October 2, 2025 • 33 mins
How many times have we sat in a bar and magically come up the next 'big idea', only for it to avaporate along with the last drop of vino in your glass!
In this week's EventNewsDXB, we sit down with Adam Parry, Co-Founder of Event Industry News and Event Tech Live about ignoring all the 'nay-sayers' and turning that 'big idea' into not just one, but two profitable businesses.
Adam unpacks some of the key moments along his journey - why awards became more than trophies but a true community hub and how a daytime conference unlocked sponsorships that ultimatelty made his P/L work!
We also explore what innovation really means in events, why tech is only as good as the problems it solves. And he shares the thinking behind Speaker Stacks, a new tool built to bridge content and contacts without spamming audiences.
Plus, having made the move from the UK to Dubai, Adam shares his perspective on how two very different markets operate and talks candidly about the culture shift, from the UK’s mature but sometimes rigid industry to the Middle East’s speed, ambition, and appetite for scale.
If you're looking for an engaging conversation with one of the event industry's most influential voices, hit that play button!
EventNewsDXB is supported by -45dB and Warehouse Four.
Production Credits:
Presented by: Ian Carless
Studio Engineer & Editor: Roy D'Monte
Executive Producers: Ian Carless & Joe Morrison
Produced by: EventNewsDXB & W4 Podcast Studio
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It takes time and effort to put the EventNewsDXB podcast together and we hope it's worth something to you. If it is, please consider sponsoring the podcast to enable us to keep them coming. Contact us for details.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:01):
You're listening to the Event News DXP podcast, your
behind-the-scenes look at theevent industry in Dubai, the
UAE, and the wider media region.
I'm Ian Carlos, and each week Isit down with the people shaping
one of the world's most dynamicevent markets.
Whether you're an event planner,supplier, agency lead, or part
of an in-house team, I hope thatthis podcast gives you some
(00:23):
practical takeaways, freshperspectives, and a deeper
understanding of how thingsreally get done in one of the
world's most fast-moving eventmarkets.
And for season two, I'm superpleased to let you know that
Event News DXP is brought to youby Warehouse 4, probably Dubai's
best independent event menu.
And Minus 45DB, the teamtransforming noisy event spaces
(00:47):
into slick, sound-reducedenvironments.
From full-size conferencetheatres to compact meeting
pods, Minus45DB builds modularspaces that are quiet,
customizable, and completelyturnkey.
And they're sustainable too.
Smart design with zero waste.
Check them out at minus45db.com.
(01:09):
When today's guest started hisevent career, it wasn't by
design.
He started in sales, stumbledinto publishing, and from there
co-founded Event Industry Newsand Event Tech Live.
What began as an awards nightdreamed up in a pub quickly
turned into an event that nowattracts thousands of attendees
from more than 40 countries.
(01:30):
In this week's episode of EventNews DXP, Adam Parry talks
candidly about building abusiness on pure ignorance and
grit.
Why being told it'll never workonly pushed him harder, and how
focusing on a tight niche becamethe foundation of his success.
He shares what separates hypefrom the real impact when it
comes to tech, why streaming andAI are reshaping how audiences
(01:54):
retain content, and how datacapture is changing the way
exhibitors and sponsors measurevalue.
We also dig into his recent moveto Dubai, where he sees
positivity and collaborationdriving the market in ways the
UK can't always match.
For Adam, he thinks this regionisn't just a new base, it might
well be the future growth enginefor events globally.
(02:17):
So let's get into it.
You're listening to the EventNews DXP podcast.
Adam.
Welcome to the podcast.
Thanks for having me on, mate.
Thank you very much.
I feel like we've got a lot tocover in the next half an hour
(02:40):
because a quick rundown.
I mean, you're the founder ofEvent Industry News in the UK.
You're also the founder of EventTech Live.
Yep.
And it may be equally asimportant, you've just made the
move to Dubai.
Correct, yeah.
So let me think.
Where shall we start?
Just to be different, we'llstart right at the beginning
where I normally start.
How on earth did you findyourself in events?
SPEAKER_02 (02:59):
Right, okay.
Totally, totally by accident.
My first experience of eventswas working for kind of a
marketing and promotions companyback in Sheffield in the UK, and
they dealt with the footballclub.
So we helped them with match dayactivities and sponsorships and
raising money and all that kindof selling shirts and stuff like
that.
I quickly transitioned into aprint and media company.
(03:23):
Then I went and sold labels fora living, sticky labels on hot
metal steel and all that kind ofstuff.
Got promoted there.
And then at a very young age, Ithought I knew it all and I
could do it for myself.
And did for a little bit, but Ihad a mortgage, so I needed to
pay the bills.
So I walked into my local Adeco,and the lovely lady that helped
(03:44):
me was like, Oh, I've gotsomething here, but this media
company up the road, they needsomebody.
I was like, Yeah, whatever.
And my co-founder, Paul,actually was the person that
interviewed me at thatpublication.
Okay.
And the publication was for thefestival and outdoor industry.
So anything that didn't appearin a traditional venue.
Yeah.
(04:04):
And Paul needed some help takingthat publication from well, he'd
launched it and he'd done well.
He took it to a bi-monthly, andthen the company wanted to take
it to a monthly.
So I was thrown in at the deepend.
And in all honesty, it was asales job.
It was, you know, bring revenuein.
But what it quickly transpiredis that we were ad hoc editorial
(04:24):
at weekends, going to thesefestivals, going backstage,
interviewing the organizers,interviewing the production
team, interviewing the supplierson a look back pain, trying to
take down all these notes andstuff like that.
So it became this little likehybrid, hybrid model.
And then fast forward a coupleof years, we had to come up with
an idea to improve the products,media, spends, and editorial and
(04:45):
stuff.
And I pitched the idea that weshould use this amazing thing
called social media to reach newaudiences and publicize some of
the content that we didn't runin the magazine on the website
that we had, which ultimatelywas a glorified subscription
form.
If you were lucky to get amagazine, because we had a cap
circulation of 10,000.
(05:05):
And the owner of the business,or the son of the owner of the
business who ran the B2B side,came around to me and said, The
internet's just a phase.
So I think I had actually hadthat printed on a T show.
SPEAKER_01 (05:19):
I was just gonna say, have you sent that back to
him as a signed printed copy?
Well enough to hang on his wall.
SPEAKER_02 (05:24):
I say unfortunately, because there were some amazing
people that worked there, andactually I still work with a
couple of them.
They went from 25 printpublications, some very
successful ones, to now one.
So in that, in the 15 years ofindustry news uh being a
publication, we've grown.
I think we've got 100,000followers on LinkedIn, 35,000
(05:48):
subscribers to a newsletterthere, got multiple other
newsletters, podcast ourselves,and that kind of stuff.
And yeah, so that's that's howwe how we fell into it.
And I think that is thedefinition of the events
industry, to be honest with you.
I don't think there is there arethere are actually lots of
people that want to get intoevents, but most of us didn't
really plan on doing it.
SPEAKER_01 (06:09):
Yeah, it's a common story actually.
I've heard lots of people on thepodcast that say, Oh yeah, I
fell into it later on byaccident, you know.
So then what made you decide toactually want to organise an
event of your own?
SPEAKER_02 (06:22):
Because you get carried away, don't you?
I can do this.
What led me to we we startedwriting about technology on the
publication, in all honesty,because it was a selfish passion
of mine.
I'd I just love tech.
I'm early adopter, the wifehates me, I'm a proper geek at
heart.
And I was writing about thistech that I could find in the in
(06:43):
the sector.
I mean, even event apps were anew thing back then, but I was
struggling to find companies andwhat they were actually doing
with it and what organizers weredoing with it.
And I was sat with a very goodfriend of mine, James Morgan,
and he sat me down at a tradeshow for the events industry and
said, you know what you shoulddo?
We should launch an awardsprogram.
(07:03):
Give companies the recognitionthey deserve for the technology
that they're developing.
And the interesting thing isthey'll tell you everything
about them, they'll tell youeverything they're doing because
they have to, because they'reentering an awards, and they
have to tell you everythingthey're doing for a company and
how they're doing it.
