Business + Brand Experiences
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Sector at a Glance
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Contributes circa £18.3bn to the UK economy.
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A broad range of event types : conferences, brand activations, product launches, award ceremonies, AGMs, incentives, team building events.
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Deliver a range of audience experiences : research sharing, knowledge transfer, professional development, relationship building, brand immersion.
Sector Overview

These live events are used to promote and support commercial enterprises and are organised by corporate companies, consumer brands, trade and professional bodies. These are a key contributor to the global leadership of the UK events industry including significant export value and attracting in-bound business visitors, delivering Business to Business and Business to Consumer experiences.

 Event companies, creative and brand experience agencies, technical production companies, logistics and destination management companies, freelance producers and co-ordinators, set design and build companies, indoor and outdoor venues, caterers, decor suppliers, infrastructure suppliers, temporary structure suppliers, stewarding, health and safety services are some of the key event industry suppliers working together to deliver these live events.

Value to the economy – pre Covid mean estimates put the contribution to the UK economy of this sector at circa £18.3bn pre-pandemic – The Power of Events aims to update and identify a more current value in conjunction with its Research engagement app and sector partners, leveraging its unique cross sector reach. They include a diverse range of genres including attendance by business audiences to sales, training, educational, networking and strategy conferences, award ceremonies, AGMs, incentives and teambuilding events. Both business and consumer audiences also attend product launches, roadshows and experiential brand experiences. These events deliver a range of content and desired outputs for the audience, including research sharing, knowledge transfer, professional development, relationship building, brand immersion and product/services showcases – ultimately fostering trade, relationships and business growth.

Sector News
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Business events added $1.3 trillion to global economy in 2025
Global business events generated more than $1.3 trillion in direct spending in 2025, as they brought together around 1.65 billion participants. These are the topline figures from the newly published ‘2026 Global economic significance of business events study’, commissioned by the Events Industry Council (EIC), in association with Oxford Economics.
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Inquiry launched into tourism tax
The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Hospitality and Tourism is launching an inquiry into plans for a so-called ‘tourism tax’, and it is seeking responses directly from industry. This comes after last week’s confirmation that mayoral authorities will be granted powers to introduce the levy.
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Young people to get new routes into event sector with agency internship scheme
Experiential agency Brandfuel has launched a new internship programme, with four 12-month paid placements across roles from creative and production to business management. The scheme is designed to facilitate entry into the events and creative industries.
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“Engagement first!” Why XSEM ripped up the rulebook
For a brief moment during the pandemic, Dan Bardgett saw something that didn’t quite make sense. The trade shows his agency XSEM delivered had gone fully virtual – a forced pivot at the time, and one met with the usual scepticism about whether digital could ever replicate the live experience. But when the results came in, the data told a different story.
Business + Brand Experiences Sector Industry Events
July 26
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The C&IT Festival of Forums
The C&IT Festival of Forums is heading to Liverpool – and we’re doing things a bit differently. We’re bringing together the UK’s top corporate, agency, and association planners for three days of high-impact connection in a city that’s world-famous for its big ideas, energy and hospitality. This isn’t about sitting in a dark conference hall for eight hours. It’s about getting away from your desk and actually having the headspace to think. We’ve traded the usual trade show noise for something much more human: real conversations, smarter meetings, and social experiences that you’ll actually enjoy.
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July 26
7-9
AEME Forum 2026
The #AEME2026 overarching theme is ‘Events for a Changing World: Responsibility, Equity, and Impact’ which will explore events as sites of responsibility and contestation, as well as spaces for imagination and meaningful impact. In particular, the Forum welcomes work that critically engages with events education, its pedagogies, curricula, institutional contexts, and partnerships as a key lever for shaping ethical practice, inclusive futures, and socially responsive event professionals in an uncertain world.
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July 26
8
The EVCOM Clarion Awards
The Clarion Awards celebrate film, live and audio experiences that use creativity, craft and influence to create measurable positive impact for people, communities and the planet. They recognise work that goes beyond commercial success to drive progress through, environmental responsibility, social good, education, wellbeing, inclusion and innovation, demonstrating how our industry can be a force for positive change.
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