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ITP offers organisers a direct channel to prospective audiences through its extensive distribution database.

ITP Business Publishing's conferences and events team espouses the merits of being part of the biggest B2B publishing company in the Middle East.

Tell me about ITP's events division and what makes it different from other event companies in the region.

Kimon Alexandrou: The beauty of ITP Business's events division is that it leverages the knowledge and experience of the rest of the group.

We are the largest B2B publishing company in the region with more than 33 publications in a number of vertical markets - a stable that we add to each year.

This means we have unique understanding of marketplaces places across the GCC, and we are experts in providing valuable information and connecting businesses, either through our titles or face-to-face.

Add to this market understanding, our professionalism in developing events and our ability to market them, and our skill set is unrivalled.

Primarily, these skills have been put to use through the development of brand extensions for our magazines - awards programmes, conferences, seminars and so on.

However, these initiatives have led to best practice across the events and marketing teams, so it makes sense to offer these skills to a wider community of corporate clients as event management services.

What kind of event management services can you offer?

Kimon Alexandrou: Everything from the strategic insight necessary to deliver an event that is genuinely of interest to an audience, through to the marketing, branding, logistics and administration.

People often underestimate this last part, but to deliver effective event administration is possibly the most complicated part of any event - ask any event manager.

When you look at what ITP Business can offer, you very quickly realise that we can offer a full service package to both companies in the region or companies from abroad that are looking to get into the Middle East.

What trends have you noticed in the way people approach events?

Kimon Alexandrou: In terms of event management, every single industry is beginning to recognise the need for event management, from travel and tourism through to petrochemicals, construction, manufacturing, logistics - you name it.

Companies are also starting to get a bit cleverer about how they promote their company internally and position their brands externally. People are beginning to think more about what the return on their investment is and that remains the most important thing that people need to ask when they go to an event management company.

Historically people would just assume that what they want from an event is 100 attendees.

But we are now, fortunately, moving away from those days and companies are beginning to realise that what they actually want is decision makers and influencers in a room where they are able to see the benefits of doing business with an organisation - not through blatant sales promotion but through objective and professional discussion.

What issues are affecting event planners in the region?

Kimon Alexandrou: The biggest problem that a lot of event management companies face is that, even if you are a large provider of events, venues ostensibly have you over a barrel.

It doesn't matter if you can say to them "we will book 100 days at your venue", they will still give you zero discount. All you are getting with venues is a better relationship.

ITP Business has a very good relationship with a number of key venues, but still we don't benefit from being able to pass on any major sort of cost savings to our clients, because there are no cost savings to be made.

When we discuss events with international clients who are not based in Dubai, they are always slightly shell shocked by the additional costs that they must cover when they are doing an event in Dubai.

People in Europe tend to work on the premise that five star hotels can be got at half price and that if you book 100 rooms you will always get 10 for free. This isn't the case here so not only does it surprise international clients but it also presents a budgeting problem for event planners.

What about from the event management side?

Daniel Fewtrell: Getting used to the bureaucracy here can be a challenge for event managers. It's not that there is necessarily more red tape here than anywhere else in the world, it's just that you have to have the knowledge and experience to navigate through it.

There's also the issue of managing expectations and the speed at which people think things can be done.

To plan a truly impressive event can take up to six months, because you need a good lead time to market the event through all the channels available to you and make sure you have everything in place.

Because the Middle East is moving so quickly, people sometimes think that things can be done at the drop of a hat, which isn't necessarily the best way to guarantee the success of an event.

How do you strive to make events unique in a market that is flooded with awards ceremonies, gala dinners and product launches?

Fewtrell: It's all about delivering something that is appropriate for the market and ensuring that the concept and content of what ever you do has value for any individual or organisation that attends. If you don't give them an event that enhances their professional life then you've failed.

In terms of the event experience and making it different to other things in the market, a lot of that is down to having good relationships with good venues and good suppliers and the people who do the AV and things like that, as well as branding companies, which always play a big part in the success on the day of the event.

We have a lot of experience with these guys and have worked a lot of best practice into our events as we try to create new experiences for attendees and delegates at an event. But at the end of the day, it is our job to pull it out of the box every time.

In an ideal world, what else could organisers do to make your life easier?

Daniel Fewtrell: There is a middle ground between being unhelpful and too helpful. If you get a client who can be too hands-on and micro manages every single aspect of the event it can do a lot more harm than good.

On the other hand if you have a client who is not answering your calls when you have a query or not replying to your e-mails, that is no good to you either.

The ideal client is always available for requests and will always be accommodating to you. It is all about trust - which comes with experience, it must always be earned and never taken for granted.

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