BSI Hive #2 May 2008 - The Tin

18 the
hive
client zone
Case Study: ITM Conference, Dublin, April 2008
shoot that
poison arrow
Masochism is an essential quality in any Event Manager. Why else would this
curious hybrid of troubleshooter, military planner and Butlins redcoat bother
getting out of bed in the morning to pander to the whims of 500 ‘children’
aged anywhere from 25 to 65?
By Paul Hussey
The raison d’etre of the event
manager is to bring the disparate
elements together seamlessly.
From staging & audio visual
elements, through speaker
programmes, social and networking
delivery to transportation and
assorted logistics; the event
manager has to keep all the
plates spinning.
It’s all-consuming and usually
stressful. So when the brief
involves 500 delegates, 60
speakers, 46 sponsors and
multi-media production, the
person entrusted with the event
could have been forgiven for
seeking refuge in the nearest
bottle of gin.
Talked-about event
As the UK business travel industry’s
largest conference (both in
delegate numbers and scale),
the annual Institute of Travel
Management conference is a
much talked-about event. It’s also
one of the hundreds of events a
year handled by Olive 360 o , the
event management division of
the BSI group of companies.
Olive 360 o won the contract to
stage the event in 2007 following
a competitive tender process.
However the ITM Conference is
not new to BSI, the mother
company having managed the
event for the three years prior
to the acquisition of Olive 360 o
in 2007.
The 2008 event took place over three days
in Dublin, centering on the Crowne Plaza
Northwood Hotel, the Mansion House in Dublin
City Centre and other venues across the city.
This was a sell-out event, helped by the fact
that buyers who are also ITM members attend
the conference free of charge, with all delegates
registering before the early-bird deadline
receiving free return travel too.
Hands-on approach
Emma Wilson heads the team at Olive 360 o
responsible for the ITM Conference. So what
made the ITM event different? “ITM takes a very
hands-on approach to the conference, so we
probably have more of a partnership in this case
rather than a traditional client/supplier
relationship in which we are simply left to get
on with delivery. ITM’s Head of Marketing Mark
Harris is responsible for the conference and
chairs the planning group which decides the
overall format and content of the event.”
“The planning for the event is also non-stop”
explains Emma. “Liverpool has already been
selected as the 2009 venue so we’re looking
at hotel availability and theming ideas whilst
putting the final touches to the preceding
year’s event.
For the event, Emma assembled a team of eight
to cover the core deliverables of telemarketing,
registration, transport, speaker & sponsor
liaison and production. Over 1,500 phone calls
and 10,000 e-mails were made or sent to ITM
members; monthly planning meetings were
complemented by dozens of conference calls
and many more internal meetings to ensure that
every aspect of the event was planned to the
last detail.
Summer 2008