3
Christmas
A cause for
Christmas cheer
Clare McAndrew of Story Events and show director of the London
Christmas Party Show outlines a cause for optimism
lthough it’s
currently a very
uncertain time for
UK businesses,
the most recent edition of the
London Christmas Party Show
(15 - 16 May, Plaisterers’ Hall,
London), highlighted that this
hasn’t put a dampener on the
2018 festive event season. A
record 11% increase in
corporate event buyers was
welcomed through the doors
demonstrating the continued
demand for venues and
services related to the festive
season.
A few key trends for 2018
emerged from the event, the
most notable highlighting that
budgets have largely remained
the same from 2017 to 2018
but operational costs for
things such as staff and
catering have witnessed an
increase over this same
period. This has led buyers to
look for alternative ways to
maintain the standard of their
Christmas events without
increasing their budgets, such
as looking at alternative
venues, dates or even reduced
content.
Thursdays and Fridays in
December have historically
been the most popular days of
the week for a company to
hold their event (the key dates
for 2018 being the 6-7 and
13-14 December) and
although these dates are still
the most sought after,
companies are increasingly
considering the option of a
Wednesday, which can knock
the venue hire costs down
considerably. If you’re a
company whose budget hasn’t
increased but want to
maintain the same standard of
www.conference-news.co.uk
venue, try looking at a Tuesday
or Wednesday date to help you
stay within budget.
This freeze on budgets
doesn’t however seem to
mean people are turning to
more informal event formats.
It still seems to be the time of
year that companies will try
and go all out to reward their
staff at the end of a hard
working year, suggesting that
it’s a resilient section of the
events market that will
continue to have a place in
company event budgets for
the foreseeable future.