April 10, 2025 • 34 mins
Paul Berger: Built To Impress with Arena Events Group CEO
In this episode, Paul Berger, CEO of Arena Events Group, shares his journey from the advertising world of 1990s Dubai to leading one of the world’s premier event infrastructure companies. From launching the city’s first indoor karting facility to developing Dubai Autodrome and scaling Arena globally, Paul has played a pivotal role in shaping the event landscape.
He opens up about the surprising differences between global event markets—especially how the Middle East consistently outpaces the US and UK in event quality and guest expectations.
Paul also unpacks the power of long-term partnerships in the industry and reveals Arena’s plans to move beyond seasonal events and into semi-permanent, game-changing structures.
Whether you're in events, hospitality, or just curious about how world-class experiences are built, this episode is packed with insight, inspiration and a masterclass in global scale-up strategy.
Podcast Rundown
• Arrival and early days in Dubai.
• Dubai AutoDrome and F1.
• Joining Harlequin and partnering with Arena.
• Arena's expansion throughout Middle East and Asia.
• Key market differentials and quality gap.
• Importance of long-term partnerships over transactional relationships.
• Health of Dubai's events industry.
• Arena's future plans.
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.
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(00:20):
Thanks a bunch.
You're listening to the EventNews DXB podcast your
behind-the-scenes look into theworld of events in Dubai, the
UAE and the MENA region.
(00:41):
I'm Ian Carlos and each weekI'll bring you the latest news,
industry trends and insiderstories from the people shaping
one of the world's most dynamicevent markets.
This week on Event News DXB,we're talking to Paul Berger,
ceo of the Arena Events Group, aglobal event services company
with offices in the UK, us,middle East and Asia.
(01:02):
Paul's career highlightsinclude tripling in size Arena
Middle East and Asia to becomethe fastest growing division
within the group.
He brings a lengthy history ofworking in events in the region,
cutting his teeth as an accountdirector with BBDO and then
later establishing his ownsports marketing company, but
it's perhaps safe to say thatit's his work with Arena where
(01:23):
he's really made a dramaticimpact.
Paul, welcome to the podcast,thank you.
Paul Berger (01:27):
Thank you for inviting me in.
Ian Carless (01:28):
Now I've got a whole bunch of stuff that I want
to cover with you today, butlet's do what we always do.
Let's start at the beginning.
What brought you to Dubai, gosh?
Paul Berger (01:36):
yes, that was in the 90s.
I was working in London inadvertising and I picked up
campaign one day, as you do.
Yeah, saw a very interestingposition being advertised in
Dubai for the BBDO group.
Omnicom group Wanted an accountdirector on their below the
line we used to call it belowthe line in those days below the
(01:56):
line activities, which was myspeciality Interviewed and ended
up being offered the job tomove to Dubai.
That happened in the 90s.
I expected to be here threeyears working for an
international advertising agency, thought I'd move on within the
group.
And here I am, you know, 25, 30years later.
Ian Carless (02:15):
It's a common story , isn't it?
I mean, I'm the same.
I think I arrived here thinking, oh yeah, two or three years,
and then yet, 22 years later,still here.
It's a comfortable groove,isn't it, that you get into here
.
I'm not going to call it a rut,because that's a negative
connotation, but it makes itvery easy to move on, or very
difficult to move on so you'vegot to be pretty determined or
focused if you really want toleave.
Paul Berger (02:35):
I mean, yes, you do get into a groove.
It's been a fantastic journeyhere, extremely enjoyable and,
yeah, difficult difficult toleave.
In fact, people who I've met onthat journey who've left, often
come back because they haven'tbeen able to sort of resettle
after four or five years indubai and often come back.
(02:56):
It's always that.
It's that question that alleverybody who's still here asks
each other.
You know where we're going toend up one day and it's uh, yeah
, none of us expected to be herethis long yeah now, I met you.
Ian Carless (03:06):
I think it was back in 2003, 2004, and you were in
a very different role then,weren't you?
I think you'd probably moved onfrom the agency.
I met you actually on a kartingtrack at the uh, was it
american university and dubaimedia city.
Paul Berger (03:19):
Yes, that's exactly so.
Yeah, look, after I left theadvertising world, I loved Dubai
, didn't want to leave, didn'treally want to stay in
advertising, but looked aroundand decided to go into
motorsports.
And in those days, ian, therewas desert rallying and there
was what I did with the karting.
There was no Formula One, therewas no motor racing tracks
(03:41):
anywhere in the Middle East,motor racing tracks anywhere in
the middle east, and I saw thisniche it was very popular at
that time in london,particularly indoor karting, and
I saw, yeah, the weather,people wanted to do things more
inside.
So I thought, yeah, let's get abig warehouse, put some air
conditioning units in there, puta track down and let's go
racing and, and and that's whathappened.
And then that expanded toarranging 24 hour endurance
(04:07):
racing.
Ian Carless (04:08):
That's right.
Paul Berger (04:09):
That's right Outside on the streets and we
used to build temporary circuits.
One was at the AmericanUniversity in Dubai, outside the
old hard rock in those days YepGosh, yeah.
To do it down at DubaiInternational Marine Club.
We did it on the.
We closed the roads at theHyatt Regency opposite the
British Embassy in Dubai.
I mean, we did about 22 racesover the years and we had three,
(04:33):
three or 400 people racing, youknow, split into teams
obviously.
Ian Carless (04:36):
Good fun, I remember that.
I remember that.
Fantastic.
I'm sure it was hard work.
Paul Berger (04:40):
It was stressful, it was hard work because
obviously you're closing publicroads and building temporary
tracks.
You know health and safety wasalways on the you know you
thought what could happen.
That was always a worry becausethese carts were fast.
I mean they were going 120kilometers.
They're two engines pro carts,220 kilometers.
You know, on the straights andthese weren't professional
(05:01):
drivers.
You know there were some,obviously some Formula One
drivers or ex-F1 drivers, racingand celebrities, but generally
they were just people, you know,having fun.
Ian Carless (05:10):
Yeah, now we'll move on.
Obviously, your journeycontinued and you've moved on to
Arena, but you mentionedFormula One there.
You had a little stint as well,didn't you?
I did, being associated orworking alongside F1.
Paul Berger (05:21):
I did so.
We were advertising karting.
Ian Carless (05:23):
Yeah.
Paul Berger (05:24):
And then I ended up building the first racing track
here, which was the DubaiAutodrome, with union properties
.
So, yeah, that was an idea thatwe came up with, managed to
convince the UP to secure theland and we built what is now
today's Motor City.
That was a fabulous experience,you know, taking a piece of
(05:46):
desert and creating a, you know,a world-class motor racing
track out of nothing.
And then, just accidentally,and because I spent the last
sort of that time, most of mytime in motor racing, it built
up quite an interest in thesport.
Yeah, ended up working in f1and setting it, set up my own,
uh, consultancy here that workedwith a number of teams,
(06:07):
particularly mclaren, ferrari,williams, worked with them to
develop their business, theirpartnerships in this part of the
world.
Yeah, again, I reiterate,bahrain was the first track that
came on stream and now we'vegot four formula one tracks, but
in those days it was reallylimited to bahrain.
The dubai autodrome was nevergoing to host an f1, but it was
(06:29):
certainly could do.
It was, it was built to thatpurpose.
So, yeah, I worked in f1 and Iloved it.
I mean, I, I worked in thecourtyard and el coz had
fabulous offices.
Um, really, really enjoyed it.
Yeah, similar to where we'resitting today.
Really enjoyed it.
Traveled, went to probably 14,15 of the races a year, so most
of them, certainly two thirds.
Ian Carless (06:50):
Yeah.
Paul Berger (06:51):
Worked really closely with some fabulous teams
, fabulous drivers, enjoyed thesport.
