Panels have been announced for the third annual Event Production Forum East (EPFE) summit, which takes place at Akvárium Klub, in central Budapest, on 15 November 2019.

EPFE attracts event professionals working in the central and eastern European (CEE) market, and this year is also opening its doors to all levels of production, venue management, promoters, F&B and supply personnel to benefit from the shared knowledge and debate.

Carl AH Martin, host of EPFE, as well as the ILMC Production Meeting (IPM), states: “Over many years attending and running international panels, I have experienced that the focus tends to be on only the top end of the industry – so arenas, stadia and large festivals are all that are talked about.

“We want to encourage best practice filtering to all corners of the industry, so this year we will be compensating for the other end of the market and making a real effort to be inclusive for venues from 25- to 5,000-capacity.”

EPFE will continue in the same format with four major sessions. In addition to the venues and festival panels, delegates will hear about health and safety and from the ever-entertaining “dinosaurs’” panel featuring respected industry stalwarts.

The day will be scheduled with two sessions either side of lunch and coffee breaks, followed in the evening by a free networking dinner and drinks. In the morning delegates will hear about “what are the normal situations and aggravations to be dealt with, from artist riders, production (in-house and tour requirements), selling the gig, regulatory requirements and, of course, the audience,” according to Martin.

“‘The industry is as advanced here as it is throughout the western world, it just doesn’t shout about it’”

Organisers also hope they can connect with other European conferences and maintain a thread to the discussions so that key outcomes are shared, discussed and moved forward faster, Martin adds: “Another item of perennial conference discussion is health and safety. The normal comment is, ‘not again!’ Well, this is an item that will not go away.

“What we want to do is to pick up the discussion here and persuade other conferences, such as Eurosonic and IPM, to continue the theme. [EPFE 2019] will be talking about this, honestly, in a completely different way of thinking.”

“Although the outside world does tend to think that this area is a ‘developing’ market, that’s true. Bryan Grant, from Britannia Row Productions, was a panel member last year and confirmed to the audience that, ‘The industry is as advanced here as it is throughout the western world, it just doesn’t shout about it! People from outside could learn a lot…’”

Tickets cost €55 and are available at www.tixa.hu/epfe2019.

IPM returns on 4 March 2020. More information will be available shortly.

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The Event Production Forum East (EPFE) takes place in Budapest, Hungary, this Friday (16 November), with delegates set to discuss such topics as crisis management, sustainability and weather conditions, as well as a special tour managers panel.

Using popular vessel venue, A38, the event held its first edition last year, when more than 50 delegates participated in sessions dealing with security, touring and labour movement and other challenges.

Among the guest speakers at this year’s EPFE will be Baris Basaran (the MJR Group) and artist manager Boyan Boiadijev (PanHarmony) taking part in the production panels, while the sustainability panel will include the likes of Paul Schurink (ZAP Concerts) and Teresa Moore (A Greener Festival).

“Positive feedback from delegates, speakers and our sponsors made it an easy decision to move forward”

EPFE founder Máté Horváth comments: “The high level of attendees and discussions exceeded all of our expectations last November at the first EPFE. There was a real willingness to share information and help each other between the event professionals from across eastern Europe we brought together.

“Positive feedback from delegates, speakers and our sponsors, Mojo Barriers, made it an easy decision to move forward, and we are looking to progress the discussions on some of last year’s topics and introduce new issues affecting us all.”

For more information, visit the event website, www.epfe.eu.

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