THE FOCUS IS ON YOU

For the last 15 years, Guy has been delivering award-winning consulting services focused on helping cities, governments, corporations and associations step up, scale up and speed up their sustainability programmes and operational practices. Guy leads sustainability at the Smart City Council, and is the Managing Director of the Global Destinations Sustainability Index; a multi-stakeholder partnership to accelerate the development and performance of sustainable business tourism destinations. Guy was previously the President of the Green Meeting Industry Council, and was the Sustainability Director of MCI, the world’s largest association management, communications and events agency.

Joe is ….

Tracey has over 30 years experience in the hotel and travel industry, 15 of which have been with HRG. She is responsible for the management of global operations within HRG’s Meetings, Groups & Events (MGE) division. Her role focuses on the planning, direction and co-ordination of the overall MGE service offering. She has a thorough understanding of the issues and opportunities that arise from doing business across regions with consideration on culture, language and system boundaries. Tracey works with all of HRG’s offices to deliver a consistent service offering that is constantly being redefined in accordance with changing business conditions. Meetings technology has had a significant impact on the MGE industry, especially as it begins to align itself with transient travel so Tracey’s experience of working with key suppliers in this market has meant that HRG has had a ‘seat at the development table’ to ensure that tools are being developed in line with client needs. Tracey graduated with a degree in Hotel, Catering and Institutional Management and spent the early part of her career working in Australia and South Africa. Prior to joining HRG she worked for Forte & Le Meridien Hotels in roles spanning Sales, Account Management and Operations. 6 of those years were spent as Director of Conference & Incentive Sales/North America market at Grosvenor House Hotel in London. Tracey has two children who keep her busy with sports, cookery and eating nice food.

Emma has over 20 years' experience in the events services sector having served as Conference Sales Manager for Linton Lodge Hotel and Business Development Manager for 5 MacDonald Hotel properties, before joining Imago in 2002. Emma also served as a Director and then Chairman of the Board of Directors for Venuemasters (now known as Academic Venue Solutions) between 2008 - 2010. Emma heads up a team of twenty sales office staff covering Business Development, Revenue Management, Marketing, Enquiry handlers and Reservations teams. Emma is responsible for generating all sales income from meetings, conferencing and events for the Imago Venues portfolio.

As one of the co-founders of Top Banana, CEO Richard Bridge has travelled the world delivering projects for a stellar collection of well-known brands. His passion is to transform strategy into action and deliver creative solutions that create engagement and transform the organisation he works with…always working hard to push creative boundaries to create a measurable difference for his clients. His infectious energy and endless passion for this industry as well as his curiosity for future industry trends and technology is what keeps us ahead of the game.

Steve Gaskin was a senior, Metropolitan Police, detective in London. During this period Steve rose to the rank of Detective Chief Inspector. He was responsible for the investigation of serious and series crime including murder and terrorism. In 2007, Steve took his policing skills and entrepreneurial flair founding Right Angle Corporate Limited (RAC). RAC is a team building and team development agency, also catering for corporate entertainment. The company has won many National Awards

Louise Goalen has worked in the events industry since 1985. After 11 years working in different hotels, she joined Ashfield Meetings & Events where she spent 20 years. Her time spent on the venue side combines with more recent agency experience to bring a unique perspective to her role as Director of Venues at creative communications agency Top Banana. As Chair of the HBAA for 2 years (2017/2018), Louise is passionate about helping agencies and venues work together for the benefit of all parties. She sees building new partnerships and developing existing ones as an important element in her role at Top Banana. Louise Goalen has worked in the events industry since 1985. After 11 years working in different hotels, she joined Ashfield Meetings & Events where she spent 20 years. Her time spent on the venue side combines with more recent agency experience to bring a unique perspective to her role as Director of Venues at creative communications agency Top Banana. As Chair of the HBAA for 2 years (2017/2018), Louise is passionate about helping agencies and venues work together for the benefit of all parties. She sees building new partnerships and developing existing ones as an important element in her role at Top Banana.

