The Conference People celebrate turning 40. We thought we’d take this opportunity to catch up with Managing Director, Niki Rule, to see how they’ve got to where they are today and to help celebrate this success.
Congratulations on 40 years in business! Take us back to the beginning, what inspired the agency’s launch and what was the original vision?
Robert Enefer and Maggie Doyle set the business up as Robert had worked his whole career in hospitality on the hotel side. He was keen to work with clients on a wider range to be able to support with all UK and overseas venue enquiries rather than have a limited portfolio to offer. Maggie and Robert had worked together closely at De Vere and Grand Eastbourne and became business partners. Venue finding agencies were in their infancy at the time so it was definitely a really bold move and of course it all worked out rather well!
If you could describe the agency in three words, what would they be — and why?
Bespoke – we work in any way our clients want us to. We don’t have a fixed approach, we work as a team on all briefs and present the information in a proposal that suits them.
Personal – our team work with their own clients building relationships. We do a lot of research for our clients and support them in many ways on their events outside the usual ‘venue finding service’ we see ourselves as an addition to their team and partners.
Agile – we’ve had to totally change how we work over the past 2.5 years. We have a new RP system, we venue find for any type of event now and work with so many more different types of venue. Also the ever changing dynamics of last minute changes, contracting challenges, numbers changing etc.
Over four decades, what would you say have been your four biggest milestones as a business?
Probably Euro ’96 where we managed all the accommodation for the England team and officials It was a huge and exciting project and Mel and Robert lived in the Royal Garden hotel for best part of a month!
The extension and renovation of the offices at Lismore Road when wo offices, a steel lined strong room (it used to be a solicitors), bathroom and kitchen into an open plan dedicated Event Management floor expanding the business.
Covid – no doubt not the milestone anyone in our industry wanted but it totally changed the business – we had to let go of our office and most of the team and we suffered hugely like any agency. But the success story is our loyal customers stayed with us or returned after Covid and we have reshaped and grown the business again.
When I acquired the business in June 2023 from Robert when he retired from the industry. We have had to be agile and pivot to working with new exciting and challenging projects. We’ve grown the team and our client base too and our long term clients as ever have remained with us. It’s been a huge change for the team with me coming in and they have been nothing but supportive, loyal and encouraging. They’ve embraced change and are the key to the success of our business along with our amazing clients too.
What do you think has been the biggest driver of your long-term success — people, culture, service, innovation, relationships… or something else?
For me having owned the business since only 2023 – although I have known them for over 15 years and worked with them before. I would say PEOPLE – that’s what matters most and relationships. I am lucky enough to have Karen and Jacqui who have worked for TCP for over 25 years and have such a wealth of experience of the company and industry and wonderful long lasting relationships with our ever loyal clients.
Melissa who joined in 2024 has worked in our industry for another agency and for hotels for more than 20 years too and has settled into the team like she’s always been here. She has amazing venue knowledge too and our loyal clients have welcomed her well too.
Our clients – we have had so many new ones in the last couple of years who I have personally known for a long time. We are so grateful to our clients – our people – who trust us with their events and allow us to be part of their team too.
What makes your agency different from others in the industry (and what do you feel clients value most about you)?
I think it’s longevity and consistency. I am the person who is most customer facing and out and about but everywhere I go people ask ‘how’s Karen’ or ‘say hi to Melissa’ or ‘Is Jacqui here with you’ we have a consistent team who are loyal and so devoted to the business.
We are one of the OG agencies. Also we have flexed so much n the last couple of years working on lots of challenging briefs, not just meetings but any sort of event/ lunch/activity and working with any type of venue from boats to museums to stadiums to bars. So I would say we are super flexible and we don’t just rely on a platform based search engine we really research and think about it.
I think clients value us because we genuinely help them and bring value to what they do. Time is so precious to people and we are all super short of it so knowing we will jump on whatever they throw at us and hit deadlines.
What has been the biggest shift in what clients expect from agencies today?
In those years prior to the internet (if you are old enough to remember!) or when it wasn’t used much venue finding was very different. Clients now have so much more knowledge at their disposal and therefore we have to be ahead of what they can find there. Because we venue find worldwide our education and updates on venues has to be on point. That has changed how we research and search and the number of venues we have to reach out to and present.
Certainly last year and this year the gap between client’s budgets and venues pricing has widened and we are quite rightly expected to find the best rates too and present those in a way that work s for them and often for their finance/procurement teams too. So I’d say that more people are often involved in decision making and the breadth of work on a venue find has grown.
What originally made you decide to join beam, and what has kept you involved over the years?
For me I have personally been going to HBAA as was events for more than 20 years. I believe it adds gravitas to us as an agency in both our client’s and venue partners perspective. Also for me it’s content. Being a relatively new agency owner but an oldie in the industry – I always want to learn and develop and my team too as well and there’s so much opportunity with beam.
The events are always well attended and full of interesting take aways. With diaries being busy I always believe industry events should be content led and networking to bring the best of both worlds. Plus the support I have personally received from other Agency owners within beam and the wider community has been priceless.
In your view, what role does beam play in shaping the future of our industry?
beam advocates for our industry at Government level. It’s helping to make sure our industry grows and thrives despite cost of living and budget cuts within many sectors. With the beam Code of Practice (COP) it helps to give some governance to our work and to that of our venue partners. It was great to be involved in the update of the COP this year and be in a group no peers with so much knowledge to share.
What’s next for the agency, and what are you excited about as you move into your next chapter?
We have genuinely had a great couple of years and the team are all super motivated for what comes next. We have decided to focus predominantly on Venue Find now and have agency partners for Event Management and Production. This allows us to be the best at what we are good at – if that makes sense? We have worked in new locations in 2025 and that’s been exciting.
We are enjoying the diversity of the events we work on now and the challenge – as we’ve all been doing this a long time – it’s great to have something that really pushes our knowledge.
We are looking forward to continuing to grow our client base, look after the wonderful clients we have and work on the ever changing demands of our industry. We feel very fortunate to be 40 years old and still in the game!
