Podcast: Exploring ICEINSIGHTS with ICE director, Anita Howard

On this week’s episode of the Event Industry News podcast, James is joined by Anita Howard, the director of the ICE community. This community is renowned in the industry for supporting in-house corporate event planners with its ICEAWARDS, ICEPAPERS and, more recently, its ICEINSIGHTS. Established in 2015, the ICEAWARDS were created exclusively for in-house corporate planners and to recognise and support their achievements. Launched in 2019, the ICEINSIGHTS research was created to explore the support currently provided for in-house corporate planners. During the podcast, Anita explained the research that created the ICEINSIGHTS. It explored how in-house event planners can work more effectively, their relationships within their businesses and how data and tech can be utilised to coordinate efforts. An area that was explored was the ‘proactive v reactive’ approach among in-house corporate planners. It states the proactive approach allows organisers to “prioritise events as part of a wider strategy with a focus on ROI and achieving objectives, embed events in the wider company strategy and decide which events to organise.” Alternatively, taking a reactive approach means planners “receive a brief from stakeholders, have more flexibility about which events they organise and have less structure.”  The research also tackles issues around consistency, metrics and technology for in-house corporate planners.  The ICEAWARDS take place on 9th July 2020 in London. If you think you have a relevant topic and would like to feature on one of our weekly podcasts, please email [email protected].