Opinion
How to turn £700,000 into $1.77bn in 14 easy steps
Co-founder of CloserStill Group, Phil Soar, offers a how-to on flipping an exhibition company for over a billion dollars At the…
The flip has become the hold: what 20 years of private equity says about the future of events
By Dr. Barış Onay Private equity has been buying and selling event businesses for more than 20 years. But the past few…
The Soar Point: Three quotes to change our world
By Phil Soar, co-founder of CloserStill Group and Chairman of Nineteen Group In the space of just 8 weeks this summer…
The Soar Spot: The strange story of the broken light bulbs
By Phil Soar, co-founder of CloserStill Group and Chairman of Nineteen Group I was in Warsaw in 1990 walking round a…
Leading exhibition organisers champion Global Exhibitions Day 2026
The world’s leading exhibition organisers, including Clarion Events, Comexposium, Emerald, Informa Markets, Messe Frankfurt and…
New development does not mean we’re moving away from exhibitions
By Andy O’Sullivan, CEO of Olympia Events There’s a curious assumption that sometimes comes when a venue updates itself…
Phil Soar: How will the war in Iran affect trade shows?
By Phil Soar, Chairman of CloserStill Group and Nineteen Group First of all – I don’t know. Secondly, no-one knows. Thirdly…
Exhibition carpet. You don’t notice it – until it’s gone
Simon Ridout, ESSA board member and commercial director at Showlite discusses the somewhat controversial topic of exhibition…
China and US top new exhibition market ranking as France overtakes Germany
China and the US rank as the world’s most attractive exhibition markets in a new country-level ranking introduced by events…
Advertisers say that events are now their fastest growing sector
By Phil Soar, Chairman of CloserStill Group and Nineteen Group Jeremy Rees is very well-informed. Excel (the venue once known as…
Claude vs ChatGPT: How to balance organic and paid-for growth
Claude vs ChatGPT: The organic vs paid media debate, replayed in AI Event marketers have long debated this point: do you…