Name & Role: Chris Skeith, director
Association Name: Association of Event Venues
No. of Years Active: 9
No. of Members: 42
What is the primary purpose of the association?
We have four main areas of purpose:
Collaborative learning via a network of nine peer-to-peer working groups, conducted on a venue specific basis and cross association (AEO and ESSA). This covers areas such as venue security, communications, technology and connectivity.
Representation and Standards – setting, maintaining and the communicating industry standards via resources such as our own venue eGuide to consulting government groups and public bodies such as the HSE on areas affecting safe working practices within the industry on behalf of our members.
Industry promotion – with the support of our sister associations (AEO and ESSA) and under the umbrella of FaceTime (promotional body for the face-to-face marketing industry) an important element of what we do is to educate organisers, end users, brands, marketers and business owners on the virtues of face-to-face marketing via research, case studies, speaker opportunities and exhibiting at events.
Research – Research forms a key cornerstone of our service to not just our members, but also the wider industry. From our industries economic impact and its size and scale, to industry salary surveys and venue digital benchmarking. Research is key to understanding.
Why was it created?
We were created to promote collaborative working to achieve all of the above. Although all of our venue members are wonderfully unique in their own way, they also share many areas of commonality. From an operational, legislative, technological and health & safety point of view as well as a shared desire to grow the industry, achieving best practice in all of these areas and attaining optimum results in all of these areas, it helps to work collaboratively. The old adage ‘together we are stronger’ still rings true and in that prompted the requirement for AEV.
What impact has the association had on the events industry?
AEV has had a significant impact. We sit here today as the standard bearer of regulations and standards in our sector of the industry on behalf of and for our members, providing industry representation to central government and public bodies. Our working groups are the envy of many in respect of peer-to-peer learning and sharing and setting of best practice and the AEV eGuide sits as one of our crowning glories as an industry guide to working safely, consistently and within the law at UK venues. Through collaboration with our sister associations, we have created platforms for joint research, events to help us celebrate as an industry and an even stronger voice for our members. The exciting element of all of this is that our impact and influence is always growing and what we, and our members, achieve on an annual basis is quite inspiring.
What were the association’s major talking points in the last 12 months?
The AEV Chair, Kathryn James and Director Chris Skeith, visited over half the membership so there were plenty of talking points, from sharing ideas & experiences, to gleaning knowledge and insight on a plethora of topics. All had value, some directly for the members, some for the association, and many for the industry at large to aid in our input and engagement with the HSE, BS and other regulators and policy setters. Of specific note is the recognition of the eGuide by the HSE (and our collaborative input into their review of CDM), and the process we’ve followed to help our community understand the use and provision of Wi-Fi
What plans does the association have for the next 12 months?
Through careful cost control and management we’ve accrued some sizeable reserves, and we’ve just held a Strategy Day with the Board to further refine our Mission and Vision. So we are in the fortunate position to be able to develop and implement our plans for 2014 knowing we have resource behind us. As a sneaky peak these will further reinforce AEV members positions as being the leaders in the global venue market.
If the association could bring about one major change in the industry, what would it be?
Even greater collaboration across the industry.
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