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European confederation in events industry: LiveCom Alliance
Last year during the EuBea Festival, Maarten Schram launched the project for an European network among associations
An initiative that the European events industry was ready and waiting for. That sums up LiveCom Alliance. Not only does Maarten Schram regularly meet European live-communication specialists as managing director of IDEA trade association and formerly director of the Effectgroep events agency, but also in his role as jury member at international award ceremonies. ‘But what I miss is the real connection all year around with these organizations. We share so much professional knowledge and experience that it seems logical to establish an official connection now. And this alliance is the ideal tool to achieve that,’ Schram explains.
Schram believes that now is the right time: ‘People want to be in touch, share knowledge, gain new ideas and attend inspiring meetings. I see LiveCom Alliance as a must; bringing together CEO’s and chairmen of the live communication associations is relevant for the industry, in both national and European arenas. What’s more, I consider globalization to be a clear trend: firms are focussing increasingly on international markets, where major companies are in search of global partners for their worldwide projects and events. European trade associations in the events sector should be supporting their members in this quest and serve as access to these international markets. And a solid European network makes that possible: LiveCom Alliance.’
When and where the idea of LiveCom Alliance come from?
The concept for a Pan-European network among associations was born eighteen months ago during a meeting of Eubea’s advisory board and was presented during the last Eubea festival in Seville in November 2015. The desire for greater coherence between sectoral and trade associations in Europe was discussed and the response was in the form of LiveCom Alliance
What are the goals and ambitions?
LiveCom Alliance has seen the official light of day this week, but its preparations have already been closely monitored for some time by national and international trade associations and media, as seen in the publication of Live Magazine . That interest is certainly fuelled by clear goals and objectives. ‘Obviously we want to welcome as many trade associations as possible, at least fifteen across Europe.’ LiveCom Alliance will set a clear schedule of business events in order to achieve this. And research projects are also being launched: ‘For instance, we’re working on a survey to produce a definition of “live communication”. There’s no clear-cut response to this surprisingly. We’re also preparing a market research study; because in order to further develop the events industry, we need to know how big it is, what similarities and differences there are within European local and regional markets, which trends play a role, and so on.
What is your mission?
As well as being an online tool, LiveCom Alliance will also host two live events for all its members each year (February and July). ‘We also have a special section in the Eubea festival programme that’s scheduled for October in St. Petersburg and there’s also an annual visit to one of European members. That brings us back to the objective to organize more regular and more focussed meetings with a compact agenda, and with a concrete follow-up.’
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Maarten Schram has a couple of decades of experience as an events professional. A managing director of both agency and association. He believes that associations could do more for the industry: knowledge sharing as well as opening doors to international clients and vice versa. He founded the Alliance to raise the ‘trade’ of live communication to a higher level in Europe: members can join forces to build a strong future together.
Photo Credit: Direzione Ostinata / Yvette Kulkens