On 24 – 25 January, central city venue the Banking Hall welcomed nearly 900 event buyers through its doors for the third edition of the London Summer Event Show, a boutique exhibition showcasing the best in summer event venues and suppliers.

Organised by creative event agency Story Events, the event was their most successful exhibition to date, reporting a 17% record increase in visitors by welcoming 882 event buyers made up of 576 corporate buyers and 363 event agents to the exhibition over the two days.

Some top names on the attendee list included corporate buyers from Argenta, BBC, BP, CIMA, Coutts, Deloitte, Deutsche Bank, Ernst & Young, Facebook, Google, ITV, Microsoft, Shell and Yahoo to name a few.

Christine Ansell, PA to CEO at Argenta comments, “I thought the venue and set up was excellent and have come away with some great new ideas for our events”

Event Agents saw the most impressive increase with a 27.5% rise in attendance, and included top agents such as AOK Events, Banks Sadler, Capita Travel & Events, DRP, CLive, Concerto Group, Evolve Events, George P. Johnson, Grass Roots and many more.

In total 78 exhibitors took part in the exhibition from a range of venues and suppliers, with 50% of the exhibitor list representing first time participation.

Marketing & Content Manager for the event, Clare McAndrew comments “It is very important for us as a boutique event to keep our content current and fresh therefore we have a strict policy of only allowing 50% repeat exhibitor bookings to ensure we can offer our visitors something different at each event.”

Each year Story Events introduce new elements to the event to keep the event relevant for its visitors. This year saw the introduction of Story Events CSR project, ‘Story Gives Back’ which following a vote by visitors offered six new/small event suppliers a one-time only complimentary stand space at the event.

One of the ‘Story Gives Back’ exhibitors was Matthew Preedy, Founder of drink supplier, Vits & Kicks, “For a relatively new start up like us, to have a free two-day opportunity to present ourselves to the market is an invaluable experience and one that could be the catalyst for myself or any other business to have a positive turn of fortune.”

Also introduced was an event agent evening seminar programme which discussed some of the most relevant topics in the industry including the future of virtual reality in events as well as where events sit in the wider marketing mix with the talk, ‘Will Events Ever Reach the Boardroom Table’ hosted by industry association, ILEA.

Repeat Exhibitor Milan Thakrar, Business Development Manager at Historic Royal Palaces comments, “Each year the Show gets better and better! So well done to Story Events for exceeding themselves year on year!”

The next event in the series is the London Christmas Party Show which will take place at Christchurch Spitalfields near Liverpool Street on 10 – 11 May. Applications to exhibit are currently being accepted. Email [email protected] for more information.