BUSINESS EVENTS ACADEMIC VENUES
Playing to its strengths
Academic expertise drives success of events in Dundee and Angus
BY FIONA LAING M
uch has been written about the resurgence of Dundee – par- ticularly since the opening of the V&A
put the city firmly in the media spotlight. Te increase in atten- tion will have done no harm to the conference sector and the Dundee & Angus Convention Bureau reports that 2019 was a busy year. One of the biggest events saw more than 500 people from across
the world gather for the World Community Development Confer- ence at the University of Dundee, while the 13th International Confer- ence of the European Academy of Design saw 265 delegates from 30 countries head to the city. Karen Tocher, business events
manager at the bureau, says: “We’ve seen Dundee and the surrounding area continue to grow in popularity with conference organisers, attract- ing more than 269,000 delegates from across the UK and abroad in 2019, with an increase of 33 per cent in the number of international delegates against the previous year.” Te value of the Dundee and
Angus business events sector in 2019 was worth more than £72m in direct economic benefit.
“Tese figures underline the
economic benefits of business events to Dundee and the region – and provide firm evidence to help secure further support and investment in the infrastructure needed to continue to grow business events in our region. Te investment within the city so far is a positive step for the region and Scotland in driving growth.” She adds: “Te region benefits
from daily flight links with London – currently with Stansted and soon with London City – allowing con- ference goers to travel to the region from all corners of the world. A new service linking Dundee to Belfast, launching in April, will also open up additional opportunities for conference organisers. “Linked to this is an increase
in the region’s hotel offering over the last couple of years, including Sleeperz – which opened as part of the huge renovation to the city’s railway station – and Hotel Indigo, which at the end of last year was named one of Scotland’s top 10 hotels by Te Sunday Times.” Looking ahead, the events lined
up reflect the area’s strengths – particularly around science and medicine. “In the coming months, topics as diverse as psychotherapy, creative industries, embryology, plant microbiomes, digital tech- nologies for higher education, law and family history will be debated, discussed and presented on across the region,” says Karen. Tis year, among the largest
events are the Society of British Neurological Surgeons’ Spring Meeting this month; the Realistic Medicine Conference in May; and Sex, Drugs & Scotland’s Health Conference in June. One of the largest events last
year was the World Community Development Conference 2019 (WCDC2019) in June hosted by Dundee University in its Dalhousie Building. It was initially planned as a two-day event for around 150 delegates, but as word spread about the programme, it expanded into an eight-day festival of learning, culture and practice exchange with 508 delegates from all over the world. Like many of the area’s events it successfully utilized many
50 | EVENTSBASE | SPRING 2020
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