ES. You’ve served as the Executive Director for Conferences and Events at ExCeL London for over 21 years. How have you seen the role of venues like ExCeL evolve in the face of changing event formats, particularly hybrid and virtual events?
James Rees. Over the period since I joined Excel London, our everyday lives and expectations have changed hugely and venues like Excel have needed to adapt and invest to meet the changing demands of event organisers, attendees and stakeholders. As an example, when I joined Excel, the iPhone had not yet been launched and we have seen the increasing technical advances and digitisation in all areas of our lives which have also become embedded into modern event design and venues such as Excel have had to keep up with those developments.
ES. As President of JMIC for over three years, what have been the most significant challenges and opportunities you’ve encountered in the global meetings industry?
James Rees. The key areas I have found that have needed the most attention have been the need for our industry to embrace decarbonisation, in line with the Paris Agreement from COP21 in 2015 which has seen the industry launch and develop the Net Zero Carbon Events initiative which JMIC hosts. Furthermore the pandemic showed that we needed to increase our work on advocacy to governments and to build on our legacy “storytelling” which have seen the publication of the JMIC Global Manifesto and the amazing series of legacy case studies which are published via the Iceberg platform. These are vital tools for our industry to use and can support the promotion of the value of business events in all regions of the world.
ES. During your time as ICCA President from 2018 to 2022, the world was hit by the pandemic. How did you and the ICCA leadership navigate the crisis for the meetings industry?
James Rees. The pandemic was a challenge we all had to face and which was something none of us had faced in our working lives. ICCA’s key role was to show and maintain its value proposition to members through the whole pandemic by providing a source of best practice and knowledge which was being received from across all our sectors and regions and which allowed us to share key information regarding members who were successfully continuing to operate and collaborating to find ways to survive the periods when we could not host in-person events and prepare for the changes that would come when events did return and, as we have seen, have been so successful because of the power of doing business face-to-face. The board moved to having online meetings and to a crisis mode, whereby we would meet and agree actions with ICCA management at least once a month – in particular deciding and supporting the decision to host two innovative, hybrid annual congresses in Kaohsiung and Cartagena.
ES. How do you balance the needs of local vs. international event clients, and how does ExCeL London stay competitive on the global stage?
James Rees. Excel has a very balanced portfolio of trade and consumer exhibitions, national and international meetings and conventions. Of our meetings and conventions business, over 60% comes from clients based overseas, in particular Europe and the USA, and at least 25% of our 4 million visitors each year come from overseas. As such we need to ensure our venue can meet the needs of a very diverse client and visitor base which requires consistent investment and reinvestment to ensure we are competitive with the other major event venue around the world. That investment has seen recent spend of £350m in 25,000m2 of new convention facilities being built at Excel, along with hotel acquisition, digital media infrastructure, F&B investments and the creation of a new visitor experience zone, Immerse London.
ES. How do you see sustainability playing a role in the future of the meetings and events industry, and what actions do you believe are necessary to make the industry more sustainable?
James Rees. Sustainability is arguably the biggest challenge our industry faces and is where the launch of the Net Zero Carbon Events initiative is so important in allowing the industry to show to governments that it is a responsible industry and one which takes those responsibilities seriously. Excel and our owners ADNEC are signatories to the NZCE initiative and we are actively involved in that project which has set out the actions and processes to support the aim of net zero by 2050.
ES. ExCeL London hosts around 400 shows annually. Can you discuss the variety of events held at the venue?
James Rees. We host a huge portfolio of differing events including exhibitions, meetings & conventions, sports events and immersive experiences. These include World Travel Market, ComicCon, Salesforce, European Society of Cardiology, London Triathlon, Formula E and the recent immersive events for Disney 100, Friends Experience and the F1 exhibition. Additionally, we have hosted landmark events such as the G20 Summit in 2009 and the Olympic and Paralympic Games during London 2012.
ES. What role does ExCeL London play in boosting London’s inbound business tourism? Can you provide examples of how specific events have drawn international visitors?
James Rees. 1 million overseas visitors per year attend events at Excel London, supporting 40,000 jobs and driving £4.5Bn into the London and UK economy. A great example of this was the recent ESC Congress, the largest cardiology congress in the world, where 26,500 delegates attended in person, coming from 163 countries around the world.
ES. Lastly, how do you envision the future of exhibitions and conferences? What changes or trends do you foresee shaping the industry in the coming years?
James Rees. Excel London celebrates its 25 year anniversary next year and we have seen tremendous changes over that time. I believe that events follow the trends of our everyday lives and this will continue into the future. We will see an ever-increasing focus on responsible management of events, a drive to decarbonise every area possible in our industry and always placing the attendee experience and well-being at the heart of everything we plan. The COVID pandemic had a major effect on all our lives, however one of the major effects was to remind us that human connection, the power of face-to-face and the sense of belonging that professional communities bring to our working lives are all to be valued, and the events industry delivers those values every day.
