Our new brand at The Meetings Show 2024

Brighter’s new logo and website went live on Monday (June 17), as did parent company Clarity’s, just in time to be showcased at the ExCeL in London.

Clarity had a show-stopping new stand at The Business Travel Show – running alongside The Meetings Show - where members of the Brighter team were stationed, alongside colleagues from One Global.

As well as demonstrations of meetingspro (and ClarityGo) and diarised meetings with potential new customers, there was plenty of activity away from the stand too.

Just as the event opened on the Wednesday, Paul Casement, our Executive Director of Groups Meetings and Events, was interviewed for The Meetings Show TV.

During the interview with Paul Harvey, editor of Meetings and Incentive Travel magazine, they chatted about “the rebirth” of Brighter following the rebrand.

They touched on the emergence of longer-term event planning, which was unheard of a year or two ago, as well as the increased importance of sustainability for customers, with our meetingspro tech being able to play its part.

It was agreed that event planning where hybrid is now the norm, it is not ‘”just down to budgets” – people want value, as do we.

Later on Wednesday afternoon, Sharon Bannister, our Head of Sales and Account Management of Meetings & Events, led a session on Strategic Meetings Management at the mia Pavilion.

She talked about being able to make 12% savings, while touching on the DDR rates in London and the rest of the country’s big cities.

The importance of carrying out an internal review of a budget was highlighted, while also recognising that a meetings planner needs to know what they want to get out of an event, which then helps those organising it.

Engagement, however, was the key to successful meetings according to Sharon, which helps make our partnerships a success.

Later in the day, Sharon also led a discussion entitled Meetings & Events trends for 2024 and beyond.

The packed mia Pavilion heard about the increase in importance of AI, as well as ‘experience events’ which are what event bookers are now really wanting.

It was also a good opportunity to chat about the new-look business, and how meetingspro is a gamechanger for customers.  

Sharon said:

“It has been an incredible event. We have been really busy on the stand, showcasing our new brand which everyone is excited about it. It looks incredible. The speaker sessions on the mia Pavilion have been really good where we’ve shared some insights and it has been really engaging.”

Early on Thursday morning, members of the Brighter team joined a breakfast roundtable event with Lime Venue Portfolio on Neurodiversity and Wellness in Events.

The talk – led by Laura Capell-Abra of Stress Matters – was a really engaging session where delegates learned 20% of people are neurodivergent - but only 50% to 80% know it.

Within the session there was a group task where new words were introduced to people. It followed a conversation where people worry about using the wrong words in situations.

The group agreed it is our job in the M&E industry to ensure our events are for everybody. Being considerate and communicating well will ensure we support people.  

You can download the Lime Venues neurodiversity toolkit here:

https://www.limevenueportfolio.com/content-hub/neurodiversity-toolkit/

As well as lots of other networking, members of the Brighter team were also invited to the miaConnect Dinner hosted by ME London on the Wednesday night.  

It was a great opportunity to meet new contacts, as well as old ones, as some of the leading corporate agents joined delegates at their tables throughout the night.  

Reflecting on this year’s shows Paul Casement said:

“I think The Meetings Show, and the Business Travel Show as well, have really exceeded expectations. I think it is probably the best show in many a year, certainly post-Covid. We have been very busy with lots of enquiries. That’s probably been stimulated to a certain extent by the rebrand which I would say is magnificent. It is a very special rebrand and I love the fact it has been done in-house thanks to some really talented people. And I think if they still did the award for stand of the year, we’d win it hands-down, I’ve absolutely no doubt about that whatsoever.”  

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