AEO News

AEO Global Events Study results demonstrate a 36% increase in Overseas Turnover

The Association of Event Organisers has launched its annual Global Events Study, sponsored by GES, which tracks international market trends of UK organisers.

The results for the 2017/18 period show a staggering like-for-like increase in overseas turnover of 36% with £2.1bn generated by those UK businesses that took part in the research project. According to the latest ONS figures*, this places the UK events industry in the top ten UK service exports.

The AEO Forums, which will take place at BDC London on Friday 25th January, has now launched.

The programme kicks off with a keynote from Business Leader, Karen Blackett, OBE. Karen is Chairwoman of MediaCom and appeared in the Woman's Hour Power List of Top 10 Influencers.

The AEO Talent Working Group is launching a free online training programme for sales, marketing and ops professionals within AEO membership. The series of webinars starts from the 5th October 2018 and will initially run until 15th February 2019.

The AEO Conference returned to Brighton on 6-7 September, covering the theme; ‘Technology – Artificial or Reality?’

The Grand Hotel in Brighton hosted 231 attendees, an overall increase in delegates of 13% and 31% more organisers than 2017.

The two-day conference was chaired by leading technology journalist and presenter, Georgie Barrat and delivered sessions that focussed on how technology can transform events for both events’ professionals and their customers.

The AEO Council has officially elected Austen Hawkins, managing director of f2f events, as the next Chair of the Association of Event Organisers. The election, which took place at the AEO Council meeting held on 5th September in Brighton, also sees Darren Johnson, chief executive officer of Reed Exhibitions UK, become Vice Chair. Former Chair Damion Angus will now assume the role of Past Chair for the forthcoming year.

 

Three new members, Ruth Carter from Telegraph Events, Ed Tranter from MA Exhibitions and Sarah Beall from Forum Events, have been elected to join the AEO Council. The election took place at this year’s AGM which was held in Brighton on Wednesday 5th September.

"World's Greenest Venue" continues to gather support and ECAAG calls on Mayor Khan to intervene in the Earl's Court West Kensington opportunity area.

The one-day conference, which took place on the 18th July 2018, at the NEC, Birmingham, attracted more than 360 delegates from around the country and covered everything from; the powers of persuasion, to sales techniques, to social media and more.

This year’s AEO Excellence Awards was extra special because it was the 25th anniversary of the awards ceremony which was introduced with a bang as AEO Chair, Damion Angus, took to the stage.

AEO (Association of Event Organisers) was delighted to renew its partnership with ASP a market leader in developing online solutions, earlier this year.

The renewal saw the revamp of the prestigious AEO Excellence Awards’ website (aeoawards.org) and the redevelopment of the FaceTime Exhibitor Masterclass website (http://masterclass.facetime.org.uk/).

Having supported the Exhibition Network since its inception last year, AEO will now be taking on a more formal role in marketing the activities the Exhibition Network gets involved in. Initially this will include three social get togethers a year - in summer, before Christmas and in the New Year to coincide with the AEO Forums.

Brighton has emerged as a technology hub for cool creatives, which is why, with the theme “Technology – Artificial or Reality?” this year’s AEO Conference will be returning to the city on 6th and 7th September.