UK - The Purple Guide welcomed visitors to the Showman’s Show meetings tent for a morning of interactive discussions about developments to the outdoor events industry's guidance publication.
The Purple Guide is curated by the Event Industry Forum (EIF), whose chair, Steve Heap, introduced proceedings. He explained: “Having grown from 12 to 45 chapters since it was taken over by EIF from the HSE, the Purple Guide is undergoing a reformat and design update to make it a more consistent, user-friendly for subscribers to use.
“This year, we launched The Purple Guide Lite, which gives condensed guidance with an event management plan for the thousands of (often voluntary) organisers putting on events up to 500 capacity, who don’t need 45 chapters of guidance.”
He then introduced the panel comprising Jim Winship (director of EIF and editor of the Purple Guide); Ian Baird (EIF director and member of the Local Authority Event Organisers Group, LAEOG); and John Gallery (research lead at UK Events). Jim said: “With around 5,000 event professionals subscribing to The Purple Guide, we are responding to user feedback to make it easier to reference the vast amounts of guidance, pointing to legislation and best practice in outdoor events.
“We are also developing an international version which will be launched in the New Year. This will focus on best practice guidance, leaving aside the legislation, which can vary greatly from country to country.”
This led on to one of the most significant discussions of the morning session - the panellists described their hope for the imminent agreement of the Secretary of State for Business & Trade to the launch of a Primary Authority scheme in relation to the Purple Guide. This would give the Purple Guide quasi legal status with one local authority acting as advisors to the Forum and subscribers. Jim explained: "Primary Authority is a national scheme allowing businesses to form a statutory partnership with a single local authority to receive assured, consistent regulatory advice on compliance matters.
“This single point of contact for interpretation of legislation and guidance would be a major step towards achieving a consistent approach for organising outdoor events across the country. This would enable businesses working across different areas of the country to operate with greater confidence and help to minimise the risk of conflicting advice or enforcement actions from different local authorities.
“The development of a primary authority around The Purple Guide would be the first time the scheme has been applied to a guidance document.”
Claire Drakely, The Power of Events project strategic lead for research, insights and policy, then took to the stage to launch the Outdoor Events Impact Survey. She explained: “The survey will provide valuable information to support the outdoor event industry’s leading trade bodies' engagement with the government, armed with accurate up-to-date statistics. It will also provide invaluable data for event organisers.
“This groundbreaking survey has been a year in the making, supported by funding from the Purple Guide Grants scheme. We encourage everyone involved in the outdoor sector to download and register on the Events Industry Insights app (free) now and provide their information to build a comprehensive overview of the socio-economic impacts of this vast sector.”
Link to survey: www.thepowerofevents.org/eif-value-of-outdoor-events-study/
