From the moment we wake up, technologies bridge our physical life with one that is digital. In a paper published in July 2024, Dr. Matt Frew from the School of Business and Enterprise at the University of the West of Scotland, stated that “emerging DARQ[1]  technologies and an accelerating Metaverse are reshaping the event landscape, birthing a new era of extended reality events.” How DARQ is the future of events?

These are times of high uncertainty on many fronts, also for the events industry. During the AIPC Academy in Brussels it was one of the key areas for discussion during coffee-breaks and lunches. One thing is very clear however: technology will continue to become more important for the event industry and we will need to understand the change that comes with it.

Therefore, it is important to take a step back and read papers like the one published by Dr. Frew, as they provide a broader view on event trends, which allows us to focus on what is really important. While the title of his paper seems alarming, the content is far less so. Events indeed reflect wide changes happening in society – including technology – and should be considered as portals of transition. The technology-driven events we see today have little to do with the informal gatherings which are at the start of our industry. At the same time, the very basis has not changed: it is about bringing communities together.

What is new, however, is the acceleration of technologies, combined with the blend between physical and digital. As a result, communities now gather on a continuous basis in different environments, using different types of technology, including brain-computer interfaces.

Going forward, it is expected we’ll see more of these “blends”. Take the ABBA Voyage tour as an example, which is basically bringing together large crowds to watch the younger version of the band in the shape of avatars, and with the event experience being extended via followers and influencers to improve reach and turn involvement of the event community into revenue. Over a 12-month period, the show completed 374 performances and attracted 1,097,597 visitors, achieving an occupancy rate of 97.8%. Revenue from ticket sales was £103,665,597. And that’s just the tickets.

So next to the traditional live events and the cloned hybrid events, we’ll also need to consider extended reality events going forward. The challenge for the event industry will be to fully understand the potential these evolutions can bring and to decide accordingly on the technology investment to be done.

All of this will of course not happen overnight, but given the speed at which our physical and digital lives become intertwined, this new reality will be there sooner than later, making the debate between “live events” and “digital events” an obsolete one. They will not co-exist – they will become one, allowing for new models of engagement and community building. So the future is definitely not dark.

[Source: Interkultur] Three regional meetings of the World Choir Council took place on August 25 and 26, 2021, where its members came together online to discuss current topics from the international choral scene.

The Regional Meetings were organized as a hybrid event for the first time. More than 100 participants from all over the world in total attended the meetings, including members of the World Choir Council and invited guests. The three conferences happened online with several additional events taking place at the same time in the City of Chengdu, China.

Hoping that this pilot project will lead to many other editions in the future, Mr. Günter Titsch, President of INTERKULTUR & World Choir Council said:

“The ’International Music Capital’ Chengdu played an elementary role, as a large part of the World Choir Council events took place live there. Participants from all over the world were digitally connected to the choral music workshops, master classes and a special symposium. The conference brought us a big step closer to our common goal of seeing choirs live on the stages of the world again. Special thanks to the City of Chengdu and the Chengdu Musical Fun Management Committee for the opportunity and to the China Chorus Association as well as "Chorus China" of Chinese Musicians Association for the opportunity”,

The focus of the regional meetings in August 2021 was mainly on mutual exchange and discussion rounds to hear the manifold voices and opinions of all World Choir Council Members. New ideas were born together and the participants learned from the broad expertise represented in the World Choir Council.

The topics of the three regional meetings varied for the different regions with the meeting for Asia-Pacific, Middle East and China focusing mainly on the role of choral music in boys’ education and on problems and challenges especially composers and arrangers are facing during the pandemic.

In the regional meetings with council members from North, Central and South America questions of Environmental Sustainability were discussed and the participants tried to find solutions on how to use their voices for a positive change. Also, they tried to find answers to the question on how children and youth choirs can be encouraged to sing again.

The last of the three regional meetings took place on August 26 with members from Europe and Africa. They addressed one of the biggest challenges of our times, namely to affect positive change in communities or countries where different ideologies are at odds within the population, and exchanged ideas around the use of choirs and choral singing as a vehicle to reach this goal. Further they discussed the different learnings from the Covid pandemic: What lessons can be learnt from the past 1.5 years and which rehearsal methods will live on?

All members of the World Choir Council who participated in the meeting were happy about the possibility of exchange with other choir experts, especially with regard to cultural differences, different measures and approaches in relation to the pandemic and the work with choir singers.

