Lime Venue Portfolio ran two sessions on the conference programme at International Confex, plus a roundtable discussion with our clients, and a kitchen disco on our (very cool) stand.
The first you can read on our blog here on the evolving conversation between event organisers on how to integrate social impact and legacy into their events. It was a broad conversation, covering a lot of ground; however, the predictable question is always; ‘OK, sounds good, but how can I integrate it into my event?’. The answer is ‘How long’s a piece of string?’. Not very helpful we know, so the better answer was, ‘Come back tomorrow, same time, same place, and we’ll show you what ‘good’ looks like; you can take it from there.’ That’s more like it.
As with a good event, explaining what best practice looks like is difficult, showing it through case studies is much easier. It’s more inspirational and allows the audience to go away, inspired, and bring their own process to this area. Our self-appointed role as cheerleaders for better events means we want to be a ready resource for these examples.
So, Day Two saw us convene Sammy Connell, NASUWT; Robert Dunsmore, Event Creative and Producer; and Lucy Nicholls from The PS Events Group, to share their own experiences for another packed session.
Integrating Community
Sammy Connell began the session, which essentially equated to three, eight-minute case studies, plus a bit of time for questions and answers. Sammy, a senior event organiser at a trade association representing teachers, she spoke passionately about the work the event does to integrate it with the two communities it sits alongside; teachers, and the local community – and often both.
From working with local singing groups, charities, and NGO’s, social impact affects everything from the entertainment to the biscuits they serve. Yet, the event goes deeper than that, taking on issues that have as much prescience on the event stage as it does as part of the wider impact story. Subjects such as period poverty for students, and the necessity of food banks amongst the teaching community both represent challenges that the event shines a light on.
People Make Purpose
Next up was Robert Dunsmore, the brain behind many an event across corporate, association, charity, and both domestically and overseas. Robert understands the intricacies of events, and chose to present a ‘Scotland Special’ focusing on COP26 in Glasgow and World Soil, which took place a few years later and took much of the ‘legacy learning’ from the event. A third case study, which looked at an activation by Google which literally grew out of the event by using repurposed flora from the local desert to create both an inspirational backdrop and a profound one.
Robet’s views were encapsulated in the phrase that People Make Purpose and that events need people to come alive and breathe. This mixture between local community, specialist community, the event delegates, and the event organisation, sits at the heart of every idea and initiative that looks to leave a legacy behind.
Meaningful journeys and legacy impact
Finally, Lime Venue Portfolio welcomed Lucy to the stage. Lucy’s business is one of those well-kept secrets of the events industry, behind some outrageously stunning events, but often hidden out of sight. Lucy’s presentation was the opposite of this, telling a story of people and purpose through her business’s work with the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and other sporting and music events. The PS Events Group works with brands and businesses, helping them tell their stories and take their audiences on a meaningful experience-led journey. Legacy impact is the postscript (or PS) to that journey, the piece that resonated long after the event finishes. The piece, which was the heart of the event, encapsulated in it.
It is often difficult to paint a picture of perfection when it comes to an event, they are by their very existence imperfectly perfect. But by showing a smorgasbord of events, and the event organisers behind them, we can begin to show what good looks like, and to arm event organisers with the ideas and inspiration that will make their next event resonate longer through a positive social impact.
