The TFI Group celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, and we have got something special up our sleeves! Keep an eye on the website for more details.

1981 - the year it all started
Thirty years ago, our chairman Peter Franks started TFI in Cranbourne Street, near Leicester Square, in offices above a travel agency. When it rained (which it did often in London), the boardroom/storage room was around 18 inches deep in water.

Health & Safety and Procurement departments barely figured in the equation - if at all - and there were a lot of one-man bands working in the industry. TFI's early business was usually incentives, with some product launches as well. TFI won landed Geisco (GE) pretty early on, which was a major win for us.

All the budget calculations were done on small calculators or a cigarette packet, and all the project records were in a handwritten book. Pam Palmer, who joined TFI in the early days as accountant, can recall the day the first computer arrived in the office, and spending half a day finding out how to turn it on... Things have certainly changed!.

Can you remember the year?
Ronald Reagan succeeded Jimmy Carter as President of the United States
The Social Democratic Party (SDP) was launched in the UK
The first London Marathon was run
The Gulf Co-operation Council (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain) was formed

Born in 1981: Alicia Keys; Justin Timberlake; Natalie Portman; Fernando Alonso; El Hadji Diouf; Lleyton Hewitt; and Paris Hilton.

Back to top

It seems fitting that, as we start our 30th year in business, we should introduce you to the member of our team who has been here the longest. Commercial Director Pam Palmer was working for another company in the building in 1982 when TFI founder Peter Franks offered her a job.

"From the start, I liked the industry. It's fast-paced and there's a lot of pressure, while the margins are much tighter. As well as checking all the overall budgets, I spend a lot of my time checking clients' exposure to risk, financial and otherwise- you'd be surprised at what clauses hotels and suppliers try to sneak in! There's so much potential exposure from a health & safety point of view - and people are so litigious nowadays - that you have to cover yourself from every angle. We also go to great lengths to ensure any third-party suppliers we use are financially sound."

Having worked in the industry for almost three decades, what changes has Pam noticed? "Clients are more under pressure than ever before and are better buyers of goods and services, so it's harder to make a reasonable margin. Clients demand more for their money because they can: before, they'd accept a budget we presented, and now it's a given that they'll scrutinise every euro or dollar."

Given an industry genie in a lamp, Pam would remove tax - "getting rid of TOMS tax would save everyone a fortune" - and encourage clients to look at alternative countries and locations for their events, to minimise their exposure. While not reading up on tax changes (see below), Pam can be found studying speed boats and history books on her long daily commute by train.

Back to top

We have been reading the CIPS (Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply) guide to events services with interest as it covers the thorny issue of procurement. Alongside HR departments, procurement seems to be the department everyone loves to hate!

The good practice guidelines and challenges (page 13) sum up everything our team has commented on: unrealistic budgets; pitching for pitching's sake; poor quality briefs; use of the creative submissions and theft of intellectual property; and no feedback to suppliers.

Says William Jeavons, Director & General Manager at TFI Group: "We have noticed a sea change in the procurement process: while they focus on the cost side of the process, we are able to work with our clients to demonstrate a long-term approach to the project, outside the "in and out" columns of the budget. In addition, some of our team members have been on the other side of the fence, so we understand how to work with the procurement department."

We really recommend you read the report - you can download from here - and let's hope some of the advice is taken to heart.

Back to top

This month, some of our team has been in Saudi Arabia running an event there. A couple of years after the last time the team worked there, we are pleased to report that there have been some positive changes. Two years ago, many people within "the establishment" were insisting that the development of non-Hajj MICE business was a priority.

This trip, we started to see the results. The event was an international one for 2,000 attendees, many of whom had never been to Saudi Arabia and were impressed by the friendliness of the people. Riyadh - the capital - has always been the most conservative of the cities in the Kingdom, but the treatment of women was not as prescriptive as we had expected. Two years ago, we sent an all-male team to run the event; this year, there were a number of women in senior roles on the event team.

Sadly, it was still a big challenge for some team members to get visas to Saudi; there is a large amount of red tape required in getting a visa to travel there, and this will continue to challenge the growth of the MICE sector in Saudi. There is a definite move towards trying to attract events to the Kingdom, and there are certainly good business connections to be made.

Did you know? Ghazi Algosaibi, Saudi Arabia's former Labour Minister, encouraged Saudis to take jobs they consider to be beneath them - by serving customers in a burger bar for three hours. The minister came up against business and religious factions in his drive to attract more Saudis, including women, into employment.

In the next issue of the TFI Group Newsletter we will talk about events we're running in the US.

Back to top

Last issue of the newsletter, we promised to explain Pam's "taxing" role at the company: she has become a tax specialist. "I worked out that careful structuring of contracts and budgets, and the juggling of geographical locations where viable, could save as much as hundreds of thousands of Euros to a client."

Pam was on to a winner: she now spends a significant amount of time reading specialist material on tax structures and their frequent changes, and is our in-house expert in this area. She also "watches currencies like a hawk" to use fluctuations to save clients money.

Back to top

According to Meeting Professionals Internationals (MPI) FutureWatch 2011 study, the events industry is in for an improved year, with an anticipated 8 per cent rise in meetings booked and a 5 per cent rise in average spend. The report underlines that companies are focusing on outcomes, not flashy events for the sake of them - very much how we approach client strategy here at TFI.

Tina Schneidermann, TFI's director of development, said: "We're delighted to see that there is an industry consensus here - we had noticed an increased optimism among our clients for 2011, and it's heartening to see that positivity reflected across the sector."

The report also noted that virtual events and collaboration through social media are becoming increasingly mainstream. Tina explained: "The results of the survey show that face-to-face meetings and virtual ones are not mutually exclusive.

"From our experience of the last few months, clients are becoming more strategic over their use of events and meetings, but also more willing to take opportunities to connect with clients, customers or staff through virtual channels as well - whatever suits the objective."

You can read the report here.

Back to top

Dominic Bemrose

Over the last couple of months, we have welcomed Dominic Bemrose, Senior Account Director, TFI Pharma, and Business Development Manager Fraser Otterbein. We will be featuring them in future editions of the newsletter.

Dominic heads up operations in our busy Pharma department, which has seen the team and client roster increase in the last six months. Among the account wins were the Japanese pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo Europe, to handle their portfolio of events across Europe, and an international biotechnology company. TFI Pharma has also been awarded preferred supplier status by a major global pharmaceutical blue chip.

Meanwhile, Fraser is working on new business development, and keeping the team busy with new business pitches!

Back to top

Copyright ©2010, TFI Group. All rights reserved.

TFI Group Ltd, 192 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London, SW1V 1DX. T: +44(0)207 233 5644