And then I got a call out ofthe blue from my brother-in-law
who had set up in the late 90swhat is best described as an
upmarket english marquee companyhere called harlequin.
Yeah, the famous harlequin thatlaunched in the early 2000s and
(07:14):
basically was the go-to partytents company that if you wanted
a, if you wanted a superamazing tent built in your
garden or for your function orwhatever it was, um, harlequin
was the go-to company.
Right, very small business setup from by charlie and his wife,
and it had been going about 10years and charlie, out of the
blue, called me one day and said, can we have a coffee?
(07:35):
And that was the start of thenext chapter in my life, if it
was going into event servicesright.
Ian Carless (07:41):
How different was that industry from what you were
doing before, and also howdifficult was the transition it
wasn't that difficult.
Paul Berger (07:48):
Okay, the big challenges were going from
running a very small sportsconsultancy, which was
effectively myself and a fewothers yeah, to running a
company with 50 45 people yeah,and then growing that company
subsequently.
Um, so, yeah, you had all theissues of managing people and
leading a company rather thanreally just effectively doing it
for yourself, the businessitself.
(08:10):
I mean, I didn't need to knowwhat the front end, the back end
, of a tent was.
I mean, technically, I knewnothing about structures.
I know a little bit more today,obviously, but at that time in
2009, I knew very little.
But where the similarities werewas before I acquired Harlequin
(08:30):
.
I decided that I would bring ina partner, and that partner was
Arena, and Arena at that timewere the largest event services
company in the UK Just the UK,very well known company in the
UK just the UK, very well known.
They're building the iconicsummer events in the UK, like
(08:50):
the Open, queens and Wimbledonand Henley Royal Regatta and all
the Derby and all those famousevents in the UK that they were
well known for.
And they were fundamentally atent company and a seating
company and 90% of theirbusiness was in sports.
When I approached Arena andsaid look, would you be
interested in expanding into theMiddle East?
They were, so we did ittogether.
(09:12):
So there were huge similarities.
But, having come from the F1world, having come from
organizing events to thecommercial side and partnerships
in F1, then coming into eventservices, but event services
that were mainly around sports,there was a lot of similarity.
Ian Carless (09:30):
Now I think it's safe to say, isn't it, that
Arena's seen some absolutelyphenomenal growth over the last
sort of 10 years.
What's been the main driver ofthat?
Paul Berger (09:37):
Yeah.
So when I got involved withArena, it was owned by two
entrepreneurial Irish guys whobought it two or three years
before.
The younger one was very keento build the brand into a global
event services company, theother one less so.
Dubai and Harlequin was thefirst stop on that journey.
(09:58):
I then ran the first part ofthe international business.
So when we took over Harlequin,the strategy was to grow the
business in the Middle East andthen to grow it into Asia and in
parallel, my colleague inLondon.
We left the UK alone.
He then focused on growing thebusiness into America.
That growth was funded by wewent into private equity.
(10:20):
So for five years we had twoLondon private equity funds that
would back that growth for us,and so it was done largely by
acquisition.
So what I would do is I wouldgo.
When I went into Asia andMalaysia, we identified a
structured business.
We would work with them for ayear and then, if we got to know
(10:41):
each other and we felt thatthere was a marriage, there a
synergy we did get married andwe bought the business, started
off in singapore, we then wentinto malaysia, which is where
our main hub is today in asia.
We then went into hong kong, didthe same thing in korea, set up
some joint ventures in japanand the same over here in the
middle east.
(11:01):
You know, we grew organicallyand by sort of bolt-on
acquisitions and ended up, asyou can imagine, you know, in
Saudi, which is now a veryimportant part of our business
globally.
So that was the journey.
It was funded by private equity.
We then listed on the LondonStock Exchange, on the secondary
market, in 2017.
(11:22):
So the P exited then and thenfor the next five years we were
a publicly listed company righton and through the majority of
COVID.
Ian Carless (11:31):
So I think what's quite interesting and I'd like
to tap into a little bit isobviously your experience across
the markets and the things thatdifferentiate between the
markets.
It's not too often so far thatwe get somebody on board who's
got experience, you knowworldwide.
So what would you say was thedifference, for example, between
the market here in terms ofevents, and say Europe and Asia?
Paul Berger (11:54):
Yeah, it's interesting.
I mean, if I talk about arena,I mean although we're similar in
terms of our offering.
So our offering isfundamentally temporary
structures, you know, temporaryseating, and then we in some
parts we'll do fencing andbarriers.
Each market is very different.
In the US we are primarily atenting company.
(12:15):
We do the frame and canvas.
We do not get involved in anyof the interiors, the fit out,
the look and feel of thestructure.
We simply go in and do theframing, canvas and we're the
largest in the US Right, okay,and that's what the market.
They prefer to work withmultiple suppliers in that
(12:37):
respect.
In the UK it's similar, althoughin the UK we might do the
linings and some basic fit outon the structures.
We're very big on grandstandsand temporary seating in the UK
and then we also do the fencingand barriers.
In the Middle East it's verydifferent.
In the Middle East we do acomplete turnkey.
(12:57):
So we don't only just build thestructure but we take care of
the interiors.
We create the hospitalityexperience.
We put the cooling in the airconditioning, we fit it out, we
make it look like a wonderful,you know, designed, five star,
whatever is required.
So we do the furniture, we dothe interiors that fit out all
(13:18):
the general look and interiordesign of that um.
So it's a turnkey service whatdrives that then?
Ian Carless (13:25):
what drives that differentiation?
Paul Berger (13:27):
I think for us, you know the, the uae in particular
, which is effectively the, the,you know the events has been
for many years the eventscapital of the Middle East.
It is extremely competitive,extremely competitive.
And we as a company, you knowyou, have very, very good
(13:48):
structures, companies who willjust provide the structure at a
very, very good cost-effectiverate.
For us to be able to compete inthat market, we have to offer
something different.
For us, it's about innovation.
It's about being able to offersomething that nobody else can.
So always looking at the latestdesigns, interiors, and being
(14:12):
able to fulfill that as aturnkey and offering that
one-stop shop, you will, wherean event manager, an event
promoter, doesn't have to talkto 10 different companies.
He can say, right, arena, canyou build that?
And knows from a to z thatthey'll be able to walk into
that structure.
Everything is there and thenext thing is, you know, put the
(14:34):
catering in and the guests comein.
It's a turnkey and it's a much,it's headache free.
We don't have that skill set inthe US and we don't have that
skill set necessarily in the UK,but that's how we positioned
ourselves here and that's howwe've grown, always looking at
what is the next type ofstructure.
And if you look at sportsgenerally and what we do in the
(14:57):
middle east versus the us, thelevel here is far higher.
The quality is far higher inthe middle east than it is in
the uk or the us, but the us isfurthest behind.
Well, so you walk into ahospitality structure here at an
international golf tournamentand you walk into an equivalent
in the us, is it?
You cannot compare a bit liketheir airports exactly exactly
(15:21):
everything here is the best fivestar.
It doesn't even feel temporary.
Yeah, and that's what the marketexpects here.
That's what the brands expect,the organizers expect they want
this to be really high end, thebest of the best In the US.
They don't need to do that.
People go to the events, peoplewill buy hospitality and it's
(15:44):
sold out and there's a waitinglist.
They don't actually need tospend any and the quality over
there is actually very, very lowcompared to what you find over
here.
Ian Carless (15:54):
Would you say the demographics drives that, then
Just the fact that the sheervolume of people that they're
getting or able to attract tothese events just means that
they don't need to pay as muchattention to quality?
Paul Berger (16:04):
Yeah, I mean, I've had many conversations over
there with the PGA and FormulaOne.
You go into a hospitalitystructure at the Miami Formula
One Grand Prix and you comparethat to what you walk into in
Abu Dhabi it's chalk and cheeseand I think you know.
