January 28, 2025 • 33 mins
EventNewsDXB Ep 1 - Stefan Wieland: Navigating the Middle East Event Industry
EventNewsDXB is supported by Warehouse Four - Dubai's best independent event venue.
Host Ian Carless talks to one of Dubai's most prominent event figures, Stefan Wieland, about a career spanning over two decades, including the creation of 'EINO' - the Events Industry Night Out - a thriving event industry community, which has grown to over 12,000 members.
The conversation covers the resilience of the Middle Eastern events sector and how despite lockdowns and economic setbacks, proactive government support and initiatives like "Crew for Crew" helped the industry recover.
The episode also talks about the shifting priorities in the events sector, such as focusing on experience quality and discusses the challenges faced by young professionals in the industry and the increasing importance of maintaining a healthy work-life balance.
Podcast Rundown
• Stefan's journey from Germany to becoming a key player in Dubai's events
• EINO's inception and its evolution into a vibrant professional network
• Challenges faced in moderating discussions within the community
• The pandemic's impact and the industry's collaborative response
• Importance of well-being and work-life balance post-pandemic
• Current issues of oversaturation and declining quality in events
• Need for structured training and qualified talent in the industry
• Optimism for the future of events in the Middle East with new opportunities
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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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ian Carless (00:00):
Welcome to Event News DXB.
Before we begin, I've got aquick favour to ask.
There's one simple way that youcan support our show, and
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Thanks a bunch.
(00:20):
Thanks a bunch.
Event News DXB.
You're listening to the EventNews DXB podcast.
Your behind-the-scenes lookinto the world of events in
Dubai, the UAE and the MENAregion.
I'm Ian Carlos and each weekI'll bring you the latest news,
(00:43):
industry trends and insiderstories shaping one of the
world's most dynamic eventmarkets.
From professional insights toDubai's most inspiring success
stories, we've got everythingyou need to stay ahead in the
ever-evolving event industry.
So, whether you're an eventplanner, a brand manager or just
someone who's totallypassionate about the power of
(01:03):
events, you're in the rightplace To kick off the Event News
DXB podcast series.
Who better to talk to than oneof the most well-known figures
in the Dubai event scene, stefanWeiland?
Originally from Germany, stefanmoved to Dubai 25 years ago and
has since worked on a long andenviable list of events both in
the UAE and around the MiddleEast.
(01:23):
However, he's perhaps bestknown as the founder of Eno, the
events industry night out, aFacebook community that now has
over 12,000 members and is amust join for anyone working in
the events industry in Dubai.
Stefan, welcome to the show.
Thank you, ian.
Thank you for inviting me.
You're most welcome.
Now, I have to confess I didhave a sneaky look at your
(01:45):
LinkedIn profile, obviously lastnight and a couple of days ago,
and you are a man of manytalents, including, of course,
eno, which we'll get on to.
But first of all, how did youend up in this region?
Stefan Weiland (01:57):
That's very interesting.
So I came for some royalweddings to Saudi in like the
end 90s and I didn't really likeit because I stayed all time in
the hotel with the elevator upfrom my room to the ballroom and
that's it.
Not seen much from the region.
And after the millennium inBerlin I got a call from someone
(02:18):
said can you accompany me toAbu?
Dhabi?
I need a production guy.
And I said yes, why not?
And so I went to Abu Dhabi,signed a contract for four weeks
, stayed for a month and afterfour months I went back to
Germany and basically decidedit's better to go to the Middle
East.
So since then it's now on the17th of January it will be 25
(02:39):
years 25.
Ian Carless (02:41):
And it goes too quickly, doesn't it?
Oh yeah, I think I've.
Just in February I'll have done22 years.
Yeah, and a similar story.
I mean, you signed up for what?
Four weeks?
Yeah, yeah, I signed up forwhat I thought was going to be
two or three years 22 years ago.
Yeah, no kidding.
So let's get onto the meat ofthings.
Eno how on earth did Eno comeabout?
Stefan Weiland (03:07):
Well, that's the story.
That goes back to 2010.
I just came from a stint with avery, very nice agency where I
was the production director ofnew technologies or something
like that, and I decided toleave that company and go
freelance again.
At the same time, my wifechanged the company and she was
starting with a company calledAl lathe scaffolding that was
still around, or is still around, and she became the first
(03:27):
business development marketingperson in that company and she
said I have not many contacts inthe industry and I have to
rebuild my contacts in theindustry.
So we need to make an eventwhere we all come together and
have a drink at the bar to makethat easy, because you know at
the bar it's easier to speakwhen you are in a room for like,
oh, this is my company and Ipresent this and that.
(03:49):
So we called a couple of peopleand everyone told us you know
you will fail.
It's what people said.
That's encouraging.
Yeah, at this time you need tounderstand there were a lot of
people still not really friendsin the industry.
So you had your acquaintances,but not friends.
Friends and a lot of companiesworked against each other.
So there was a lot of I don'twant to call this hate, but
(04:09):
there is like jealousy and thisand that, and I think we need to
overcome this.
This is ridiculous.
We all need to work togetherand at that time, 2010, there
was a lot of freelance talentfor the first time coming up and
we said, okay, we need toconnect all of these, we need to
connect agencies, we need toconnect companies, we need to
connect freelancers.
How do we do that with an event?
(04:30):
So our first event was in click.
That was a champagne lounge inemirates towers, yeah, where we
invited 40 people and 80 came.
So basically, everyone tookanother person with them and it
was great.
It was like so whoa, we neverexpected this.
And everyone said, okay, thisis this, we have to do this more
regularly, et cetera, et cetera.
(04:50):
And then we said how can wereach out to people?
And then we founded a so-calledFacebook page at that time
where we yeah, it was a page,yeah, where we reached out to
people and announced our event.
Ian Carless (05:03):
How long ago was this?
Stefan Weiland (05:04):
Also 2010.
Oh, 2010.
Yes, from that someone said,can you not change this to a
group Because I have a question?
And then we said, yeah, we cando that.
And from there it started offto what it is now, with like
12,000 people in a group where,of course, I have to moderate
about 20 post requests a day, 30to 40 joining requests a day,
(05:25):
and it's basically everything ismonitored, everything is
rejected, approved, et cetera,et cetera, based on certain
criterias, because we want tokeep the group focused on events
and I think so far we did quitewell.
We made it into a point wherewe're talking actively to
companies to become supporters.
(05:46):
So they support us with podcaststudio time, they support us
with other stuff, so we can makeit really, really a nice
community and I think so far wekept the momentum on.
I can see our events that we dobi-yearly.
It has declined from theheydays on.
(06:08):
On the, on the heydays, we had350, 400 people on on a you know
night.
That actually also became achallenge because it was too
many people trying to find avenue that can host that many
people and still being the baryeah
that we always wanted.
Yeah, uh was a challenge.
So when the pandemic hit, thatwas for us a wake-up call.
So we tried the online thingdidn't work at all.
So, uh, we had to say, okay, we, we need to skip this.
(06:30):
This is, uh, we need to bringthis back once we are all
healthy again.
We done that and we are nowback to 170 200 people for a
night, which is great, and thelast youno was so successful.
So I left at one because I hadto work next day.
But I know from the venue theysaid your guest kept us busy
(06:50):
until like 3.30 in the morningand it was for me like.
So, okay, this industry isstill a lot of things to tell,
to talk and to discuss.
Ian Carless (06:59):
Yeah, Now we'll talk about the pandemic very
shortly, but in the meantime itcan be a thankless task, can't
it running a community grouplike that?
Stefan Weiland (07:25):
but it became much, much more than this and it
is now for us.
It's not a corporate socialresponsibility, it's just like a
community social responsibilityto run this and we, we're still
loving it, we're still doing it.
Yes, sometimes it's reallyfrustrating when you get
messages that some people sayyou didn't accept me, why, and
starting discussions and all ofthat.
