INTRODUCTION
The Yorkshire Society has a vision in line with one of our region’s most pressing issues – ensuring its future economic success. Divided administratively into North, South, East and West, Yorkshire as a whole does not exploit its greatest economic asset, its size and scale.
The Yorkshire (and Humber) region has a GDP per capita of around US$26,000, less than all other regions of the UK except East Midland, Northern Ireland, Wales and North East, and far less than the UK average of US$32000.
The last complete available government figures (2019)
Our aim is therefore to increase the region’s GDP over time and improve it per-capita by leveraging Yorkshire’s combined economic capabilities, and the brand value in the name North, South, East and West all use with pride – Yorkshire – to attract inward investment and promote economic growth throughout the region, so everyone benefits.
We believe Yorkshire will universally benefit from a large-scale event that provides both a stage and spotlight with which to showcase the region’s collective economic capabilities, to the world outside its own border, nationally and internationally.
The idea is to draw attention to what Yorkshire has to offer and provide an opportunity for the public and private sector, at home and abroad, to re-set perceptions of Yorkshire from being predominantly a tourist destination to an economic destination – the place to go to do business – a place that wants to be known as much for being forward-thinking, dynamic, innovative and ambitious, as it already is for being trusted, straight-talking, hospitable and welcoming.
IMAGINE THIS:
Imagine Yorkshire, with all its economic potential, stepping into the limelight and showing the world what it has to offer, by bringing together the biggest and best selection of its businesses and institutions, public and private, commercial and non-commercial, economic and cultural, to demonstrate the depth, strength, scope and potential of the Yorkshire economy and those operating within it. Then imagine asking the world outside Yorkshire’s borders to take a fresh look at what Yorkshire has to offer – whilst extending an invitation to see for themselves. The Yorkshire Expo+ is the reason they should come – the fulfilment of a promise to impress. But the Expo is not intended to be a stand-alone event. It would be the focal point of a range of activities and communications before, during and after the event, designed to create a dialogue with potential investors in our region. This ongoing strategy of dialogue and presentation is the ‘plus’ of the event and can be facilitated by The Yorkshire Society with the help of strategic partners and our membership which includes many contacts around the world.
THE YORKSHIRE EXPO+ WILL:
- Be a major forward looking business event on a four-year cycle comprising exhibitions, seminars, conferences, presentations and more, for all sectors and industries and of a size and scale worthy of the name it carries.
- Give all businesses in Yorkshire an opportunity to promote themselves locally, nationally and internationally, online and off.
- Complement an ongoing strategic programme of market communications and trade-missions to and from Yorkshire, organised by The Yorkshire Society in collaboration with local authorities and industry associations etc.
THE VISION
The impact of the event is key. The Yorkshire Expo+ is intended to be Yorkshire’s biggest and best business event and should be worthy of attention from markets in UK and around the world – a must visit!
We therefore envisage an event lasting up to 1 week, allowing enough time for visitors to plan a visit and stay during the week or weekend.
The Expo+ would fit in with the Society (and Yorkshire’s) other major events so that it forms part of an over-arching cultural programme including such as Yorkshire Day, major sporting occasions and special performances. Together, these activities and the unifying nature of the Expo+ would demonstrate what makes Yorkshire the special place it is and why it is the ideal place to do business.
SIZE AND SCALE
Our aim is to achieve:
- 1000 contributing businesses and organisations, exhibiting or presenting at the event.
- 10,000 business delegates attending in person at the conference, workshop, networking and breakout meetings.
- 100,000 visitors in person and online for those unable to travel.
- 1,000,000 page visits on the dedicated Expo+ website.
The Yorkshire Society has already undertaken discussions with Universities, large corporate members and a number of SMEs to evaluate the concept – all have been supportive and want to be involved.
SHARING THE COST
Overall, the Expo and the strategy behind it has the potential to be funded by businesses and institutions paying to participate in it and benefiting from it.
This Expo event itself would be self-funding, with costs covered by revenues it generates from sponsors, exhibitors, and delegates etc., benefiting from their attendance or association with it. Costs of the additional activities before, during and after the Expo could, in the main, similarly be organised on a commercial, self-funding basis, though these activities would certainly benefit from additional marketing support with public funds.
NEXT STEP
The covid pandemic delayed the development of the Expo+ idea and now that this is felt to be largely behind us, we wish to proceed with the aim of staging the first Yorkshire Expo+ in 2025 or 2026.
Our first priority is to identify a suitable place and fix a date for the event. This is the minimum requirement with which to initiate meaningful discussions with strategic partners – the organisations and institutions needed to help organise such an event and underwrite the ongoing strategy behind it.
The location must have easy access by road, rail and air. It must also have the facilities and capacity to handle the size of the event and the number of visitors, requiring ample internal and external space with easy parking, and it must be able to deal with the attention the event is specifically designed to attract, before, during and after its staging.
Equally, the location must appropriately represent and reflect the characteristics that set Yorkshire apart. Whilst the locality of the event is expected to benefit the most, the event is for the benefit of Yorkshire as a whole.
CONTACT
For further information or to express interest, please email: contact@theyorkshiresociety.org