When you talk to the promoterin Miami, he said look, he's
selling it at a much higherprice.
He's got a waiting list.
(16:25):
If somebody drops out of ahospitality suite, he doesn't
need to go and spend an extrathousand dollars per person to
make it look like, you know,look like a five star hotel.
They get away with it.
Yeah, the quality of thefurniture, the quality of the
structures, the quality even ofthe food and the catering and
the services is substandardcompared to what you'll find at
(16:48):
a Grand Prix over here.
But that's just the market Forcompanies like ourselves and
event services.
It's really important to havelong-term relationships,
relationships, partnerships withour clients, which enables us
to invest in structures, seating, new furniture, whatever it may
be.
Absolutely the great thingabout the american market and I
think the difference is there isa loyalty over there, you know,
(17:12):
where event promoters and eventmanagers do not change
suppliers on a regular basis.
If you're doing your job andyou're doing it well.
You'll do it for a long, longtime and it enables you to
invest and give a better service.
It's a long-term relationship.
(17:33):
It's almost like a race to thebottom.
It's a case of, oh, we can goso-and-so, they can do it
cheaper.
Or you know you're tooexpensive and want to go out
every single year to the market.
And it's very difficult forcompanies like us and others to
(17:53):
be able to invest in people, toinvest in assets, to be able to
invest in people, to invest inassets, to be able to grow our
business, to be able to providewhat the clients require on a
long-term basis, because youjust don't know year to year
whether you're going to retainthat business.
And there are many other peopleout there that will go and say,
(18:16):
oh, we can do it the same way,we can do it to the same
standard as that company, andthey never can.
But people, naturally, they'vegot a budget, they're looking to
cut their costs, they'relooking at whatever, they will
switch and they change, and sotherefore, in the US and in the
UK, there is much more of anappreciation for what companies
(18:39):
in our sector do and can deliverand how important they are to
the whole event ecosystem.
You know, if we disappeared inthe us tomorrow, the pga tour
would have a massive problem.
They wouldn't be able todeliver 20 of their golf
tournaments.
Right, it would be a massiveeffort for them to be able to
(19:01):
deliver 20 golf tournaments.
It would be a headache for them.
And so, therefore, people, theyappreciate and want companies
and we've retained the sameclients In the Middle East.
You know, if you're not heretoday, there's always somebody
else, there's always that viewthat somebody else can step in
(19:21):
and therefore, I think therespect and the appreciation of
what you bring to an event isnot there.
So the contracts that we have inthe Middle East are all long
term.
So we've been building FormulaOne abu dhabi now for 15 years,
yeah, and that's a really reallystrong partnership.
Yeah, and it goes both ways,yeah, so when you walk into that
(19:44):
formula one track, I mean it'sworld-class what's there?
Yeah, but that's come from 15years, yeah, of a partnership
yeah, and I think that's what'smissing in this market, isn't it
?
Ian Carless (19:53):
I think that word partnership is super, super
important.
I still think, know, becauseI've been talking to a lot of,
obviously, event individuals andI think you know one of the
gripes is that you know many ofthe event companies.
They're still considered as asupplier into it and that's
(20:18):
incredibly frustrating becausein that sense you're not being
rewarded for doing a good job.
You can do the best job ever.
But then what's the incentivethen if you know that in 12
months time this whole event'sgoing to go out to tender?
Now I wanted to just pick up on.
Obviously you do a lot of thebigger events F1, the tennis,
the golf, et cetera.
How easy is it to manage thoserelationships then?
Because obviously Dubai isquite transient and I can
understand, perhaps with some ofthe local events and
(20:39):
exhibitions and things like that.
Then obviously the turnover hascome.
So you establish relationshipsand I know we had somebody
recently saying your wholerelationship shouldn't be down
to one person.
Your client servicing teamshould have a much bigger remit
and if your main contact goes,that shouldn't mean the event
goes.
But realistically, it's allabout relationships, isn't it?
(20:59):
So how easy is it then tomanage those kind of business
activities then withinternational companies versus,
say, more locally based events.
Does that make the job easier?
Paul Berger (21:08):
no, you're absolutely right.
You know, anybody can build atent, yeah, okay.
Anybody can provide a bit offurniture.
Anybody can put a grandstand upOkay.
It's about the people, yeah,and we're a people business.
Yeah, the success of ourbusiness globally is about who
we employ and therefore, youknow, for our turnover of staff
(21:31):
is very low, yeah, there is areason why people move on.
Ian Carless (21:34):
Not usually job.
It's not.
It's not a job.
Paul Berger (21:36):
And we hope not.
So being an employer of choiceis something that we work at and
that's really important becausethe relationships that are held
and the trust that are heldbetween an account manager, a
project manager and a client iskey.
There's a huge amount of trustthere because the one thing
(22:00):
about event services and onething about events is you can't
be late.
An event starts on a certainday.
It's there for four days a weekor whatever it is, and you've
got to be ready.
Yeah, you, you can't, we'llhand it over, you know, in a
couple of days.
No, no, the event starts onthat saturday morning, thursday,
whatever it is.
Yeah, so therefore, you cannotmiss your handover date.
(22:22):
So you know there is a hugeamount of trust between us and
the event promoter and that isbuilt up over many, many years
and that's earned.
And therefore, yeah, look, wetry, take, make sure that our
account managers, our projectmanagers, stay with us, and the
same with our, with our clients.
(22:42):
We have contracts that thatextend internationally.
So you know, whether it's ingolf, whether it's in tennis,
whether it's in formula one, andour teams around the world have
similar processes, yeah, andsimilar standards of how we
manage and deliver an event, andsometimes we even rotate people
as well.
So we'll have teams that willgo around the world delivering
(23:03):
international golf tournamentsas part of a tour.
So it's the same faces on, youknow, whether it's in Malaysia
or Singapore, or in Jeddah orRiyadh or here, they're the same
faces and that's very, veryimportant.
You know it's a particularly inthe middle east.
You'll find that arena is muchmore involved in the big, large
international events and eventsthat are happening on, you know,
(23:27):
on an annual basis, whetherit's an exhibition, whether it's
the boat show, or whether it'sa golf event or a Formula One
Grand Prix.
These are events that happenevery year, regardless of COVID
or pandemic or, you know, atrade war, whatever.
You know Tariffs, tariffs,those events.
(23:48):
You know people say, you know,is this affecting?
Well, no, the calendar is thecalendar.
You know the athletes are there.
We've got to deliver what wehave to deliver.
So, when it comes to more whatI call the local events, which
are more one-offs, yeah, yeah,of course we'll work, we have
relationships, but you knowthere's a sector for everybody.
Yeah, okay, and westrategically fit into a certain
(24:12):
sector, yeah, okay, and you, we, we focus on that area.
We don't like one-off events.
We, you know, we like, we don'tlike.
My CFO is always, you know, hedoesn't like the peaks and the
troughs World Cups.
So we have a part of ourbusiness that is focused on
(24:38):
major global events, what I callperiodic events, like an
Olympics.
So we have a team it doesn'tdisrupt our business that focus
on those major periodic eventsand that's very successful for
us.
But the day-to-day business isabout recurring business,
long-term contracts,partnerships super important
collaboration, people-driven,and that allows us to innovate
(25:02):
and invest in new tools, in newassets, in new designs that we
can deliver for our clients andthat's fundamentally the model
that we have on a global basis.
We've been working.
I mean we've been deliveringwimbledon, all the seating at
wimbledon in london, for 40years, 45 years.
(25:24):
That's phenomenal, yeah, yeah,I mean even in the middle east
and we talk specifically abouthere, I mean formula one I think
it's in abu dhabi, is now 15,16 years and I think bar the the
first and we helped there we'vedelivered every single one.
Ian Carless (25:39):
Yeah.
