EDGE Venues

This Monday’s Insights feature brings you the industry headlines you may have missed from the previous week.

Headlines

Culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, has called for Russian participation to be stopped at all UK events. She says Russia will be banned from attending or competing in sporting events and called for event organisers to block Russian involvement and cancel performances. Speaking in the House of Commons Dorries commented:

“Culture is the third front in the Ukrainian war. Across sport, the arts and entertainment, we’re ostracising Putin on the global stage. Putin is now suffering a sporting and cultural Siberia of his own making, and it will be causing the Russian leader real pain. Putin needs the kudos of these global events to conceal his illegitimacy and the hideous acts he is perpetrating in Ukraine.

She continued: “The Russian despot is desperately trying to hide the grim extent of his invasion from his own people. It’s why I strongly support, and continue to encourage, the kind of emotional displays of solidarity we’ve seen across sporting events in the last week, including the Carabao Cup Final and the Six Nations.”

The Meetings Industry Association (mia) has appointed a dedicated diversity equity and inclusion director. VisitBritain/VisitEngland’s Debra Lang joins its voluntary board of directors to lead on diversity, equity and inclusion work.

Lang, who is the Director of HR & Professional Services of the national tourism agency, will be using her extensive experience to develop a strategy and best practice framework for the business meetings and events sector to ensure it is recognised as being fair, impartial and without biases.

Kerrin MacPhie, mia chief executive, said: “While working at the national tourism agency she’s [Debra] transformed the employee experience launching a people strategy during lockdown and creating numerous diversity and inclusion networks, which will provide great insight to our work championing best practice in this area.”

Read the full story on Conference News, here…

IMEX in Frankfurt has banned Russia from exhibiting at the show in May in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Group CEO shared the news on Linkedin while showing support for the Ukrainian people.

IMEX Frankfurt takes place at Messe Frankfurt on 31 May to 2 June, and Messe Frankfurt has also put out a statement in response to the situation.

IMEX Group’s announcement from Carina Bauer (CEO) and Ray Bloom (Chairman) included: “Sadly, today we have taken the decision to suspend Russian state enterprises from participating at IMEX in Frankfurt 2022, as a direct result of the current political situation. We do this with a heavy heart, understanding that the world is in an unprecedented situation. Our hearts go out to everyone who is affected and especially the people of Ukraine. All of us wish for a speedy and peaceful resolution to this conflict.”

Read the full story on M&IT!

Double take

The NEC Birmingham and the International Convention Centre (ICC) have donated over 13,200 portions of food to their local community in the past 18 months using food-sharing app Olio.

The initiative also averted over 11,400kg of carbon emissions, equivalent to taking 38,700 car miles off the road, and has saved 2m litres of water.

Marc Frankl, food and beverage director for the NEC Group’s in-house caterers Amadeus, said: “It has been a tough, yet rewarding journey for us to transform our operations in this way. Our staff have really embraced the partnership and it’s moving from strength to strength. OLIO is fantastic as it allows us to reduce any food waste from events, while giving back in the areas in which we operate.”

Read more on this fantastic achievement on Exhibition News.

This Monday’s Insights feature brings you the industry headlines you may have missed from the previous week.

Headlines

IMEX has reported ‘strong demand’ as Germany eases COVID restrictions, according to M&IT Magazine. The report supports anecdotal information heard by the EDGE team recently and is excellent news for the industry.

Germany plans to lift most of its coronavirus restrictions throughout March. Masks will still be mandatory indoors, as the number of cases in the country continues to decline. Read more about the country’s 3-step plan here, alongside comments from Carina Bauer, CEO of the IMEX Group.

In more good news for overseas event planners, Northstar Meetings Group has reported that proof of vaccination is no longer required to access indoor events and restaurants in Washington, D.C., and the mask mandate will end on March 1.

Philadelphia has removed its vaccine requirement for indoor dining, but people still need face coverings in indoor public spaces. In Washington state, vaccine verification will no longer be necessary for large events starting March 1, and the mask mandate will end on March 21.

Read the full state-by-state Covid updates here.

Lime Venue Portfolio has launched three new packages. As part of its Meetings for Change initiative, they bring sustainability, mindfulness, and wellness to the fore.

The initiative follows findings from the brand’s Beyond Food reports. Specifically the chapter on Food & Mental Health, and the need to support mental health and create empathetic and reassuring spaces for delegates. 

“This is about health; health for our delegates, our organisers and the planet. The aim is to offer our customers a simple package that is highly credible and allows them to fulfil their own commitments to their guests, and their sustainability goals, by working with a trusted partner like ourselves.”

Jo Austin, Sales Director, Lime Venue Portfolio

If you want to hear more or book any of the packages, contact EDGE.