That's how they win.
I was like, oh, that's a goodidea.
So we, me and Paul, got suckeredinto launching the event
technology awards.
(07:24):
I'd never organized a birthdayparty before that.
SPEAKER_01 (07:28):
That sounds like a baptism of fire.
SPEAKER_02 (07:30):
I think just pure ignorance was the success of it.
Because I think if we'd haveknown what we were in for before
we said yes, we would never havedone it.
Because publishing immediate isvery slow, there's no impending
deadlines, you know, especiallydigital.
It can be like, oh well, thatnews story didn't make it today,
we'll push that to next week orwhatever.
(07:51):
Events are immovable deadlines,and they have to things have to
happen, and the people have gothigh expectations.
Our initial idea was to run thisawards digitally.
We were we we were actuallygoing to go around to the
winners in the pub, the localpub, hand them award and take a
picture and run that on the onthe on the website.
(08:12):
Yeah.
We started getting entries in,which was fantastic.
Then the invoice for the venuelanded, which would, you know,
I've not even done 10% inrevenue on entries at that
point.
So that was a moment.
Spoon moment.
Yeah, very much so.
I don't think, and I think my mybusiness partner uh coined this.
(08:32):
He just I'd never seen aninvoice so big in my entire
life.
So that's that's where itbecause the expectation was
there's a gallery, didn't it?
This is the there's a black tiething.
We need to be, you know, itneeds to be a celebration.
And actually that phone callcame from Barclays.
Barclays had entered their eventteam, and the expectation was
(08:53):
that, and then actually two orthree more inbound phone calls
and emails came from the likesof George P.
Johnson, and I think it wasanother one was Verizon at the
time.
SPEAKER_01 (09:01):
Big players, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (09:02):
Big players.
So that's what forced us intodoing the the venue and changing
our plans and tact.
Speed that up.
We realized that we got thisvenue for the entire day, and
the awards ceremony was for afew hours in the evening.
Being typical Yorkshiremen, wewere like, This is a massive
wasted opportunity to have anempty venue for the entire day.
(09:24):
As a fellow Yorkshireman, I knowwhat's coming.
So we're like, well, we'll puton a conference and sell some
tickets and fill it up in theand you know what?
That was that was probably oneof the best decisions we did
because once we announced thisconference was happening, a very
well-known company that's nolonger a mound anymore called
Double Dutch picked the phone upand said, What can we do?
(09:46):
We'd like to get involved.
And we were like, don't know,what do you want to do?
It's like, oh well, are theresponsorships available?
Is there have you got a headlinesponsor?
We were like, No.
So we're like, Oh, well, whatdoes that look like?
And me and Paul were just like,don't know.
Threw a number out, theyimmediately said yes.
We realized we'd not gone highenough, although it was a
substantial amount of money, andthat's it.
(10:07):
We rolled that conference in.
But the feedback that came fromthe attendees, and again, this
was a broad spectrum of the theaudio of the industry, which we
had Gavin Sharm at the time forthe CTO of UBM, we had GPJ in
the room, we had the BarclayCard team in the room, we had
Adidas in the room.
I'd never seen a broad spectrumof organizer types all in the
(10:29):
same space at the same time.
So, what that taught us was thatthis technology theme resonated
across the entire industry.
But the feedback came that theywanted more content and they
actually wanted to see moredemonstrations of the
technology.
So we rebranded that EventTechnology Awards conference
into Event Tech Live, and againthe idea was to do a little bit
(10:52):
more content and sell somepeople a couple of spots for
pop-up banners, and that was it.
And then the first year thatrolled into a thousand attendees
and 60 exhibiting companies.
SPEAKER_01 (11:03):
That's fantastic.
SPEAKER_02 (11:04):
So it rocketed from there.
We ran it as a one-day event fora number of years, then evolved
it into a two-day event.
Then COVID hit.
We did a bunch of virtualeditions and things like that.
And now we are at Excel.
Um, we run in November, so theshow's coming up now.
Registration's just opened, andwe get around about 3,000
(11:25):
attendees from 40 plus differentcountries, and the stats tell us
they spend about a billion onsoftware and technology clever
events.
So yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (11:36):
Look, I think your results have obviously validated
what might have been a bit of aninteresting decision at the
time.
Because I imagine that, youknow, people must have said,
what, a whole event dedicated toevent tech?
Are you mad?
SPEAKER_02 (11:48):
That is more than one person said that's me.
And again, I guess maybe thething that motivates me is
people telling me I'm an idiot.
And I don't know what I'mtalking about.
I'm like, I'm gonna prove youwrong.
But yeah, three or four people,and and not in not in a
vindictive or a nasty way, moreas a Adam, are you sure?
(12:10):
That is are you sure that'sgonna work?
I mean, even doing an event forthe festival market or the trade
show market or the eventproduction market is tough,
like, and there's tons ofcompanies to go for, and you're
going after this tiny, tinyniche.
But yeah, I think what everybodyactually likes about it is that
one we have four stages ofcontent across two days.
(12:33):
That's more content thanprobably all of the other UK at
least industry shows combinedput on together.
So we go really deep on thecontent.
And then from the exhibitor'sperspective, they're not looking
going, well, who in the room isinterested potentially in us?
Everybody in the room isinterested in the subject matter
(12:53):
that they're most relevant to.
I mean, if you're there lookingfor chocolate fountains, you're
in the wrong place, kind ofthing.
So that's generally the feedbackwe get.
It's it's a tier one event forpeople because they know
everybody's really focused inexactly what they're there to
do.
SPEAKER_01 (13:09):
And who would have thought that tech would become
so prominent as well?
Just fast-forwarding a littlebit, I mean, the big topic at
the moment obviously is AI.
Yeah.
How do you see AI reshaping theevent experience, both for
attendees and for organizers?
I know this is one of your pettopics, isn't it?
You're really big into the AI.
SPEAKER_02 (13:29):
Yeah, for attendees, I think one of the immediate
tangible values that we've seenat Event Tech Live is giving
people the ability to retain theinformation that was delivered
at the event.
And what I mean by that is thereis a thing that you can look up
called the forgetting curve,which means that any information
that we absorb, within aboutfive days, we only retain about
(13:50):
20% of it.
Which, if you think about everyattendee that goes to an event,
they're generally traveling,maybe there's a few beers
involved, late nights anddistractions of work and things
like that.
How are we expecting attendeesto effectively transition that
information that whatever theyeven the 20% they have collected
back into a business so thatbusiness can act upon that and
(14:12):
see value in that within thebusiness?
Ultimately, people are sendingand spending money sending their
attendees, sending their sorry,their staff as attendees to
these events to learn and bringvalue back to the business, not
just sales.
And I think AI has changed thatnow.
So we work with a company whotake live audio feeds of every
(14:32):
piece of content in everysession at the event.
That goes to their AI summarymachine, and then immediately as
the event, as the session isfinished, the attendees can scan
a QR code and they can get twodocuments, a top five key
takeaways from that session, andthen a deep dive PDF as well,
which we've seen a huge adoptionin that from our attendees, not
(14:54):
only at the event, but I thinkwe've in excess of five or six
thousand downloads post-event aswell.
Which shows to me that attendeeswant to get hold of that
information, even though they'vemaybe attended the session and
get that back into the business.
SPEAKER_01 (15:09):
They do, I but I think that's a really useful
piece of tech, isn't it?
Because I mean, you know, we'veall been to conferences and
exhibitions, and as much aswe're there for the content or
whoever's on stage, we're alsothere to network.
So you're constantly being, youknow, your attention's being
pulled in.
Oh, squirrel, you know, pulledin different directions.
So to know that you've got thatinformation available at your
(15:29):
fingertips when you walk away, Imean it I mean it's almost yeah,
I don't know whether this is agood thing for the speaker, but
it's almost like you can affordto not pay as much attention
during the sessions because youknow it's going to be there
available later, which is greatfor you as the attendee, perhaps
a bit more challenging for thespeaker.
