COLUMN: INDUSTRY VIEW
Refining and improving
Andrew Harrison, ESSA director, reflects on the some of the
takeaways from the association’s biggest ever conference
B
ack in 2018, and it seems like a
long time ago now, ESSA held its
conference at Arena MK and we
welcomed a record number of delegates.
In short, we’ve worked hard to improve
the ESSA conference, especially as an
experience for newer members, and I like
to think that the result of our ambitions
is more informative, more compelling
conference.
“What’s the biggest room in the
world?”
In case you’re not familiar with this
corny old classroom mantra, the answer
is, “The room for improvement sir.” It’s
trite, but from our perspective as a multi-
billion-pound industry, we all understand
that businesses have to keep refining
their offering, improving their skills
and knowledge, striving to keep up with
changing circumstances and new financial
realities
Of course, improvements aren’t always
easy or quick. While improving health
and safety, for example, at a company
level can be fairly straightforward with
plentiful resources available. At a sector
or industry level, however, positive change
is harder to engineer.
There is a real sense that, as a
community of businesses, we now have
the clarity and confidence to determine
our own destinies, to move towards
authoring the changes and improvements
we want to see. This was exemplified
by the ‘Solutions Room’ segment of the
conference, when every delegate sat down
at a table with their industry peers to
identify and note the issues they wanted to
resolve, with proposed solutions and
strategies.
Our focus on the future of the industry,
and how we might lead the discussion on
improving it for all, was evident during
the ESSA Town Hall, when two board
members – Martin Cairns and Lou
Kiwanuka – Jess Corbett, chair of the
Futures Board, and myself spoke about
new initiatives to bring about change in
the industry.
Martin announced the independent
research exercise commissioned by the
Event Industry Alliance (EIA) to establish
the facts around exhibition build up
and breakdown, Lou told conference
about progress towards enhancing
ESSA’s current Quality Charter and
“There is a real sense
that, as a community
of businesses, we
now have the clarity
and confidence to
determine our own
destinies”
Code of Conduct with an annual H&S
accreditation and Jess introduced the
composition and ambitions of the new
Futures Board, tasked with understanding
how members can best attract, nurture
and retain young people in the industry.
Martin’s passion for the build-up and
breakdown issue was evident during his
presentation; as the ESSA chair from 2019
through
2020
and an EIA board member, he has led
the call for a constructive and evidence
led approach to the issue. As a result,
the EIA has completed a comprehensive
research exercise conducted through
an independent organisation to ensure
transparency and impartiality of its
findings.
The research involved a number of event
supplier businesses, venues and organisers,
and included direct observation of event
build-ups and breakdowns. This research
has made systematic observations and
measurements, and some suggestions
for improvements. With the report now
complete, the EIA will look to cascade
the findings and suggestions to the
associations, to enable a constructive
and evidence-based discussion, and in all
likelihood, lasting positive change.
Lou addressed the conference with
ESSA’s plans for a standards-led Health
& Safety accreditation, with the aim
of creating a nationally recognised
scheme endorsed by the HSE. With the
support of the board, ESSA has invested
in independent expertise to advise on
drafting the scheme, and ESSA members
are already hard at work, with the
ambition of creating a true Kitemark that
reflects the ESSA’s role in leading the drive
to higher standards and excellence.
Jess, who is the chair of the ESSA
Futures Board, told delegates about how
the Board came about earlier this year,
following her observations at our 2017
conference, and explained its remit:
namely to devise strategies, campaigns
and initiatives to promote careers in the
event industry, inspire companies to take
proactive action on retain what we have
and to continue to nurture it.
No matter how efficient, enjoyable,
safe, exciting and profitable our industry
is, there is always room for improvement.
Our mission must be to lead the industry
to open as many doors into this room as
possible, now and in the future.
exhibitionnews.co.uk | January 2019
51