Lorraine Thorne, Venue Sales Manager, at Royal Horticultural Halls comments on changes in lead times and venue discounts:
“Everyone will probably state the obvious that lead times are getting shorter and shorter as clients budgets get authorised later and later but with all the competition and new venues opening virtually every week in London – venues are having to more flexible than ever to win the business.”
“When you look at the venue offers online – most venues have to discount for last pushes to sell dates - even the bigger venues that would never have dreamed of discounting are all being flexible to win the business.”
“I have also seen the whole industry becoming a lot more friendly – everyone realises there could be tough times ahead with Brexit so they want to pull together to ensure the London events industry continues to thrive and grow. As a venue I do not think I have ever had so many referrals from other venues – and we are always to return the favour!”
When it comes to ‘pulling together’, Nigel Mullins, Operations Manager at Natural History Museum, says the relationship between venues and suppliers has changed dramatically for the better in the last 25 years:
“Now venues consult suppliers and create an open dialogue whereas 25 years ago we were still learning and it was less of a two way relationship. Suppliers are a very important part of our business. We introduced 6 and 12 month reviews with all of them, to catch up on what they were up to and what they were doing within other parts of their business that we could also think about implementing. And more importantly asking them for feedback about us. Are we doing things right for you? Are you having difficulties in delivering an event here? Do we need to check any of our processes and procedures? We can better support our partners when they come in to do events, because we have that ongoing relationship with suppliers which makes it easier for them to work here.”
From a business event perspective, Head of Commercial Events at Southbank Centre, Alison Gannagé-Stewart, notes how technological advancements now play a crucial role:
“We’ve seen more and more companies approach us for events, not just to utilise Southbank Centre’s cultural history and central London location, but also to develop their creative ideas. We have seen the conference and business events industry develop with ambitious and exciting digital requirements. Live events are being streamed and broadcast to reach global audiences. We provide world-class production with our venue hire so that our client’s events are the very best that they can be.”
Lorna Hutchman, Event and Marketing Executive, at Science Museum has also noticed how much technology now has an integral role in events:
“Over the past 25 years the conference and business events sector has boomed considerably. More recently, there have been noticeable changes where organisers are being more mindful of content, delegate wellbeing and ensuring that meetings have added value for all involved. With an increase in demand for built-in technology, the Science Museum are launching a brand-new progressive events space, Illuminate. Opening 1st February 2019, this will feature state-of-the-art audio-visual capabilities, enabling guests to avail of more choice than ever when it comes to production.”