M&IT NOV 11 - 21 Black in the Boardroom | Meetings & Incentive Travel

The Black in the Boardroom report sent shockwaves through the sector when it was released in the summer.

Highlighting a diversity, equality and inclusion issue within the UK event industry, the key finding was the stark fact that not one of the 15 trade associations assessed in the report had a single Black board member.

“We had various reactions,” laughs Nadu Placca, founder of experiential event agency and report authors The Zoo XYZ. “I think a lot of people were just like, ‘Oh shit!’. Some people just haven't said anything, which speaks volumes in itself.

“There have been a few tense emails and tense conversations as well, I'm not going to hide that. But most people, most organisations that we've spoken to have been very forthcoming.”

The goal of Black in the Boardroom is to change the landscape of the UK event industry and for it to reflect the consumers and population it serves. No mean feat, but Placca is up for the challenge.

“You get people to move either by fear or excitement,” she says. “We put people in a position where they had to look at themselves internally. And it's whether people are open to do something about that or not.

“This initial year has been hearing what everyone has to say, whether it's with their backs up against the wall, or with their arms open wide, what is the best way to have this conversation? And how can we support each other to effectively long term support the industry?”

The report has opened the channels of conversation and communication around diversity, equality and inclusion within the UK event industry. Even more importantly, Placca wants to provide real-world solutions.

“Regardless of what it is you're doing, have a conversation with us, and we'll see if we can bridge that gap to the Black community and be able to support your endeavours that little bit further,” she says. “If you don't have anything in mind, maybe we can conceptualise something.

“I'm not expecting everyone to jump on the train at the first stop. But, you know, we'll be moving and I hope that people are happy to jump on board at a later point.”

We need to bring Black people in the industry to the surface and let others know that there are people that are like them in this industry.

Across her 14 years in events, what has remained painfully consistent for Placca is the racial disparities within the industry. As a mixed-Black woman in a white-dominated industry, she has made it her mission to actively champion and encourage Black people, namely Black women to enter the event world.

“We're going to do a follow up report annually, until some real change is made”, she says. “I'm not going to be naive and say, in a year's time, there's going to be 25 per cent of Black people across all of these boards. It's not going to happen. But if we can show programmes, initiatives, opportunities, being able to connect more people, then looking at board members, looking at the succession route within those trade bodies and their members, that's where the work is going to really start to manifest and effectively legacy will be built throughout. So, this is a long, long journey.”

Part of that journey involves the establishment of a new association, the Association of Black Event Professionals, currently in its nascent stages.

“We have formally established the organisation,” says Placca. “We won £25,000 from a startup fund. We've got a founding board that we'll be meeting at the end of this month, and the UK Black Business Show where we will be bringing everyone together to officially sign off and put a six month strategy in place in terms of signing up new members.

“We already have 250 people interested from a members perspective, we've been speaking to them since April of this year. And then we're going to be able to engage them probably from the second quarter of 2022, which is when we can then really do the work.”

Placca is clearly excited about the work, but also sees the need to take her time and do the job right.

“We need a good steady pace, not jumping ahead of ourselves,” she says. ”What we're building here is community legacy, we want to make sure that everyone has a voice and an opportunity to input as to what the association should look like, feel like and be for them.

“I have to be able to build it and let go, because it's bigger than me. Putting the structure in place we have an executive board that we hope will cross over as many intersections of the Black community, as many intersections of the event industry to be able to pull the right people together to then channel and steer the wider Black community through the event industry.”

The development of a community is key to Placca’s career-long endeavour to improve diversity in the sector.

We're trying to make sure Black people in the industry have a lot more presence.

“With the association, we're trying to make sure Black people in the industry have a lot more presence,” she says. “For example, I've just started my MA at the Backstage Academy. And immediately as I'm on site, I am the only black woman on the postgraduate – and there are none on an undergrad.

“There are two young Black boys on the course. They need to be able to see more people like them, either in their lectures, people giving guest talks, when they go around looking at stuff on site. They need to say, ‘Actually, there is a Black rigger that looks like me, there is a Black lighting tech that looks like me’. They need to be able to see themselves doing those jobs in the future. We need to bring Black people in the industry to the surface and let others know that there are people that are like them in this industry.

“We need to be able to see what opportunities there are, plug ourselves in and see how we can support the community to be more present.”

To download the Black in the Boardroom report, visit:

Black in the Boardroom