So as someone who's workedacross, you know many of the
global markets.
If you had to write a healthreport for the Middle East, in
particular Dubai, let's stickwith Dubai to begin with,
because we can talk a little bitabout Saudi, the new entrant,
later.
But where would you mark Dubai,the dubai, in terms of the, the
health of the event industry?
Paul Berger (25:59):
I mean it's super healthy.
You know, dubai is obviously,you know, in many ways still the
the event mice capital of theregion, even though saudi is.
But yeah, dubai, in terms of is,it's contributed to the local
economy, it's huge I mean it's,it's the, it's the focal point,
it's got all the infrastructurehere and it's quite a mature
(26:22):
market.
And I say that because, from anevent perspective, yes, we've
got some world-class events hereand more events coming.
The industry that delivers thatis huge.
It's a big industry and ittends to be small companies, a
lot of entrepreneurs.
It enables people to to come inyou, you know, you, and I've
(26:43):
seen that over the years,whether it's individuals,
freelancers, whether it'sstartups that have grown and
become very successful.
They tend to be from sort oftwo or three people to, you know
, 20, 30 people.
There's very few that get towhere we are, you know, which is
, uh, three or four hundred, youknow, and, and there are a few,
(27:03):
but you know, we're sort of,you know the, the dinosaurs, if
you will, we've been here now.
Or, if you take harlequin,we've been here since 1999, so
it's a long time it's a longstint, an arena, has been here
16 years yeahbut there are others and it sort
of sets.
It does set the bar and what Ilove about this Middle East
(27:23):
Picnic is a lot of our clientshere are the same in Asia and
the same in the UK, right, whichis why we've now created EMEA.
So we have a leadership teamthat covers Europe, middle East
and Asia, because the clientsare very similar, the agencies
involved at our level are verysimilar.
The agencies involved at ourlevel are very similar.
So, again, going back to people, it's just extending those
(27:44):
relationships across a biggergeographical area.
America is a completelydifferent market, completely
different, very different to theway we operate in EMEA and it's
half our business as Arena.
It's half our business and theother half is is an emia.
Right, the uae is veryimportant, but saudi is the
(28:06):
fastest growing.
You're seeing a lot ofinvestment into the events
calendar in riad and jeddah and,of course, like everybody else,
very involved and we've set up,set up offices and warehousing
and hubs over there and got abig team of people.
You will start off by servicingit from dubai or abu dhabi and
now people are obviously settingup and being based over there
(28:28):
and it's very, very important.
It's growing and, um, you knowlong may it continue just
sticking on dubai a little bit.
Ian Carless (28:34):
Obviously we had the blimp that was covid, and
I'm not going to go into.
You know how we all survivecovid, etc, etc.
What I would like to ask,though, is, obviously, as
somebody who's been on bothsides of it is where would you
place the industry now in againon a sort of health check basis?
Are we?
Are we back to the same levelsthat we were before covid, or
have things slightly?
Paul Berger (28:54):
changed.
No, I think it's come back bigtime since covid.
Yeah, it was a tough periodcovid, but events have come back
in a big way.
They tend to be the first to goand the last to come back,
absolutely yeah, but they'reback now with a vengeance, as
though COVID or the pandemicnever existed.
I think it's very healthy atthe moment.
Now people are traveling a lot,yeah, it's back to normal.
(29:16):
And our business in terms of ifyou look at our business from a
revenue perspective, yeah, it'slarger than pre-COVID levels.
Right, I mean 2019 for us.
The year before COVID was abumper year for us globally.
Yeah, particularly in theMiddle East.
It was a huge year for us inthe Middle East and we're back
to those levels now and that'sgreat to see.
Ian Carless (29:37):
Yeah, absolutely.
And before we wrap up so whereare you going next?
What's next?
Paul Berger (29:42):
for Arena?
Good question.
I mean, look, we have obviouslybusiness targets financially to
achieve, but I think for usit's about diversification.
We're very much an eventservices business which, as you
know, is very seasonal.
So for us it's looking attrying to address that
seasonality by doing more in theoff season, so more non-events
(30:05):
and more long-term.
So we're looking at trying to,you know, moving more from the
temporary space into what I callthe semi-permanent.
Ian Carless (30:13):
Yeah.
Paul Berger (30:14):
So where we can?
You know people want modular,they want, they want something a
lot quicker than bricks andmortar.
We have this ability to be ableto go in and build something
that could be a sales center.
For six months or for 12 months, we can go and activate a site,
make it look habitable, make itlook like something's going on
(30:35):
ahead of a major development,ahead of a major development.
So, whether it's, you know, atemporary beach club, a
temporary restaurant, atemporary office, we're
diversifying much more into thatspace, which is less seasonal.
The events will always be whowe are, it'll always be the
icing on the cake, it's what thebrand stands for.
(30:55):
But let's use the same skillset, the same skill set, the same
tools, the same processes to beable to get more into the
non-event sector and to have amuch more sustainable business
on an annual basis.
And that is that is a big focusof us moving forward.
We'll still grow organically,but also looking at some
(31:16):
interesting acquisitions.
but all again, says with a glintin his eye there Some markets
were not, you know, and I hintedat some just earlier in this
podcast.
But yeah, always looking at newopportunities, always looking
to innovate.
Ai is another huge thing.
You know for us.
You know how do we apply AIinto our business, how do we get
(31:37):
younger people into ourbusiness.
How do we get you know kids comeyou know who are graduating,
get them interested.
They all love to go andorganize and promote events, but
building events is a differentskillset and it's hard work.
How do we, how do we attractthose people?
And that's exciting.
So, yeah, we're 30% into ourjourney.
You know we've got a long wayto go to get to be finished
(31:59):
article and that's the mindsetthat we have as a company.
Ian Carless (32:02):
Is there anything that keeps you up at night?
Business-wise.
Paul Berger (32:05):
Yeah, I think anybody in my business is.
You know health and safety.
You know we're building publicevents.
I've got thousands of peoplesitting in our grandstands
coming into our hospitalitystructures.
You know that's reallyimportant.
A failure, yeah, would be mybiggest nightmare.
So for me, you know we'vealways got to keep an eye on on,
(32:26):
on our.
We have a responsibility.
We have to build somethingthat's safe, structurally safe.
You know so.
You know all our engineering,our calculations are our systems
that we put in place to ensurethat we cover those bases off
because we're pushing the bar,we're building some amazing
structures.
That is the thing.
Singularly, that will always.
(32:48):
When I see a major event and Isee people on our balconies and
thousands of people, I just go.
I can't wait for the Mondaymorning when they're all out.
I mean, yes, it's justsomething that, for me, will
will never go away and two quickquestions to finish off with.
Ian Carless (33:02):
Do you still follow the formula one?
I love it.
Yeah.
Who's your money on this yearthen?
Paul Berger (33:06):
oh, god, well, my, I mean I'm a big lewis fan and
he's, and he's well, he startedoff well in china.
I think it'll be interesting.
I think the mclarens you knowmy old team yeah look
particularly strong.
They've got two good driversand and it's the car I mean,
they've got a much stronger car.
So I I think if I was put mymoney on, I would, I would go
for mclaren and then finally,just to finish off with we.
Ian Carless (33:29):
I've asked all the guests this I'm a huge music fan
.
I'm sure you are too.
What's on your playlist at themoment?
What do you?
What do you put on there tochill out and relax, or
otherwise?
Paul Berger (33:38):
work out.
Oh god, it's, it's.
I mean, I guess you know, forme.
I mean coldplay, I mean, youknow, is something that I I'm a
big fan.
I I was fortunate enough not togo in abu dhabi, I went to the
their concert in singapore, butthen I'll go back into the
oldies and go back into the uh,the 80s and and go back to that,
that old old general and andand listen to Motown and things
(34:01):
like that, if I just really wantto just chill out and think
about, you know, the past.