Alice has been with BEYOND since 2013 and has made her mark as ‘the creative’, injecting creativity into events with brand identity and values running through each element. Also qualified in adult education, Alice delivers in-house training to staff tasked with managing events themselves

Before setting up BEYOND, Kate worked as a Senior Project Manager, creating bespoke hospitality around major international sports tournaments, film premieres and music events, a highlight of which was a 6 day hospitality programme entertaining 2,500 VIPs at Madonna’s “Drowned World” Tour. From there she broadened her experience, working in sports sponsorship then running the Marketing Department for an American law firm in Mayfair. Kate set up BEYOND in 2004, an event agency specialising in project management and consultancy to deliver “intelligent events”. Project management: the “intelligent event” not only delivers a seamless project, it meets marketing objectives and hits return on investment targets. Consultancy: to help clients “DIY” (or manage their own events) with training in key areas from concept creation to post-event reconciliation. BEYOND’s name evokes the 3 parts of the company’s ethos: the level of personal service; the ambition to always coax clients out of their comfort zone and challenge their thinking; to reflect our expertise in events abroad. (We have managed projects in Central America, the United States, throughout Europe and Dubai.) BEYOND’s mission is to make agency and client work more collaboratively together as one integrated team, not as two separate entities with the same goal. BEYOND has worked for some of the biggest names in the City but works across all business sectors from corporate to charity. Before setting up BEYOND, Kate worked as a Senior Project Manager, creating bespoke hospitality around major international sports tournaments, film premieres and music events, a highlight of which was a 6 day hospitality programme entertaining 2,500 VIPs at Madonna’s “Drowned World” Tour. From there she broadened her experience, working in sports sponsorship then running the Marketing Department for an American law firm in Mayfair. Kate set up BEYOND in 2004, an event agency specialising in project management and consultancy to deliver “intelligent events”. Project management: the “intelligent event” not only delivers a seamless project, it meets marketing objectives and hits return on investment targets. Consultancy: to help clients “DIY” (or manage their own events) with training in key areas from concept creation to post-event reconciliation. BEYOND’s name evokes the 3 parts of the company’s ethos: the level of personal service; the ambition to always coax clients out of their comfort zone and challenge their thinking; to reflect our expertise in events abroad. (We have managed projects in Central America, the United States, throughout Europe and Dubai.) BEYOND’s mission is to make agency and client work more collaboratively together as one integrated team, not as two separate entities with the same goal. BEYOND has worked for some of the biggest names in the City but works across all business sectors from corporate to charity.

Mike Leeson is General Manager, Europe, ETM. In his 14 years in events, Mike has worked in operational, commercial and senior management roles across sectors from youth engagement and brand experience to global conferences and incentive travel. Having joined ETM in 2014, he is now responsible for the general management and strategic direction of the ETM Europe team, helping them to deliver ‘connected experiences’ to a diverse range of global clients.

Josh joined Kenes Group in 2013 as a Marketing Manager, developing and implementing marketing strategies for leading international events in the medical industry. He has presented marketing, business and political strategies on over 60 Universities and at numerous conferences worldwide over the last 10 years. Before working at Kenes Group, he worked and consulted with many nonprofit organizations and startups. He focuses on leadership development, lead generation and networking strategy to maximize attendance at every event. Josh joined Kenes Group in 2013 as a Marketing Manager, developing and implementing marketing strategies for leading international events in the medical industry. He has presented marketing, business and political strategies on over 60 Universities and at numerous conferences worldwide over the last 10 years. Before working at Kenes Group, he worked and consulted with many nonprofit organizations and startups. He focuses on leadership development, lead generation and networking strategy to maximize attendance at every event.

Ellie studied Event Management at University before joining Goodwood in 2010. She has worked in both a reactive and proactive sales role at Goodwood with a focus on the agency and third-party business. Her client base is incredibly varied working with Meetings and Events agencies, hospitality agencies, location sourcing managers and private event planners. She has been involved with the HBAA for 5 years supporting their mission to better the relationships between venues and agencies.

John has over 30 years experience in the events industry as a PCO and technology specialist. He spent the first 14 years of his career as a PCO, before founding Shocklogic in 1997, where he now leads an international team to deliver event management technology. Thanks to his experience as a PCO, he understands from inside-out the opportunities and challenges that any membership-based organisation may face. As well as being an ICCA member for 26 years, he has also been on the ICCA board of directors, and a technology faculty member for the IAPCO seminars for 10 years. John has a PHD in Quantum Physics from MIT and has previously been named as one of the "Top 100 Movers & Shakers in Events" by Eventbrite.