SPEAKER_02 (15:47):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, we don't want speakersspeaking to empty auditoriums,
but you know, I would like tothink that the content that we
put on, you know, and and wehave had this feedback in the
past is like you're making mechoose between four sessions.
I want to go and see everysingle one.
Yes.
Now they get the choice ofprioritizing, but they don't
(16:09):
have to have the fear of missingout on the other content and not
being able to retain that.
What we've also seen is it'sallowed an uplift in the
on-demand content that we recordbecause people can look at the
key takeaways and go, all right,actually, it is worth me looking
at that video for 30 to 40minutes because I understand the
context of the content.
(16:30):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (16:30):
Now you've just moved out to Dubai, and I want
to come onto that in a littlebit more detail uh shortly.
But I think I'm always curious,uh, and I always love to get the
insights of somebody who's beenacross both markets, both uh,
you know, a European one or aUK-centric one for yourself, and
now having spent you know a bitof time here with your feet on
the ground.
And I know obviously you've justmoved here, but you've travelled
(16:51):
here many times before, soyou're not exactly you know new
to the market.
But what are the some of the uhdifferences that you've noticed
in the event industry here andback in back home in the UK?
I can wear my shorts a lot morehere.
SPEAKER_02 (17:05):
Um do you know what?
There's there's there's there'sactually so much that is the
same.
The passion of the people for anindustry shines through.
I think you know the differencesmaybe come down to more nuances
and culture that that are there.
You know, the UK on the face ofit you would say is a
(17:28):
multicultural company, uhcountry, sorry, but the bite is
literally the essence of that.
SPEAKER_00 (17:35):
United colours are venetting.
SPEAKER_02 (17:36):
Yeah.
The one thing I would say hereis, and I think it's because 90
plus percent of people move hereto invest in themselves or their
businesses or their future orwhatever it is, positivity is is
much higher here.
Everybody wants to see you win.
That's what that's what theimpression that I get already,
(17:58):
and very much so, how can Ihelp?
Who can I introduce you to?
How does that work?
And and actually genuinelyinterested in who you are and
what you're doing and thingslike that.
Um, whereas in the UK, maybe itcan sometimes feel a little bit
more transactional and thingslike that.
So, you know, and that's not todo any disservice to the UK.
The UK has been an amazingcountry both for me and my
(18:18):
family and my business growingup.
But what I wanted was also toexperience a different events
industry, and there is elementsof that here already, and I'm
really excited for this regionand not just Dubai but KSA and
Qatar and Oman and all thoseother locations because there's
(18:40):
huge plans to bring more peoplehere, more population.
When the population grows,events follow.
And my experience now, and I'malready kind of feeding this
back, is you know, if you'relooking at markets to grow into
and move, then have a look here.
You know, I know some of theother big trade show organizers
that have not been in thismarket are now making concerted
(19:04):
investments to look at themarket and as a growth
opportunity and a growth channelfor them, which again can only
benefit the region, I think.
So are my opinions andsentiments echoed in the UK?
Maybe not so much on the wholenow, but I think that will
change over the next five yearsor so.
SPEAKER_01 (19:21):
Do you think some of the big organizers see that as a
bit of a challenge for them?
I mean, we've had I had a uh theone of the guests on the podcast
recently was uh Ben McDonaldfrom Purple Glow.
And he was saying, I mean he wassaying on a similar vein that,
you know, when you've gotcompanies like GPJ setting up,
you know, that tells you aboutthe where the market's at and
where they're at in relation toyou know their plans for this
(19:43):
region.
You know, and to back that up, Iread something recently that
said that the Middle East eventslive events industry is expected
to hit 76.6 billion by 2028,driven by immersive experiences,
sustainability, and AI-poweredpersonalization.
SPEAKER_02 (19:58):
Yeah.
I can believe it as well.
And you know, I think that evenmy opinion of it and the
impression that I get is it'snot just the desire from the
events industry, whether that belocally or from further afield
to grow here, it really seemedrooted at governmental level
here that they see events andhospitality as a huge part of
(20:22):
the growth of this region andare really, really behind it.
And and that's that tends to berare.
It felt like to me back in COVIDin the UK, the UK government
didn't know what the eventsindustry was.
Well, clearly they didn't, theydidn't even know they were
throwing an event when they werethrowing an event in a party
when everybody else couldn't.
But you know, that's reallyrefreshing and really
(20:43):
encouraging to see that there isthat backing right at
governmental level.
SPEAKER_01 (20:49):
In some respects, we probably shouldn't be surprised
at that, given that the you knowthere's such an emphasis
obviously on the tourismindustry here in here in the
Middle East and and certainly inthe UA and Dubai.
So I mean events are just anextension of that, really.
SPEAKER_02 (21:00):
Yeah, and I think to see, you know, the announcement
that Sephere is coming to thesecond sphere is coming to Abu
Dhabi and stuff like that showsagain people the the country and
and the region are willing toinvest in infrastructure to make
those events happen.
SPEAKER_01 (21:13):
Now, as we said earlier, you've just moved to
Dubai full time, and I think Iread somewhere it said, I have
one simple goal in life to wearshorts 365 days a year.
Currently wearing shorts.
That's gonna follow you aroundforever, you know.
I wanted to ask this because Imean across just about every
industry, uh, we're seeing amassive influx of people into
(21:34):
Dubai.
And I think if you look at yourLinkedIn feeds these days, you
know, you see a lot ofcommentary from HR
professionals, you know, notwarning people, but certainly
telling people to come withtheir, you know, eyes open.
I mean, I've been here 22 years,and you know, those old expat
salaries, you know, that theirand packages, they're long gone.
(21:54):
I think they were on their wayout even when I got off the
plane.
And now, you know, Dubai can bea tough place.
What's been your experience sofar?
SPEAKER_02 (22:02):
I think unfortunately, social media does
a really bad job of painting thepavements are lined with gold.
Yeah.
Now there is absolutely a lot ofwealthy people here and a lot of
money and an up and lots ofopportunity and stuff like that.
But yeah, I think if you thinkyou're gonna come across and
(22:22):
immediately pick up, you know,double six-figure salaries and
get your, you know, yourtransfers paid for and put up in
accommodation and things likethat, that that is gone unless
you're in very specific roles orvery highly sought after.
But I wouldn't let I wouldn'tlet that put people off.
I think you just have to be, youknow, prepared for things such
(22:42):
as, you know, our mobile phonecontract was expected to be paid
a year in advance.
Our rent a year in advance.
You know, it's not easy to comeinto the market and walk into a
car showroom and get a car onfinance, like it is maybe if
you're a UK resident and you'vegot credit history, you know,
(23:03):
you have to start fresh andbuild all of those things up.
And I think what I see is a lotof people come here on savings,
looking for work, and burnthrough that extremely quickly
because of the elevated cost ofcertain things, but also very
much enjoying the region, maybea little bit too much.
(23:24):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (23:25):
Yeah.
Look, I think it there's nodoubt it's it's changed, and I
think I think that's wiseadvice, as is some of the
commentary that I've seen onLinkedIn.
I mean, you know, I rememberwhen my sister moved out here
probably about 15 or maybe moreyears ago, you know, she had
three job offers within thefirst six weeks and then you
know sat around for a littlewhile deciding which one to
take.
I mean, those days are long gonenow.
(23:45):
I mean, I think, you know, fromwhat I'm reading at the moment
from a lot of the HRprofessionals is that um the
recruitment professionals m morespecifically, but is that you
know the market is reallysaturated and you re if you are
thinking about coming here, byall means do, but like you say,
come with your bank account fulland be prepared to be sitting,
(24:07):
you know, doing a lot ofnetworking for at least six
months.
Yeah.
You know, I think gone are thedays where you could get three
job offers within the first sixweeks.
Yeah.
I really have to be in it forthe long term.
And know why you're coming hereas well.
Don't get fooled, like you say,by social media.
I mean, I read a lot aboutpeople saying, Oh, you know,
it's all tax-free.
And yeah, it's tax-free, but andthat's fine if you're a single
(24:27):
person, okay?
