Exhibition News September 2019 | Page 61

Profile SUPPLIER FOCUS Splento ALTERNATIVE VENUE Wellcome Collection The photography agency co-founder Peter Gilbert on the challenges of upload speeds and pushing high quality content up the agenda What’s one thing you would change about the events industry? To cut the waste generated by events – we all have to do more to leave less behind. And from a selfish point of view, to shift the need for high- quality visual content a little higher up the list of priorities for organisers, agents and everyone else involved. The quicker everyone appreciates that first impressions really are all-important, the better. It pays to provide your audience with excellent photos and videos – great images sell! (I know that’s two things, but at Splento we like to give you more.) What issue most affects your working life? It sounds pretty straightforward but internet upload speeds can cause a few challenges. We aim to provide clients with their event photos ‘live’ or at least on the same day. It is improving but at one or two venues (I’m too diplomatic to name them) it’s still very slow. Surely everyone needs fast Wi-Fi? How has your business changed over the past five years? Once again, the technology has been hugely influential for us. Things like facial recognition have revolutionised what we do and the way that we do it and greatly enhance our offering to clients. Why do you enjoy working in events? I know it’s a bit cheese on toast, but it has to be the people. I’ve met lots of really lovely people, many of whom I’m privileged to say are friends. The friendliest industry that I’ve had the pleasure to be a part of – and I used to be an estate agent... Daniel Caleb, head of venue hire at Wellcome Collection, on AV renovations and gender-neutral toilets Tell us a bit about the history of the venue Wellcome Collection opened in 2007. It is a free museum and library that aims to challenge how we think and feel about health. We host all sort of events including conferences, AGMs, product launches, workshops and networking sessions. We have a variety of versatile event spaces including a tiered auditorium, four smaller rooms and thought-provoking gallery spaces. What support can you offer event organisers? All our rooms come with built-in AV such as projector, screens, WiFi and all catering is in-house. Wellcome Collection was recently recommended as one of the most accessible venues in the UK. We have accessible toilets on every floor, and all of our spaces have wheelchair access and an induction loop. What is the USP of the venue? A unique benefit of holding your event at Wellcome Collection is that all profits made are Gift Aided back to the Wellcome Trust charity and invested into improving health and wellbeing for all. Is there anything coming up that you want to highlight? We are undergoing various projects in Wellcome Collection, including upgrading all of the AV facilities in the event spaces to offer more flexibility for clients. New features will include video conferencing, fixed cameras in the auditorium and interactive flipcharts. The flipcharts will help with our sustainability project - organisers can now email themselves the flipchart notes rather than using paper. The new Being Human exhibition will be our new permanent gallery space, exploring what it’s like to be human in the 21st century. Another exciting development is that we are also changing our toilets on the ground floor to become gender neutral and increase our accessibility for all. September — 61