Launching, growing and selling media businesses

Webinar: How much ‘digital’ does my events business need?

About the webinar

Tuesday 5 July 2022

1400-1500 BST

In March 2020 live event business models were thrown into disarray. Events were cancelled or postponed, teams had to pivot rapidly to digital offerings and even the most innovative businesses scrambled to put out viable products.

Now, events businesses find themselves at a crossroads: with a return to live events looking increasingly feasible, how can they balance the best of their live and digital offerings?

Decreasing travel budgets, an audience habituated to online interaction, the drive towards sustainability, wider global reach and lower direct costs will ensure a continuing place for digital events in many portfolios. However the nascent need for human interaction, the quality of networking, higher revenues and sponsor appetite to get behind a return to face to face, will ensure that live events won’t be completely replaced any time soon. 

At the same time, investors – even traditional buyers of pureplay events companies – are showing increased appetite for acquiring hybrid and digital-led business models,

Join Collingwood’s Darren Johnson as he leads a discussion between Jessica Natinsky, Chief Strategy officer at Hyve Group, Carina Bauer, CEO of IMEX and Debra Chipman, Collingwood’s VP North America as they discuss the most pressing issues around balancing your portfolio, including:

  • The new ‘rules of engagement’ for face to face events and how far this affects scaleup opportunities
  • Where digital has driven the most value over the last two years
  • The role of both digital and face to face interactions in delivering a community model
  • Sponsor expectations and value derived from digital communication vs face to face
  • Calculating the optimal mix of platforms and channels for your audience and for exit plans

Make sure you register to secure your place on this expert webinar now by completing the form and check the rest of Collingwood’s webinar schedule for 2022 here. 

Speakers

Darren Johnson Darren Johnson, Senior Adviser, Collingwood Advisory (Moderator)
Darren has over 20 years’ experience within international B2B media, events and service businesses, latterly as CEO of Reed Exhibitions UK. Darren has a cross-functional background with particular expertise in customer-led business transformation to drive sustained, profitable growth. He has successfully led and grown international businesses in the £50 – £300m range, through changes to value propositions, NPD processes, commercial business models, platforms, and structure. Prior to Reed Exhibitions, Darren was Chief Growth Officer for Kodak Alaris, a $1bn Imaging, software, and digital printing business.

Jessica Natinsky Jessica Natinsky, Chief Strategy Officer, Hyve Group plc
Jessica joined Hyve in June 2021, working in both Divisional strategy and Group transaction support before being appointed as the Group Strategy Director in February 2022. Jessica leads the Group Strategy function and is responsible for the implementation of Hyve’s overarching strategic goals, including the formulation of M&A, product and go-to-market strategies across the business, and ensuring alignment across the Group’s key strategic areas. Jessica is passionate about driving meaningful growth and value within a business through collaborative, data driven projects that address rapidly evolving and complex strategic challenges.

Carina BauerCarina Bauer, CEO, IMEX
A passionate and dedicated leader, Carina Bauer is the CEO of the IMEX Group – an organisation responsible for organising the leading global trade shows for the international business events industry. Carina is passionate about the business events sector and its impact on the world, taking a particular interest in issues around sustainability, diversity and inclusion and mentoring the leaders of tomorrow. Carina also takes a keen interest in leadership development and organisational best practice. She is currently Chair of the AEO Council and the EIA, serves as an UFI Board member and is Past President of the SITE Foundation (2020). She has previously served on the Board of the MPI UK Chapter and on global committees for MPI and PCMA.

Debra Chipman LI Debra Chipman, VP North America, Collingwood Advisory
Debra is an entrepreneur and C-suite executive with deep expertise blending strategy, digital transformation, M&A, and operational skill sets in private and public B2B events businesses. She has been a founder, a buyer and a seller of event companies.

Debra began her B2B events career at the privately held Institute for International Research (IIR), culminating in her role as CEO of U.S. Events. After the sale of IIR to Informa in 2005, Debra stayed on as the President of Global Life Sciences, where she continued to grow the company organically and through acquisitions. Most recently Debra founded Corey Lane Partners (CLP), a boutique consultancy that advises B2B event businesses on how to launch and scale independent events. In 2017, CLP launched its flagship proprietary event, the AI in Biopharma Summit.

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