Representatives of 16 associations from 14 countries from Central-Northern Europe developed a platform for event organizers and appealed to European Parliament with demand of the Inclusion of event industry representatives in the European Economy Commissions.
WeAreLive is the coalition of the most influential associations in the event industry from over 14 countries in Europe. It acts in the interest of over 20,000 companies with more than 500,000 employees and more than 200,000 apprentices.
Event industry sector ranks as the 13th largest economy globally. Still, the industry is not recognized by national and regional governments. With this petition the industry professionals are asking to create an authority that should be responsible for event industry in EU Parliament. For a productive rescue dialog, inclusion of event industry representatives in the European Economy Commissions is crucial.
“Never has it been so important time for us as an industry to harness the power of collaboration and community to create a positive impact and demonstrate our worth to governments. The recovery is so critical to our society, our economy overall, the power of business events is something that can be central in reaching this goal. But we need to be heard and recognized on the highest level. We need to have representative of the Event Industry in European Parliament and explain others our importance and benefits” says Maria Kirillova, CEO at Baltic Event Industry Club and initiator of the Petition.
LiveCom industry is a business sector that creates live events.
This industry includes massive business turnover: involving B2B (clients & relations focussed), B2E (internal & employees focussed) or B2C (consumers & fans focussed) live events.
The event industry has emerged in the last decade as a modern, complex “engine” of the progressive world. The industry’s events serve almost all industries to present new products, communicate with their customers and generate sales. Business events are also a unifying activity that brings together the ecosystems in innovative sectors such as health and education, science and technology, creative industry and also retail, hospitality, entertainment and sports. Business events allow cities to promote their brand as live meetings are part of the innovation capacity of a city. The economy in each country is highly dependent on a functioning event industry.
This industry is in a unique position as it can drive not only economic recovery, but economic transition and economic renewal.
In total, the Event industry in Europe generates EUR 172.6 billion in direct GDP, supporting 2.9 million direct jobs. EUR 1.33 trillion of world GDP is supported by global business events, which would rank the sector as the 13th largest economy globally.
“In addition to the social responsibility of events for the society, the economic importance of the MICE industry is also essential for the overall economy. Other sectors such as gastronomy, hotels and travel industry won’t be able to survive without business meetings and events. The International Live Events Association supports the #WeAreLive initiative”. Christian Seidenstuecker, President ILEA Europe, Germany
The Event Industry supports the measures taken by European governments to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection (COVID-19). However, the industry’s livelihood has been completely sacrificed to save lives. Limiting the spread of the virus is the only way to slow and mitigate its massive health and financial impact on our nations. We are all anxiously waiting for a comprehensively available vaccine. There is a big difference between 1 or 2 years for that vaccine to be available in terms of what happens to the business meetings industry in the interim.
The coalition of the industry associations has developed a web site for event organizers in the quarantine and post-quarantine period WeAreLive.pro.
This website contains such information as:
- a guideline for the preparation and organization of events with precautions against COVID-19 infection,
- a description of the situation in 14 countries of Central Northern Europe today,
- the definition and composition of the leading players in the event industry with recommendations for calculating their impact on the industry and the economy,
- an example of a survey to calculate the impact on local markets.
The coalition is working to gather a fact base to help local authorities understand the true impact that events have on economies and job creation. WeAreLive is also working on European guidelines, safety protocols, communications, standards and legislation for Live events on a Pan-European level. But the main result of the associations collaboration is the Petition to the European Parliament, accepted by Petition Committee.
“In the process of organizing WeAreLive, we’ve realized that as an industry we are global, but in terms of the decisions that were being made around the future of our industry, most of these were being made locally,” states Maria Kirillova
Unfortunately, local governments have so far either not taken up the industry’s offers to meet and discuss or have done so insufficiently. The solutions pointed out by the industry representatives, which would allow the event industry to be saved from destruction in a meaningful and sustainable way, have gone unheard.
In european countries the authorities who are responsible for Live events are very different: from the ministry of culture, ministry of tourism, to the ministry of foreign affairs. This disunity condemns us to the lack of common solutions, help and strategies for the development of the industry at an European level. Moreover, the event industry does not have a representative in any country’s government, or in the highest levels of power. As the 13th leading industry, it still doesn’t have a voice. That’s why the key focus of the Petition is on creating an authority that should be responsible for event industry in EU Parliament.
“Event industry is the industry which has taken the worst hits during the COVID-19 quarantine period. Our industry is easy to cancel but very difficult to open again. Event industry companies will suffer of this quarantine period for years. We need to work together to survive this crisis. Economy needs events and people need encounters,” comments Kati Kuusisto, CEO at Finnish Event Association
WeAreLive is kindly asking to sign the petition that has been prepared to prevent a large number of bankruptcies, and quite possibly the permanent disappearance of the professional event industry. Thank you!
READ MORE: wearelive.pro
