Alistair Turner is Managing Director of EIGHT PR & Marketing, a specialist research, marketing and creative agency servicing the events industry. Alistair has over 20 years’ experience in the PR and events industries, working closely with the key trade associations as well as the international government.
In his involvement with the UK government, he was secretariat for the All Party Parliamentary Group for Events, and project managed the groups’ Enquiry into the international competitiveness of the UK events industry in 2013. He has also been a government advisor on the 2012 London Olympics and the 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games, 2017 Rugby World Cup and 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup. Finally, he has been involved in ministerial briefings on the events industry at Secretary of State level and below. He was heavily involved with No.10 on its development of the ‘Britain is GREAT’ initiative, and the ‘Events are GREAT’ implementation of that campaign.
Alistair is also the author and presenter of the ibtm Global Trends Report, the most comprehensive trends report in the global MICE industry, and has presented its findings and predictions on three continents. His insight into the Virtual Experience Economy, has changed the way the industry is looking at the next decade, and its understanding of technology, ethics, security and sustainability trends.
He also supports the industry trade shows, providing representation support for the UK’s largest shows; International Confex, Event Production Show, The Meetings Show, and Eventit in Scotland. Internationally he speaks at across the ibtm Group – ibtm World, CIBTM, AIBTM and CIBTM, and works in partnership with IMEX and IBTM Group internationally.
Within industry associations, he is past-President of the International Live Event Society (ILEA UK Chapter) and a special advisor to the National Outdoor Events Association (NOEA). He also sits on the Business Visits & Events Partnership (BVEP), the umbrella body for the UK events industry.
He is a regular speaker on events at a number of universities including The University of Hertfordshire, MMU (Manchester), Westminster, Greenwich, Sheffield, Birmingham University College, Coventry, and St Margrets (Edinburgh). He is also a regular contributor to The Events Academy educational programmes.
Finally, Alistair is a passionate and highly active advocate for the events industry as a modern form of marketing and business communication. He was recently a founder of a wellness campaign within the industry to challenge mental stress and health practices amongst event professionals.