice for the people here today? I'd say be proactive.
41:35
So just because, for example, you don't have
41:39
deaf people attending your events and you don't have sign language interpreters,
41:43
it may not mean they don't want to attend your event.
41:46
They may just think they're not catered for. So I'd say be proactive.
41:51
Can I throw one more thing in there as well? It relates to captions,
41:54
just to use the captioning technology. It's so
41:58
accessible now, just on a laptop, and for any sort
42:02
of techies amongst you, if you've got a mixing desk at your event, the chances
42:05
are it's got a USB output on the back of it. You can connect it
42:09
to a laptop and you can get captions using any number of different platforms really,
42:12
really quickly. But what that also does, it doesn't just benefit people in the room
42:15
being able to follow along on those captions. You've then captioned
42:19
your entire session. Your entire agenda and schedule has
42:23
been captured in writing. And I've taken the
42:28
text out of those platforms before, popped them into Copilot or Gemini or
42:32
something like that, and within 30 seconds you've got a full written synopsis
42:38
synopsis and a written text roundup of your entire event just by using a tool.
42:41
So some of these tools and some of these options that you've got
42:45
available to you, you might think, right, it's for that solution, but actually
42:49
it can have a number of benefits once you start bringing and addressing some of
42:53
these issues. So I just thought I'd share that before we thank our
42:57
panel on this second session this morning, Matt, Claire, Sophie,
43:00
and Julia.