The UK Event Supplier and Services Association (ESSA) is calling on its members and all event industry businesses to join a twitterstorm, Tuesday 5 May, 2020, in an effort to increase the pressure on the Chancellor and Prime Minister to specifically intervene on the event industry’s behalf during this crisis.
Andrew Harrison (pictured), Director, ESSA said: “Whilst ESSA and its sister associations have been relentlessly lobbying ministers and government to take action on behalf of the event industry, this twitterstorm is intended to be a collective cry for help from hundreds of individual event businesses, underlining precisely what is at stake here, namely thousands of jobs, billions in revenue, and the continued pre-eminence of the UK event industry on the world stage.”
ESSA is calling for all event industry businesses to use their twitter accounts to petition the chancellor (@rishisunak) and the PM (@BorisJohnson) directly, using the #weareevents hashtag in their tweets, from 9am today. ESSA has provided its members with a sample tweet and tiles, or pictures, to accompany them, together with the correct hashtags and handles and full instructions for joining the twitterstorm.
Example tweet:
We are the events industry: an industry worth over £70bn, employing 600k & we will reignite the UK economy & reunite the people. But we need immediate support & protection. www.essa.uk.com/covidsupport @rishysunak @BorisJohnson @HuddlestonNigel #WeAreEvents
Harrison concluded, “We want to whip up a storm, and create a fast-trending topic on twitter to raise awareness and prompt a public response from the government, getting it to acknowledge the importance of the event industry and urgently deliver on our seven key requests.”
ESSA’s key requests of the Chancellor and PM are as follows:
- Recognition of the part that events and exhibitions will play in reigniting the UK post-outbreak economy.
- Inclusion of the event industry in the Government’s plans to stimulate key vertical markets.
- Equal and comparable focus and support for UK exhibitions and events, as identified with the Government’s International Business Events Action Plan.
- Explicit confirmation that Events is a part of ‘Leisure, Hospitality and Tourism’ and that it will benefit from all current and future packages and measures.
- An industry support package in line with other countries (including Australia, Denmark and Hong Kong) to protect the sector.
- Clarity on the ‘lockdown’ scenarios from the Government. Confidence and assurance are essential in building, promoting and delivering future events.
- Guidance on when events are expected to be allowed to run again; to allow time to build business confidence in various markets for buyers and sellers, and to allow the supply chain to resource and plan effectively.
