East vs West London has long been a discussion point in events. Historically it's always been the West that has been the preferred location for events out of the two but since the continued development of ExCeL, the Olympic Games and the expected closure of Earls Court (part of anyway) the East of London is fast becoming the favoured location for major events.
In recent weeks events such as BETT and Confex have moved from a flagship West London venue (Earls Court) to East London (ExCeL). When announcing the moves both stated lack of space at Earls Court as (one of) the reason and whilst I am sure this is partly true I can't help but feel that the lack of development in the West of London is also a reason.
A negative atmosphere is surrounding West London, chief reasons being that Earls Court is rumoured to be shutting post London 2012 and the Olympia Tube line is being closed from December 2011 (which negates any positive vibes from the development of Olympia). Without suggesting a conspiracy it almost seems as though the powers that be in London are happy to let West London look after itself whilst they focus all their attention and money on East London.
This may of course make complete sense from an economic and social point of view given how far behind the Eastern part of the City is in comparison to Western parts (compare Leyton and Chelsea for example) but from an event organiser point of view it is less than ideal, as it gives huge power to ExCeL in terms of competing for the larger events. However despite the above and current power shift from West to East there is still only one winner in terms of a location (in my opinion).
Yes East London is having millions of pounds spent on it's transport, general infrastructure, accommodation, social regeneration (largely all down to the Olympics) but for events, especially business to business ones, it's just not an attractive location. Let's focus on the largest venue - ExCeL. As a venue it can cater for events of pretty much any size, offers completely flexible space and has recently added to it's strength by opening the first ICC in London.
The problem is the venue just feels like it is a long way from central London, despite both the venue and Boris' claims it is not. Admittedly it has parking for something like 3,700 cars but when you advertise an event as being in London you want it to be easily accessible by public transport and I do not think ExCeL is. To access ExCeL you need to travel on both the unreliable Jubilee Line as well as the DLR - not quite as simple as just jumping on either the District or Picadilly Line to Earls Court (I accept Olympia is not easy to get to even with the station still open). To get from Victoria (my usual London station) to Stratford (the East London hub) takes 30minutes - compared to just 10minutes to Earls Court. To get to ExCeL takes 33minutes - 2/3rds as long.
London 2012 will be fantastic for the City and economy. I'm convinced that by the end of 2012 transport links to East London (and ExCeL), aided by the O2 cable car, will be on par with those out to the Western parts of the City. Added to that I am in complete agreement that those areas within the City that are more deprived receive the bulk of investment. However I just hope that the improvement of East London does not come at the detriment to historically strong West London venues such as EC&O resulting in organisers being forced to run events in locations we'd rather avoid.
www.connectevents.co.uk
Saturday, 25 June 2011
Wednesday, 8 June 2011
London2012 - a successful ballot?!
Despite the public anger over the lack of success in the gaining of Olympic tickets in the initial ballot it's hard not to look at the process and outcome as a success in terms of an event organiser. Who would not want an event where elements (in this case individual events) were completely sold out despite large numbers of interested people missing out?! Answer is of course no one.
It's a tremendously positive sign for London2012 that demand is so high in comparison to supply. It guarantees that whilst some, including all at Connect Events, will miss out the stadiums and arenas hosting each individual event will be full. A complete contrast to a large number of events at Beijing2008. This is great news for those involved in winning the right to host the Olympics all those years ago but also for the British public who will be able to watch on with pride (I hope) at a successful games.
On a quick side note away from the Olympics - the interest and demand from our public demonstrates that our lack of votes at the recent FIFA World Cup2018 bid award was to put it politely a joke. There are very few countries that get behind sporting events as strongly as we do. Cases in point Wimbledon vs French Open and Manchester Commonwealth Games vs Beijing Olympic Games. This coupled with existing stadia, accommodation and transportation systems adds to our sense of disbelief at our very strong bid only receiving two votes (one our own).
Anyway, I digress! Despite the overall success, in my opinion, of the ticket ballot I do believe there have not been enough tickets set aside for the general public - those who should really benefit from the Games. Rumours of only 40,000 of the 80,000 Olympic Stadium seats been available to the general public (not corporate / sponsors / VIPs) for each event will just add fuel to the fire around the injustice of the ballot - and rightly so. The fact that people such as Sepp Blatter will receive free tickets also does LOCOG no favours, especially in the light of the recent FIFA scandal and the FA's attempt to postpone the election.
Another negative of the ticket system has been regarding payment. This, as far as I can tell has been for 2 reasons. Firstly that you end up paying for tickets almost 14months before the start of the Games. Secondly that the money goes out of your account before you actually know officially which events you have received tickets for. I tend to agree both could and perhaps should have been done differently, although taking the money first helps to guarantee full stadiums - if you've paid for a ticket to an event you now aren't fussed about you are still likely to attend.
The sole acceptance of VISA cards probably angered me the most. Again, as an events person I appreciate the need for sponsorship, especially on such a large event, but only accepting that card brand is not ideal in the current financial climate. Even more so when a large nunber of people only have a VISA debit (not credit) card. Why LOCOG could not have allowed other cards but charged a premium to use them, such as is the case with Easyjet, Ryanair, etc is beyond me.
As much as I love Britain the popularity of the Games and the subsequent demand for tickets was always going to mean a negative reaction to the ballot process, that's just how we react. The problem is that a ballot is exactly that, there is no guarantee that you'll get tickets regardless of how many you bid for. There have been suggestions that tickets should have been on direct sale which just would not have worked - the only guarantee in that system would be Internet sites crashing!
London2012 will be a fantastic occassion with full stadiums and amazing atmospheres at almost all of the events. Yes a large number (currently over half) will not get to watch the event of our choice live in the stadium but that should not detract from the positive vibes the Olympics will create. As a regular spectator at large sporting events the atmosphere and experience in official fan parks is almost as good as being in the stadium just without the cost! Despite my failure (so far - there is a 2nd ballot) to get tickets I still can't wait for the Olympics to take place and for the UK to demonstrate why we are the best place to host a large event (I just hope FIFA are watching)!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)