Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, has released research on the importance and understanding of ‘Event Flow’ for successful meetings. In collaboration with Kelly McCormack, The Event Psychologist, the venue looked to understand how best to create momentum and productivity amongst delegations, using movement.
Speaking on the research findings, Kelly McCormack, who is finishing her master’s on event psychology at the University of Leicester, commented; “A good event flow is closely related to Environmental Psychology, a field that emerged examining how individuals respond to their surroundings.”
The idea of Event Flow is one that is close to the team at the Allianz Stadium, which recently rebranded from Twickenham Stadium. The stadium’s variety of 34 event spaces across four very different stands, lends itself naturally to movement around the stadium’s conference and event facilities, with the spaces complimenting each other in terms of moving from plenary to breakout areas, catering to communal networking spaces.
Kelly also adds that, “Within the flow state, our minds are continuously anticipating what may occur next; therefore, incorporating movement during the event can enhance attendees' experiences, fostering feelings of excitement, intrigue, and momentum. Conversely, remaining stationary may transition attendees into a lower flow state, potentially resulting in emotions such as apathy, worry, anxiety, or boredom, which exists between these two states.”
Commenting on the findings, Johanna Byrane, Head of Business Development, at Allianz Stadium, commented, “Our spaces really inspire movement, flow and activity, and we believe that adds value to the events that come here. The combination of incorporating spaces located in different parts of the stadium really adds to the delegate experience as well as maybe getting a few steps in along the way! We hope these findings will be informative for event professionals and considered as part of the event planning process.”
More information on Event Flow and Flow State research is available on the Allianz Stadium website here, in the form of more in-depth insight from Kelly McCormack, The Event Psychologist.
Strata, the award-winning brand experience agency, has acquired Element London and raised significant investment to fund further acquisitions and international expansion.
Element is a market-leading prize, reward and incentive specialist with more than 15 years’ experience in delivering promotions, activations and reward programmes for leading global brands in FMCG, entertainment, finance, technology and telecoms. The company – founded by Max Lee and Oliver Duval – creates and fulfils bespoke promotional prizes for competitions and reward programmes to drive brand awareness and customer loyalty.
Element is also established within corporate incentive travel. It creates trips to all corners of the globe for high-performing teams, influencers, industry groups and media delegations. These range from luxury travel for small groups to trips for hundreds of sales staff, and when coupled with consumer travel prizes for brand promotion, a large proportion of Element’s delivery is in planning and sourcing travel, accommodation and group activities.
Strata’s acquisition of Element – specifically its experience in consumer brand promotions – bolsters the agency’s ability to work with an increasing number of clients who want to source a broad range of skills and capabilities through one touchpoint. Furthermore, the purchase enables Strata to tap into Element’s strong international client base across Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific providing access to new global networks and audiences.
Simon Hambley, Group CEO of Strata, said: “Partnering with Element and adding them to the growing Strata Group is another important step in our journey to reach our destination as the leading brand experience agency in the global events industry.
“Element has an incredibly talented team who are leaders in their field, so to bring them within the Strata family – at such an important juncture – is incredibly exciting.”
Element’s teams and clients will have access to the Strata Group’s broad spectrum of skills and capabilities. Similarly, Strata will be able to offer its clients access to Element’s complementary and bespoke prize and group travel expertise.
Max Lee and Oliver Duval, co-founders of Element, said: “In Strata, we have found an ideal partner for the next stage of our growth plans. We were looking for a team that could not only introduce us to new clients and sectors but also complement the expertise we have in-house.
“When we started talking with Strata, it soon became apparent that the group valued the skillset we had established and wished to form a true partnership. But what’s more, Strata is currently innovating in the performance management and incentive space, too, which makes us so excited for the future.”
Hambley continued: “Our incorporation of Element within the Strata Group is also important because it signals our intention to play a key part in an ever-changing and fast-growing brand experience sector.
“Every year, over the last five years, we have shown dynamic growth that is above the industry average of 20 per cent. This is why we have recently attracted multi-million-pound investment from growth investor Ethos Partners.
“It understands our strategic ambitions, and its support will allow us to continue our growth trajectory, which includes an accelerated acquisition strategy. Now, our newly expanded team and I will get on with executing this long-term plan, inspiring our growing client portfolio to come on this journey with us.
“We want to establish a global offering with a presence in each key market. Securing the funding we’ve now achieved allows us to proactively put in place the building blocks to make that happen over the coming year,” Hambley concluded.
Hilton Birmingham Metropole has launched a new industry resource as part of its ‘A Place for Everyone’ initiative, aimed at sharing best practices with businesses looking to improve diversity and inclusivity within their teams.
The digital brochure, which has been designed in an accessible format, provides helpful information, as well as inspirational case studies and advice, so that other businesses can benefit from the experience of the hotel. The accessible design includes an easy-to-read font and font size, with colour choices optimised for readability.