Or in this post, someone wrotesomething that I was not allowed
(07:46):
and this and that and I, Ireally asked a little bit more
for for lenience to us as well,because we, again, we do this in
our spare time.
Yeah, this is our, our socialbaby.
Yeah, we do this, we love it,but if it takes a day or two, or
even if we are on holidays,please forgive us that your post
has not been immediatelyapproved.
Again, we do this everything byhand and by eye, one by one,
(08:11):
and we cannot just, you know,dedicate our whole life to this
page.
That's not really what it is.
Ian Carless (08:16):
Yeah.
Now, just moving on to thepandemic there, I can imagine
that the number of peoplecommenting and wanting to get
involved in discussionsincreased tenfold.
I know there were some quiteinteresting, shall we say,
discussions around the time,particularly with obviously so
many of us in the event industryout of work, and you know,
there was a little bit of fingerpointing towards perhaps what
(08:39):
people felt other entitiesshould be doing to help, etc.
First of all, what were yourthoughts about that whole
pandemic process in relation tothe industry?
And then, how did you managethe discussion on Eno around it,
because some of them, as I said, got a little bit heated,
didn't they?
Stefan Weiland (08:55):
Yeah, so of course it affected every one of
us, including me at this time,and I was a little bit lucky
because I got asked to work fora Canadian company on a retainer
basis, which was really reallygood and helped to survive that
I know others were really reallyhit by it financially.
Of course some people put theirlife savings in to survive.
(09:17):
Others had to leave the countryto seek other opportunities.
I know from people who wentback to the UK and were driving
UPS vans during that time.
So there is people who survivedand I think thanks to the
government here, who was first alittle bit looked at for
imposing the lockdown.
(09:37):
But that lockdown lasted twomonths and after the two months
we basically were the firstcountries bringing back to life
we were I mean the othercountries had it much worse.
Yeah, absolutely.
So the whole idea of we doingthis, we have to do this, we
have to run a company, so I'mreally thankful for the
government how they handled it.
I was again lucky that I scoredanother project with the Expo
(10:01):
and during that time, expohelped us tremendously A lot of
people from Dubai and a lot ofpeople from all over the world
actually, and we have seen a lotof people who never left after
Expo who are still here.
We have seen a lot ofprofessionalism coming in with
Expo because Expo said, okay, wehave to do it like this, we
have to do it like this, andthis continues in a way where I
(10:27):
think it's a huge improvementfor us and I I think personally
but that's my own personalopinion that we are now in the
middle east are actually theleaders of the events industry.
See how much we are handling onevents per year.
That's much more than in europe, in the us or in Asia.
How much or the size of theevents we are delivering is
(10:48):
nowhere seen in the US, anywhereelse in America, in Europe or
in Asia.
So our events are always bigbecause our surrounding
governments they spend a lot ofmoney into these events and I
think we can be very, very luckyto work in this thieving
industry and economy.
Ian Carless (11:05):
How did you manage the discussions around this?
Because I know at the time, asI say, people were looking a
little out.
I mean, there was a lot ofcommunity.
What I thought was encouragingabout that time as well, it
fostered a stronger sense ofcommunity.
I think there were a lot ofpeople that did actually try and
come together and pull togetherto help those of other people
who were really really, reallystruggling.
But at the same time, there wasa little bit of like questions,
(11:27):
shall we say, in terms ofparticularly towards the Event
Industry Association.
So how did you manage thosediscussions and also how do you
think that that role played outduring that time?
Stefan Weiland (11:39):
Well, so we started very, very fast with
setting up another communityoutreach platform.
That was Crew for Crew crew,where we basically ask okay,
just take the skills that youhave and redeploy them
differently.
So we know that some of thelabor supply companies, starting
with removals and helped withcheaper offices removals and
cheaper warehouse removals, etc,etc.
(12:01):
During that time we know thatsome of the set building
companies they went intointerior fit outs, etc.
Etc.
But this was all again a littlebit of community engagement.
So I need to have my apartmentpainted?
Yeah, okay, I will do that forhalf the price and the painters
doing it because you are fromthe industry.
We helped with jobs, etc, etc.
So that was that good thing andwe tried to cap that into the
(12:22):
crew for crew platform, keepingthis out of the platform.
Again.
In the eno platform, we had theother challenge where people
suddenly questioned of the stateshould pay me, where's our
association, um, etc, etc.
Well, the question with theassociation was at that point
yeah, where's the association?
People asked me to to put on anassociation, but with the laws
(12:43):
that we're having here in theUAE, that's not really possible
because there's only oneassociation per industry.
So, and if this is set and I'mnot the person to run an
association.
That's just not me.
I run communities.
I can do that, I know how to dothat and I'm very social, but
as an association head, nah,that's not for me.
(13:03):
So, on the you know platform,we we try to moderate this in a
in a way where we don't offendanyone.
Obviously it's a public pagewhere people can join.
It's not a private page.
It's a company run page becauseout of the laws that we have in
the middle east, we have to dothat.
So we maintain an extra tradelicense for that.
So this is the amount of youknow I put into this whole setup
(13:28):
of Eno.
However, with this comesresponsibility, and the
responsibility was that you notcensor but you moderate what's
going on there, because some ofthe people who got very
frustrated went out with angerand I think some people didn't
hit the right tone,understandably, because they
(13:48):
were forced to do things thatthey wouldn't like to do, but I
think as well it was a learningcurve for a lot of people.
So the discussions toned downvery much and it was then again
more about like how can we worktogether?
How can you help me?
Course, lots of people put lotsof effort into that and said
okay, I need a job, help me,please help me, I need to pay my
(14:10):
bills, et cetera, et cetera.
But it's not about just like Igive you a job because you need
to pay your bills, I need toalso give the job to someone who
can do the job.
Otherwise I'm doing two jobs.
Ian Carless (14:17):
So it doesn't make sense.
I mean two questions really.
We'll come on to this one in asecond.
I wanted to ask you about whereyou see or your thoughts about
new talent coming into theindustry, but before that I just
wanted to pick it up on justthe end of the pandemic.
Do you think we've recovered?
Do you think the industry isnow at a stage where it was
pre-pandemic?
That's a good question.
Stefan Weiland (14:39):
I think, post-pandemic, we had a massive
spike with everything, withevent technology, sales, with
companies springing up left,right and center.
Currently, I think we're alittle bit hit by a saturation
in the market, not only in termsof services, companies, et
cetera, et cetera, also in termsof events.
So you can actually see that wehave a lot of events going on.
(15:01):
Are the quality of the eventsgetting better?
Currently, in my own opinion,it's not.
You're not alone in that fact.
Yeah, so why is that?
So, is that because of thetalent?
Is it because of budgets?
Is it because of there's justtoo many events?
I personally think it's justtoo many events.
There's a lot of event agencieswho work on public events who
cannot sell enough ticketsbecause it's just oversaturation
(15:24):
.
On the the other hand, peoplefrom other industries jumped
into okay, this event stuff isgreat because there's so many
events, they need stuff.
I'm going to become an eventprofessional, but then again,
with no means of getting trained, it's becoming very, very
difficult.
So everyone, especiallypost-pandemic, there was a lot
of people saying so I am a stagemanager, I, I am a site manager
(15:44):
, etc.
Etc.
What's their qualification?
So we don't have any protectionin our job names, job
descriptions.
There is not even common jobdescriptions.
If you take TV and if you takeevents, a producer is two
different things.
A production manager in filmand a production manager in
events is two different things.
The thing here is that lots ofpeople said, okay, I can just
cross work things.
(16:06):
The thing here is that lots ofpeople said, okay, I can just
cross work.
And this is where I thinkquality can go down, because
people just don't bring thenecessary skills with them that
you expect as a client.
Ian Carless (16:15):
Well, that's certainly, I mean, that's
certainly a problem when itcomes to event organizers.
