TRANSCRIPT: The Impact Files Podcast — Emma Wellstead, founder of Warwick Events and Eventkind
Ned: Welcome to another episode of The Impact Files podcast. In this episode, we are delighted to be joined by Emma Wellstead, founder of Warwick Events and soon to be launched Eventkind. Emma, welcome.
Emma: Thanks Ned, thanks for having me. Hi Ally.
Ned: Really nice to have you here. So let’s start with an introduction to yourself, to Warwick Events and the work that you do.
Emma: I’ve been in the event industry for 27 years and set up Warwick Events 15 years ago. When I set it up, we only did events within a 50-mile radius of our office, which was then in Warwick – hence the name. We’ve always been about people, and about connecting people to the place they were having a meeting in, and creating authentic emotional connections at meetings and events. We felt the event industry had moved into quite a sterile, supermarket-like environment, and we wanted to bring the farmer’s market feel back – where you’re meeting artisans and personalities and characters, rather than just going through the same process. We became a B Corp in 2021, and sustainability runs through our veins. The B Corp process also helped us in other areas of the business where we hadn’t necessarily thought improvements could be made.
Ned: Was there a moment where you realised that events were being done in a way you didn’t like? A light bulb moment, or did it creep up on you slowly?
Emma: When I went to my first event in the corporate world, I couldn’t believe I was sitting in a session that was more boring than school. I was thinking: people expect us to sit here for three hours, then have a pathetic coffee break with awkward networking, then go back in again. From that moment, I was battling against the bland and the boring. There are so many different ways we can absorb information and get together. I’ve battled with a few bosses over the years who haven’t necessarily shared that passion.
Ned: Did you come from an events background and then realise things weren’t being done well, or were you in another job and thought you could do it better?
Emma: Straight out of university I went into a sales job. I experienced events from the client side, and remembered how much I’d enjoyed organising them – I’d been my college ball president and entertainment rep at university. There were elements of sales I loved, but personality-wise it wasn’t quite right for me. So I moved into the event industry and started working for a medical marketing company in their events team. That’s how my journey into events started.
Ned: And then out of that you were realising you could do it more imaginatively, and Warwick Events followed?
Emma: Yes. What was also frustrating was that you’d go everywhere – I’m talking early 2000s, late 90s – and it would be fusion food, fusion everything. If I’m going to Italy, I want people to really feel that they’re in Italy. I want people to experience the culture and meet people from the area. In my early years in the industry, you’d arrive in a taxi, go into a hotel, the event would happen in the hotel, and you could honestly be anywhere in the world.
Ned: We first met just over a year ago when you organised the B Corp Festival, Louder Than Words. From a volunteer point of view it was absolutely brilliant – so well organised, with real attention to detail. The one thing people mentioned was the mobile phone signal in the middle of Oxford, which you had no control over whatsoever. What other events or clients could you mention that people might have heard of?
Emma: We also did the Thousand Times Better event for B Lab – the overarching certification body for B Corp. We’ve worked for Octopus Energy, NFU Mutual, Avis and Young, Hans Grohe. We tend to work across all industries – energy, bathroom manufacturing, finance, estate management. I think clients are attracted to us by the way we approach our events. The people we attract want to do the best for the people coming to the event, which is really important.
Going back to Louder Than Words – it was a 1,300-person event, and we used the whole of Oxford as our venue, which isn’t really done in the corporate world. We took the idea from fringe festivals. We take a lot of our inspiration from things that happen in the real world that don’t seem to cross into business life – and we’re trying to break down that barrier. By having fringe sessions happening in different spaces, we could take topics and put them in the right environment to create the right conversations. When you’re discussing something sensitive, you want sofas and a comfortable environment. We used the council chamber – which is like a mini House of Commons – for debates, because you walk in and immediately you know there’s going to be a debate. The room says it. And by supporting these independent venues, the money flows into the local community rather than to a hotel chain.
Ally: I wanted to come back to something you said at the very start – the fireside chat opening, saving two and a half thousand pounds by not having a set. Can you tell us more about that?
