EDGE Venues urged the industry to embrace change as it hosted its Winter Summit over three days across
various London venues, with the pinnacle event held at the De Vere Grand
Connaught Rooms on Thursday 23 January.
Bringing together more than 200 delegates, including agents,
corporates, industry leaders, and stakeholders, the summit celebrated EDGE Venues'
growth, provided analysis of industry insights, discussions on future
collaboration, and influenced policy shaping to the meetings and events sector.
In her opening statement, CEO Jacqui Kavanagh talked about
how as an industry, we must embrace change and actively seek solutions. She said that while
hotels and venues have made significant progress in reducing physical waste,
the issue of inefficiency from unproductive RFPs remains. These generate
unnecessary noise, cost, and effort without driving real business. EDGE is
making a difference by transforming the approach to RFPs, focusing on
well-prospected, high-performing opportunities that align with industry needs,
prioritise efficiency, and deliver meaningful outcomes for all stakeholders.
Speakers and panelists represented agencies and corporates
and included other industry professionals from the MIA and Davies
Tanner, and EDGE Venues' Jacqui Kavanagh, managing director Scott Ford,
marketing director Emily Butler, and data analyst Emma Lee.
Discussions addressed the sector's challenges and
opportunities, government policy, and strategies for maximising
influence, as well as the potential impact of a Trump presidency. The agenda
also covered industry insights with actionable takeaways from EDGE Venues,
along with technology innovations, including the EDGE Venues platform roadmap
and a call to support EDGE Developers Panels.
Speaking on day two of the Summit, Jacqui Kavanagh, EDGE
Venues CEO, said: "The EDGE Winter Summit brings together some of the
brightest industry minds to focus on its challenges, opportunities, and how we
can impact government policy.
"As we look ahead to 2025, we must focus on three
key areas: influencing policies that develop growth and innovation within our
industry, encouraging collaboration within our EDGE Development panels and
addressing inefficiencies, such as human waste capital, to ensure we're
maximising the potential of our people and resources. This summit shows we can
achieve transformative outcomes together through purpose and intent."
MIA’s Andrew Mosely said: “Events like today clearly show
the phenomenal strength of our sector. Whether
you provide a service such as tech, are a venue, association member, agent or corporate
– as a united voice we can influence the change we want to see. Not just within
public policy but by having a say on how we develop and grow technologies, best
practice and ambitions within the sector.”