I mean, there's the old adage,isn't it really that all you
need to be an event manager is auh, you know a phone and a
filofax?
Stefan Weiland (16:25):
well, I'm dating myself there.
Ian Carless (16:27):
Maybe not a filofax anymore, maybe an ipad but but
you know, there are, there are,that's it.
That's all you need and a good,you know, sense of
organizational ability.
So, going back to young peopleand new talent come into the
industry.
Where do you think we're at?
Specifically here in the middleeast?
Because, because I think,across many industries, training
is a forgotten word.
(16:47):
It's the thing that you do ifyou've got a little bit of
budget at the end of the year, Isuspect or if you absolutely
have to.
So how do young people comeinto the industry and are they
coming into the industry?
Stefan Weiland (16:59):
That's one of the big problems that I can see.
Currently there is a lot ofyoung people who are trying to
do work experience etc.
Thanks, scott.
We have a couple of technicalproviders who have trainee
programs and they do this quitewell.
The other thing is thatagencies don't really like to
employ trainees because it'sjust for them.
It's an extra burden.
(17:20):
People ask questions etc.
And in this fast-paced eventindustry it's like bum, bum, bum
, bum, bum.
You don't have time.
It's also a lot of people stillare under the impression that
if I tell this young guy how itworks tomorrow, he will take my
job.
I think this is completelywrong Because at one point we
will all become old, gray-hairedand very slow and there is no
(17:42):
one there anymore to actually doour jobs and then we have
worked twice and that's not howit should be.
Young people are still coming in.
A lot of people in between the18 and 21 year old.
They want to do the influencerevents.
They don't want to do thecompany conference, the open
days, etc, etc.
Finding some people working onexhibitions seems to be a big
(18:02):
problem.
I think a lot of people whenthey study economics and then go
into project management, andthis is how they should come
into the events industry.
Of course you have your youngpeople who go into training
programs, but it's rarelyYounger people then.
See, you know, I can work 20hours a day in an events
management company for thisevent and I earn this little bit
(18:24):
of money or I go into I don'twant to say real estate.
But I see young people goinginto trade again with, like,
drop shipping and this kind ofAmazon dealings, et cetera, et
cetera, et cetera, which is forsome successful, for others not
so much, but definitely theydon't need to work the 20 hours
(18:45):
to make the same money.
But I think this shift is inall of the industries that we
are seeing.
So trade is a big problem.
So finding the carpenter,finding the mason and all of
that is exactly the same thing.
So trying to find youngerpeople, it's problematic.
Ian Carless (18:59):
Yeah, just circling back to what we were talking
about in terms of do we thinkthe industry is where it's at
and, in particular, in referenceto the standards, what are your
thoughts for where the industryis at right now?
You mentioned that you don'tthink the quality of events is
perhaps as good as it used to be.
(19:19):
What are the factors at playthere?
I mean, dubai is no longer acheap place to live, isn't it Is
cost one of those live?
Isn't it is cost one of thosethings?
Is the talent drain one ofthose things?
Or a combination of everything?
Stefan Weiland (19:31):
it's a good question.
So I attending a lot of eventsand I can see different things.
There is the spend onproduction is going down to
spend more on fnb experience,because I think it's about
experiences.
So I don't want to tap onanyone's shoes, yeah, but I
(19:51):
don't think it's the talent perper se, it's the.
It's the focus of these events.
So the focus of of the events,of having this nice big screen
with some entertainment, etc.
Etc.
We have incredibleentertainment in Dubai,
incredible entertainmentproducers as well.
I wish they could do what theywant to do, because that would
achieve a little much, much,much more interesting stuff.
(20:13):
So everything is just aboutlike.
So we need to have this fiveminutes launch moment, and then
it's about fancy cocktails, it'sabout this, that and whatsoever
and, I think, a lot of otherthings that where we're looking
into like the good stuff, intolike content, nice content,
production on screen, contentproduction it's a little bit
left out.
The whole theatrical build ofsuch a show has been left out.
(20:34):
A lot of people basically sayoh yeah, I'm just doing an event
and the event is the clienttold me they want this, this,
this, this, and then I look intoit and it's like so yeah, but
it doesn't make sense.
Ian Carless (20:44):
There's no story, yeah, so we need to build a
story.
Stefan Weiland (20:46):
Yeah, but it's not about the story.
It's about, uh, the guests.
No, no, it's all about thestory.
Yes, and I'm trying to explainthis to people, and that's why I
said you need to trust me.
I'm doing this for a couple ofyears and I built a story in
this whole thing, and if I saythis person needs to go from
left to the right to the stage,there's a reason behind it and
just trust me, it just makessense because you don't want to
(21:07):
have like people crisscrossingstages, you don't want to have
long blackouts in between a show, in show segments.
Ian Carless (21:13):
Do you think creativity is also lacking?
I mean, you know we've bothbeen here, you know 20 something
years.
I'll be honest in my experienceof Dubai, I think in general
it's a bit risk averse acrossmany industries, events being no
exception.
And if you combine that nowwith perhaps smaller budgets
(21:33):
available for events, peoplejust don't want to take risks.
Stefan Weiland (21:35):
Yes, that's one thing.
Many, many years ago, we couldsee this like I don't want to
say six to eight or 10 companies, the large companies who doing
all the big shows, and they werebasically employing a lot of
very experienced talent.
Now we see these big showsshifted.
We don't have this 50 big showsper year.
Yeah, we now have a thousandsmaller shows.
(21:55):
Yeah, and with the thousandsmaller shows comes smaller
budget, comes more people thatyou need, so you cannot get all
this hyper-knowledgedprofessionals, so you need to
get other people in there.
And then a lot of people go tooh, yeah, we use this guy and we
replicate our basically shows.
I have seen this with agencieswho, basically a launch event is
(22:17):
a launch event.
We use the perfume bar, we usethe cocktail guy, we use the
same dancers that we had at thelast launch.
We only change the content andit's basically the company name
in the content.
Yeah, you can do that and,honestly, it reduces the cost of
the event, which is nice.
However, as a guest and you go,especially in in the real
(22:38):
estate sector, you go to a lotof events because that's where
you basically buy yourapartments these people.
They now have a little bit offatigue, so they only go there
or they come late when they knowit's now being.
I can talk to this guy and hesells me 10 or 20 apartments,
but no one is really looking atas the stage anymore.
(22:58):
Yesterday I was in an event andthey had a very nice stage
presenter.
The mc was great, was brilliant, kept it really tight, kept it
really online bum, bum, bum, bum, bum.
It was great.
It was a networking event atthe same time and then there was
this break in between wherethey had on stage entertainment
which was a singer and asaxophonist.
Well, the music was very nice,but it's something where, for me
(23:22):
personally, everything felldown and then they had suddenly
appearing some really reallycool dance performance, but
without announcing it.
So a lot of people were eitheroutside the room or looked at it
and didn't really understandwhy is now this Pearl Dancers on
stage, looked at it and didn'treally understand why is now
this Pearl Dancers on stage?
Well, I think this could haveactually put a little bit better
(23:44):
into perspective so that peoplehave a better experience,
because now just people go to anevent, have their dinner, some
awards have been given out andthat's it.
So the experience part was alittle bit missing.
Ian Carless (23:54):
Yeah, just going back to the pandemic and what
it's meant to people, I thinkour industry wasn't alone.
Everybody had a lot of time ontheir hands and I think there
was a lot of time forintrospection, wasn't there?
We had a little chat before westarted the podcast about how,
what a fast paced industry.
This is the stress that it putson you.
I don't want to get intonecessarily the whole mental
(24:14):
health aspect, but I think youknow wellbeing became very much
at the top of people's lists,didn't it?
Looking after yourself, looking, you know, particularly looking
after yourself.
How have you changedpost-pandemic?
I know you alluded to a fewpersonal health issues that
you'd had.
Can you talk to us a little bitabout those and how that's
affected your relationship withwork and the industry?
