- Visitors
- Organisers
- Exhibitors
We talk to New Business Director Richard Mann about the NEC events strategy, which will explore new event formats for the NEC Campus.
Post-pandemic, what is the NEC looking to do in terms of its diversification strategy?
We’ve been looking at diversifying the kinds of events we host for a number of years already, but during the pandemic we were forced to look at everything and anything the venue could host within the Covid restrictions, so it certainly made us explore the art of the possible.
Now that we’re post-pandemic however, there are three main threads to our diversification strategy; long-stay exhibitions; festivals and special events.
Put simply, we’re looking to host more of these kinds of events, ideally in times of year when we’re less busy with our core business.
Do you have examples of where the diversification has worked well since re-opening?
I think the single biggest example has to be Wireless Festival in July this year. We have hosted festivals and indoor/outdoor music events previously, but Wireless is by far the largest and most recognised live music festival we’ve hosted.
The weather was fantastic this year, so it was our famous location and connectivity that Festival Republic and their 75,000+ visitors benefitted from.
I’ve no doubt it’ll rain at a festival here sooner or later, and when it does, the organiser will definitely reap the rewards of not having every single bit of kit they’ve installed bogged down in 6 inches of mud!
Are there limits to how the NEC diversifies, or is it a case of people bringing proposals for consideration?
For me, one of the NEC’s USPs has always been the venue’s collective mindset that anything’s possible here, so we’re definitely open to considering any idea - as long as it’s legal and commercial viable.
What do you find is working well regarding how the NEC re-formats its space?
The combination of indoor and outdoor event spaces is nothing new to some of our long-standing exhibitions customers, but I think that flexibility can really be something special for the diversified types of content we’re looking at now.
At Wireless Festival for example, we could offer a fully outdoor festival experience for the visitors, yet also provide a purpose-built indoor experience for the artists, artist entourages and the media.
Does it have to be an exciting proposal, or can it be a problem the company is facing which we might be able to solve with our space on offer?
Funnily enough that scenario (a company with a problem) is exactly one of things we helped with during lockdown.
We were approached by an autonomous vehicle software company that needed secure office space for technicians, alongside a secure space to house and work on up to 15 vehicles, and enjoy access to the road network. Not easy to find, but because we didn’t have any exhibitions at that stage, we were able to help.
So no, it doesn’t have to be an exciting proposal. It all depends on the particular set of circumstances of course, but as I said earlier, if it’s legal and commercially viable, we’ll consider it.
Do you find the NEC can add to proposals, with ideas contributed from the new business team?
Quite often, yes. Without wanting to blow our own trumpets, we’re in an almost unrivalled position in terms of the sheer volume of event ideas we get to look at, and in about 10% of cases, we help take these through to a successful live event.
We’ve got a wealth of experience across the business that we can tap into, and often do just that to support operational delivery.
If people would like to chat about their ideas, what’s the best way to go about it?
The quickest and easiest way is to just pick up the phone and give me or my team a call!
How to contact Richard: [email protected]