Ed Noble, events director at QAV takes a look at what Brexit means for the business meetings and events industry and whether it's worth opening an EU office...
There are not many small mercies to take from the ongoing Covid‐19 pandemic, although one such respite is the impact Brexit will have on the events industry. Brexit has created another layer of complexity and, currently a large degree of ambiguity, around European business travel and the supply chain.
It has been disappointing to hear the reports of delays at border crossings and the lack of clarity around what is likely to be acceptable in terms of delivering events and exhibitions is concerning. As minimum additional processes and paperwork is likely to be in place around the border as Covid restrictions relax, resulting in more pre‐planning for European travel to avoid delays. There will be a need to factor in the possibility of additional time into transport itineraries with the potential knock‐on effect to logistics such as driving hours, as well as the likelihood of extended ‘off‐hire’ equipment durations to manage.
After the Brexit vote, many businesses looked at all possible eventualities that could impact on the delivery of business across their European supply chain, and for this reason, some opened offices on the continental mainland.
"The benefit of having an EU office is twofold"
Part of this contingency planning process involved developing strong links with local collaborative event suppliers such as printers, scenic and transport service providers in order to gain assurance that the levels of quality offered to clients could be maintained.
The benefit of having an EU office is twofold. Firstly, it allows businesses to offer production services from within the EU bloc thus negating any possible delays, which at the time of initial Brexit negotiations were a real possibility with a threat of tariffs being imposed on good and services. Secondly when set‐up as a separate cost centre, an EU office can allow the business to expand and promote its activities to different sectors both domestically as well as new opportunities from within the EU bloc.
Having an EU office allows businesses to offer clients the most flexibility. The decision on where to produce an event is based on a number of factors which include event complexity, local support services and logistics. However, the most overriding decision is to ensure all existing client relations are maintained through continuity of account and project managers.
Being proactive and decisive in creating a mainland Europe base has reassured many international clients that nothing will change in terms of service or delivery. They will continue to receive the same levels of service from the people they trust and love working with.
We still don’t know fully how the Brexit deal will truly play out in our industry: no doubt there will be a number of unknown consequences and curveballs to work through, but at QAV we are confident that by opening an office in Spain we, and many like us, have put ourselves in the best possible position to take advantage of the opportunities that are likely to arise whilst creating reassurance for our clients around the continuity and the quality of services.
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Ed NobleThe author is Ed Noble, events director at QAV, a technology provider to the live and virtual events industry. To find out more, visit – www.qav-global.com.
A desire to travel led Holly Patrick to the business meetings and events world and she’s never looked back. Holly takes a particular interest in event sustainability and creating a diverse and inclusive industry. When she’s not working, she can be found rolling skating along Brighton seafront listening to an eclectic playlist, featuring the likes of Patti Smith, Sean Paul, and Arooj Aftab.
