The AGM was chaired by outgoing Eventia chairman, Rob Allen, chief executive of event agency TRO, with contributions from Eventia executive director, Izania Downie and the incoming Eventia chairman, Patrick Collins of Universal CIT.

In his review of the 2007-8 membership year, Rob Allen announced that:
– Eventia had achieved a trading surplus for the second successive year
– Membership had reached 271, with 21 new members joining since the beginning of 2008
– 14 major events had been staged over the year, ranging from The Summer
Eventia (annual conference) to awards dinners and educational seminars,
attended by more than 2,500 people
– More than 20,000 people have visited Eventia the website making more than 34,000 visits
– Members had used the business support helpline for over 80 calls on topics
such as human resources, VAT, legal support, health and safety, and tax

Allen also reported on the One Future initiative, which had been launched to encourage and support sustainable events and businesses. Since its launch:
– 9 major agencies had signed up to participate
– 3,100 trees had been planted
– £2,500 had been invested in primary school education

In addition, Allen desribed how the Eventia dedicated corporate social responsibility micro-site had also been launched, providing members with a tool kit of resources aimed to assist members to organise responsible value-led live events with a positive social impact on people and minimal impact on the environment.

Furthermore, he revealed that a project group had been established to develop closer partnerships between industry and academia, while he reported that with raft of regulatory work had been carried out on behalf of the members, ranging from package travel regulations and the reform of ATOL to regulation of the sale of travel insurance and the new events industry green standard BS8901.

During the meeting, Izania Downie revealed details of the new Eventia Board and confirmed that Mark Taylor of Grass Roots Group, would be the new Eventia vice-chair.

“I'm so delighted that Mark has been elected vice-chair,” she said. “He has always been an enthusiastic and active member of the board, is well respected by suppliers and his colleagues alike and will provide good solid support to Patrick during his year as chair. Rob has served a fantastic year and has helped to broaden the membership across new sectors of the industry. He really has provided such good support to me in getting our systems and processes in place, as well as being a highly inspirational mentor both creatively and strategically. He will now assume the role of looking after our finances as well as continuing to input to our strategic direction for the medium to longer term.

“Patrick will bring a different style of leadership with a different skill set to the position of chairman. I have no doubt that he will be equally as inspirational and his passion is to focus his attention on member benefits, as well as overseeing the potential merger with the British Association of Conference Destinations.”

Downie also unveiled the 2008-2009 Eventia board members:

Agency representatives
Leigh Jagger, Banks Sadler
Peter Jackson, Eventwise
Mark Saxby, Worldevents

Partner representatives
Cath Couzens, Perception Sales & Marketing
Brian Kirsch, Event Assured

The new executive team consists of:
Rob Allen, TRO – immediate past chair
Patrick Collins, Universal CIT – chair
Mark Taylor, Grass Roots Group – vice-chair
Izania Downie – executive director

Alongside the executive team, the remaining members of the current board are:
Aileen Reuter, Maritz – corporate social responsibility
Matt Storey, Gallowglass – membership & awards
Gary England, Ascot/Sodexo – awards & 2012
Jonathan Cohen, VisitDenmark – education
John Walker, Oxford International – education
Andrew Wright, FAB! – awards