Event professionals have the chance to win money and have their meetings and events ideas realised in a new industry competition.
The Meetings and Events Innovation competition launched by Realise, an events services and consultancy company, is offering prizes amounting to £10,000 for ideas that can help sectors badly hit by the Covid pandemic.
All event professionals can enter their ideas and the winner will receive a top prize of £4,000.
Realise CEO David Preston said: “Despite the damage caused by Covid, this industry is hugely resilient. We were prompted to create this competition after being approached by two people independently and being able to offer them support to help start their businesses. Because our business has thrived in the last 12 months, we decided it would be great to give something back and nurture some great ideas that otherwise might not flourish.”
Each entry will be evaluated and even if it doesn't receive a monetary prize, the idea could be in with a chance of coming to fruition with help from Realise. Where appropriate, the entrant could be offered help and support to make the idea to reality. This could range from coaching, signposting, to help with marketing and even equity investment.
Realise’s COO Richard John added: “We have deliberately kept the brief as wide and simple ‘as possible. We’re looking for ideas for new exhibitions or experiences, new meeting and events formats, new products or services, or even just a new way of doing things.
“Anyone over the age of 18 can enter, and it doesn’t matter whether you have 10 years or 10 days of experience.
“There is no limit to the number of times someone can enter, and we also encourage them to share their ideas with their networks, who can vote on submissions. The number of upvotes will also be something the judges consider.”
The competition sits on 12rprizes.com, and entries will be hosted on ideasnests.com, both initiatives supported by Realise.
John added: “We are really excited to see the response to the competition. We believe that the results will not only be a celebration for the winning entries, but also the unleashing of a huge pool of creative and entrepreneurial talent. We are keen to make this an annual event, tapping into the unreleased talent within the industry.”
The competition will be open until 4 June 2021, and the winners will be announced at International Confex 2021.
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.