But yeah, generally, havingtoday put me in a good mood, I
think I would say Coldplay andsomething like that.
Ian Carless (34:11):
Yeah, fantastic.
Well, paul, thanks for joiningme on the podcast and best of
luck in the future.
Paul Berger (34:15):
Thank you thank you , ian, it's great to be here.
Ian Carless (34:19):
Event News.
Dxb was presented by myself,ian Carlos, the studio engineer
and editor was Roy DeMonte, theexecutive producer was myself
and Joe Morrison, and thispodcast 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.
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(00:20):
Thanks a bunch.
You're listening to the EventNews DXB podcast your
behind-the-scenes look into theworld of events in Dubai, the
UAE and the MENA region.
(00:41):
I'm Ian Carlos and each weekI'll bring you the latest news,
industry trends and insiderstories from the people shaping
one of the world's most dynamicevent markets.
This week on Event News DXB,we're talking to Paul Berger,
ceo of the Arena Events Group, aglobal event services company
with offices in the UK, us,middle East and Asia.
(01:02):
Paul's career highlightsinclude tripling in size Arena
Middle East and Asia to becomethe fastest growing division
within the group.
He brings a lengthy history ofworking in events in the region,
cutting his teeth as an accountdirector with BBDO and then
later establishing his ownsports marketing company, but
it's perhaps safe to say thatit's his work with Arena where
(01:23):
he's really made a dramaticimpact.
Paul, welcome to the podcast,thank you.
Paul Berger (01:27):
Thank you for inviting me in.
Ian Carless (01:28):
Now I've got a whole bunch of stuff that I want
to cover with you today, butlet's do what we always do.
Let's start at the beginning.
What brought you to Dubai, gosh?
Paul Berger (01:36):
yes, that was in the 90s.
I was working in London inadvertising and I picked up
campaign one day, as you do.
Yeah, saw a very interestingposition being advertised in
Dubai for the BBDO group.
Omnicom group Wanted an accountdirector on their below the
line we used to call it belowthe line in those days below the
(01:56):
line activities, which was myspeciality Interviewed and ended
up being offered the job tomove to Dubai.
That happened in the 90s.
I expected to be here threeyears working for an
international advertising agency, thought I'd move on within the
group.
And here I am, you know, 25, 30years later.
Ian Carless (02:15):
It's a common story , isn't it?
I mean, I'm the same.
I think I arrived here thinking, oh yeah, two or three years,
and then yet, 22 years later,still here.
It's a comfortable groove,isn't it, that you get into here
.
I'm not going to call it a rut,because that's a negative
connotation, but it makes itvery easy to move on, or very
difficult to move on so you'vegot to be pretty determined or
focused if you really want toleave.
Paul Berger (02:35):
I mean, yes, you do get into a groove.
It's been a fantastic journeyhere, extremely enjoyable and,
yeah, difficult difficult toleave.
In fact, people who I've met onthat journey who've left, often
come back because they haven'tbeen able to sort of resettle
after four or five years indubai and often come back.
(02:56):
It's always that.
It's that question that alleverybody who's still here asks
each other.
You know where we're going toend up one day and it's uh, yeah
, none of us expected to be herethis long yeah now, I met you.
Ian Carless (03:06):
I think it was back in 2003, 2004, and you were in
a very different role then,weren't you?
I think you'd probably moved onfrom the agency.
I met you actually on a kartingtrack at the uh, was it
american university and dubaimedia city.
Paul Berger (03:19):
Yes, that's exactly so.
Yeah, look, after I left theadvertising world, I loved Dubai
, didn't want to leave, didn'treally want to stay in
advertising, but looked aroundand decided to go into
motorsports.
And in those days, ian, therewas desert rallying and there
was what I did with the karting.
There was no Formula One, therewas no motor racing tracks
(03:41):
anywhere in the Middle East,motor racing tracks anywhere in
the middle east, and I saw thisniche it was very popular at
that time in london,particularly indoor karting, and
I saw, yeah, the weather,people wanted to do things more
inside.
So I thought, yeah, let's get abig warehouse, put some air
conditioning units in there, puta track down and let's go
racing and, and and that's whathappened.
And then that expanded toarranging 24 hour endurance
(04:07):
racing.
Ian Carless (04:08):
That's right.
Paul Berger (04:09):
That's right Outside on the streets and we
used to build temporary circuits.
One was at the AmericanUniversity in Dubai, outside the
old hard rock in those days YepGosh, yeah.
To do it down at DubaiInternational Marine Club.
We did it on the.
We closed the roads at theHyatt Regency opposite the
British Embassy in Dubai.
I mean, we did about 22 racesover the years and we had three,
(04:33):
three or 400 people racing, youknow, split into teams
obviously.
Ian Carless (04:36):
Good fun, I remember that.
I remember that.
Fantastic.
I'm sure it was hard work.
Paul Berger (04:40):
It was stressful, it was hard work because
obviously you're closing publicroads and building temporary
tracks.
You know health and safety wasalways on the you know you
thought what could happen.
That was always a worry becausethese carts were fast.
I mean they were going 120kilometers.
They're two engines pro carts,220 kilometers.
You know, on the straights andthese weren't professional
(05:01):
drivers.
You know there were some,obviously some Formula One
drivers or ex-F1 drivers, racingand celebrities, but generally
they were just people, you know,having fun.
Ian Carless (05:10):
Yeah, now we'll move on.
Obviously, your journeycontinued and you've moved on to
Arena, but you mentionedFormula One there.
You had a little stint as well,didn't you?
I did, being associated orworking alongside F1.
Paul Berger (05:21):
I did so.
We were advertising karting.
Ian Carless (05:23):
Yeah.
Paul Berger (05:24):
And then I ended up building the first racing track
here, which was the DubaiAutodrome, with union properties
.
So, yeah, that was an idea thatwe came up with, managed to
convince the UP to secure theland and we built what is now
today's Motor City.
That was a fabulous experience,you know, taking a piece of
(05:46):
desert and creating a, you know,a world-class motor racing
track out of nothing.
And then, just accidentally,and because I spent the last
sort of that time, most of mytime in motor racing, it built
up quite an interest in thesport.
Yeah, ended up working in f1and setting it, set up my own,
uh, consultancy here that workedwith a number of teams,
(06:07):
particularly mclaren, ferrari,williams, worked with them to
develop their business, theirpartnerships in this part of the
world.
Yeah, again, I reiterate,bahrain was the first track that
came on stream and now we'vegot four formula one tracks, but
in those days it was reallylimited to bahrain.
The dubai autodrome was nevergoing to host an f1, but it was
(06:29):
certainly could do.
It was, it was built to thatpurpose.
So, yeah, I worked in f1 and Iloved it.
I mean, I, I worked in thecourtyard and el coz had
fabulous offices.
Um, really, really enjoyed it.
Yeah, similar to where we'resitting today.
Really enjoyed it.
Traveled, went to probably 14,15 of the races a year, so most
of them, certainly two thirds.
Ian Carless (06:50):
Yeah.
Paul Berger (06:51):
Worked really closely with some fabulous teams
, fabulous drivers, enjoyed thesport.
And then I got a call out ofthe blue from my brother-in-law
who had set up in the late 90swhat is best described as an
upmarket english marquee companyhere called harlequin.
Yeah, the famous harlequin thatlaunched in the early 2000s and
(07:14):
basically was the go-to partytents company that if you wanted
a, if you wanted a superamazing tent built in your
garden or for your function orwhatever it was, um, harlequin
was the go-to company.
Right, very small business setup from by charlie and his wife,
and it had been going about 10years and charlie, out of the
blue, called me one day and said, can we have a coffee?
(07:35):
And that was the start of thenext chapter in my life, if it
was going into event servicesright.