Stefan Weiland (24:37):
Well, yeah, that's definitely a common thing
, and you can see that the wholeidea of mental health didn't
really exist, to be very honest,and people just worked, worked,
worked and we had to deliver.
We had to deliver.
I come from a generation I callit Generation 8PM.
8pm is the showtime, regardlesswhat If you're ready or not,
(24:59):
there are out hundreds orthousands of people who paid for
a ticket and they want to see ashow at eight.
If you come in at 4 pm to setup the show or 4 am, it doesn't
matter, it needs to be startingat eight, and this puts everyone
under immense pressure and younever had really time to you.
You know, get this off and youjust have to cope with it.
Yeah, and they always said yeah, you know, it spreads the weak
(25:22):
from the strength, and I thinkthat this was wrong, and it's
always an educational thing aswell.
So you have to progress and inmy own personal case, I took on
too many jobs in eight years orten years ago, yeah, and I could
actually feel how I degraded,to be honest.
(25:43):
So, and it was not onlymentally, that was physically as
well.
Yeah, so, and I said I need toput a stop on this because I
have done all of this, so Idon't need to prove that I can
do all of this and I just needto work in a way where it's
healthy for me, and I think Ifound that line and, yes, with
some things I was quite luckyand now I'm not jumping from one
(26:07):
opportunity to the other one.
So opportunity needs to come,opportunity needs to be right,
and then I say, yes, I'm goingto do it, or I'm not going to do
it, because otherwise you arebecoming again the hamster in
that wheel.
I see now a lot of people that Igrew up with or worked with in
the last 15, 20 years.
They basically step out and I'mwith the same people on jobs or
(26:30):
on shows, et cetera, et cetera,and I can see these people,
people, and instead of going tothe bar in the evening, they do
another yoga session, or in themorning I can see them in the
gym, or people traveling withtheir bikes to cycle around, etc
.
Etc.
And I see and I think that'sreally, really important that
also younger people understanddon't get into the treadmill,
(26:52):
just do what you think it's goodfor you.
Yeah, to balance this out, and,yes, we all do stupid hours in
in these jobs.
If you have only a 14 hour, youto balance this out and yes, we
all do stupid hours in thesejobs If you have only a 14-hour
window to set up a show and thendo the show and then dismantle,
you need to plan with two setsof crew.
You cannot continue with thesame people who set up your show
, to rehearse the show, to dothe show, to dismantle
(27:15):
everything.
So some of the event technologycompanies have actually made us
now right.
So where they have a setup crewwho is also the dismantling
crew, and they have a rehearsal,yeah, and show crew, and I
think these companies, uh, theydo it right.
Ian Carless (27:30):
I think there's an interesting dynamic that's come
about post pandemic, I think.
You know, many years agoeverybody talked a lot about
work-life balance, but it wasrarely something we ever got
right.
It might be something that wetalk about with our mates in the
pub or over a coffee, but didwe really put any steps into
place to really try and maintainthat work-life balance?
I suspect not many of us did.
(27:52):
Interestingly, now it's reallycome to the forefront, hasn't it
?
I think that time off, thattime of stillness and
introspection during COVID, madepeople really evaluate what
they wanted out of life and howhard they wanted to work.
But since then, I think, thatwhole attitude towards how much
I'm prepared to do there, Ithink people have realized that
(28:14):
there's a limit.
And actually, you know, lookingafter yourself, spending
quality time with loved ones, etcetera, et cetera, that's all
really, really important.
Stefan Weiland (28:22):
We always joked about the old people in the
events industry when they wentout for a round of golf, but,
honestly, it was the right thing.
So I joined many years ago thatclub of the club, swingers, and
it was great.
It was exactly the thing.
The only thing that I did wrongwas playing golf with event
people, because you only talkabout events.
(28:44):
So when I, when I swapped andI'm playing now a lot of golf
with hospitality people, yeah,it's a different story.
So you completely talk aboutfamilies, etc, etc.
And not necessarily about work,which is very, very nice.
Yeah, I also have seen that alot of companies changed in
terms of employee well-being,even smaller companies.
I see now they have their pedalgroups, they have their morning
(29:07):
running groups, or there's onewell-known event technology
provider who has their owncycling team and they all cycle
together.
And there's the owner of thecompany is really at the
forefront.
I don't know how many bikes hehas in his house, so he's
encouraging a lot of people inhis company to actually have the
cycling going on, which isgreat, and I can see these
people on group rides, et cetera, with their own kit.
(29:29):
So, and I think that's theright thing we have the in a lot
of the larger event technologycompanies.
You have your Filipinobasketball teams, which is great
.
So they have the summerbasketball tournaments with each
other Absolutely great.
And if employers areencouraging their people to
actually take that time to dothat sport not only the sport or
(29:52):
this time together it's alsocreating a bit more camaraderie.
It resolves a lot of stress inthe company interpersonality
stress and I think it's theright way to do so.
Ian Carless (30:03):
Yeah, I think, yeah , absolutely.
I agree 100% with what you saidthere.
I think you know you do benefitfrom the payback If you look
after your staff.
You will reap the rewards.
Stefan, before we go, are you amusic fan?
Absolutely Okay, we've beenasking everybody this.
My vinyl collection is growingonce again.
What's on your playlist at themoment?
Stefan Weiland (30:24):
Oh, to be very honest, currently it's less
music and more podcasts.
Interesting Industry podcasts afew.
Yeah, politic podcasts I knowthat that sounds weird, but
that's very interesting for me.
Financial podcasts, because I'mgoing into an age where I don't
, where I need to know what I'mdoing with my money.
I don't know if it's the rightthing to listen to these people,
(30:47):
but it's cool.
Music wise, I'm switching inbetween early 90s rock, mid 90s
techno.
We're dating ourselvesabsolutely hardcore techno.
I just attended on the 28th ofDecember.
I really really like it.
Very dark.
There was only one stroboscopein that bunker.
It was literally a bunker.
Ian Carless (31:07):
I hate to typecast, but the Germans really do love
that that was amazing and youcan really let yourself go.
Stefan Weiland (31:13):
It was great.
Big stadium shows I don't likethat anymore.
I know everyone was ravingabout the Coldplay shows.
It's not for me.
I'm now more into like bigartists in intimate club shows.
It's a game changer.
If you have the opportunity todo so, do it.
It's great.
Ian Carless (31:30):
And finally, two last questions.
Professionally, where do yousee the industry in 2025?
And personally, where do yousee yourself Well, in 2025, in
our Middle Eastern industry.
Stefan Weiland (31:44):
So we are lined up for huge conferences.
We are lined up for huge sportsevents.
Again, saudi Arabia is a beastof its own.
It's growing and it's explodingwith all the esports events we
are lined up.
We're coming back to more artyevents, which is nice.
We we see more and moreindependent and I don't know,
underground would be the wrongword but independent organized
(32:05):
events.
Yeah, alzacal avenue, they'redoing a lot of uh events in in
warehouse four, there is a lotof events so going on that who
are not in on the mainstreamcalendar, which is nice.
And this whole subculture thatwe have in dubai is amazing.
I can see that how it's beengrowing in in in riyadh.
Now there's also this kind ofsubcultural thing going on.
(32:26):
Is it coming to other middleeastern cities?
Not really sure, but I think wehave a very, very good year
2025, ahead.
When I speak to friends in theindustry, everyone says, yeah,
calendars are filling up, whichis a good sign.
Seeing myself in 2025 is I willbe traveling a lot.
(32:47):
There will be industrytechnology shows where I will be
in attendance.
I have to see clients aroundthe Middle East.
So my calendar up to end ofApril is quite full, so I'm
quite happy that I'm traveling,I'm seeing people, I'm doing the
business, yeah, so I'm alsolooking forward to this year.
Ian Carless (33:06):
Yeah Well, stefan, thanks for joining me today, and
I wish you a prosperous andhappy 2025.