But if you're a family of fourwith two kids, anything you save
on tax you'll spend on schoolfees and then some.
So I think it's very much aboutcoming with your with your eyes
wide open.
The streets are not paved withgold, far from it.
No.
So come, you know, come with aplan.
Do you see a a lot of appetitefrom event professionals in the
UK wanting to make the changelike yourself?
SPEAKER_02 (24:49):
I can honestly say not at the moment.
I think what's pushing people atthe moment to to look at
relocation in the market is theincrease in cost of living in
the UK rising rapidly.
I think I looked at some statsthe other day, and actually,
when you take into unemployedand people on, you know,
(25:09):
disability benefits and otherthings, it's like 26% of the
population.
And I think that's an indicationof like how tough it is out
there in the market at themoment in the UK, both from a
business owner's perspective,you know, rising costs of
national insurance and thosekinds of things, and then
corporation tax and things likethat going in, it does make you
question as a business owner anda small business owner why you
(25:32):
would want to push on and growand employ more people because
it it's it's a lot more painful.
So I think that's the thing.
I think the the danger to the UKis not so much all of a sudden
everybody escaping the UK andcoming up, like the headlines
say, like, you know, all thesemillionaires moving to Dubai,
they're escaping the tax, blahblah blah.
(25:52):
There's probably an element oftruth in that.
I think the real danger is in 10years when all of the talent
that was going to be coming tothe UK have done university in
the UK and then bounced.
SPEAKER_00 (26:04):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (26:05):
And they've gone to other countries.
And that's not just Dubai,that's European countries, maybe
the US and things like that,where there's more opportunity
and and uh uh more opportunityto grow and possibly earn a
bigger income for themselves orkeep hold of more of their
income and things like that.
I think that's the real danger.
I think the the the UK couldpotentially be heading for a
(26:27):
real big downturn because theydon't have the the homegrown
talent to to grow the country.
SPEAKER_01 (26:33):
No, as you say, you're you you're you've just
getting your feet on the groundhere in Dubai.
I know you're you're having alittle look around at
opportunities, but obviouslyyou've got your your you know
your main revenue source, whichis your your events uh back in
the UK.
But I know you're also workingon something a little bit, you
know, something for yourself aswell.
Speaker stacks?
Do you want to tell us a bitabout that?
SPEAKER_02 (26:52):
Where do I start?
I I've been fortunate enough tobe invited to and see the value
in speaking at events.
It's a way that I feel is a niceway to interact, give back to an
audience, help an industry growand learn and develop and stuff
like that.
And you know, it's it's part ofthe cornerstone of events at
live.
We have so many speakers thatcome and do it at our event as
(27:12):
well.
And often that is done under myown effort and under my own
dollar or my own pound to getthere and make that happen and
things like that.
And I see value in that as partof marketing the event and the
business and all that kind ofstuff.
But I've stood and spoken infront of an audience of 10, 15,
20, 100, 500.
(27:34):
And at the end of the session,had a great round of applause,
but not had any way to connectwith that audience or really
understood anything more aboutthem.
And I think the other cryingshame that I identified was that
I had all of this additionalvaluable content from reports
and my decks and previoussessions and whatever it is that
(27:55):
I knew this audience would bereally interested in, but had no
way to get it into their hands.
And then also, as an organizerof events, I've had in the past
exhibitors and sponsors who'vespoken on stage and felt
disappointed that they couldn'tget hold of the attendee data
for their session.
And I understand the frustrationof that.
(28:16):
They again have spent time andmoney investing in front of that
audience.
So at the back end of last year,after Event Tech Live, had some
downtime, and actually,selfishly, I wanted to build
something to solve this formyself because I could I felt it
was a good way to additionallygrow audience and potential
attendees for the events.
Quickly realized that a lot ofmy friends around me that were
(28:40):
speakers and industry fellowsalso had the same challenge and
thought, why keep something justfor myself?
Is there some way that I couldpackage this up, make it really,
really accessible, not cost alot of money at all so people
could see value and use itthemselves at events?
That's now out there in themarket.
You can actually sign up toSpeaker Stacks for free.
(29:03):
You can actually curate all thecontent that you want to give to
an audience, launch it, use itat an event with zero dollars
and zero credit card.
What we do is we allow theproduct to prove itself first.
You can see exactly how manypeople have collected your
content.
Um, you can see the first threeor four.
And then if you want to getaccess to the rest of them, if
(29:25):
you see value in that, it's 35quid.
SPEAKER_01 (29:28):
Fair enough.
SPEAKER_02 (29:29):
Organizers are now interested in it because they
see value in wanting to supporttheir speakers or their big
sponsors.
They also want to make sure theyknow who and what is talking to
who and things like that.
And what's really humbling iswe're seeing about a natural
organic level of about 50% ofany audience converting into a
piece of contact information orlead, if you want to call it
that, for a speaker.
(29:51):
And one of my friends put itreally well.
He was like, for 35 quid, I'llspend that more on breakfast at
an event.
You do indeed.
So The only thing I would say toit, and this is a learning curve
for me, very, very obvious thingfor me as a speaker that speaks
a lot.
But I think one of our biggestchallenges is changing behaviour
(30:11):
to get people to think about anysolution like speaker stacks,
whether they use ours or orbuild their own or do something
different as part of the valueof speaking.
It's not just about generatingleads and audience and stuff for
your business, it's actuallyabout giving more value to the
attendee than you would havejust by speaking at them for 30
(30:34):
to 40 minutes.
SPEAKER_01 (30:35):
Now, before we wrap up, I've got a just a couple of
final questions for you.
Okay.
I'm a music fan, I'm sure youare too.
You're from Manchester,Sheffield, sorry, Sheffield
originally, but lived inManchester.
Lots of good music fromSheffield.
Pulp.
I mean, like most people, likeyou know, I sit down and use
music as a form of relaxationoften, and you know, sometimes
(30:57):
beat my head against the wall aswell.
SPEAKER_02 (30:59):
What's on your playlist at the moment?
Oh wow, I've got such aneclectic taste in music.
I was speaking to somebodyrecently about this.
I've just recently seen, I don'tknow if you've seen this,
Underworld playing in London.
And like I did, and I wasshocked at how old they were.
I thought, am I really?
(31:20):
But that that showed to me thatmusic transcend transcends time
and age, right?
You know, look at as now I'mstill listening to things in the
from the 70s and 60s and thingslike that, but I can also
appreciate modern music and newmusic and things like that.
So for me.
So what you're trying to tell meis that on your playlist is
frozen.
(31:40):
Do you know what?
I've got my I've got all of No,not frozen.
I've got all my playlists toprivate because I'm ashamed of
what some has under.
I was listening to Madonna inthe gym the other day, you know,
just because that's somethingthat it was something I was
watching and it was a tune, andit came on.
I was like, oh, I need to listento that.
My wife's a bit of a budding DJ,so we tend to like um a lot of
(32:03):
house and electronic music, butI love disco as well.
Oh yeah, it's it's really hardto nail down.
SPEAKER_01 (32:09):
Maybe I should also ask, like, first record you ever
bought.
SPEAKER_02 (32:12):
I think it was a Lenny Kravitz album, you know.
SPEAKER_01 (32:14):
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (32:15):
Maybe I think.
SPEAKER_01 (32:16):
Mine was Adam and the Ants.
SPEAKER_02 (32:18):
Really?
SPEAKER_01 (32:18):
Oh no, sorry, it wasn't.
It was Gary Newman, Our FriendsElectric.
Yeah.
And finally, Adam, what is ityou're looking forward to over
the next 12 months?
SPEAKER_02 (32:27):
I think for me, genuinely, when I say this, just
seeing my son gain new friends,learn new things.
I mean, he's already learningArabic, which is amazing to me.
You know, that's the kind ofstuff that I want him exposed
to.
(32:47):
And I think Dubai and thisregion will just help him
blossom into a little humanbeing, and you know, that's what
I'm genuinely most excited to.
That's that's a big drivingreason to come here is to look
at his future and see what hecan do.