Ian Carless (07:41):
How different was that industry from what you were
doing before, and also howdifficult was the transition it
wasn't that difficult.
Paul Berger (07:48):
Okay, the big challenges were going from
running a very small sportsconsultancy, which was
effectively myself and a fewothers yeah, to running a
company with 50 45 people yeah,and then growing that company
subsequently.
Um, so, yeah, you had all theissues of managing people and
leading a company rather thanreally just effectively doing it
for yourself, the businessitself.
(08:10):
I mean, I didn't need to knowwhat the front end, the back end
, of a tent was.
I mean, technically, I knewnothing about structures.
I know a little bit more today,obviously, but at that time in
2009, I knew very little.
But where the similarities werewas before I acquired Harlequin
(08:30):
.
I decided that I would bring ina partner, and that partner was
Arena, and Arena at that timewere the largest event services
company in the UK Just the UK,very well known company in the
UK just the UK, very well known.
They're building the iconicsummer events in the UK, like
(08:50):
the Open, queens and Wimbledonand Henley Royal Regatta and all
the Derby and all those famousevents in the UK that they were
well known for.
And they were fundamentally atent company and a seating
company and 90% of theirbusiness was in sports.
When I approached Arena andsaid look, would you be
interested in expanding into theMiddle East?
They were, so we did ittogether.
(09:12):
So there were huge similarities.
But, having come from the F1world, having come from
organizing events to thecommercial side and partnerships
in F1, then coming into eventservices, but event services
that were mainly around sports,there was a lot of similarity.
Ian Carless (09:30):
Now I think it's safe to say, isn't it, that
Arena's seen some absolutelyphenomenal growth over the last
sort of 10 years.
What's been the main driver ofthat?
Paul Berger (09:37):
Yeah.
So when I got involved withArena, it was owned by two
entrepreneurial Irish guys whobought it two or three years
before.
The younger one was very keento build the brand into a global
event services company, theother one less so.
Dubai and Harlequin was thefirst stop on that journey.
(09:58):
I then ran the first part ofthe international business.
So when we took over Harlequin,the strategy was to grow the
business in the Middle East andthen to grow it into Asia and in
parallel, my colleague inLondon.
We left the UK alone.
He then focused on growing thebusiness into America.
That growth was funded by wewent into private equity.
(10:20):
So for five years we had twoLondon private equity funds that
would back that growth for us,and so it was done largely by
acquisition.
So what I would do is I wouldgo.
When I went into Asia andMalaysia, we identified a
structured business.
We would work with them for ayear and then, if we got to know
(10:41):
each other and we felt thatthere was a marriage, there a
synergy we did get married andwe bought the business, started
off in singapore, we then wentinto malaysia, which is where
our main hub is today in asia.
We then went into hong kong, didthe same thing in korea, set up
some joint ventures in japanand the same over here in the
middle east.
(11:01):
You know, we grew organicallyand by sort of bolt-on
acquisitions and ended up, asyou can imagine, you know, in
Saudi, which is now a veryimportant part of our business
globally.
So that was the journey.
It was funded by private equity.
We then listed on the LondonStock Exchange, on the secondary
market, in 2017.
(11:22):
So the P exited then and thenfor the next five years we were
a publicly listed company righton and through the majority of
COVID.
Ian Carless (11:31):
So I think what's quite interesting and I'd like
to tap into a little bit isobviously your experience across
the markets and the things thatdifferentiate between the
markets.
It's not too often so far thatwe get somebody on board who's
got experience, you knowworldwide.
So what would you say was thedifference, for example, between
the market here in terms ofevents, and say Europe and Asia?
Paul Berger (11:54):
Yeah, it's interesting.
I mean, if I talk about arena,I mean although we're similar in
terms of our offering.
So our offering isfundamentally temporary
structures, you know, temporaryseating, and then we in some
parts we'll do fencing andbarriers.
Each market is very different.
In the US we are primarily atenting company.
(12:15):
We do the frame and canvas.
We do not get involved in anyof the interiors, the fit out,
the look and feel of thestructure.
We simply go in and do theframing, canvas and we're the
largest in the US Right, okay,and that's what the market.
They prefer to work withmultiple suppliers in that
(12:37):
respect.
In the UK it's similar, althoughin the UK we might do the
linings and some basic fit outon the structures.
We're very big on grandstandsand temporary seating in the UK
and then we also do the fencingand barriers.
In the Middle East it's verydifferent.
In the Middle East we do acomplete turnkey.
(12:57):
So we don't only just build thestructure but we take care of
the interiors.
We create the hospitalityexperience.
We put the cooling in the airconditioning, we fit it out, we
make it look like a wonderful,you know, designed, five star,
whatever is required.
So we do the furniture, we dothe interiors that fit out all
(13:18):
the general look and interiordesign of that um.
So it's a turnkey service whatdrives that then?
Ian Carless (13:25):
what drives that differentiation?
Paul Berger (13:27):
I think for us, you know the, the uae in particular
, which is effectively the, the,you know the events has been
for many years the eventscapital of the Middle East.
It is extremely competitive,extremely competitive.
And we as a company, you knowyou, have very, very good
(13:48):
structures, companies who willjust provide the structure at a
very, very good cost-effectiverate.
For us to be able to compete inthat market, we have to offer
something different.
For us, it's about innovation.
It's about being able to offersomething that nobody else can.
So always looking at the latestdesigns, interiors, and being
(14:12):
able to fulfill that as aturnkey and offering that
one-stop shop, you will, wherean event manager, an event
promoter, doesn't have to talkto 10 different companies.
He can say, right, arena, canyou build that?
And knows from a to z thatthey'll be able to walk into
that structure.
Everything is there and thenext thing is, you know, put the
(14:34):
catering in and the guests comein.
It's a turnkey and it's a much,it's headache free.
We don't have that skill set inthe US and we don't have that
skill set necessarily in the UK,but that's how we positioned
ourselves here and that's howwe've grown, always looking at
what is the next type ofstructure.
And if you look at sportsgenerally and what we do in the
(14:57):
middle east versus the us, thelevel here is far higher.
The quality is far higher inthe middle east than it is in
the uk or the us, but the us isfurthest behind.
Well, so you walk into ahospitality structure here at an
international golf tournamentand you walk into an equivalent
in the us, is it?
You cannot compare a bit liketheir airports exactly exactly
(15:21):
everything here is the best fivestar.
It doesn't even feel temporary.
Yeah, and that's what the marketexpects here.
That's what the brands expect,the organizers expect they want
this to be really high end, thebest of the best In the US.
They don't need to do that.
People go to the events, peoplewill buy hospitality and it's
(15:44):
sold out and there's a waitinglist.
They don't actually need tospend any and the quality over
there is actually very, very lowcompared to what you find over
here.
Ian Carless (15:54):
Would you say the demographics drives that, then
Just the fact that the sheervolume of people that they're
getting or able to attract tothese events just means that
they don't need to pay as muchattention to quality?
Paul Berger (16:04):
Yeah, I mean, I've had many conversations over
there with the PGA and FormulaOne.
You go into a hospitalitystructure at the Miami Formula
One Grand Prix and you comparethat to what you walk into in
Abu Dhabi it's chalk and cheeseand I think you know.
When you talk to the promoterin Miami, he said look, he's
selling it at a much higherprice.
He's got a waiting list.
(16:25):
If somebody drops out of ahospitality suite, he doesn't
need to go and spend an extrathousand dollars per person to
make it look like, you know,look like a five star hotel.
They get away with it.
Yeah, the quality of thefurniture, the quality of the
structures, the quality even ofthe food and the catering and
the services is substandardcompared to what you'll find at
(16:48):
a Grand Prix over here.
But that's just the market Forcompanies like ourselves and
event services.
