AEME Forum explores new horizons for events management at Waterside

Interactive discussions and actions for the future were on the agenda at the University of Northampton’s Waterside campus earlier this month, as events industry specialists came together to discuss the importance of collaborative working in shaping the future of events management.

Open to academics, students and industry specialists, the Association for Events Management Education (AEME) Forum was held across two days (6 and 7 July) as an opportunity to share best practice and influence the future of events management.

The theme for this year’s forum was ‘New Horizons: Working Together for a Brighter Future’, and sparked engaging conversations around promoting sustainability in events management, collaborative working between industries and universities, as well as exploring events management education in the metaverse.

Senior Lecturer in Events Management & Tourism, Claire Leer was on hand to discuss what constitutes a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community, whilst keynote speaker Stephane Bazire, Head of Sustainability at Silverstone, presented on encouraging sustainable industry growth.

Senior Lecturer in Events, Tourism and Hospitality, Claire Drakeley was also joined by the event’s second keynote speaker, Dr Russell Cowley of Birmingham City University to discuss high performance teams, sharing his professional hockey experience as part of the Team GB Olympic qualifiers.

Ivna Reic, Subject Leader for Events, Tourism & Hospitality, reflected on the event and said: “It’s a rare but incredibly valuable opportunity to have so many industry experts and leading events management professionals in one room, and it was an opportunity which certainly was not wasted.

“The two days were jam-packed with engaging roundtable discussions on the future of events management. It was wonderful to see some of our events, tourism and hospitality students in attendance on the day, who were active in discussions and will hopefully take the ideas shared onwards into their careers as business professionals within the events management industry.”