This year we prioritised helping small, local businesses over profit
(Supplier Information: For all of our recommended suppliers mentioned in this article and more, see our Recommended Supplier list)
Our annual Showcase Event is a costly exercise for us. We, just like other organisers of events where third party businesses exhibit, usually charge exhibitors to attend whilst we cover the costs of all marketing, event management and staff. It takes us six months to pull together. Yes we benefit from it being similar to an Open Day for us, however the return on investment (ROI) in terms of black and red calculations probably doesn’t add up. Hence the reason we charge third parties who attend and promote their own businesses. This year, however, it felt more important to be helping small businesses – particularly those local to us.
We’ve all been feeling the effects of the nervousness of consumer spending. Luckily for us over the last two years we’ve been working on our operations and our brand, which has paid off over the last six months and we’ve seen a steady uptick in our business. But those smaller companies that we work with; photographers, caterers, stylists and venues are telling us they are feeling the pinch. So we decided to ‘give back’ to our SME community.
We invited 40 local businesses who we trust and recommend, to be exhibitors at our Showcase for no fee
We just asked them to come to the event and attend in gusto, making it enjoyable for the event visitors (who we also didn’t charge to attend). Yes, in terms of spreadsheet budgeting the Showcase was a hit to us. BUT, in terms of atmosphere on the day, visitor experience, good will amongst suppliers in our sector, networking opportunities and productive discussions about new business ideas it was a massive ROI.
We had Tipsy Bubbles handing out Pimms, Jack Rabbit Brewery giving away free beer, Minty’s Ice cream giving away free ice cream, Dedham Vineyard doing complimentary wine tasting, JP’s Kitchen handing out delicious food akin to their catering offer.
Every exhibitor went above and beyond
Scrumptious by HA give out cupcake samples, Hungry Hog BBQ supplied constant food, Ruby Flames Entertainment wandered around on stilts and kept children entertained (and adults!), Miss Lee Loo performed incredible Ibiza classics on her sax, Holly Stringer performed songs, Amps & Decks DJ’d and Stour Valley Catering fed the hungry. Starry Eyed Weddings and Miss Carlysle & Co decorated tables and huge ‘linked tipi’ structure.
The truth is we had SO many suppliers doing so many wonderful, generous things for visitors, that it’s impossible to list them all! So a shout out to all of them – and you’ll find them on our recommended supplier page.
BUT …. The whole event was a demonstration of how when businesses work together, customers and clients respond in positive ways and business grows.
Human Nature Events styled the entire Sailcloth tent with Banqueting Hire doing 180 table settings.
Julie’s Vintage China and The Treasure Box took on a whole tipi and styled it beautifully.
TM Styling and Stories Event Hire took over the stretch tents.
And the icing on the cake was Ivory White Weddings capturing the whole lot in photos and videos, and donating them to us and all the other suppliers.
The day was a roaring success. We had more visitors than we’ve had for the last five years but more importantly everyone who came sensed the palpable feeling of positivity and collaboration. And the best thing was, it was genuine.
In this economic climate, and having been a small company starting out 10 years ago, we believe it’s helping your professional network out that can be more important than obvious ROI calculations. We were flooded with emails after the Showcase, from potential clients and suppliers saying how different and unique the Showcase felt. To us, that’s a huge win.
Importantly we hope this demonstrated to our SME community that we’re all in this together and that we think collaboration in business leads to valuable, but unmeasurable ROI.
We can’t wait to do it all over again next year.
“I am so proud of this year’s incredible showcase event, which really took my breath away. It had a feeling of the happy pre-covid years before business got so tough for everyone. Taking a longer-term community view, over short-term returns this year was completely the right call for us. The sense of collaboration, kindness, pride and togetherness was palpable. In a world where many put profits over people, we love doing things differently. Thank you to all the brilliant people who made our 2025 showcase super-special and inspiring”
Jenna Ackerley, MD & Founder of Events Under Canvas
Our next Showcase will be 25th April 2026. Watch this space for more information as the event planning gathers momentum.
Credits:
Thanks to Helen at Ivory White Photography for the photos
Supplier Information:
For all of our recommended suppliers mentioned in this article and more, see our Recommended Supplier list