Emma: We were organising a conference and we had a stage set quote come in, and I said – what if we just didn’t have a stage set? The session was about authenticity and being human, and having a giant stage set behind the speakers felt wrong. So instead, we went and sourced two armchairs, a little table, a lamp. The conversations just flew – it felt less corporate, less like a presentation. The speakers relaxed, the audience relaxed, and we saved two and a half thousand pounds. So we saved money and reduced waste. Happy days.
Ally: And you mentioned Eventkind – can you tell us more about that?
Emma: Eventkind is a community for event professionals who want to do things better – more sustainably, more responsibly, more creatively. It came from recognising that there are so many people in our industry who care about doing things the right way but feel quite alone in that. Eventkind gives them a place to share knowledge, learn from each other, and find suppliers and partners who share their values.
We will be sharing at least three bite-sized learning tips a week, so over the course of a year there will be over a hundred practical ideas going out to members, alongside learning sessions and community events.
Ned: Can you give us an example of the kind of practical sustainability tip you might share?
Emma: Something like: ask where the cocoa in your chocolate brownies came from. If you’re serving it to a hundred people and everyone starts asking whether it’s fair trade, the hotel eventually has to change its supplier. With 370 events happening every year across our industry, the scale of that purchasing power is enormous – but we don’t use it, because we don’t ask the questions. We’re very good on dietary requirements, but we’re not asking where things come from or where they’re going. Think about flower farms when you order flowers. Think about who ultimately receives the money you’re spending – is it going into the local community or disappearing into an investment fund overseas?
Ally: Following on from all of that – where would you hope to see the business or the events industry evolving over the next 12 months?
Emma: In 12 months, I would love people to know that Eventkind exists – that there’s a community out there that can support them. We’ll continue doing our events through Warwick Events, but our main effort is going into developing the Eventkind community.
Ned: You’ve touched on this throughout our chat, but is there a summary view on where you hope the sector will be in 10 years?
Emma: Two things. First, I hope people start to focus on the delegates, not the presenters. Start with what people are going to get out of a meeting, not what you want to tell them. There needs to be a shift and a genuine respect for the people attending – including thinking about different personalities and making sure the format suits everyone. You can’t treat a gregarious salesperson and a more reserved accountant in exactly the same way.
Second, I really wish people would think about following the money. Who are you ultimately paying? Is it going into the local community or going overseas to an investment fund? If we can direct money into local communities, it starts to make a real difference.
Ned: My last question is typically asking for one piece of advice for businesses pursuing sustainability and financial objectives – but I’m going to answer it myself. I think the answer is: join Eventkind.
Cheeky follow-up: do you have a financial model for Eventkind you can share?
Emma: We want to keep it really affordable because we want the community to grow. It will be £200 per year plus VAT – which is only £20 a month. In that, you get over a hundred practical tips and ideas through the year, plus our learning sessions. We believe it’s value for money, but we also have to make sure we can sustain it, so there has to be a price element.
We’re currently running a free period that will end at the end of December, and from January it will become paid – with a 14-day free trial, because we believe anyone who tries it will love it and stay.
Ned: Emma, that’s fantastic. How can people find out more about you, Warwick Events, and Eventkind?
Emma: People can email me at emma@warwickevents.co.uk or emma@eventkind.org. If anyone wants to have a look at Eventkind, eventkind.org has all the information. People can also call me – I’m quite happy to chat – on 07711 389 490. We’ve just got to collaborate. It’s the only way forward.
Ned: That’s been such an interesting conversation. Thank you so much Emma for joining us.
Emma: Thanks to you and Ally for having me. It’s really been so much fun.
Ally: We’ve learned a lot, and it’s exciting knowing you’re on the cusp of the full launch of Eventkind. It sounds like such a great idea and people are going to love it.
Emma: Having been a doer for a long time, I would have loved something like this. If you create something that you would have needed yourself, that’s a good thing. Thanks so much.