SPEAKER_00 (33:04):
What a wonderful note to end on.
Adam, thank you for joining meon the podcast.
SPEAKER_02 (33:07):
Thanks, Ian.
SPEAKER_01 (33:13):
Event News DXP is brought to you by Warehouse 4,
probably Dubai's bestindependent event venue.
And minus 45DB, the teamtransforming noisy event spaces
into slick, sound-reducedenvironments.
The podcast was presented bymyself, Ian Carlos.
The studio engineer and editorwas Roy Damonte.
(33:34):
The executive producer wasmyself and Joe Morrison, and
this podcast was produced by W4Podcast Studio, Dubai.
And if you haven't done soalready, please do click that
follow or subscribe button.
We'll see you next time.
You're listening to the Event News DXP podcast, your
behind-the-scenes look at theevent industry in Dubai, the
UAE, and the wider media region.
I'm Ian Carlos, and each week Isit down with the people shaping
one of the world's most dynamicevent markets.
Whether you're an event planner,supplier, agency lead, or part
of an in-house team, I hope thatthis podcast gives you some
(00:23):
practical takeaways, freshperspectives, and a deeper
understanding of how thingsreally get done in one of the
world's most fast-moving eventmarkets.
And for season two, I'm superpleased to let you know that
Event News DXP is brought to youby Warehouse 4, probably Dubai's
best independent event menu.
And Minus 45DB, the teamtransforming noisy event spaces
(00:47):
into slick, sound-reducedenvironments.
From full-size conferencetheatres to compact meeting
pods, Minus45DB builds modularspaces that are quiet,
customizable, and completelyturnkey.
And they're sustainable too.
Smart design with zero waste.
Check them out at minus45db.com.
(01:09):
When today's guest started hisevent career, it wasn't by
design.
He started in sales, stumbledinto publishing, and from there
co-founded Event Industry Newsand Event Tech Live.
What began as an awards nightdreamed up in a pub quickly
turned into an event that nowattracts thousands of attendees
from more than 40 countries.
(01:30):
In this week's episode of EventNews DXP, Adam Parry talks
candidly about building abusiness on pure ignorance and
grit.
Why being told it'll never workonly pushed him harder, and how
focusing on a tight niche becamethe foundation of his success.
He shares what separates hypefrom the real impact when it
comes to tech, why streaming andAI are reshaping how audiences
(01:54):
retain content, and how datacapture is changing the way
exhibitors and sponsors measurevalue.
We also dig into his recent moveto Dubai, where he sees
positivity and collaborationdriving the market in ways the
UK can't always match.
For Adam, he thinks this regionisn't just a new base, it might
well be the future growth enginefor events globally.
(02:17):
So let's get into it.
You're listening to the EventNews DXP podcast.
Adam.
Welcome to the podcast.
Thanks for having me on, mate.
Thank you very much.
I feel like we've got a lot tocover in the next half an hour
(02:40):
because a quick rundown.
I mean, you're the founder ofEvent Industry News in the UK.
You're also the founder of EventTech Live.
Yep.
And it may be equally asimportant, you've just made the
move to Dubai.
Correct, yeah.
So let me think.
Where shall we start?
Just to be different, we'llstart right at the beginning
where I normally start.
How on earth did you findyourself in events?
SPEAKER_02 (02:59):
Right, okay.
Totally, totally by accident.
My first experience of eventswas working for kind of a
marketing and promotions companyback in Sheffield in the UK, and
they dealt with the footballclub.
So we helped them with match dayactivities and sponsorships and
raising money and all that kindof selling shirts and stuff like
that.
I quickly transitioned into aprint and media company.
(03:23):
Then I went and sold labels fora living, sticky labels on hot
metal steel and all that kind ofstuff.
Got promoted there.
And then at a very young age, Ithought I knew it all and I
could do it for myself.
And did for a little bit, but Ihad a mortgage, so I needed to
pay the bills.
So I walked into my local Adeco,and the lovely lady that helped
(03:44):
me was like, Oh, I've gotsomething here, but this media
company up the road, they needsomebody.
I was like, Yeah, whatever.
And my co-founder, Paul,actually was the person that
interviewed me at thatpublication.
Okay.
And the publication was for thefestival and outdoor industry.
So anything that didn't appearin a traditional venue.
Yeah.
(04:04):
And Paul needed some help takingthat publication from well, he'd
launched it and he'd done well.
He took it to a bi-monthly, andthen the company wanted to take
it to a monthly.
So I was thrown in at the deepend.
And in all honesty, it was asales job.
It was, you know, bring revenuein.
But what it quickly transpiredis that we were ad hoc editorial
(04:24):
at weekends, going to thesefestivals, going backstage,
interviewing the organizers,interviewing the production
team, interviewing the supplierson a look back pain, trying to
take down all these notes andstuff like that.
So it became this little likehybrid, hybrid model.
And then fast forward a coupleof years, we had to come up with
an idea to improve the products,media, spends, and editorial and
(04:45):
stuff.
And I pitched the idea that weshould use this amazing thing
called social media to reach newaudiences and publicize some of
the content that we didn't runin the magazine on the website
that we had, which ultimatelywas a glorified subscription
form.
If you were lucky to get amagazine, because we had a cap
circulation of 10,000.
(05:05):
And the owner of the business,or the son of the owner of the
business who ran the B2B side,came around to me and said, The
internet's just a phase.
So I think I had actually hadthat printed on a T show.
SPEAKER_01 (05:19):
I was just gonna say, have you sent that back to
him as a signed printed copy?
Well enough to hang on his wall.
SPEAKER_02 (05:24):
I say unfortunately, because there were some amazing
people that worked there, andactually I still work with a
couple of them.
They went from 25 printpublications, some very
successful ones, to now one.
So in that, in the 15 years ofindustry news uh being a
publication, we've grown.
I think we've got 100,000followers on LinkedIn, 35,000
(05:48):
subscribers to a newsletterthere, got multiple other
newsletters, podcast ourselves,and that kind of stuff.
And yeah, so that's that's howwe how we fell into it.
And I think that is thedefinition of the events
industry, to be honest with you.
I don't think there is there arethere are actually lots of
people that want to get intoevents, but most of us didn't
really plan on doing it.
SPEAKER_01 (06:09):
Yeah, it's a common story actually.
I've heard lots of people on thepodcast that say, Oh yeah, I
fell into it later on byaccident, you know.
So then what made you decide toactually want to organise an
event of your own?
SPEAKER_02 (06:22):
Because you get carried away, don't you?
I can do this.
What led me to we we startedwriting about technology on the
publication, in all honesty,because it was a selfish passion
of mine.
I'd I just love tech.
I'm early adopter, the wifehates me, I'm a proper geek at
heart.
And I was writing about thistech that I could find in the in
(06:43):
the sector.
I mean, even event apps were anew thing back then, but I was
struggling to find companies andwhat they were actually doing
with it and what organizers weredoing with it.
And I was sat with a very goodfriend of mine, James Morgan,
and he sat me down at a tradeshow for the events industry and
said, you know what you shoulddo?
We should launch an awardsprogram.
(07:03):
Give companies the recognitionthey deserve for the technology
that they're developing.
And the interesting thing isthey'll tell you everything
about them, they'll tell youeverything they're doing because
they have to, because they'reentering an awards, and they
have to tell you everythingthey're doing for a company and
how they're doing it.
That's how they win.
I was like, oh, that's a goodidea.
So we, me and Paul, got suckeredinto launching the event
technology awards.
(07:24):
I'd never organized a birthdayparty before that.
SPEAKER_01 (07:28):
That sounds like a baptism of fire.
SPEAKER_02 (07:30):
I think just pure ignorance was the success of it.
Because I think if we'd haveknown what we were in for before
we said yes, we would never havedone it.
Because publishing immediate isvery slow, there's no impending
deadlines, you know, especiallydigital.
It can be like, oh well, thatnews story didn't make it today,
we'll push that to next week orwhatever.
(07:51):
Events are immovable deadlines,and they have to things have to
happen, and the people have gothigh expectations.
