Evaluating Conferences and Exhibitions in the London Context

This report delves into the conferences and exhibitions sector in London, exploring its significance within the tourism and event landscape. It defines exhibitions and conferences, examining their purpose, particularly within the context of London, and their contribution to the economy. The report identifies and evaluates specific venues used for these events, including purpose-built venues, unusual venues, hotels, and academic venues. A case study of Excel London, a prominent venue, is presented, evaluating the resources utilized during events like the G20 Summit. The analysis covers various aspects, including event types (corporate hospitality, team building, trade fairs), and the resources employed. Recommendations are offered for future events, aiming to enhance resource utilization. The report underscores the importance of London as a global destination for conferences and exhibitions.

CONFERENCES AND EXHIBITIONS
CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................................................1
TASK – 1.......................................................................................................................................................1
Defining and explaining exhibition and conferences sector in the context of London.............................1
TASK – 2.......................................................................................................................................................2
Examining the purpose of conference and exhibition at London..............................................................2
TASK – 3.......................................................................................................................................................4
Identifying and evaluating specific venues used by conferences and exhibition at London.....................4
TASK – 4.......................................................................................................................................................5
Evaluating the resources used by a specific conference and exhibition at London...................................5
TASK – 5.......................................................................................................................................................6
Making recommendations for further resources can be used at future events...........................................6
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
The significance of events, conferences and exhibition as a component of destination
tourists offers is reflected in cultural, social and tourists’ functions. Through these tourists
functions of events, many destinations have broaden their tourists market, attracted visitors to
destinations, developed image of the destination, promoted the place and has stimulated the
creation of economic of economic benefits. Events, conferences and exhibition are considered as
a significant motivator of tourism and they are present in destination development plans as well
as tourism development strategies (Lawson, 2000). Consequently, the aim of the research report
is to develop comprehension in relation with the varied types of conferences, events and
exhibitions. Further, the report will also explore how this industry is intrinsically linked to travel
and tourism. The report will analyze different types of venue being utilized and will evaluate
resources required for specific conference or exhibition. The destination chosen for the present
research report is London. This country of Europe offers world class experiences and events. It is
popular destination for tourists and people seeking for organizing events, conferences or
exhibition.
TASK – 1
Defining and explaining exhibition and conferences sector in the context of London
Talking in relation with exhibition, it is being defined as an organized presentation and
display of particular products and items (Dale, 2005). It generally takes place in cultural and
educational setting such as museum, park, art gallery, exhibition hall and many more. Further,
they are also considered as temporary in nature and are generally scheduled to open and close in
certain dates. On the other hand, conferences are generally being understood as a meeting of
several people in order to discuss particular problem. At the conferences, new and innovative
ideas are being thrown out and information is exchanged between the people. The events and
conference sector of UK is worth £42.3 billion to the economy in relation with the direct spend
by event delegates, attendees and organizers. The event industry creates a real growth for events
by generating opportunities for business for local companies which leads to the development of
important international business as well as research networks (Rogers and Davidson, 2015).
Further, the event industry provides opportunity to London to become a global business
destination for research networks as well. The country enjoys a hard-earned global image as well
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as reputation and the leaders from several industries all across the world wants to hold events in
London and Europe.
The exhibition and conference sector of London also offer invisible benefits in its export
potential. Most of the leading global exhibitions organizing companies are based on United
Kingdom. These companies are leading the world in the development of business to business,
business to consumer exhibitions, cutting edge and trade fairs. The revenue being generated from
staging events all around the globe returns vital export income to UK. London is generally being
regarded as an expensive destination with a fragmented convention industry (Bowdin and et.al.,
2006). However, there are certain key strengths that are inherent in the event and conference
sector of London. These encompasses varied geographic location like variety of venue, quality of
venue, the English language, strength of British science and medicine pedigree. Nevertheless,
London is not in a position to provide large scale public subvention of conferences, delegates as
in other cities all across the globe.
In the year 2012, London has showed the world an unrivalled opportunity about how
good Britain is at planning as well as delivering major international events. It has also offered an
increase in the volume of international conferences and exhibition in the year 2012. Furthermore,
the world has watched the legacy of London due to the happening of major events in the year
2012 and 2014 i.e. Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Commonwealth Games come to
Glasgow and the SECC (Goldblatt and Nelson, 2001). Because of the attraction of all such
events in London, delegates are bringing leaders as well as thinkers to debate, learn and share
and at the same time bringing economic benefits to the economy.
TASK – 2
Examining the purpose of conference and exhibition at London
There are many types of events that take place in London. These events incudes exhibitions and
conferences which are of several types and are been arranges for a special motive. The purposes
of different types of events, conferences and exhibitions are as follows:
 Corporate hospitality – It refers to the specialist industry that pays attention towards
offering hospitality, events and conferences to business clients (Matthews, 2007).