Hilton Birmingham Metropole has partnered with several charities and NGOs over the years, supporting people from a range of backgrounds to secure job opportunities within the hospitality industry, which are mentioned within the brochure.
The resource, released in collaboration with industry body The Power of Events, offers contact details and case studies from organizations that can support other hospitality businesses in adopting inclusive practices. The Power of Events is a not-for-profit company that promotes the events sector and showcases innovative ways to attract more people to careers within the industry.
Hilton Birmingham Metropole has partnered with several charities and NGOs over the years, supporting young people from various backgrounds to secure job opportunities within the hospitality industry. These partnerships are highlighted in the brochure, including initiatives like the Down's Syndrome Association’s WorkFit program, Aurora Foxes training college, and Newlands Bishop Farm in Solihull, which helps individuals with learning disabilities and mental health conditions develop skills through work-based learning.
Aligned with Hilton’s ESG strategy, Travel with Purpose, and its goal to create five million learning and career growth opportunities, ‘A Place for Everyone’ aims to help provide both events and hospitality placements as well as permanent roles for individuals from diverse backgrounds. The initiative is designed as a ‘sharing’ campaign, encouraging other hotels and venues to adopt similar actions and collaborate with businesses already pursuing successful inclusivity approaches.
Hilton Birmingham Metropole, which completed a multi-million-pound refurbishment in 2022, sees the initiative as an opportunity to build a truly inclusive workplace in which all Team Members can thrive, regardless of background, ambition, or role.
For more information or to make reservations, please visit Hilton Birmingham Metropole or call +44 121 780 4242.
Read more about Hilton Birmingham Metropole at stories.hilton.com.
The latest ICE Annual Benchmarking Research Report, produced in collaboration with Cvent, has revealed concerning trends amongst corporate event professionals regarding the adoption of sustainable event practices. A mixture of knowledge, cost and time, all taking their toll on organisers.
The report, based on survey responses from event planners in the UK, Germany, and the US, found that, despite cross industry emphasis on eco-friendly practices, corporate event creators are still struggling to incorporate sustainability into their planning process for events, 70.2% citing cost as the biggest barrier. Lack of resources and knowledge are also significant challenges, with 54.4% and 45.6% of respondents respectively citing these as barriers to sustainable event planning.
At the same time, the ICE report highlights a growing shift towards artificial intelligence (AI) adoption, with 41% of planners already integrating AI into their workflows.
The report underlines the varying degrees of sophistication with the use of AI technology, the most common application was in content generation, with 84% of users leveraging AI for this purpose. Additionally, 32.4% of planners use the technology to streamline logistics and planning, while 30% employ it for data analysis and insights. AI is also beginning to influence the personalisation of delegate experiences, with 22% of planners using it to tailor experiences to attendees’ needs.
“It’s really important to underline that ICE members are, on the whole, utterly committed to sustainability and many are leading the way on sustainable practises. But it’s our belief that these latest results are concerned with the continual evolution of green practices and the confusion around lots of varying steps to achieve more sustainable event,” commented Anita Howard, Founder & CEO, ICE. “It’s not about starting the journey, it’s about having the time, budget and clear knowledge to progress it.”
On the topic of AI, Felicia Asiedu, Cvent Marketing Director for Europe, commented: “The uptick in adoption of AI across the industry is really positive for the sector, in particular its use as a tool to analyse data and subsequently use those insights to help organisers create more personalised delegate experiences. Although the number of respondents using it for these purposes is still low when compared to content generation, these users are making the most of one of AI’s greatest opportunities. The more we can personalise an attendee experience, the more engaging it is for individual audience members, which in turn leads to greater outcomes such as enjoyment, knowledge retention, beneficial networking and personal growth. This is one of the most exciting opportunities for our sector, which we look forward to seeing develop over the months and years ahead.”
The report also highlights other key metrics event planners are using to measure success, with attendee satisfaction (93.5%) and post-event surveys (76.1%) topping the list. However, the data suggests that many planners are still not fully harnessing the commercial potential of their events, with 41.3% stating they only occasionally seek commercial outcomes, and another 41.3% doing so regularly.
In addition to AI, event planners are increasingly relying on various event technologies, including platforms for event registration (used by 90.9% of respondents), hybrid event solutions (74.5%), and web-streaming (72.7%). Emerging technologies like ChatGPT (43.6%) and augmented reality (16.4%) are starting to make their mark, though their full potential has yet to be realized across the industry.
“This year’s findings reflect a step change in the way events are planned and delivered,” continued Anita. “AI is transforming how we think about event content, logistics, and even how we measure success. But it’s essential that as we embrace technological innovation, we don’t lose sight of our environmental responsibilities.”
“It’s clear that more needs to be done to provide planners with the resources and knowledge they need to make sustainability a standard practice, rather than an afterthought,” concludes Anita.