Thank you, ian.
Stefan Weiland (33:12):
It was great being here and I can really
really recommend the studio aswell.
It's a good setup, Seriously, Ilike that.
Ian Carless (33:18):
Thank you very much .
Event News DXB was presented bymyself, ian Carlos, the studio
engineer and editor was RoyDeMonte, the executive producer
was myself and Joe Morrison, andthis podcast is a co-production
between Warehouse 4 and W4Podcast Studio Dubai, and if you
haven't done so already, pleasedo click that follow or
subscribe button.
See you next time.
Welcome to Event News DXB.
Before we begin, I've got aquick favour to ask.
There's one simple way that youcan support our show, and
that's by hitting that follow orsubscribe button on the app
you're listening to the show onright now.
It really does make a hugedifference in helping us get the
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So please give us a hand andclick that button right now.
Thanks a bunch.
(00:20):
Thanks a bunch.
Event News DXB.
You're listening to the EventNews DXB podcast.
Your behind-the-scenes lookinto the world of events in
Dubai, the UAE and the MENAregion.
I'm Ian Carlos and each weekI'll bring you the latest news,
(00:43):
industry trends and insiderstories shaping one of the
world's most dynamic eventmarkets.
From professional insights toDubai's most inspiring success
stories, we've got everythingyou need to stay ahead in the
ever-evolving event industry.
So, whether you're an eventplanner, a brand manager or just
someone who's totallypassionate about the power of
(01:03):
events, you're in the rightplace To kick off the Event News
DXB podcast series.
Who better to talk to than oneof the most well-known figures
in the Dubai event scene, stefanWeiland?
Originally from Germany, stefanmoved to Dubai 25 years ago and
has since worked on a long andenviable list of events both in
the UAE and around the MiddleEast.
(01:23):
However, he's perhaps bestknown as the founder of Eno, the
events industry night out, aFacebook community that now has
over 12,000 members and is amust join for anyone working in
the events industry in Dubai.
Stefan, welcome to the show.
Thank you, ian.
Thank you for inviting me.
You're most welcome.
Now, I have to confess I didhave a sneaky look at your
(01:45):
LinkedIn profile, obviously lastnight and a couple of days ago,
and you are a man of manytalents, including, of course,
eno, which we'll get on to.
But first of all, how did youend up in this region?
Stefan Weiland (01:57):
That's very interesting.
So I came for some royalweddings to Saudi in like the
end 90s and I didn't really likeit because I stayed all time in
the hotel with the elevator upfrom my room to the ballroom and
that's it.
Not seen much from the region.
And after the millennium inBerlin I got a call from someone
(02:18):
said can you accompany me toAbu?
Dhabi?
I need a production guy.
And I said yes, why not?
And so I went to Abu Dhabi,signed a contract for four weeks
, stayed for a month and afterfour months I went back to
Germany and basically decidedit's better to go to the Middle
East.
So since then it's now on the17th of January it will be 25
(02:39):
years 25.
Ian Carless (02:41):
And it goes too quickly, doesn't it?
Oh yeah, I think I've.
Just in February I'll have done22 years.
Yeah, and a similar story.
I mean, you signed up for what?
Four weeks?
Yeah, yeah, I signed up forwhat I thought was going to be
two or three years 22 years ago.
Yeah, no kidding.
So let's get onto the meat ofthings.
Eno how on earth did Eno comeabout?
Stefan Weiland (03:07):
Well, that's the story.
That goes back to 2010.
I just came from a stint with avery, very nice agency where I
was the production director ofnew technologies or something
like that, and I decided toleave that company and go
freelance again.
At the same time, my wifechanged the company and she was
starting with a company calledAl lathe scaffolding that was
still around, or is still around, and she became the first
(03:27):
business development marketingperson in that company and she
said I have not many contacts inthe industry and I have to
rebuild my contacts in theindustry.
So we need to make an eventwhere we all come together and
have a drink at the bar to makethat easy, because you know at
the bar it's easier to speakwhen you are in a room for like,
oh, this is my company and Ipresent this and that.
(03:49):
So we called a couple of peopleand everyone told us you know
you will fail.
It's what people said.
That's encouraging.
Yeah, at this time you need tounderstand there were a lot of
people still not really friendsin the industry.
So you had your acquaintances,but not friends.
Friends and a lot of companiesworked against each other.
So there was a lot of I don'twant to call this hate, but
(04:09):
there is like jealousy and thisand that, and I think we need to
overcome this.
This is ridiculous.
We all need to work togetherand at that time, 2010, there
was a lot of freelance talentfor the first time coming up and
we said, okay, we need toconnect all of these, we need to
connect agencies, we need toconnect companies, we need to
connect freelancers.
How do we do that with an event?
(04:30):
So our first event was in click.
That was a champagne lounge inemirates towers, yeah, where we
invited 40 people and 80 came.
So basically, everyone tookanother person with them and it
was great.
It was like so whoa, we neverexpected this.
And everyone said, okay, thisis this, we have to do this more
regularly, et cetera, et cetera.
(04:50):
And then we said how can wereach out to people?
And then we founded a so-calledFacebook page at that time
where we yeah, it was a page,yeah, where we reached out to
people and announced our event.
Ian Carless (05:03):
How long ago was this?
Stefan Weiland (05:04):
Also 2010.
Oh, 2010.
Yes, from that someone said,can you not change this to a
group Because I have a question?
And then we said, yeah, we cando that.
And from there it started offto what it is now, with like
12,000 people in a group where,of course, I have to moderate
about 20 post requests a day, 30to 40 joining requests a day,
(05:25):
and it's basically everything ismonitored, everything is
rejected, approved, et cetera,et cetera, based on certain
criterias, because we want tokeep the group focused on events
and I think so far we did quitewell.
We made it into a point wherewe're talking actively to
companies to become supporters.
(05:46):
So they support us with podcaststudio time, they support us
with other stuff, so we can makeit really, really a nice
community and I think so far wekept the momentum on.
I can see our events that we dobi-yearly.
It has declined from theheydays on.
(06:08):
On the, on the heydays, we had350, 400 people on on a you know
night.
That actually also became achallenge because it was too
many people trying to find avenue that can host that many
people and still being the baryeah
that we always wanted.
Yeah, uh was a challenge.
So when the pandemic hit, thatwas for us a wake-up call.
So we tried the online thingdidn't work at all.
So, uh, we had to say, okay, we, we need to skip this.
(06:30):
This is, uh, we need to bringthis back once we are all
healthy again.
We done that and we are nowback to 170 200 people for a
night, which is great, and thelast youno was so successful.
So I left at one because I hadto work next day.
But I know from the venue theysaid your guest kept us busy
(06:50):
until like 3.30 in the morningand it was for me like.
So, okay, this industry isstill a lot of things to tell,
to talk and to discuss.
Ian Carless (06:59):
Yeah, Now we'll talk about the pandemic very
shortly, but in the meantime itcan be a thankless task, can't
it running a community grouplike that?
Stefan Weiland (07:25):
but it became much, much more than this and it
is now for us.
It's not a corporate socialresponsibility, it's just like a
community social responsibilityto run this and we, we're still
loving it, we're still doing it.
Yes, sometimes it's reallyfrustrating when you get
messages that some people sayyou didn't accept me, why, and
starting discussions and all ofthat.
Or in this post, someone wrotesomething that I was not allowed
(07:46):
and this and that and I, Ireally asked a little bit more
for for lenience to us as well,because we, again, we do this in
our spare time.
Yeah, this is our, our socialbaby.
Yeah, we do this, we love it,but if it takes a day or two, or
even if we are on holidays,please forgive us that your post
has not been immediatelyapproved.
Again, we do this everything byhand and by eye, one by one,
(08:11):
and we cannot just, you know,dedicate our whole life to this
page.
That's not really what it is.
Ian Carless (08:16):
Yeah.
