Event Lab collaborates with MDLBEAST to launch Event Essentials Workshops for MICE industry in Saudi Arabia
Event Lab Middle East hosted its first Event Essentials Workshops in collaboration with MDLBEAST to give businesses in the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) access to in the country's youth and professionals to ensure a sustainable future for the industry.
The first module kicked off in Riyadh and Jeddah in June with more planned throughout the year. Through two days of interactive presentations and exercises, groups of 20 participants are taken through the essential foundations of event and staffing management, focusing on areas including leadership, communication, teamwork, and customer service. In addition to understanding the landscape and bigger picture of the event industry, participants gained an in-depth review of Health & Safety - conducted by Safe Events, incident management, and practical skills, including radio etiquette and protocols. Rozanne Pilbeam, an industry veteran with 17 years of event experience in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Middle East, led the workshop.
Saudi Arabia as a market is essential to the events, MICE and entertainment industry on a global level. The Event Essentials Workshops improves the existing pool of freelancers in year one. In year two, the program will evolve into vocational workshops to attract new talent from the wider kingdom.
In a recent Saudi Economy Report 2022, the Ministry of Economy and Planning (MEP) highlighted the impressive progress made by Saudi Arabia in overcoming global challenges and achieving remarkable economic growth. The Kingdom's economy, bolstered by the ambitious Vision 2030 reform program, has outpaced other G20 nations, surpassing $1 trillion in face value for the first time in history.
"Saud Arabia is paving the way for the industry worldwide, and we're honoured to be a part of it," said Nadim Jamal, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Event Lab. "Growth prospects are unlimited, there are so many opportunities for anybody who is offering an honest high quality scalable service and able to keep up with the volume and the pace that the Kingdom’s ambitious plans require. We’re certainly in that position ourselves and have been immensely excited by the infinite number of opportunities spread throughout KSA, in so many different industries whether directly or indirectly related to ours.”
According to Jamal, there’s a strong trend of Saudization. He added, “There’s an immense amount of very talented aspiring active professionals in the kingdom, they are deeply rooted in culture and they’re highly driven in the events & entertainment industry. They want to be part of it, they take pride and there’s a sense of patriotism in working in the industry because they know they’re taking a part in transforming the kingdom into its future self and this is driven by the vision of the Crown Prince and the ruling family of Saudi Arabia. We are in tune with that vision and we are very excited to continue showing our clients just how many amazing talented professionals there are in the kingdom."
The Event Essentials Workshops provides a continuous pipeline of freelancers to enter the program, create a community-engagement outreach program to source new talent, build awareness, promote best practices, and collaborate with suppliers to join the teaching ecosystem. Freelancers who completed the workshops also had the opportunity to work at future events managed by Event Lab.
By coaching and employing Saudi Arabian talent, Event Lab hopes to contribute to the growth of the country's economy while providing its clients with top-notch staffing solutions.
