“It’s been awesome to see people embrace it” says Anna Knight, as over 4,000 meetings booked and seminar sessions reach healthy numbers.
The first week of Festival of Licensing appears to have hit the mark with the industry – with Anna Knight, vp licensing at Informa Markets, sharing some healthy early statistics with Source.
Speaking on the second day of Europe week (Wednesday October 7), Anna said that over 4,000 meetings for the week had been booked and on the first day (Tuesday October 6), 89% of booked meetings were attended.
Overall, including the upcoming weeks for Asia and the Americas, over 17,000 meetings are either confirmed or pending.
When it comes to the content, each of the keynotes and on-demand sessions have notched up over 500 views so far, with this due to grow exponentially due to the content continuing to be available.
“The first week of the Festival is going really well,” commented Anna. “I’ve been so impressed by the quality of the exhibitor booths – the level of design and innovation has been great to see.
“It’s been great to talk to people about what they’ve liked, what we can add and there’s so much we can do as we roll into 2021. Virtual isn’t going away and I do think that it will complement physical in the future.”
Anna continued: “It’s been an unknown for all of us – it took the team three months to plan for the virtual event, whereas BLE 2019 took 18 months all in. My team have worked day and night to pull it off, and the final result is testament to how hard everyone has worked.”
With the Europe week in full swing and attendees getting to experience the event, many have been upgrading their access to also attend the upcoming Asia (October 14-15) and the Americas (October 20-22) weeks.
Over 200 exhibitors are booked across the three weeks – with 150+ for Europe alone including a record number of art and design companies – with new companies continuing to sign up. For example, Tuesday saw a further ten exhibitors come on board for the Americas week.
“Even those who aren’t exhibiting have embraced the event in some way,” Anna continued. “For those who haven’t yet logged on, there is just one more live day and there are still meeting slots so get going. There are some amazing brands out there and, from the conversations I’ve been having, with some of the traditional franchises on hold, people are looking for new opportunities.”
Anna concluded: “It’s been awesome to see people embrace it and it will be a continuing part of what we do moving forward. We’re already working on how we make our 2021 events the best ever, any way we can. We’re super excited about 2021, so watch this space.”
Festival of Licensing’s Europe week runs from October 6-8. It’s easy to register – simply head to www.festivaloflicensing.com.
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