Guidance for working at UK exhibitions initiative

Confex 2008 saw the launch of the 'Guidance for working at UK exhibitions' initiative from the Association of Event Venues and Event Supplier and Services Association.

Years in the making, this joint Association of Event Venues (AEV) and Event Supplier and Services Association (ESSA) project was unveiled as part of the AEO seminar programme at International Confex by ESSA Deputy Director Chris Skeith, AEV Director Tom Treverton, and a dedicated member working group (featuring representatives from the current participating venue companies of ECandO Venues, ExCeL London and the NEC group, and an independent Chair).

The Guidance is an online resource, available free of charge to members of AEO, AEV and ESSA, via each association's website.

The resource seeks to communicate common guidance regarding the application of around 30 regulation topics (from alcohol to floor plans, rigging to waste) at UK-based AEV member venues.

The innovative project represents a major step forward in addressing internal industry issues concerning health and safety, as well as all other operational procedures/regulations at UK venues, by identifying and conveying common guidance for any stakeholder working at participating venues.

This problem is one that AEV/ESSA (and AEO before them) has been trying to address for over a decade.

For years, numerous people working in our UK event venues have endured conflicting advice on how health and safety, and other operational issues are applied.

As an industry, we have lacked commonality on standards, and suffered through conflicting interpretations of rules by all stakeholders, who include local authorities, venue teams, health and safety consultants, contractors and exhibitors.

We have been regulated by local authority staff, who have changed frequently, prompting continuous, often unnecessary changes to our procedures.

The industry has not led the issue, but has instead allowed itself to be dictated to by external authorities, who lack the internal knowledge and experience possessed by our internal stakeholders.

Resultant additional costs and complexities to our customers (clients/visitors) will have made us less attractive as a marketing solution or visitor attraction.

All of this caused by a collective industry failure to unite, create, then drive a mutually beneficial solution.

That is, until the arrival of this new resource.

AEV and ESSA's logical starting point saw the organisations achieve senior buy-in from the three influential UK-based AEV member companies (listed above), regarding a new tactic focused on a quest for regulative commonality.

A working group, consisting of senior operations contacts from each venue company (with the authority to change regulatory policies), worked tirelessly throughout 2007 to identify where existing self-regulatory policies were (or could potentially be) the same, or where they were unavoidably different.

An intensive year of work, with unprecedented effort/commitment shown by the venue companies involved, ultimately culminated with commonality achieved across the 30 or so guidance topics, in all but one area.

The guidance is available to members of AEO, AEV and ESSA, via the Advice Centre of the websites.

This unique online resource will be of significant benefit to all industry stakeholders, and will help to improve communication and understanding, and streamline processes between industry players.

To increase its representation of the venue community, the guidance will be rolled out to all UK-based AEV member venues in 2008, in order to achieve maximum participation and relevance to the EIA event community.

ESSA Deputy Director Chris Skeith said: "This is a giant step for our industry, well over 10 years in the making: the practical implications of this guidance are vast, and its potential to assist all internal stakeholders (organisers, suppliers and venues) to improve our service to customers (clients and visitors) is immense.

"From a supplier standpoint, having common venue regulations in black and white, in a member reference tool will save an indescribable amount of onsite time and money.

"All policies are there for our ESSA community to refer to and abide by.

"Put simply, it's clarity of the utmost value".

AEV Director Tom Treverton said: "This online resource has incredible potential to serve our industry for years to come.

"It's online for a reason: it will not go out of date while collecting dust on a shelf, but will be a living, breathing reference tool, that will be consistently updated and, therefore, relevant.

"Our three AEV participating venues have shown tremendous commitment thus far, but this is just the beginning.

"New topics will be highlighted for inclusion, and additional venues will come on board.

"Indeed, I call on all UK-based AEV member venues to work with the executive to secure their involvement.

"Additional representation is paramount; we must build on this fantastic start".

Events Industry Alliance (EIA) Group Chief Executive Trevor Foley said: "AEV and ESSA have achieved something that, over the past 10 years, many said could never be done.

"This is a fine example of the EIA community working at its best, for the benefit of the entire industry.

"I am delighted with the progress made to date, and excited about what this resource could become for our medium.

"Our ability, as an industry, to successfully overcome our own significant issues will have an extremely positive effect on our perception by external audiences, and can only help to further grow the market for live events".

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