Our initial idea was to run thisawards digitally.
We were we we were actuallygoing to go around to the
winners in the pub, the localpub, hand them award and take a
picture and run that on the onthe on the website.
(08:12):
Yeah.
We started getting entries in,which was fantastic.
Then the invoice for the venuelanded, which would, you know,
I've not even done 10% inrevenue on entries at that
point.
So that was a moment.
Spoon moment.
Yeah, very much so.
I don't think, and I think my mybusiness partner uh coined this.
(08:32):
He just I'd never seen aninvoice so big in my entire
life.
So that's that's where itbecause the expectation was
there's a gallery, didn't it?
This is the there's a black tiething.
We need to be, you know, itneeds to be a celebration.
And actually that phone callcame from Barclays.
Barclays had entered their eventteam, and the expectation was
(08:53):
that, and then actually two orthree more inbound phone calls
and emails came from the likesof George P.
Johnson, and I think it wasanother one was Verizon at the
time.
SPEAKER_01 (09:01):
Big players, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (09:02):
Big players.
So that's what forced us intodoing the the venue and changing
our plans and tact.
Speed that up.
We realized that we got thisvenue for the entire day, and
the awards ceremony was for afew hours in the evening.
Being typical Yorkshiremen, wewere like, This is a massive
wasted opportunity to have anempty venue for the entire day.
(09:24):
As a fellow Yorkshireman, I knowwhat's coming.
So we're like, well, we'll puton a conference and sell some
tickets and fill it up in theand you know what?
That was that was probably oneof the best decisions we did
because once we announced thisconference was happening, a very
well-known company that's nolonger a mound anymore called
Double Dutch picked the phone upand said, What can we do?
(09:46):
We'd like to get involved.
And we were like, don't know,what do you want to do?
It's like, oh well, are theresponsorships available?
Is there have you got a headlinesponsor?
We were like, No.
So we're like, Oh, well, whatdoes that look like?
And me and Paul were just like,don't know.
Threw a number out, theyimmediately said yes.
We realized we'd not gone highenough, although it was a
substantial amount of money, andthat's it.
(10:07):
We rolled that conference in.
But the feedback that came fromthe attendees, and again, this
was a broad spectrum of the theaudio of the industry, which we
had Gavin Sharm at the time forthe CTO of UBM, we had GPJ in
the room, we had the BarclayCard team in the room, we had
Adidas in the room.
I'd never seen a broad spectrumof organizer types all in the
(10:29):
same space at the same time.
So, what that taught us was thatthis technology theme resonated
across the entire industry.
But the feedback came that theywanted more content and they
actually wanted to see moredemonstrations of the
technology.
So we rebranded that EventTechnology Awards conference
into Event Tech Live, and againthe idea was to do a little bit
(10:52):
more content and sell somepeople a couple of spots for
pop-up banners, and that was it.
And then the first year thatrolled into a thousand attendees
and 60 exhibiting companies.
SPEAKER_01 (11:03):
That's fantastic.
SPEAKER_02 (11:04):
So it rocketed from there.
We ran it as a one-day event fora number of years, then evolved
it into a two-day event.
Then COVID hit.
We did a bunch of virtualeditions and things like that.
And now we are at Excel.
Um, we run in November, so theshow's coming up now.
Registration's just opened, andwe get around about 3,000
(11:25):
attendees from 40 plus differentcountries, and the stats tell us
they spend about a billion onsoftware and technology clever
events.
So yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (11:36):
Look, I think your results have obviously validated
what might have been a bit of aninteresting decision at the
time.
Because I imagine that, youknow, people must have said,
what, a whole event dedicated toevent tech?
Are you mad?
SPEAKER_02 (11:48):
That is more than one person said that's me.
And again, I guess maybe thething that motivates me is
people telling me I'm an idiot.
And I don't know what I'mtalking about.
I'm like, I'm gonna prove youwrong.
But yeah, three or four people,and and not in not in a
vindictive or a nasty way, moreas a Adam, are you sure?
(12:10):
That is are you sure that'sgonna work?
I mean, even doing an event forthe festival market or the trade
show market or the eventproduction market is tough,
like, and there's tons ofcompanies to go for, and you're
going after this tiny, tinyniche.
But yeah, I think what everybodyactually likes about it is that
one we have four stages ofcontent across two days.
(12:33):
That's more content thanprobably all of the other UK at
least industry shows combinedput on together.
So we go really deep on thecontent.
And then from the exhibitor'sperspective, they're not looking
going, well, who in the room isinterested potentially in us?
Everybody in the room isinterested in the subject matter
(12:53):
that they're most relevant to.
I mean, if you're there lookingfor chocolate fountains, you're
in the wrong place, kind ofthing.
So that's generally the feedbackwe get.
It's it's a tier one event forpeople because they know
everybody's really focused inexactly what they're there to
do.
SPEAKER_01 (13:09):
And who would have thought that tech would become
so prominent as well?
Just fast-forwarding a littlebit, I mean, the big topic at
the moment obviously is AI.
Yeah.
How do you see AI reshaping theevent experience, both for
attendees and for organizers?
I know this is one of your pettopics, isn't it?
You're really big into the AI.
SPEAKER_02 (13:29):
Yeah, for attendees, I think one of the immediate
tangible values that we've seenat Event Tech Live is giving
people the ability to retain theinformation that was delivered
at the event.
And what I mean by that is thereis a thing that you can look up
called the forgetting curve,which means that any information
that we absorb, within aboutfive days, we only retain about
(13:50):
20% of it.
Which, if you think about everyattendee that goes to an event,
they're generally traveling,maybe there's a few beers
involved, late nights anddistractions of work and things
like that.
How are we expecting attendeesto effectively transition that
information that whatever theyeven the 20% they have collected
back into a business so thatbusiness can act upon that and
(14:12):
see value in that within thebusiness?
Ultimately, people are sendingand spending money sending their
attendees, sending their sorry,their staff as attendees to
these events to learn and bringvalue back to the business, not
just sales.
And I think AI has changed thatnow.
So we work with a company whotake live audio feeds of every
(14:32):
piece of content in everysession at the event.
That goes to their AI summarymachine, and then immediately as
the event, as the session isfinished, the attendees can scan
a QR code and they can get twodocuments, a top five key
takeaways from that session, andthen a deep dive PDF as well,
which we've seen a huge adoptionin that from our attendees, not
(14:54):
only at the event, but I thinkwe've in excess of five or six
thousand downloads post-event aswell.
Which shows to me that attendeeswant to get hold of that
information, even though they'vemaybe attended the session and
get that back into the business.
SPEAKER_01 (15:09):
They do, I but I think that's a really useful
piece of tech, isn't it?
Because I mean, you know, we'veall been to conferences and
exhibitions, and as much aswe're there for the content or
whoever's on stage, we're alsothere to network.
So you're constantly being, youknow, your attention's being
pulled in.
Oh, squirrel, you know, pulledin different directions.
So to know that you've got thatinformation available at your
(15:29):
fingertips when you walk away, Imean it I mean it's almost yeah,
I don't know whether this is agood thing for the speaker, but
it's almost like you can affordto not pay as much attention
during the sessions because youknow it's going to be there
available later, which is greatfor you as the attendee, perhaps
a bit more challenging for thespeaker.
SPEAKER_02 (15:47):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, we don't want speakersspeaking to empty auditoriums,
but you know, I would like tothink that the content that we
put on, you know, and and wehave had this feedback in the
past is like you're making mechoose between four sessions.
I want to go and see everysingle one.
Yes.
Now they get the choice ofprioritizing, but they don't
(16:09):
have to have the fear of missingout on the other content and not
being able to retain that.
What we've also seen is it'sallowed an uplift in the
on-demand content that we recordbecause people can look at the
key takeaways and go, all right,actually, it is worth me looking
at that video for 30 to 40minutes because I understand the
context of the content.
(16:30):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (16:30):
Now you've just moved out to Dubai, and I want
to come onto that in a littlebit more detail uh shortly.