Corporate hospitality is a method to have network with corporates and creating a new
business contact. These types of conferences are mainly for the political party’s i.e. main
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government, local governmental political parties. The governmental conferences are
mainly organized in seaside resorts in autumn town that helps the local business because
such events bring extra money for hospitality as well as hotel services. Such type of
conferences takes place all over UK, but range in size and budget (Dwyer and Forsyth,
1997). Grosvenor House hotel hosts many large scale meetings such as annual conference
of the Confederation of British Industry.
 Team building events – The main aim of team building events is to help the companies in
developing staff bond and team that works together to achieve a common goal. It
generally takes into consideration team challenges in the countryside such as quad biking,
raft building, drumming workshops and cooking challenges. Incentive is also included in
this type of event. There are many companies which offer incentives to the employees on
this meet on accomplishing certain targets and goals.
 Trade fairs – Trade fairs can either be business to business and business to consumers.
The main purpose of business to business exhibition is to gather information in regards
with the future contacts and arranging deals (Go, Govers and Vliegenthart, 2002). On the
other hand, business to consumers trade fairs are arranged to make the public aware about
certain products and services such as home show, road show etc.
 Global partnership – It is also considered as one of the most vital purpose of organizing
conferences and exhibitions. With this, the nation can have partnerships with the
organizations operating in the global market and expand their reach all across the world.
 International business exchange – It also helps in facilitating exchange of business at the
international level (Astroff and Abbey, 1991). Trade of products and services increases
due to organizing exhibitions, traders from different part of the world come and
participate in the event.
 MICE – It stands for meeting, incentive, conferences and exhibitions. The main aim of
MICE is to make arrangement for meeting, incentives, conferences and exhibitions in
order to make people come from one place to another for particular activity. Some of the
examples are AMITE, incentive travel exchange, LAMITE.
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TASK – 3
Identifying and evaluating specific venues used by conferences and exhibition at London
Many destinations in UK have constructed specific venues so as to offer sufficient space
to the organizers of events, conferences and exhibitions (Greaves, 1998). London also provide
many specific venue such as hotels, purpose built venue, unusual venue, sports venue and
academic venue. All these venues are treated as a tool for generating income and regenerating
social values. Investment in these specific venues has significantly supported improvements in
the environment of London by revitalization of blighted areas which have been constructed
through destination decline. Some of these specific venues used by conferences and exhibitions
at London are being defined below:
 Purpose built venues – These venues are being developed to provide stunning event,
conferences and exhibitions spaces to organizers. There are many purpose built venue in
London such as ICC Birmingham, Olympia conference center, Arena Birmingham etc.
These venues are needed to put on more security while hosting events, conferences and
exhibition due to terror attacks (Purpose built International conferencing venue in
London, 2018). The Excel in London has increased their security after the Paris attack. In
addition to this, the purpose built venues also have a strong connection with the local
police force and can seek their help at the time of emergency. Another example of this
venue is 02, being located at peninsula square near Greenwich park in London. The
venue offer wide range of services such more than 30 restaurants, free Wi-Fi for people,
bars, steward waling etc. Many music concerts, awards and sports events are held at these
purpose built venues.
 Unusual venues – Because of the rich history and enduring growth as well as investment
in new building, there are many unusual venues in London in comparison with the other
capital city in Europe. When an organizer looks for alternative London venues, they need
to ensure that these venues are equipped with all the desired facilities for delivering a
great event. A British Library in London has partnership with catering company so that
people planning for event there does not have to employ extra stress in searching for
catering company (Unusual Venues - London Venues with a Difference, 2018). The
natural History Museum, Darwin center, Limes Centre, Newcastle Civic Centre, Park
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Village Studio, Hawker House, AMP studios, London Art House, Tower of London etc.
are all unusual venues offered by London.
 Hotel – It is an example of unusual venue, which offers accommodation and other
services to the people planning for event, conferences and exhibitions. The Marriott hotel
in Waltham Abbey offers spaces for all these events. There are 14 event rooms available
in the hotel, where people can host wedding as well as business events. Further, many
suites are also offered by Marriott Hotel for varied events. Macdonald Hotels and resorts
is another example that offers their venue for events and conferences.
 Academic venues – These venues are long been held as a hub of information exchange,
progress and education. Academic venues provide spaces not only for the students but
also offer unique spaces to public to discuss, meet, argue, learn and celebrate (Tooman,
1997). The prime example of academic venue of London is College Court, which has
been awarded as the best academic venue in the year 2017. College Court offer world
class facilities for conferences, accommodation, exhibitions and events.