First Vice President of INTERKULTUR & World Choir Council, Ms Qin Wang was pleased about the wonderful opportunity to come together with the World Choir Council live and virtually through this pilot project:

“In the pandemic, our goal is to unite together, support each other and to help and motivate our choirs to return to the stage as soon as possible. Our hybrid event was a great start to reach this goal and I'm sure we will continue on this path in our future global and regional projects."

INTERKULTUR & World Choir Council hopes to continue the exchange in the future and to use the results to tailor future projects even better to the needs of the choral scene. For this purpose there will be an additional survey.

The next General Conference of the World Choir Council which traditionally gathers all council members at one place, is already being planned to take place on November 3, 2021 in Flanders, Belgium during the 11th World Choir Games.

For more information on Interkultur visit www.interkultur.com – and to find out how and why to host the European Choir Games visit https://worldofchoirs.com/ecg/

Speakers on day two talked about how Covid-19 has forced event organizers and stakeholders to explore new ways of securing and delivering events. They also debated shifting trends in technologies, commercial ecosystems, how to capture and retain new audiences and the importance of environmental, social and governance criteria to Gen Zers and rights holders.

The inaugural event reached a combined global audience of close to 1,000 registrants.

The opening panel discussed changes in ‘Hosting events with international federations’.

Paul Bush OBE, director of events at VisitScotland, said it was crucial for rights holders and host cities to collaborate effectively, but the financial impacts of Covid-19 and what it means for return on investment in events would be “pretty challenging” in the short term.

“We’re seeing a sea change in the way events are constructed and developed – we’re now into negotiations and not bids,” he added. “It’s about the symbiotic relationship between the rights owner and the host. Traditionally they sat in different camps; they now sit in the same camp, working collegiately, because everyone’s realized that’s the best way forward.

“We’re entering an exciting and very different period for the events world.”

Darryl Siebel, CEO of World Lacrosse, said the federation was “not just looking for hosts but event partners” who shared its values.

Tom Dielen, secretary general of World Archery, said Covid-19 had added another layer of complexity to hosting events. But the pandemic had accelerated plans to use remote production in broadcasting its global events.

Janelle Janis, director of Edmonton Events, said the pandemic “made people realize how much they love and value events and the vibrancy they bring to our city”.

She said Edmonton Events was “aggressively going after events to recover our economy”, dedicating more resources to that mission.

Janis made an interesting point about working with LOCs and rights holders to leave sporting and social benefits behind, not simply creating memorable experiences and economic impact assessments. She suggested the one-size fits all mentality had been abandoned in favour of a more flexible approach on sustainability: “it’s not about the money”.

Event bidding was “more a negotiation or conversation with rights holders, determining what outcomes we want to achieve together”.

A presentation on digital transformation in major event planning followed. Rugby Football League chair Simon Johnson and Joe Cusdin, CEO and founder of Iventis, gave an overview of the digital collaborative mapping tool.

Johnson said ways of delivering bids and events had traditionally been labour intensive, costly and inefficient particularly from a management perspective. “But digital tools now exist to enable faster, more efficient, more cost-effective and better managed collaboration.”

Referencing his involvement in England’s FIFA 2018 World Cup bid, he said that had digital planning and collaboration tools been available, “it would have saved us, in my estimation, about three months of management time and tens of thousands of pounds in costs”.

Cusdin spoke about the difficulties in coordinating and integrating plans between various event teams, adding: “What we are trying to do is digitize that planning process, to provide a collaborative visual platform available to everybody involved in planning a major event where they can interactively produce, manage, update and share their plans covering every aspect of operations.”

Another panel evaluated how technology trends were shifting how audiences engage with events and brands and what sports, entertainment and business events can learn from each other in the battle for attention.

Sarah Lewis OBE, Global Sports Leader and a presidential candidate for the International Ski Federation, said there was a shift from passive fans to greater engagement. Fans were being empowered to follow events on their mobile devices and AR technologies and virtual reality sport gaming were “ways to satisfy the interests of audiences and come closer to experience what athletes experience”.

In a session on the role of environmental, social and governance criteria and progress being made in the Americas in diversity and inclusion, Jimena Saldaña, vice president of the Mexican Olympic Committee, said there was a demand from millennials and Gen Zers for event organizers and rights holders to be much smarter about sustainability and climate change issues. Good governance and transparency in sport and from sponsors was also important.

Brian Lewis, president, Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee, said ESG criteria depended on the sport, the event and the target audience: “Some audiences may have different interests, climate change or racial and social justice.

“I think events and rights holders bidding for an event must be very clear what their objectives are and what is their target audience. You will then be very clear on what elements of ESG will resonate with your audience.”