But I think I'm always curious,uh, and I always love to get the
insights of somebody who's beenacross both markets, both uh,
you know, a European one or aUK-centric one for yourself, and
now having spent you know a bitof time here with your feet on
the ground.
And I know obviously you've justmoved here, but you've travelled
(16:51):
here many times before, soyou're not exactly you know new
to the market.
But what are the some of the uhdifferences that you've noticed
in the event industry here andback in back home in the UK?
I can wear my shorts a lot morehere.
SPEAKER_02 (17:05):
Um do you know what?
There's there's there's there'sactually so much that is the
same.
The passion of the people for anindustry shines through.
I think you know the differencesmaybe come down to more nuances
and culture that that are there.
You know, the UK on the face ofit you would say is a
(17:28):
multicultural company, uhcountry, sorry, but the bite is
literally the essence of that.
SPEAKER_00 (17:35):
United colours are venetting.
SPEAKER_02 (17:36):
Yeah.
The one thing I would say hereis, and I think it's because 90
plus percent of people move hereto invest in themselves or their
businesses or their future orwhatever it is, positivity is is
much higher here.
Everybody wants to see you win.
That's what that's what theimpression that I get already,
(17:58):
and very much so, how can Ihelp?
Who can I introduce you to?
How does that work?
And and actually genuinelyinterested in who you are and
what you're doing and thingslike that.
Um, whereas in the UK, maybe itcan sometimes feel a little bit
more transactional and thingslike that.
So, you know, and that's not todo any disservice to the UK.
The UK has been an amazingcountry both for me and my
(18:18):
family and my business growingup.
But what I wanted was also toexperience a different events
industry, and there is elementsof that here already, and I'm
really excited for this regionand not just Dubai but KSA and
Qatar and Oman and all thoseother locations because there's
(18:40):
huge plans to bring more peoplehere, more population.
When the population grows,events follow.
And my experience now, and I'malready kind of feeding this
back, is you know, if you'relooking at markets to grow into
and move, then have a look here.
You know, I know some of theother big trade show organizers
that have not been in thismarket are now making concerted
(19:04):
investments to look at themarket and as a growth
opportunity and a growth channelfor them, which again can only
benefit the region, I think.
So are my opinions andsentiments echoed in the UK?
Maybe not so much on the wholenow, but I think that will
change over the next five yearsor so.
SPEAKER_01 (19:21):
Do you think some of the big organizers see that as a
bit of a challenge for them?
I mean, we've had I had a uh theone of the guests on the podcast
recently was uh Ben McDonaldfrom Purple Glow.
And he was saying, I mean he wassaying on a similar vein that,
you know, when you've gotcompanies like GPJ setting up,
you know, that tells you aboutthe where the market's at and
where they're at in relation toyou know their plans for this
(19:43):
region.
You know, and to back that up, Iread something recently that
said that the Middle East eventslive events industry is expected
to hit 76.6 billion by 2028,driven by immersive experiences,
sustainability, and AI-poweredpersonalization.
SPEAKER_02 (19:58):
Yeah.
I can believe it as well.
And you know, I think that evenmy opinion of it and the
impression that I get is it'snot just the desire from the
events industry, whether that belocally or from further afield
to grow here, it really seemedrooted at governmental level
here that they see events andhospitality as a huge part of
(20:22):
the growth of this region andare really, really behind it.
And and that's that tends to berare.
It felt like to me back in COVIDin the UK, the UK government
didn't know what the eventsindustry was.
Well, clearly they didn't, theydidn't even know they were
throwing an event when they werethrowing an event in a party
when everybody else couldn't.
But you know, that's reallyrefreshing and really
(20:43):
encouraging to see that there isthat backing right at
governmental level.
SPEAKER_01 (20:49):
In some respects, we probably shouldn't be surprised
at that, given that the you knowthere's such an emphasis
obviously on the tourismindustry here in here in the
Middle East and and certainly inthe UA and Dubai.
So I mean events are just anextension of that, really.
SPEAKER_02 (21:00):
Yeah, and I think to see, you know, the announcement
that Sephere is coming to thesecond sphere is coming to Abu
Dhabi and stuff like that showsagain people the the country and
and the region are willing toinvest in infrastructure to make
those events happen.
SPEAKER_01 (21:13):
Now, as we said earlier, you've just moved to
Dubai full time, and I think Iread somewhere it said, I have
one simple goal in life to wearshorts 365 days a year.
Currently wearing shorts.
That's gonna follow you aroundforever, you know.
I wanted to ask this because Imean across just about every
industry, uh, we're seeing amassive influx of people into
(21:34):
Dubai.
And I think if you look at yourLinkedIn feeds these days, you
know, you see a lot ofcommentary from HR
professionals, you know, notwarning people, but certainly
telling people to come withtheir, you know, eyes open.
I mean, I've been here 22 years,and you know, those old expat
salaries, you know, that theirand packages, they're long gone.
(21:54):
I think they were on their wayout even when I got off the
plane.
And now, you know, Dubai can bea tough place.
What's been your experience sofar?
SPEAKER_02 (22:02):
I think unfortunately, social media does
a really bad job of painting thepavements are lined with gold.
Yeah.
Now there is absolutely a lot ofwealthy people here and a lot of
money and an up and lots ofopportunity and stuff like that.
But yeah, I think if you thinkyou're gonna come across and
(22:22):
immediately pick up, you know,double six-figure salaries and
get your, you know, yourtransfers paid for and put up in
accommodation and things likethat, that that is gone unless
you're in very specific roles orvery highly sought after.
But I wouldn't let I wouldn'tlet that put people off.
I think you just have to be, youknow, prepared for things such
(22:42):
as, you know, our mobile phonecontract was expected to be paid
a year in advance.
Our rent a year in advance.
You know, it's not easy to comeinto the market and walk into a
car showroom and get a car onfinance, like it is maybe if
you're a UK resident and you'vegot credit history, you know,
(23:03):
you have to start fresh andbuild all of those things up.
And I think what I see is a lotof people come here on savings,
looking for work, and burnthrough that extremely quickly
because of the elevated cost ofcertain things, but also very
much enjoying the region, maybea little bit too much.
(23:24):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (23:25):
Yeah.
Look, I think it there's nodoubt it's it's changed, and I
think I think that's wiseadvice, as is some of the
commentary that I've seen onLinkedIn.
I mean, you know, I rememberwhen my sister moved out here
probably about 15 or maybe moreyears ago, you know, she had
three job offers within thefirst six weeks and then you
know sat around for a littlewhile deciding which one to
take.
I mean, those days are long gonenow.
(23:45):
I mean, I think, you know, fromwhat I'm reading at the moment
from a lot of the HRprofessionals is that um the
recruitment professionals m morespecifically, but is that you
know the market is reallysaturated and you re if you are
thinking about coming here, byall means do, but like you say,
come with your bank account fulland be prepared to be sitting,
(24:07):
you know, doing a lot ofnetworking for at least six
months.
Yeah.
You know, I think gone are thedays where you could get three
job offers within the first sixweeks.
Yeah.
I really have to be in it forthe long term.
And know why you're coming hereas well.
Don't get fooled, like you say,by social media.
I mean, I read a lot aboutpeople saying, Oh, you know,
it's all tax-free.
And yeah, it's tax-free, but andthat's fine if you're a single
(24:27):
person, okay?
But if you're a family of fourwith two kids, anything you save
on tax you'll spend on schoolfees and then some.
So I think it's very much aboutcoming with your with your eyes
wide open.
The streets are not paved withgold, far from it.
No.
So come, you know, come with aplan.
Do you see a a lot of appetitefrom event professionals in the
UK wanting to make the changelike yourself?
SPEAKER_02 (24:49):
I can honestly say not at the moment.
I think what's pushing people atthe moment to to look at
relocation in the market is theincrease in cost of living in
the UK rising rapidly.
I think I looked at some statsthe other day, and actually,
when you take into unemployedand people on, you know,
(25:09):
disability benefits and otherthings, it's like 26% of the
population.