Johnny leads the marketing and business development front at Shocklogic. He has been working with events and associations for the past 8 years, since his time as Events Coordinator at the Global Poverty Project and his role as Performance Coordinator at One World Week. He is now a seasoned contributor in several event publications and moderates regular discussions on social media such as the #EventPlannerTalks with The MICE Blog. In 2017, Johnny became part of the PCMA ‘20 in Their Twenties’ class, as well as the EN ‘30 Under Thirty’ class.

James Morgan has been marketing and producing events since 1989. He is a Senior Lecturer in Events at the University of Westminster, London and the Founder of Event Tech Lab, a partnership community for event technology start-ups, developers, event professionals and investors. He is also Founder of event crowd sourcing platform SharedXP. As a respected speaker, writer and industry commentator, James has judged industry awards internationally and is passionate about educating the event professionals of the future. He takes an avid interest in promoting quality standards and professionalism in the events industry. He has been named as one of Eventbrite’s Top 100 Event Professionals in 2017. He was also voted one of 20 Industry Changemakers by the US publication Meetings Net magazine in 2017.

James has also served in various positions in ILEA. He has served as VP of Education and VP at Large for Sustainability and Special Projects for the UK Chapter. He also served as ILEA Affiliate Chair for EMEA from 2014-2016. He was awarded the J Robert Graves Pioneer Awards for 2014-2015. 

Adam is the co-founder and editor of www.eventindustrynews.com (EIN) is a global online event magazine. EIN is read by organisers, promoters, event management and production companies, suppliers, experiential agencies, the corporate sector, local government and organisations that host exhibitions and conferences.

Graham joined Blitz in 2006. In his capacity of Group Commercial Director, Graham and his team are the first point of contact for event organisers and are instrumental in supporting clients delivering the very best events. Customer centric and results driven in his approach, Graham believes that long-terms relationships are the key to success. He is passionate about the event industry and in creating unique experiences for his clients.

Coming from an administrative background, Kate 1st entered the world of travel & event management by building up a comprehensive travel programme for the business units of the Petrofac Group. She now manages a multimillion pound spend with a global footprint. As global category lead for Travel plus Meeting & Events at G4S Plc. The global secure solutions provider. Kate is skilled in delivering smart solutions for the business and driving key stakeholder engagement within a large company to achieve savings and control over travel related spend.

Elizabeth Stokoe is Professor of Social Interaction in the School of Social Sciences at Loughborough University; Professor II at University of South-Eastern Norway, and an Industry Fellow at Typeform. She uses conversation analysis to understand how talk works - from first dates to medical communication and from sales encounters to hostage negotiation. Outside the university, she runs workshops with doctors, mediators, salespeople, police and other professionals using her research-based communication training method called the "Conversation Analytic Role-play Method". She is a WIRED Innovation Fellow and her research and biography were featured on the BBC Radio 4’s The Life Scientific. In addition to publishing over 120 scientific papers and books, she is passionate about science communication, translating the world of conversation analysis for audiences of all kinds. She has given TED, New Scientist, Google and Royal Institution lectures, and performed at Latitude Festival (in the Wellcome Trust/British Psychological Society stage) and Cheltenham Science Festivals. Her book, Talk: The Science of Conversation, is published by Little, Brown (2018).

Rieke Zantinge (1980) is a creative event strategist and founder of a full-service event company. Rieke and her team are responsible for inspiring corporate events, strategic management meetings and incentive travels all over the world. These are experiences and gatherings with a strong artful influence. After getting her Master degree in Educational Sciences at the University of Groningen in 2008, Rieke worked in Education for 10 years. As a behavioral scientist and teacher she focused mainly on finding out how people actually learn. Partly on the basis of that specialism, she started her own company where she developed a unique concept to inspire organizations and their employees in an impactful way, in order to motivate and connect: Inspirators Factory. Inspirators Factory stands for creative events and programs. With inspiring speakers like influencers and artists. The events created by IF are ideal for the "digital natives" generation; millennials, generation Y and Z where personal leadership and talent development is key. At inspirators Factory, all elements are designed to fit the theme of the event. From location to speakers. And from food to creative artwork, before and during the event. This way we create unique experiences that have a lasting impact.