Double take

During its fourth-quarter earnings call, Air France-KLM shared a ‘steady rebound’ of corporate traffic in 2021. According to BTN (Business Travel News), the Group’s corporate segment in December 2021 reached about half the volume of 2019. The trend was ‘driven by long-haul routes after a partial relaxation of travel restrictions and the reopening of U.S. borders’. 

And Omicron-related corporate travel restrictions trend hampering short- and medium-haul traffic into 2022, has recently reversed. What’s more, Air France-KLM noted that ‘several major multinational companies are starting to or planning to resume travel.’

With corporate travel policies often setting the tone for meetings and events, this is good news for events. 

Read the full BTN run-down of the airline’s earnings call here. 

This Monday’s Insights feature brings you the industry headlines you may have missed from the previous week.

Headlines

Manchester to host One Young World 2022 Summit from 5-8 September 2022. One Young World, is a global community of young leaders which has over 13,500 young ambassadors, over 2,000 of which will attend the summit, representing more than 190 countries.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said:

“Manchester is one of the UK’s most vibrant cities, a melting pot of culture and creative thinking. So I couldn’t think of anywhere more fitting to host this year’s summit. Thousands of delegates including the most inspirational young minds will come together to strike up new connections and share the new ideas that will have a lasting positive impact for the world.”

Full details can be found at Conference News.

The mia and VisitBritain combine forces to attract meetings to the UK. A two-day event in North Wales will bring together those looking to attract business meetings and events to their destination.

Members of the Meetings Industry Association (mia), representatives from VisitBritain, and destination and event professionals from across the industry will gather in Venue Cymru in Llandudno, North Wales on 1-2 March for the Destination Summit 2022.

For more information on the event, read the full details via M&IT Magazine, here.

British Airways support the return of business travel by adding Newark-London Flight. On June 6, British Airways has announced they will launch a new daily flight between Newark Liberty International Airport and London Heathrow which shows a sign of support to the return of business travel in 2022.

Read more at Business Travel News.

Double take

EDGE Venues acquires Trinity Event Solutions.

“EDGE Venues has been through quite a journey since we officially launched the platform in 2018. Pre-pandemic, enquiries for meetings and events were at their highest, and then March 2020, as with the rest of the industry, it all disappeared. But at EDGE Venues, we were determined not to let the pandemic beat us. We took this time to evaluate our technology, make enhancements, and understand the needs of both our customers from a Trinity Event Solutions perspective, and those using EDGE.

“The answer was clear, a need for one concise message to the marketplace. With that in mind, and with the scale-up strategy of EDGE Venues, we made the business decision to merge the two companies. We are already successfully processing our Trinity clients through our EDGE’s RFP tool which has gone through significant enhancements throughout the pandemic, as we continue to make it the ‘go-to’ platform for meetings and events. The EDGE Corporate portal Metis is already giving deep insights of buying trends and activity and was invaluable for our corporate clients to manage risk mitigate costs and spend during the pandemic.” 

Jacqui Kavanagh, CEO of EDGE Venues

This Monday’s Insights feature brings you the industry headlines you may have missed from the previous week.

Headlines

According to the Guardian newspaper: Austria has lifted its “lockdown of the unvaccinated”, Switzerland is gearing up for a “turbo” reopening. Germany’s finance minister has demanded an end date for Covid curbs more countries prepare to ease pandemic controls.

Restrictions on movement in Austria may have been lifted, but the unvaccinated remain barred from eating in restaurants or shopping for non-essential items. 

The news comes as European countries begin to ease curbs as hospital admissions are not rising in line with Covid cases. 

Meanwhile, Denmark has expanded the list of vaccines accepted for travel into the country. Previously, Denmark accepted only vaccines approved for use by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). However, in line with the new changes, the list will now include four additional vaccines – Covishield, Covaxin, Sinovac, and Sinopharm, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

Double take

Two in five delegates to have dietary requirements by 2030, according to Meetings and Incentive Travel’s report of Lime Venue Portfolio’s new research findings.

The features says: Lime Venues Portfolio has deemed this trend toward meat- and dairy-free menu options as ‘Green Eating’, citing the reason behind the choice as largely driven by sustainability. “It’s our belief that many delegates who ask for vegan, vegetarian, plant-based or plant-first menus are doing so from a purely sustainable stance. We should see these as a new wave of ‘green eaters’ who are going to change the way we create menus at events,” Lime Venue Portfolio sale director, Jo Austin said.

Austin added that the rhetoric and language around vegan and vegetarian menu choices need to change:

“The world has changed and by 2030 we believe that the majority of people at an event will want a different menu. They are no longer the outliers; they are the main make-up of the delegation and need to be treated as such.”

Read the full report here.