Olivia PowellThe National Outdoor Event Association (NOEA) has announced its full convention programme for 2019.
The event will feature speeches, presentations and workshops built around the theme ‘Who’s Looking After Who?: Safety & Responsibility at Events’, and will include a specialist session around the new ‘Exclusion Zone’.
The programme will begin with a keynote address from chief executive of DF Concerts, Geoff Ellis. This will be followed by a panel discussion on the exclusion zone, including thoughts from Becky Stevens, Hybred Events; Alysha Sargent, Leeds Castle; Philip Day, Laceys Solicitors; and Andrew Fraser, Andrew Fraser Associates,moderated by Nick Morgan from We Are the Fair.
The first sessions will focus on who events need to be responsible for regarding audiences, and will then be followed by a specialist session on how events can look after the people and volunteers that support the event. The session, entitled ‘Who Looks After the People who Look After the People’, will be moderated by Karen Melanby from MIND, a mental health charity, and will include insights from Linda Krawecke, Tiger Tea, Jean Lenihan, ‘Festival Site Mum’ at the Black Deer Festival, and industry leader Penny Mellor.
The event will also include a workshop session designed to test each delegate’s ability to make decisions when under pressure, led by Bev Osborn from Training 4 Resilience, and featuring a ‘live’ crisis situation. This theme will also be bought to life later in the day with a presentation from Alan Tungate, ACT (National) Ltd. former, Met Police public order command with responsibility for the Sporting Events in London, who will speak on what happens when Gold Command takes over an event.
There will also be sessions on ‘Who Looks After the Next Generation of Professionals?’ with Caroline Jackson, former lecturer at Bournemouth University, and‘Who’s Coming: Working with Ticketing Data’ from Matt Evans, See Tickets. The day will end with a ‘tongue in cheek’ debate between Alan Lyons, Show Manager Bath & West Show Ground and Chris Woodford, ACT National, who will bring together the themes of the day and discuss them with input from attendees.
The convention will be held on 27 November, and will take place at The Guildhall, in Bath.