HOW TO CREATE AWARD WINNING EVENTS - BY JO TYLER

So it's taken a while for me to sit back and really recognise what we achieved at the AEO Excellence Awards this year. 4 Awards is incredible and I feel truly humbled that the judges recognised the efforts of our team over the past year and what we achieved.

Having judged the awards myself, I know the judging to be fair and to be honest we wouldn't want it any other way. We were so busy running 6 events this March, that myself and Ashley Cox took it upon ourselves to write the entries and it was a joy to do.

As senior managers it was a real pleasure to take a step back, review the data and pull together all of the highlights. The entries were written with pride for the incredible achievements and progress the teams had made, but I want to make it clear that it's really not about 'how you write a good entry' it's about really answering the questions and showing data-driven evidence for each of your points.

Last year we made fantastic progress in terms of growing the National Running Show, the marketing and content campaign was incredible achieving 30,000+ attendees with average dwell time of over 5 hours, NPS of 32, pre-reg conversion increased from 38% to 52%, visitor ticket revenue increased by 164%, better community engagement and inclusivity than ever before and sales revenue up 24% year on year - and we even managed a Guinness World Record in support of SheRACES which now hangs on the wall in our office.

We have one of the best event organising teams I have ever experienced - a diverse group of passionate people who work hard and win big. Raccoons are highly intelligent, curious creatures known for their problem-solving abilities - they are also often most social and active at night and we have an incredible gaze (collective noun) and I couldn't be prouder.

I've been asked a few times over the last couple of weeks about writing award entries and I would suggest that anyone who wants to really see what we do, takes a day to visit one of our shows - we're always happy to offer free tickets to people within the event industry.

I would encourage you to know your data, understand your insights and listen to your audience. We’re developing new dashboards (with some fancy AI tech) to create further organic growth, serve our existing communities better, and recognise opportunities for new launches and acquisitions.

Finally, thank you to everyone who worked so hard, to all the judges who took the time to read our entries and to the AEO who always put on an incredible day. We will be entering again next year and we won't expect to win, but if we are fortunate to do so we will always celebrate in true Raccoon style.

Written by Jo Tyler, group chief operating officer, Raccoon Events