Trevor Foley picked up the Outstanding Contribution to the Industry Award at the AEO Excellence Awards today, which is a fitting tribute to a man who has been flying the flag for live communications for so long.

In building up the AEO, to include the AEV and AEC and then moving on to head the Events Industry Alliance (EIA), Foley has surrounded himself with a great team, and has been a key figure in getting live communications on the marketing map. “The future is digital and live events,” he said in the sign off for his thank you speech.

As if to confirm Foley’s sentiment, the equally big news today took place off stage, when it was announced that Ingenius Media & Communications, one of the biggest equity firms in the media business, has bought a majority stake in Chris Hughes' Brand Events for £7.02 million. Former chief executive of the NEC Group, Andrew Morris, a recent director of Ingenius, looks to have once again done his bit in bringing live communications into the marketing spotlight by teaming up his Media company with Brand Events which has already brokered a deal with Channel 4. Hughes remains as Chief Executive, Morris steps in as non-executive Chairman.

Meanwhile, back at the awards, it was a good day at the office for Clarion Events as it picked up Best Consumer Launch for the International Caravan and Motorhome Show 2006. Also, the Simon Kimble-inspired acquisition of Amusements Trades Exhibition paid off as the Clarion ATE Portfolio collected Best Trade Show.

On the service side, more great news for Opex as it picked up Best Shell Scheme for Modul, and its registration firm Expo Systems collected Production Supplier of the Year.

James Latham, our man at the event, claimed there was a collective sigh of relief as TRO picked up Best Stand Design & Build for BMW at the London Motorshow, thus saving any embarrassment for the lack of anyone to collect the award for MICE Group, which was nominated for its work with Xerox at IPEX.