And I think that's an indicationof like how tough it is out
there in the market at themoment in the UK, both from a
business owner's perspective,you know, rising costs of
national insurance and thosekinds of things, and then
corporation tax and things likethat going in, it does make you
question as a business owner anda small business owner why you
(25:32):
would want to push on and growand employ more people because
it it's it's a lot more painful.
So I think that's the thing.
I think the the danger to the UKis not so much all of a sudden
everybody escaping the UK andcoming up, like the headlines
say, like, you know, all thesemillionaires moving to Dubai,
they're escaping the tax, blahblah blah.
(25:52):
There's probably an element oftruth in that.
I think the real danger is in 10years when all of the talent
that was going to be coming tothe UK have done university in
the UK and then bounced.
SPEAKER_00 (26:04):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (26:05):
And they've gone to other countries.
And that's not just Dubai,that's European countries, maybe
the US and things like that,where there's more opportunity
and and uh uh more opportunityto grow and possibly earn a
bigger income for themselves orkeep hold of more of their
income and things like that.
I think that's the real danger.
I think the the the UK couldpotentially be heading for a
(26:27):
real big downturn because theydon't have the the homegrown
talent to to grow the country.
SPEAKER_01 (26:33):
No, as you say, you're you you're you've just
getting your feet on the groundhere in Dubai.
I know you're you're having alittle look around at
opportunities, but obviouslyyou've got your your you know
your main revenue source, whichis your your events uh back in
the UK.
But I know you're also workingon something a little bit, you
know, something for yourself aswell.
Speaker stacks?
Do you want to tell us a bitabout that?
SPEAKER_02 (26:52):
Where do I start?
I I've been fortunate enough tobe invited to and see the value
in speaking at events.
It's a way that I feel is a niceway to interact, give back to an
audience, help an industry growand learn and develop and stuff
like that.
And you know, it's it's part ofthe cornerstone of events at
live.
We have so many speakers thatcome and do it at our event as
(27:12):
well.
And often that is done under myown effort and under my own
dollar or my own pound to getthere and make that happen and
things like that.
And I see value in that as partof marketing the event and the
business and all that kind ofstuff.
But I've stood and spoken infront of an audience of 10, 15,
20, 100, 500.
(27:34):
And at the end of the session,had a great round of applause,
but not had any way to connectwith that audience or really
understood anything more aboutthem.
And I think the other cryingshame that I identified was that
I had all of this additionalvaluable content from reports
and my decks and previoussessions and whatever it is that
(27:55):
I knew this audience would bereally interested in, but had no
way to get it into their hands.
And then also, as an organizerof events, I've had in the past
exhibitors and sponsors who'vespoken on stage and felt
disappointed that they couldn'tget hold of the attendee data
for their session.
And I understand the frustrationof that.
(28:16):
They again have spent time andmoney investing in front of that
audience.
So at the back end of last year,after Event Tech Live, had some
downtime, and actually,selfishly, I wanted to build
something to solve this formyself because I could I felt it
was a good way to additionallygrow audience and potential
attendees for the events.
Quickly realized that a lot ofmy friends around me that were
(28:40):
speakers and industry fellowsalso had the same challenge and
thought, why keep something justfor myself?
Is there some way that I couldpackage this up, make it really,
really accessible, not cost alot of money at all so people
could see value and use itthemselves at events?
That's now out there in themarket.
You can actually sign up toSpeaker Stacks for free.
(29:03):
You can actually curate all thecontent that you want to give to
an audience, launch it, use itat an event with zero dollars
and zero credit card.
What we do is we allow theproduct to prove itself first.
You can see exactly how manypeople have collected your
content.
Um, you can see the first threeor four.
And then if you want to getaccess to the rest of them, if
(29:25):
you see value in that, it's 35quid.
SPEAKER_01 (29:28):
Fair enough.
SPEAKER_02 (29:29):
Organizers are now interested in it because they
see value in wanting to supporttheir speakers or their big
sponsors.
They also want to make sure theyknow who and what is talking to
who and things like that.
And what's really humbling iswe're seeing about a natural
organic level of about 50% ofany audience converting into a
piece of contact information orlead, if you want to call it
that, for a speaker.
(29:51):
And one of my friends put itreally well.
He was like, for 35 quid, I'llspend that more on breakfast at
an event.
You do indeed.
So The only thing I would say toit, and this is a learning curve
for me, very, very obvious thingfor me as a speaker that speaks
a lot.
But I think one of our biggestchallenges is changing behaviour
(30:11):
to get people to think about anysolution like speaker stacks,
whether they use ours or orbuild their own or do something
different as part of the valueof speaking.
It's not just about generatingleads and audience and stuff for
your business, it's actuallyabout giving more value to the
attendee than you would havejust by speaking at them for 30
(30:34):
to 40 minutes.
SPEAKER_01 (30:35):
Now, before we wrap up, I've got a just a couple of
final questions for you.
Okay.
I'm a music fan, I'm sure youare too.
You're from Manchester,Sheffield, sorry, Sheffield
originally, but lived inManchester.
Lots of good music fromSheffield.
Pulp.
I mean, like most people, likeyou know, I sit down and use
music as a form of relaxationoften, and you know, sometimes
(30:57):
beat my head against the wall aswell.
SPEAKER_02 (30:59):
What's on your playlist at the moment?
Oh wow, I've got such aneclectic taste in music.
I was speaking to somebodyrecently about this.
I've just recently seen, I don'tknow if you've seen this,
Underworld playing in London.
And like I did, and I wasshocked at how old they were.
I thought, am I really?
(31:20):
But that that showed to me thatmusic transcend transcends time
and age, right?
You know, look at as now I'mstill listening to things in the
from the 70s and 60s and thingslike that, but I can also
appreciate modern music and newmusic and things like that.
So for me.
So what you're trying to tell meis that on your playlist is
frozen.
(31:40):
Do you know what?
I've got my I've got all of No,not frozen.
I've got all my playlists toprivate because I'm ashamed of
what some has under.
I was listening to Madonna inthe gym the other day, you know,
just because that's somethingthat it was something I was
watching and it was a tune, andit came on.
I was like, oh, I need to listento that.
My wife's a bit of a budding DJ,so we tend to like um a lot of
(32:03):
house and electronic music, butI love disco as well.
Oh yeah, it's it's really hardto nail down.
SPEAKER_01 (32:09):
Maybe I should also ask, like, first record you ever
bought.
SPEAKER_02 (32:12):
I think it was a Lenny Kravitz album, you know.
SPEAKER_01 (32:14):
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (32:15):
Maybe I think.
SPEAKER_01 (32:16):
Mine was Adam and the Ants.
SPEAKER_02 (32:18):
Really?
SPEAKER_01 (32:18):
Oh no, sorry, it wasn't.
It was Gary Newman, Our FriendsElectric.
Yeah.
And finally, Adam, what is ityou're looking forward to over
the next 12 months?
SPEAKER_02 (32:27):
I think for me, genuinely, when I say this, just
seeing my son gain new friends,learn new things.
I mean, he's already learningArabic, which is amazing to me.
You know, that's the kind ofstuff that I want him exposed
to.
(32:47):
And I think Dubai and thisregion will just help him
blossom into a little humanbeing, and you know, that's what
I'm genuinely most excited to.
That's that's a big drivingreason to come here is to look
at his future and see what hecan do.
SPEAKER_00 (33:04):
What a wonderful note to end on.
Adam, thank you for joining meon the podcast.
SPEAKER_02 (33:07):
Thanks, Ian.
SPEAKER_01 (33:13):
Event News DXP is brought to you by Warehouse 4,
probably Dubai's bestindependent event venue.
And minus 45DB, the teamtransforming noisy event spaces
into slick, sound-reducedenvironments.
The podcast was presented bymyself, Ian Carlos.
The studio engineer and editorwas Roy Damonte.
(33:34):
The executive producer wasmyself and Joe Morrison, and
this podcast was produced by W4Podcast Studio, Dubai.
And if you haven't done soalready, please do click that
follow or subscribe button.
We'll see you next time.
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