It's really important to havelong-term relationships,
relationships, partnerships withour clients, which enables us
to invest in structures, seating, new furniture, whatever it may
be.
Absolutely the great thingabout the american market and I
think the difference is there isa loyalty over there, you know,
(17:12):
where event promoters and eventmanagers do not change
suppliers on a regular basis.
If you're doing your job andyou're doing it well.
You'll do it for a long, longtime and it enables you to
invest and give a better service.
It's a long-term relationship.
(17:33):
It's almost like a race to thebottom.
It's a case of, oh, we can goso-and-so, they can do it
cheaper.
Or you know you're tooexpensive and want to go out
every single year to the market.
And it's very difficult forcompanies like us and others to
(17:53):
be able to invest in people, toinvest in assets, to be able to
invest in people, to invest inassets, to be able to grow our
business, to be able to providewhat the clients require on a
long-term basis, because youjust don't know year to year
whether you're going to retainthat business.
And there are many other peopleout there that will go and say,
(18:16):
oh, we can do it the same way,we can do it to the same
standard as that company, andthey never can.
But people, naturally, they'vegot a budget, they're looking to
cut their costs, they'relooking at whatever, they will
switch and they change, and sotherefore, in the US and in the
UK, there is much more of anappreciation for what companies
(18:39):
in our sector do and can deliverand how important they are to
the whole event ecosystem.
You know, if we disappeared inthe us tomorrow, the pga tour
would have a massive problem.
They wouldn't be able todeliver 20 of their golf
tournaments.
Right, it would be a massiveeffort for them to be able to
(19:01):
deliver 20 golf tournaments.
It would be a headache for them.
And so, therefore, people, theyappreciate and want companies
and we've retained the sameclients In the Middle East.
You know, if you're not heretoday, there's always somebody
else, there's always that viewthat somebody else can step in
(19:21):
and therefore, I think therespect and the appreciation of
what you bring to an event isnot there.
So the contracts that we have inthe Middle East are all long
term.
So we've been building FormulaOne abu dhabi now for 15 years,
yeah, and that's a really reallystrong partnership.
Yeah, and it goes both ways,yeah, so when you walk into that
(19:44):
formula one track, I mean it'sworld-class what's there?
Yeah, but that's come from 15years, yeah, of a partnership
yeah, and I think that's what'smissing in this market, isn't it
?
Ian Carless (19:53):
I think that word partnership is super, super
important.
I still think, know, becauseI've been talking to a lot of,
obviously, event individuals andI think you know one of the
gripes is that you know many ofthe event companies.
They're still considered as asupplier into it and that's
(20:18):
incredibly frustrating becausein that sense you're not being
rewarded for doing a good job.
You can do the best job ever.
But then what's the incentivethen if you know that in 12
months time this whole event'sgoing to go out to tender?
Now I wanted to just pick up on.
Obviously you do a lot of thebigger events F1, the tennis,
the golf, et cetera.
How easy is it to manage thoserelationships then?
Because obviously Dubai isquite transient and I can
understand, perhaps with some ofthe local events and
(20:39):
exhibitions and things like that.
Then obviously the turnover hascome.
So you establish relationshipsand I know we had somebody
recently saying your wholerelationship shouldn't be down
to one person.
Your client servicing teamshould have a much bigger remit
and if your main contact goes,that shouldn't mean the event
goes.
But realistically, it's allabout relationships, isn't it?
(20:59):
So how easy is it then tomanage those kind of business
activities then withinternational companies versus,
say, more locally based events.
Does that make the job easier?
Paul Berger (21:08):
no, you're absolutely right.
You know, anybody can build atent, yeah, okay.
Anybody can provide a bit offurniture.
Anybody can put a grandstand upOkay.
It's about the people, yeah,and we're a people business.
Yeah, the success of ourbusiness globally is about who
we employ and therefore, youknow, for our turnover of staff
(21:31):
is very low, yeah, there is areason why people move on.
Ian Carless (21:34):
Not usually job.
It's not.
It's not a job.
Paul Berger (21:36):
And we hope not.
So being an employer of choiceis something that we work at and
that's really important becausethe relationships that are held
and the trust that are heldbetween an account manager, a
project manager and a client iskey.
There's a huge amount of trustthere because the one thing
(22:00):
about event services and onething about events is you can't
be late.
An event starts on a certainday.
It's there for four days a weekor whatever it is, and you've
got to be ready.
Yeah, you, you can't, we'llhand it over, you know, in a
couple of days.
No, no, the event starts onthat saturday morning, thursday,
whatever it is.
Yeah, so therefore, you cannotmiss your handover date.
(22:22):
So you know there is a hugeamount of trust between us and
the event promoter and that isbuilt up over many, many years
and that's earned.
And therefore, yeah, look, wetry, take, make sure that our
account managers, our projectmanagers, stay with us, and the
same with our, with our clients.
(22:42):
We have contracts that thatextend internationally.
So you know, whether it's ingolf, whether it's in tennis,
whether it's in formula one, andour teams around the world have
similar processes, yeah, andsimilar standards of how we
manage and deliver an event, andsometimes we even rotate people
as well.
So we'll have teams that willgo around the world delivering
(23:03):
international golf tournamentsas part of a tour.
So it's the same faces on, youknow, whether it's in Malaysia
or Singapore, or in Jeddah orRiyadh or here, they're the same
faces and that's very, veryimportant.
You know it's a particularly inthe middle east.
You'll find that arena is muchmore involved in the big, large
international events and eventsthat are happening on, you know,
(23:27):
on an annual basis, whetherit's an exhibition, whether it's
the boat show, or whether it'sa golf event or a Formula One
Grand Prix.
These are events that happenevery year, regardless of COVID
or pandemic or, you know, atrade war, whatever.
You know Tariffs, tariffs,those events.
(23:48):
You know people say, you know,is this affecting?
Well, no, the calendar is thecalendar.
You know the athletes are there.
We've got to deliver what wehave to deliver.
So, when it comes to more whatI call the local events, which
are more one-offs, yeah, yeah,of course we'll work, we have
relationships, but you knowthere's a sector for everybody.
Yeah, okay, and westrategically fit into a certain
(24:12):
sector, yeah, okay, and you, we, we focus on that area.
We don't like one-off events.
We, you know, we like, we don'tlike.
My CFO is always, you know, hedoesn't like the peaks and the
troughs World Cups.
So we have a part of ourbusiness that is focused on
(24:38):
major global events, what I callperiodic events, like an
Olympics.
So we have a team it doesn'tdisrupt our business that focus
on those major periodic eventsand that's very successful for
us.
But the day-to-day business isabout recurring business,
long-term contracts,partnerships super important
collaboration, people-driven,and that allows us to innovate
(25:02):
and invest in new tools, in newassets, in new designs that we
can deliver for our clients andthat's fundamentally the model
that we have on a global basis.
We've been working.
I mean we've been deliveringwimbledon, all the seating at
wimbledon in london, for 40years, 45 years.
(25:24):
That's phenomenal, yeah, yeah,I mean even in the middle east
and we talk specifically abouthere, I mean formula one I think
it's in abu dhabi, is now 15,16 years and I think bar the the
first and we helped there we'vedelivered every single one.
Ian Carless (25:39):
Yeah.
So as someone who's workedacross, you know many of the
global markets.
If you had to write a healthreport for the Middle East, in
particular Dubai, let's stickwith Dubai to begin with,
because we can talk a little bitabout Saudi, the new entrant,
later.
But where would you mark Dubai,the dubai, in terms of the, the
health of the event industry?
Paul Berger (25:59):
I mean it's super healthy.
You know, dubai is obviously,you know, in many ways still the
the event mice capital of theregion, even though saudi is.
But yeah, dubai, in terms of is,it's contributed to the local
economy, it's huge I mean it's,it's the, it's the focal point,
it's got all the infrastructurehere and it's quite a mature
(26:22):
market.