Karin Korb, Paralympian and a Para-Sport consultant, said “a lot of progress” was being made in the Americas in diversity and inclusion – but not quickly enough. She applauded organizers of the World Games 2022 in Birmingham, Alabama for efforts to leave a legacy of disability inclusion in a multisports event by staging wheelchair rugby.

Korb urged event planners and rights holders to bring Gen Zers and millennials to the decision-making table to get their perspectives.

A presentation by Willie Cruickshank, race series director of World Championship Air Race, focused on the evolution of the sport and how it was gearing up to be staged on city centre tracks and creating fun family experiences.

Cruickshank spoke of innovations in aviation performance and a move to greener technologies to minimize environmental impacts. The new series starts next year, and host cities are sought for 2023 and beyond. “We have flexible business models to suit all locations and budgets,” he said.

Angela Ruggiero, co-founder and CEO of Sports Innovation Lab, World Rugby CEO Alan Gilpin and Coca Cola’s former head of sponsorship Ricardo Fort were among speakers in a panel looking at opportunities to generate revenues from non-fungible tokens (NFTs), gambling and CBD.

Gilpin said rugby’s governing body was taking a cautious approach to the commercial opportunities, highlighting ethical and moral issues around gambling. “The World Rugby policy for our owned properties is no partnerships with gambling companies,” he added.

Ruggiero suggested that gambling presented host cities with interesting possibilities to grow revenue streams. “The question is how federations and sport grapple with the sensitivities around it.”

On NFTs, she said: “It’s definitely the shiny new object right now. If you’re getting into it, be very thoughtful. It’s a big opportunity to allow fans to own something wherever they are in the world.” She suggested there was also lot more revenue potential to come in ecommerce merchandising and licensing.

Commenting on sponsorship and revenue generation, Ruggiero said athletes would play a greater role: “I truly believe the pie will be bigger for everyone. The athlete is the voice, the influence… empower athletes to tell their story and your story and increase interest in your event.”

Fort added: “Broadcasting and all the different forms of OTT distribution of content will continue to pay the vast majority of the bills for rights holders. The good rights holders are bringing it all together, and making offers to sponsors in which they can package the live experience with the content being produced in the ‘off event’ time – that’s what makes a proposition for a sponsor more compelling.”

A presentation by Gideon Clark, business director, Mailman Group USA focused on ‘The Next Age of the Global Sports Tourist. He said the global sports tourism industry represented $800bn and 10% of the international tourism industry.

Forecasting strong growth, he said the driving forces were pent-up demand post-Covid, demand for experiential, continuing globalization and the many major sporting events on the horizon. The profile of the global sport tourist was: a millennial, high value spender, adventurous, multicultural, eco-conscious, socially aware and principled, digital and tech savvy.

How Covid-19 has reshaped the outlook for live sporting and entertainment events was the subject of a fascinating panel debate. There was talk of events and venues getting more savvy with mobile ticketing and contactless concessions to maintain social distancing and reduce queues and having to work hard to ensure the safety and security of fans and athletes as coronavirus restrictions are removed.

Jim Mercurio, executive vice president and general manager at San Francisco 49ers – Levi’s Stadium, said: “The jury is still out about the anxieties of people coming to all of our facilities and the tolerances they are going to have [for crowds and fans eating, making a noise nearby etc].

“I have a strong suspicion that it’s not going to go over very well with a subset of people. Additional spacing for folks may be the answer.”

Jeremiah Yolkut, director, Major League Baseball, said the league was focused on the welfare of fan’s game-day experiences and keeping staff and players safe. Best practices have been shared across teams and guidelines created.

After a pandemic-hit year, “things have normalized fairly quickly” said  Tad Bowman, venue director of the Red Rocks Amphitheatre and Denver Coliseum. The venues were back to full capacity by the middle of June, but backstage areas had fewer people, “less hectic, more of a bubble”.

Speaking about security issues, Andrew Lynch, senior director of S2|FOAMHAND, talked to delegates about the company’s CertScan Prism technology and how it delivers a secondary layer of security by providing a direct line from X-ray machines to professional X-ray detection technicians on demand.

He said the benefits included reducing potential for single point failures in the security screening  operation during an event and the fact it can network multiple systems/ venues.

Wrapping up the conference was a session called ‘Get fit for the future’.

Dr. Melita N. Moore, board member and chair of the health and wellness commission of the Global Esports Federation, said live esports events were opening up again. With the first Global Esports Games to be held in Singapore in December, she said uncertainties remained but was hopeful the event will go off with a bang.

“I don’t know exactly what it’s going to look like. I hope fans, players and stakeholders get to see more of what we had in 2019, not in 2020.”