Now, just moving on to thepandemic there, I can imagine
that the number of peoplecommenting and wanting to get
involved in discussionsincreased tenfold.
I know there were some quiteinteresting, shall we say,
discussions around the time,particularly with obviously so
many of us in the event industryout of work, and you know,
there was a little bit of fingerpointing towards perhaps what
(08:39):
people felt other entitiesshould be doing to help, etc.
First of all, what were yourthoughts about that whole
pandemic process in relation tothe industry?
And then, how did you managethe discussion on Eno around it,
because some of them, as I said, got a little bit heated,
didn't they?
Stefan Weiland (08:55):
Yeah, so of course it affected every one of
us, including me at this time,and I was a little bit lucky
because I got asked to work fora Canadian company on a retainer
basis, which was really reallygood and helped to survive that
I know others were really reallyhit by it financially.
Of course some people put theirlife savings in to survive.
(09:17):
Others had to leave the countryto seek other opportunities.
I know from people who wentback to the UK and were driving
UPS vans during that time.
So there is people who survivedand I think thanks to the
government here, who was first alittle bit looked at for
imposing the lockdown.
(09:37):
But that lockdown lasted twomonths and after the two months
we basically were the firstcountries bringing back to life
we were I mean the othercountries had it much worse.
Yeah, absolutely.
So the whole idea of we doingthis, we have to do this, we
have to run a company, so I'mreally thankful for the
government how they handled it.
I was again lucky that I scoredanother project with the Expo
(10:01):
and during that time, expohelped us tremendously A lot of
people from Dubai and a lot ofpeople from all over the world
actually, and we have seen a lotof people who never left after
Expo who are still here.
We have seen a lot ofprofessionalism coming in with
Expo because Expo said, okay, wehave to do it like this, we
have to do it like this, andthis continues in a way where I
(10:27):
think it's a huge improvementfor us and I I think personally
but that's my own personalopinion that we are now in the
middle east are actually theleaders of the events industry.
See how much we are handling onevents per year.
That's much more than in europe, in the us or in Asia.
How much or the size of theevents we are delivering is
(10:48):
nowhere seen in the US, anywhereelse in America, in Europe or
in Asia.
So our events are always bigbecause our surrounding
governments they spend a lot ofmoney into these events and I
think we can be very, very luckyto work in this thieving
industry and economy.
Ian Carless (11:05):
How did you manage the discussions around this?
Because I know at the time, asI say, people were looking a
little out.
I mean, there was a lot ofcommunity.
What I thought was encouragingabout that time as well, it
fostered a stronger sense ofcommunity.
I think there were a lot ofpeople that did actually try and
come together and pull togetherto help those of other people
who were really really, reallystruggling.
But at the same time, there wasa little bit of like questions,
(11:27):
shall we say, in terms ofparticularly towards the Event
Industry Association.
So how did you manage thosediscussions and also how do you
think that that role played outduring that time?
Stefan Weiland (11:39):
Well, so we started very, very fast with
setting up another communityoutreach platform.
That was Crew for Crew crew,where we basically ask okay,
just take the skills that youhave and redeploy them
differently.
So we know that some of thelabor supply companies, starting
with removals and helped withcheaper offices removals and
cheaper warehouse removals, etc,etc.
(12:01):
During that time we know thatsome of the set building
companies they went intointerior fit outs, etc.
Etc.
But this was all again a littlebit of community engagement.
So I need to have my apartmentpainted?
Yeah, okay, I will do that forhalf the price and the painters
doing it because you are fromthe industry.
We helped with jobs, etc, etc.
So that was that good thing andwe tried to cap that into the
(12:22):
crew for crew platform, keepingthis out of the platform.
Again.
In the eno platform, we had theother challenge where people
suddenly questioned of the stateshould pay me, where's our
association, um, etc, etc.
Well, the question with theassociation was at that point
yeah, where's the association?
People asked me to to put on anassociation, but with the laws
(12:43):
that we're having here in theUAE, that's not really possible
because there's only oneassociation per industry.
So, and if this is set and I'mnot the person to run an
association.
That's just not me.
I run communities.
I can do that, I know how to dothat and I'm very social, but
as an association head, nah,that's not for me.
(13:03):
So, on the you know platform,we we try to moderate this in a
in a way where we don't offendanyone.
Obviously it's a public pagewhere people can join.
It's not a private page.
It's a company run page becauseout of the laws that we have in
the middle east, we have to dothat.
So we maintain an extra tradelicense for that.
So this is the amount of youknow I put into this whole setup
(13:28):
of Eno.
However, with this comesresponsibility, and the
responsibility was that you notcensor but you moderate what's
going on there, because some ofthe people who got very
frustrated went out with angerand I think some people didn't
hit the right tone,understandably, because they
(13:48):
were forced to do things thatthey wouldn't like to do, but I
think as well it was a learningcurve for a lot of people.
So the discussions toned downvery much and it was then again
more about like how can we worktogether?
How can you help me?
Course, lots of people put lotsof effort into that and said
okay, I need a job, help me,please help me, I need to pay my
(14:10):
bills, et cetera, et cetera.
But it's not about just like Igive you a job because you need
to pay your bills, I need toalso give the job to someone who
can do the job.
Otherwise I'm doing two jobs.
Ian Carless (14:17):
So it doesn't make sense.
I mean two questions really.
We'll come on to this one in asecond.
I wanted to ask you about whereyou see or your thoughts about
new talent coming into theindustry, but before that I just
wanted to pick it up on justthe end of the pandemic.
Do you think we've recovered?
Do you think the industry isnow at a stage where it was
pre-pandemic?
That's a good question.
Stefan Weiland (14:39):
I think, post-pandemic, we had a massive
spike with everything, withevent technology, sales, with
companies springing up left,right and center.
Currently, I think we're alittle bit hit by a saturation
in the market, not only in termsof services, companies, et
cetera, et cetera, also in termsof events.
So you can actually see that wehave a lot of events going on.
(15:01):
Are the quality of the eventsgetting better?
Currently, in my own opinion,it's not.
You're not alone in that fact.
Yeah, so why is that?
So, is that because of thetalent?
Is it because of budgets?
Is it because of there's justtoo many events?
I personally think it's justtoo many events.
There's a lot of event agencieswho work on public events who
cannot sell enough ticketsbecause it's just oversaturation
(15:24):
.
On the the other hand, peoplefrom other industries jumped
into okay, this event stuff isgreat because there's so many
events, they need stuff.
I'm going to become an eventprofessional, but then again,
with no means of getting trained, it's becoming very, very
difficult.
So everyone, especiallypost-pandemic, there was a lot
of people saying so I am a stagemanager, I, I am a site manager
(15:44):
, etc.
Etc.
What's their qualification?
So we don't have any protectionin our job names, job
descriptions.
There is not even common jobdescriptions.
If you take TV and if you takeevents, a producer is two
different things.
A production manager in filmand a production manager in
events is two different things.
The thing here is that lots ofpeople said, okay, I can just
cross work things.
(16:06):
The thing here is that lots ofpeople said, okay, I can just
cross work.
And this is where I thinkquality can go down, because
people just don't bring thenecessary skills with them that
you expect as a client.
Ian Carless (16:15):
Well, that's certainly, I mean, that's
certainly a problem when itcomes to event organizers.
I mean, there's the old adage,isn't it really that all you
need to be an event manager is auh, you know a phone and a
filofax?
Stefan Weiland (16:25):
well, I'm dating myself there.
Ian Carless (16:27):
Maybe not a filofax anymore, maybe an ipad but but
you know, there are, there are,that's it.
That's all you need and a good,you know, sense of
organizational ability.
So, going back to young peopleand new talent come into the
industry.
Where do you think we're at?
Specifically here in the middleeast?
Because, because I think,across many industries, training
is a forgotten word.
(16:47):
It's the thing that you do ifyou've got a little bit of
budget at the end of the year, Isuspect or if you absolutely
have to.