TASK – 4
Evaluating the resources used by a specific conference and exhibition at London
Excel London is a home to international convention center is one of the most versatile
events venues in the world. The venue has enormous potential to host several events, conferences
and exhibitions. It was opened in the year 2000 and since it is opening, it has hosted around 4100
events and accommodated visitors from 200 nations all over the world (Barker, 2005). Excel
London is located in Royal Victoria Dock having multi-purpose space comprising 45 meeting
rooms, 2 halls and 2 conference centers and fully flexible auditorium. Many exhibitions,
conferences and events took place in Excel London such as Olympics 2012, British International
motor show, Bollywood cultural event, Star wars celebration, One Young World Summit etc. In
the year 2009, G20 London Summit was the 2nd Meeting of the G20 heads of government and
state as held in Excel exhibition center in London. The summit was held in order to discuss the
financial markets as well as world economy. Many delegates from all across the world has
spared their valuable time and participated in the meeting. To host such a big conference was a
challenging task for Excel London. Various resources were being used by this conference such
as seminar rooms, lecture theatres, exhibition space, concert rooms, hospitality, catering services,
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overnight accommodation including single rooms, executive rooms, LCD projection, Video
conferencing facilities, entertainment equipments and many more (How ExCeL London became
the largest events venue in the capital, 2018).
TASK – 5
Making recommendations for further resources can be used at future events
Excel London is an international location for hosting events, conferences and exhibitions.
A number of new facilities, projects and upgrades took place in recent years that has significantly
attracted many organizers to host events in Excel London such as Europcar. Europcar is the
official mobility partner of Excel London that provides pick and drop services to the visitors
from the venue (How ExCeL London became the largest events venue in the capital, 2018). It is
essential on the part of event manager to research into new trends i.e. emerging and future
technologies, as they can impact the events and conferences. Over the next decades, it is more
likely to have online sales of trade exhibitions (Staff, 2009). Other than this, Excel London can
trigger out ideas from photographers, historians, authors, artists and filmmakers. Excel London
can also introduce live follow-up calls, which are quite popular. It involves more efforts but can
leads to more repeat business. Because of the innovation in mobile technologies, individual are
more relied on digital concierge services and thus, it is highly recommended to Excel London to
make arrangements for providing these platforms.
CONCLUSION
Consequently, it can be said that events, conferences and exhibition plays a significantly
role in boosting the economies of a nation. London is a famous tourist’s destination and is
providing opportunities to organizers to held varied events in the multi-spacious venues. Further,
the future continues to look positive for the UK exhibition and conferences sector.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Astroff, M.I. and Abbey, J.R., 1991. Conference Sales and Services. 3rded. Waterbury Press.
Cranbury.
Barker, N., 2005. Treasures of the British Library. 2nded. British Library.
Bowdin and et.al., 2006. Events Management. 2nded. Elsevier.
Dale, G., 2005. BTEC National Travel and Tourism. Heinemann.
Dwyer, L. and Forsyth, P., 1997. Impacts and benefits of MICE tourism: A framework for
analysis. Tourism Economics. 3(1), pp.21–38.
Go, F., Govers, R. and Vliegenthart, A.M., 2002. Planning and development issues for the
convention industry. New York: The Haworth Hospitality Press.
Goldblatt, J. and Nelson, K., 2001. International Dictionary of Event Management. 2nded. Wiley.
Greaves, S., 1998. Competing for business: Survey: UK towns. Conference and Incentive Travel.
London: Haymarket Publication.
Lawson, F., 2000. Congress, Conventions and Exhibition Facilities. Oxford, UK: Architectural
Press.
Matthews, D., 2007. Special Event Production: The Process. Butterworth-Heinemann.
Rogers, T. and Davidson, R., 2015. Marketing Destinations and Venues for Conferences,
Conventions and Business Events. Routledge.
Tooman, L.A., 1997. Applications of the life-cycle model in tourism. Annals of Tourism
Research, 24(1), pp.214–234.
Online references
How ExCeL London became the largest events venue in the capital. 2018. [Online]. Available
through: <https://www.businessdestinations.com/work/conferencing/how-excel-london-
became-the-largest-events-venue-in-the-capital/ >. [Accessed on 7thMay 2018].
Purpose built International conferencing venue in London. 2018. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.functionfixers.co.uk/blog/purpose-built-international-conferencing-venue-in-
london>. [Accessed on 8thMay 2018].
Staff, R., 2009. London's ExCel centre chosen as venue for G20 summit. [Online]. Available
through: <https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-financial-g20/londons-excel-centre-chosen-as-
venue-for-g20-summit-idUKTRE51552R20090206>. [Accessed on 7thMay 2018].
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Unusual Venues - London Venues with a Difference. 2018. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.venuesearchlondon.com/venues/unique-venues>. [Accessed on 8thMay 2018].
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