Moore said this year was more about esports unifying and telling its story, while a partnership with football legend Ronaldo had launched a wellness initiative for esports athletes.

“It’s about promoting healthy digital lifestyles. It’s so important to engage everyone,” she said, noting that there are 3 billion gamers worldwide and 130 million-plus gamers in US aged 18-34.

Host City Americas is brought to you in partnership with Event Delivery Partners NEP Group and Creative Technology, Official Sustainability Partner Aggreko; Gold Sponsor Orange Sports Forum; Preferred Event Technology Partner OnePlan, Silver Sponsors Dallas Sports Commission and Iventis; Strategic Partners Edmonton Events, Global Esports Federation, Mailman, S2|FOAMHAND and World Championship Air Race.

Following the first Host City Americas, the eight global Host City 2021 event - the largest annual meeting of cities and sports, business and cultural events - takes place in Glasgow on 7-8 December. Follow www.hostcity.com for updates.

[Source: NEP Group] NEP Group, the world’s leading technical production partner for premier content producers of live sports and entertainment, is proud to support the Host City Americas Digital Conference, June 29^th through 30^th. This event will welcome 1000+ participants including, IOC Members, Sports Ministers, Mayors, International Federations and Organizing Committee leaders to showcase the opportunities ahead as we emerge from the pandemic to a landscape defined by digitalization and private investment.

As official Event Delivery Partner, NEP’s robust live virtual event and online conferencing platform, developed by the Creative Technology division of NEP, will power the event, providing two days of insightful sessions on the main stage, plus opportunities for delegates to ask questions and chat about main stage content. Networking opportunities will also be available for delegates to meet with each other throughout the event.

NEP CEO Brian Sullivan will be speaking along with other expert panelists in the June 29^th session
“The Changing Media Landscape”. Topics covered will include:

• What are the new opportunities for media and content rights?
• How is social media using its power to connect fans with content?
• How are TV production processes changing and what is enabling the shift and what is the impact of this transformation on LOC infrastructure and legacy?

For more information and to register for this free event, visit https://www.hostcity.com/events/host-city-americas/register.

# # #

About Host City

Host City is the largest meeting of sports, business and cultural events. Host City events are renowned for the highest level of speakers, content and networking with the owners, hosts and organisers of major events. Host City Americas follows the great success of previous Host City events held in Glasgow, Beijing, London and online. The first Host City Americas takes place online on 29-30 June 2021, followed by the global Host City 2021 in Glasgow on 7-8 December. For more information visit www.hostcity.com. 

About NEP

For over 30 years, NEP has been the leading worldwide outsourced technical production partner helping premier content producers bring live sports and entertainment to life. Our services include centralized and remote production, specialty capture, RF and wireless video/audio, virtual and in-studio production, audio visual solutions, host broadcast support, post production, connectivity and transmission, premium playout and innovative software-based media management solutions. NEP’s 4,000+ employees are driven by a passion for superior service and a focus on technical innovation. Together, we have supported productions in 88 countries on all seven continents.

NEP is headquartered in the United States and has operations in 25 countries. Learn more at nepgroup.com.

The virtual AIPH International Horticultural Expo Conference on 16 March attracted over 140 delegates online from over 50 countries worldwide, eager to listen to future International Horticultural Expos’ progress reports.

There is no doubt that the coronavirus pandemic has impacted the progress of these enormous events, but through adversity came stories of strong leadership, agile planning and the overwhelming spirit of resilience.

International Horticultural Expos showcase beauty and creativity, with a magnificent Expo park attracting many international participants, who build their pavilions lasting up to six months and captivating the imagination of many millions of visitors domestically and internationally. Although Covid-19 is here for the long haul, these open-air events are looking positively to the future. Every International Horticultural Expo is carefully regulated, steered, and monitored by AIPH, and the period from now until 2027 includes ten AIPH-approved expos.

The conference, on the Hopin platform, began with a progress presentation from Floriade Expo 2022 Almere. There is just one year to go until the opening. “The landscaping and planting in Almere continue, while the real estate and infrastructure near completion”, reports Chief Operating Officer for the Expo, Mr Sven Stimac. He speaks of the positive response from more than 40 countries confirming diplomatic participation in the 2022 event and more than 50 partnerships from the horticulture sector. Everything is continuing to plan, with a healthy and sensitive focus on Covid-19 prevention measures for the event in the Netherlands. Interest from people is increasing, as Mr Stimac reports more participation online in the Floriade Knowledge Programmes webinars than were initially planned for the physical seminars.