So how do young people comeinto the industry and are they
coming into the industry?
Stefan Weiland (16:59):
That's one of the big problems that I can see.
Currently there is a lot ofyoung people who are trying to
do work experience etc.
Thanks, scott.
We have a couple of technicalproviders who have trainee
programs and they do this quitewell.
The other thing is thatagencies don't really like to
employ trainees because it'sjust for them.
It's an extra burden.
(17:20):
People ask questions etc.
And in this fast-paced eventindustry it's like bum, bum, bum
, bum, bum.
You don't have time.
It's also a lot of people stillare under the impression that
if I tell this young guy how itworks tomorrow, he will take my
job.
I think this is completelywrong Because at one point we
will all become old, gray-hairedand very slow and there is no
(17:42):
one there anymore to actually doour jobs and then we have
worked twice and that's not howit should be.
Young people are still coming in.
A lot of people in between the18 and 21 year old.
They want to do the influencerevents.
They don't want to do thecompany conference, the open
days, etc, etc.
Finding some people working onexhibitions seems to be a big
(18:02):
problem.
I think a lot of people whenthey study economics and then go
into project management, andthis is how they should come
into the events industry.
Of course you have your youngpeople who go into training
programs, but it's rarelyYounger people then.
See, you know, I can work 20hours a day in an events
management company for thisevent and I earn this little bit
(18:24):
of money or I go into I don'twant to say real estate.
But I see young people goinginto trade again with, like,
drop shipping and this kind ofAmazon dealings, et cetera, et
cetera, et cetera, which is forsome successful, for others not
so much, but definitely theydon't need to work the 20 hours
(18:45):
to make the same money.
But I think this shift is inall of the industries that we
are seeing.
So trade is a big problem.
So finding the carpenter,finding the mason and all of
that is exactly the same thing.
So trying to find youngerpeople, it's problematic.
Ian Carless (18:59):
Yeah, just circling back to what we were talking
about in terms of do we thinkthe industry is where it's at
and, in particular, in referenceto the standards, what are your
thoughts for where the industryis at right now?
You mentioned that you don'tthink the quality of events is
perhaps as good as it used to be.
(19:19):
What are the factors at playthere?
I mean, dubai is no longer acheap place to live, isn't it Is
cost one of those live?
Isn't it is cost one of thosethings?
Is the talent drain one ofthose things?
Or a combination of everything?
Stefan Weiland (19:31):
it's a good question.
So I attending a lot of eventsand I can see different things.
There is the spend onproduction is going down to
spend more on fnb experience,because I think it's about
experiences.
So I don't want to tap onanyone's shoes, yeah, but I
(19:51):
don't think it's the talent perper se, it's the.
It's the focus of these events.
So the focus of of the events,of having this nice big screen
with some entertainment, etc.
Etc.
We have incredibleentertainment in Dubai,
incredible entertainmentproducers as well.
I wish they could do what theywant to do, because that would
achieve a little much, much,much more interesting stuff.
(20:13):
So everything is just aboutlike.
So we need to have this fiveminutes launch moment, and then
it's about fancy cocktails, it'sabout this, that and whatsoever
and, I think, a lot of otherthings that where we're looking
into like the good stuff, intolike content, nice content,
production on screen, contentproduction it's a little bit
left out.
The whole theatrical build ofsuch a show has been left out.
(20:34):
A lot of people basically sayoh yeah, I'm just doing an event
and the event is the clienttold me they want this, this,
this, this, and then I look intoit and it's like so yeah, but
it doesn't make sense.
Ian Carless (20:44):
There's no story, yeah, so we need to build a
story.
Stefan Weiland (20:46):
Yeah, but it's not about the story.
It's about, uh, the guests.
No, no, it's all about thestory.
Yes, and I'm trying to explainthis to people, and that's why I
said you need to trust me.
I'm doing this for a couple ofyears and I built a story in
this whole thing, and if I saythis person needs to go from
left to the right to the stage,there's a reason behind it and
just trust me, it just makessense because you don't want to
(21:07):
have like people crisscrossingstages, you don't want to have
long blackouts in between a show, in show segments.
Ian Carless (21:13):
Do you think creativity is also lacking?
I mean, you know we've bothbeen here, you know 20 something
years.
I'll be honest in my experienceof Dubai, I think in general
it's a bit risk averse acrossmany industries, events being no
exception.
And if you combine that nowwith perhaps smaller budgets
(21:33):
available for events, peoplejust don't want to take risks.
Stefan Weiland (21:35):
Yes, that's one thing.
Many, many years ago, we couldsee this like I don't want to
say six to eight or 10 companies, the large companies who doing
all the big shows, and they werebasically employing a lot of
very experienced talent.
Now we see these big showsshifted.
We don't have this 50 big showsper year.
Yeah, we now have a thousandsmaller shows.
(21:55):
Yeah, and with the thousandsmaller shows comes smaller
budget, comes more people thatyou need, so you cannot get all
this hyper-knowledgedprofessionals, so you need to
get other people in there.
And then a lot of people go tooh, yeah, we use this guy and we
replicate our basically shows.
I have seen this with agencieswho, basically a launch event is
(22:17):
a launch event.
We use the perfume bar, we usethe cocktail guy, we use the
same dancers that we had at thelast launch.
We only change the content andit's basically the company name
in the content.
Yeah, you can do that and,honestly, it reduces the cost of
the event, which is nice.
However, as a guest and you go,especially in in the real
(22:38):
estate sector, you go to a lotof events because that's where
you basically buy yourapartments these people.
They now have a little bit offatigue, so they only go there
or they come late when they knowit's now being.
I can talk to this guy and hesells me 10 or 20 apartments,
but no one is really looking atas the stage anymore.
(22:58):
Yesterday I was in an event andthey had a very nice stage
presenter.
The mc was great, was brilliant, kept it really tight, kept it
really online bum, bum, bum, bum, bum.
It was great.
It was a networking event atthe same time and then there was
this break in between wherethey had on stage entertainment
which was a singer and asaxophonist.
Well, the music was very nice,but it's something where, for me
(23:22):
personally, everything felldown and then they had suddenly
appearing some really reallycool dance performance, but
without announcing it.
So a lot of people were eitheroutside the room or looked at it
and didn't really understandwhy is now this Pearl Dancers on
stage, looked at it and didn'treally understand why is now
this Pearl Dancers on stage?
Well, I think this could haveactually put a little bit better
(23:44):
into perspective so that peoplehave a better experience,
because now just people go to anevent, have their dinner, some
awards have been given out andthat's it.
So the experience part was alittle bit missing.
Ian Carless (23:54):
Yeah, just going back to the pandemic and what
it's meant to people, I thinkour industry wasn't alone.
Everybody had a lot of time ontheir hands and I think there
was a lot of time forintrospection, wasn't there?
We had a little chat before westarted the podcast about how,
what a fast paced industry.
This is the stress that it putson you.
I don't want to get intonecessarily the whole mental
(24:14):
health aspect, but I think youknow wellbeing became very much
at the top of people's lists,didn't it?
Looking after yourself, looking, you know, particularly looking
after yourself.
How have you changedpost-pandemic?
I know you alluded to a fewpersonal health issues that
you'd had.
Can you talk to us a little bitabout those and how that's
affected your relationship withwork and the industry?
Stefan Weiland (24:37):
Well, yeah, that's definitely a common thing
, and you can see that the wholeidea of mental health didn't
really exist, to be very honest,and people just worked, worked,
worked and we had to deliver.
We had to deliver.
I come from a generation I callit Generation 8PM.
8pm is the showtime, regardlesswhat If you're ready or not,
(24:59):
there are out hundreds orthousands of people who paid for
a ticket and they want to see ashow at eight.
If you come in at 4 pm to setup the show or 4 am, it doesn't
matter, it needs to be startingat eight, and this puts everyone
under immense pressure and younever had really time to you.