And I say that because, from anevent perspective, yes, we've
got some world-class events hereand more events coming.
The industry that delivers thatis huge.
It's a big industry and ittends to be small companies, a
lot of entrepreneurs.
It enables people to to come inyou, you know, you, and I've
(26:43):
seen that over the years,whether it's individuals,
freelancers, whether it'sstartups that have grown and
become very successful.
They tend to be from sort oftwo or three people to, you know
, 20, 30 people.
There's very few that get towhere we are, you know, which is
, uh, three or four hundred, youknow, and, and there are a few,
(27:03):
but you know, we're sort of,you know the, the dinosaurs, if
you will, we've been here now.
Or, if you take harlequin,we've been here since 1999, so
it's a long time it's a longstint, an arena, has been here
16 years yeahbut there are others and it sort
of sets.
It does set the bar and what Ilove about this Middle East
(27:23):
Picnic is a lot of our clientshere are the same in Asia and
the same in the UK, right, whichis why we've now created EMEA.
So we have a leadership teamthat covers Europe, middle East
and Asia, because the clientsare very similar, the agencies
involved at our level are verysimilar.
The agencies involved at ourlevel are very similar.
So, again, going back to people, it's just extending those
(27:44):
relationships across a biggergeographical area.
America is a completelydifferent market, completely
different, very different to theway we operate in EMEA and it's
half our business as Arena.
It's half our business and theother half is is an emia.
Right, the uae is veryimportant, but saudi is the
(28:06):
fastest growing.
You're seeing a lot ofinvestment into the events
calendar in riad and jeddah and,of course, like everybody else,
very involved and we've set up,set up offices and warehousing
and hubs over there and got abig team of people.
You will start off by servicingit from dubai or abu dhabi and
now people are obviously settingup and being based over there
(28:28):
and it's very, very important.
It's growing and, um, you knowlong may it continue just
sticking on dubai a little bit.
Ian Carless (28:34):
Obviously we had the blimp that was covid, and
I'm not going to go into.
You know how we all survivecovid, etc, etc.
What I would like to ask,though, is, obviously, as
somebody who's been on bothsides of it is where would you
place the industry now in againon a sort of health check basis?
Are we?
Are we back to the same levelsthat we were before covid, or
have things slightly?
Paul Berger (28:54):
changed.
No, I think it's come back bigtime since covid.
Yeah, it was a tough periodcovid, but events have come back
in a big way.
They tend to be the first to goand the last to come back,
absolutely yeah, but they'reback now with a vengeance, as
though COVID or the pandemicnever existed.
I think it's very healthy atthe moment.
Now people are traveling a lot,yeah, it's back to normal.
(29:16):
And our business in terms of ifyou look at our business from a
revenue perspective, yeah, it'slarger than pre-COVID levels.
Right, I mean 2019 for us.
The year before COVID was abumper year for us globally.
Yeah, particularly in theMiddle East.
It was a huge year for us inthe Middle East and we're back
to those levels now and that'sgreat to see.
Ian Carless (29:37):
Yeah, absolutely.
And before we wrap up so whereare you going next?
What's next?
Paul Berger (29:42):
for Arena?
Good question.
I mean, look, we have obviouslybusiness targets financially to
achieve, but I think for usit's about diversification.
We're very much an eventservices business which, as you
know, is very seasonal.
So for us it's looking attrying to address that
seasonality by doing more in theoff season, so more non-events
(30:05):
and more long-term.
So we're looking at trying to,you know, moving more from the
temporary space into what I callthe semi-permanent.
Ian Carless (30:13):
Yeah.
Paul Berger (30:14):
So where we can?
You know people want modular,they want, they want something a
lot quicker than bricks andmortar.
We have this ability to be ableto go in and build something
that could be a sales center.
For six months or for 12 months, we can go and activate a site,
make it look habitable, make itlook like something's going on
(30:35):
ahead of a major development,ahead of a major development.
So, whether it's, you know, atemporary beach club, a
temporary restaurant, atemporary office, we're
diversifying much more into thatspace, which is less seasonal.
The events will always be whowe are, it'll always be the
icing on the cake, it's what thebrand stands for.
(30:55):
But let's use the same skillset, the same skill set, the same
tools, the same processes to beable to get more into the
non-event sector and to have amuch more sustainable business
on an annual basis.
And that is that is a big focusof us moving forward.
We'll still grow organically,but also looking at some
(31:16):
interesting acquisitions.
but all again, says with a glintin his eye there Some markets
were not, you know, and I hintedat some just earlier in this
podcast.
But yeah, always looking at newopportunities, always looking
to innovate.
Ai is another huge thing.
You know for us.
You know how do we apply AIinto our business, how do we get
(31:37):
younger people into ourbusiness.
How do we get you know kids comeyou know who are graduating,
get them interested.
They all love to go andorganize and promote events, but
building events is a differentskillset and it's hard work.
How do we, how do we attractthose people?
And that's exciting.
So, yeah, we're 30% into ourjourney.
You know we've got a long wayto go to get to be finished
(31:59):
article and that's the mindsetthat we have as a company.
Ian Carless (32:02):
Is there anything that keeps you up at night?
Business-wise.
Paul Berger (32:05):
Yeah, I think anybody in my business is.
You know health and safety.
You know we're building publicevents.
I've got thousands of peoplesitting in our grandstands
coming into our hospitalitystructures.
You know that's reallyimportant.
A failure, yeah, would be mybiggest nightmare.
So for me, you know we'vealways got to keep an eye on on,
(32:26):
on our.
We have a responsibility.
We have to build somethingthat's safe, structurally safe.
You know so.
You know all our engineering,our calculations are our systems
that we put in place to ensurethat we cover those bases off
because we're pushing the bar,we're building some amazing
structures.
That is the thing.
Singularly, that will always.
(32:48):
When I see a major event and Isee people on our balconies and
thousands of people, I just go.
I can't wait for the Mondaymorning when they're all out.
I mean, yes, it's justsomething that, for me, will
will never go away and two quickquestions to finish off with.
Ian Carless (33:02):
Do you still follow the formula one?
I love it.
Yeah.
Who's your money on this yearthen?
Paul Berger (33:06):
oh, god, well, my, I mean I'm a big lewis fan and
he's, and he's well, he startedoff well in china.
I think it'll be interesting.
I think the mclarens you knowmy old team yeah look
particularly strong.
They've got two good driversand and it's the car I mean,
they've got a much stronger car.
So I I think if I was put mymoney on, I would, I would go
for mclaren and then finally,just to finish off with we.
Ian Carless (33:29):
I've asked all the guests this I'm a huge music fan
.
I'm sure you are too.
What's on your playlist at themoment?
What do you?
What do you put on there tochill out and relax, or
otherwise?
Paul Berger (33:38):
work out.
Oh god, it's, it's.
I mean, I guess you know, forme.
I mean coldplay, I mean, youknow, is something that I I'm a
big fan.
I I was fortunate enough not togo in abu dhabi, I went to the
their concert in singapore, butthen I'll go back into the
oldies and go back into the uh,the 80s and and go back to that,
that old old general and andand listen to Motown and things
(34:01):
like that, if I just really wantto just chill out and think
about, you know, the past.
But yeah, generally, havingtoday put me in a good mood, I
think I would say Coldplay andsomething like that.
Ian Carless (34:11):
Yeah, fantastic.
Well, paul, thanks for joiningme on the podcast and best of
luck in the future.
Paul Berger (34:15):
Thank you thank you , ian, it's great to be here.
Ian Carless (34:19):
Event News.
Dxb was presented by myself,ian Carlos, the studio engineer
and editor was Roy DeMonte, theexecutive producer was myself
and Joe Morrison, and thispodcast 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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