Considering the time it takes to prepare a high-quality A1 International Horticultural Exhibition and the difficulties in continuing preparations during the pandemic last year, it was agreed that Expo Doha Qatar moved from 2021 to 2023. In the progress report given by Mr Mohammed Ali Alkhoori, Secretary General of the Expo, he showed that the timeline’s shift has not put a dent in its ambitious event and legacy plans for the 179-day event theme Green Desert Better Environment.

The plans for the World Horticultural Exhibition Yokahama 2027 are “blossoming” in their early stages. Mr Soga Koji, Director-General of Kamiseya Development and World Horticulture Exhibition, and his team are working in partnership with the government to develop a master plan for the event. The venue area is nearly 100 hectares of landscape and takes inspiration from satoyama’s cultivation philosophy – derived from the Japanese words for the village (sato) and mountain (yama). The central theme is Scenery of the Future for Happiness, with four sub-themes aiming to generate new values based on horticulture and to pass on a growing legacy.

It was very clear from the presentations that the coronavirus pandemic has made progress very difficult, “but not impossible,” asserts Mrs Lan Zhou, Vice Director, Yangzhou Municipal Bureau of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

Expo 2021 Yanhgzou opens in China in just a few weeks, on 8 April 2021 and continues until 8 October 2021. Mrs Lan Zhou stresses, “We have overcome many obstacles. Many people have been working very hard. We have managed to make the unimaginable happen.”

She continues: “When we made our application, we expected four million visitors would come [domestic and international] however international travel is still under strict regulation. We do hope in the latter half of our event, people can come to visit. The Department of Medical Health has worked out all the policies in place for population control and disease prevention.”

Being large in scale, AIPH International Horticultural Expos naturally draw investment into new parks and infrastructure, which become permanent additions to the city and improves residents’ quality of life. The progress report given by Expo 2021 Hatay perfectly demonstrates this action. There are two sites, Antakya and Iskenderun, on either side of a mountain, and these areas will show the rich horticultural production of the area. The organiser, Mr Hakan Arslan, explains how the transport between sites will be free and working 18 hours a day, during the event and the infrastructure will be a legacy afterwards.

Mr Harun Guzel gave many examples of how they are stimulating the horticultural industry and the Turkish landscape in Kahramanmaraş for Expo 2023 and working with and for the local people’s benefit.

Sustainability is an integral element of AIPH International Horticultural Expos and part of our philosophy. Suncheonman International Garden Expo has a grand ambition in 2023 to realise an exhibition where the entire city becomes a garden city in Korea.

Reports from our newest approvals from 30 September 2020 have been working hard on preparation. International Horticulture Exhibition Chengu 2024 has been improving the infrastructure around its Expo Park. And the organisers of Expo Izmir 2026 predict its Expo park will attract a significant number of tourists and expect 4.7million visitors.
Euroflora has had to postpone the 12th Edition in Genoa from 23 April to 8 May 2022. The organisers are planning a one-day event in September 2021 dedicated to the promotion of worldwide horticulture.

The AIPH Expo Conference presented an excellent opportunity to learn more about hosting or being involved with these major international events. AIPH is very grateful to Gold Sponsors for the conference – IGMPR and PERA Event, and our event and media partners.

If you would like to know more about the benefits of hosting an International Horticultural Expo, please contact us. We would also welcome discussions with suppliers at major events to explain the AIPH Preferred Partner programme and how your business can benefit.

Recordings of the presentations are available to watch online at www.aiph.org/event/the-expo-conference.

This article was written by Rachel Wakefield, Communications Executive and Associate Editor, AIPH

Many event organisers are having to adapt and are turning their attention to the prospect of virtual event delivery. This is a chance to hear from three who have already successfully done so in recent months, finding out about how they chose which digital platform to use, the challenges they faced, the actions they took to address these and how they managed to navigate through a very different operating environment.

Hear from Ben Avison, Editorial and Event Director at Host City and Cavendish Group, who will be chairing the webinar and providing insight into the virtual Host City conference delivered in December. He will be joined by Caitlin McNaughton, Communications and Partnerships Manager for Melbourne Fringe who delivered their online festival in November and Lesley Shaw, Producer at Celtic Connections who delivered their digital-first festival in January as they each share their experience and learnings gained from the successful online staging of their recent events. 

The webinar will tackle a range of issues from functionality and look and feel, to rights handling, international distribution issues and monetisation. There will be an opportunity for participants to submit questions in advance and on the day; if you would like to submit questions in advance, please submit these when prompted during the webinar registration process or by emailing information@eventscotland.org.

Register here.