You know, get this off and youjust have to cope with it.
Yeah, and they always said yeah, you know, it spreads the weak
(25:22):
from the strength, and I thinkthat this was wrong, and it's
always an educational thing aswell.
So you have to progress and inmy own personal case, I took on
too many jobs in eight years orten years ago, yeah, and I could
actually feel how I degraded,to be honest.
(25:43):
So, and it was not onlymentally, that was physically as
well.
Yeah, so, and I said I need toput a stop on this because I
have done all of this, so Idon't need to prove that I can
do all of this and I just needto work in a way where it's
healthy for me, and I think Ifound that line and, yes, with
some things I was quite luckyand now I'm not jumping from one
(26:07):
opportunity to the other one.
So opportunity needs to come,opportunity needs to be right,
and then I say, yes, I'm goingto do it, or I'm not going to do
it, because otherwise you arebecoming again the hamster in
that wheel.
I see now a lot of people that Igrew up with or worked with in
the last 15, 20 years.
They basically step out and I'mwith the same people on jobs or
(26:30):
on shows, et cetera, et cetera,and I can see these people,
people, and instead of going tothe bar in the evening, they do
another yoga session, or in themorning I can see them in the
gym, or people traveling withtheir bikes to cycle around, etc
.
Etc.
And I see and I think that'sreally, really important that
also younger people understanddon't get into the treadmill,
(26:52):
just do what you think it's goodfor you.
Yeah, to balance this out, and,yes, we all do stupid hours in
in these jobs.
If you have only a 14 hour, youto balance this out and yes, we
all do stupid hours in thesejobs If you have only a 14-hour
window to set up a show and thendo the show and then dismantle,
you need to plan with two setsof crew.
You cannot continue with thesame people who set up your show
, to rehearse the show, to dothe show, to dismantle
(27:15):
everything.
So some of the event technologycompanies have actually made us
now right.
So where they have a setup crewwho is also the dismantling
crew, and they have a rehearsal,yeah, and show crew, and I
think these companies, uh, theydo it right.
Ian Carless (27:30):
I think there's an interesting dynamic that's come
about post pandemic, I think.
You know, many years agoeverybody talked a lot about
work-life balance, but it wasrarely something we ever got
right.
It might be something that wetalk about with our mates in the
pub or over a coffee, but didwe really put any steps into
place to really try and maintainthat work-life balance?
I suspect not many of us did.
(27:52):
Interestingly, now it's reallycome to the forefront, hasn't it
?
I think that time off, thattime of stillness and
introspection during COVID, madepeople really evaluate what
they wanted out of life and howhard they wanted to work.
But since then, I think, thatwhole attitude towards how much
I'm prepared to do there, Ithink people have realized that
(28:14):
there's a limit.
And actually, you know, lookingafter yourself, spending
quality time with loved ones, etcetera, et cetera, that's all
really, really important.
Stefan Weiland (28:22):
We always joked about the old people in the
events industry when they wentout for a round of golf, but,
honestly, it was the right thing.
So I joined many years ago thatclub of the club, swingers, and
it was great.
It was exactly the thing.
The only thing that I did wrongwas playing golf with event
people, because you only talkabout events.
(28:44):
So when I, when I swapped andI'm playing now a lot of golf
with hospitality people, yeah,it's a different story.
So you completely talk aboutfamilies, etc, etc.
And not necessarily about work,which is very, very nice.
Yeah, I also have seen that alot of companies changed in
terms of employee well-being,even smaller companies.
I see now they have their pedalgroups, they have their morning
(29:07):
running groups, or there's onewell-known event technology
provider who has their owncycling team and they all cycle
together.
And there's the owner of thecompany is really at the
forefront.
I don't know how many bikes hehas in his house, so he's
encouraging a lot of people inhis company to actually have the
cycling going on, which isgreat, and I can see these
people on group rides, et cetera, with their own kit.
(29:29):
So, and I think that's theright thing we have the in a lot
of the larger event technologycompanies.
You have your Filipinobasketball teams, which is great
.
So they have the summerbasketball tournaments with each
other Absolutely great.
And if employers areencouraging their people to
actually take that time to dothat sport not only the sport or
(29:52):
this time together it's alsocreating a bit more camaraderie.
It resolves a lot of stress inthe company interpersonality
stress and I think it's theright way to do so.
Ian Carless (30:03):
Yeah, I think, yeah , absolutely.
I agree 100% with what you saidthere.
I think you know you do benefitfrom the payback If you look
after your staff.
You will reap the rewards.
Stefan, before we go, are you amusic fan?
Absolutely Okay, we've beenasking everybody this.
My vinyl collection is growingonce again.
What's on your playlist at themoment?
Stefan Weiland (30:24):
Oh, to be very honest, currently it's less
music and more podcasts.
Interesting Industry podcasts afew.
Yeah, politic podcasts I knowthat that sounds weird, but
that's very interesting for me.
Financial podcasts, because I'mgoing into an age where I don't
, where I need to know what I'mdoing with my money.
I don't know if it's the rightthing to listen to these people,
(30:47):
but it's cool.
Music wise, I'm switching inbetween early 90s rock, mid 90s
techno.
We're dating ourselvesabsolutely hardcore techno.
I just attended on the 28th ofDecember.
I really really like it.
Very dark.
There was only one stroboscopein that bunker.
It was literally a bunker.
Ian Carless (31:07):
I hate to typecast, but the Germans really do love
that that was amazing and youcan really let yourself go.
Stefan Weiland (31:13):
It was great.
Big stadium shows I don't likethat anymore.
I know everyone was ravingabout the Coldplay shows.
It's not for me.
I'm now more into like bigartists in intimate club shows.
It's a game changer.
If you have the opportunity todo so, do it.
It's great.
Ian Carless (31:30):
And finally, two last questions.
Professionally, where do yousee the industry in 2025?
And personally, where do yousee yourself Well, in 2025, in
our Middle Eastern industry.
Stefan Weiland (31:44):
So we are lined up for huge conferences.
We are lined up for huge sportsevents.
Again, saudi Arabia is a beastof its own.
It's growing and it's explodingwith all the esports events we
are lined up.
We're coming back to more artyevents, which is nice.
We we see more and moreindependent and I don't know,
underground would be the wrongword but independent organized
(32:05):
events.
Yeah, alzacal avenue, they'redoing a lot of uh events in in
warehouse four, there is a lotof events so going on that who
are not in on the mainstreamcalendar, which is nice.
And this whole subculture thatwe have in dubai is amazing.
I can see that how it's beengrowing in in in riyadh.
Now there's also this kind ofsubcultural thing going on.
(32:26):
Is it coming to other middleeastern cities?
Not really sure, but I think wehave a very, very good year
2025, ahead.
When I speak to friends in theindustry, everyone says, yeah,
calendars are filling up, whichis a good sign.
Seeing myself in 2025 is I willbe traveling a lot.
(32:47):
There will be industrytechnology shows where I will be
in attendance.
I have to see clients aroundthe Middle East.
So my calendar up to end ofApril is quite full, so I'm
quite happy that I'm traveling,I'm seeing people, I'm doing the
business, yeah, so I'm alsolooking forward to this year.
Ian Carless (33:06):
Yeah Well, stefan, thanks for joining me today, and
I wish you a prosperous andhappy 2025.
Thank you, ian.
Stefan Weiland (33:12):
It was great being here and I can really
really recommend the studio aswell.
It's a good setup, Seriously, Ilike that.
Ian Carless (33:18):
Thank you very much .
Event News DXB was presented bymyself, ian Carlos, the studio
engineer and editor was RoyDeMonte, the executive producer
was myself and Joe Morrison, andthis podcast is a co-production
between Warehouse 4 and W4Podcast Studio Dubai, and if you
haven't done so already, pleasedo click that follow or
subscribe button.
See you next time.
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