To gain greater recognition for the£36bn UK events industry, an AllParty Parliamentary Group (APPG)will be established in Parliament.The APPG is being organised byNick de Bois, MP for Enfield Northand chairman of the Rapiergroup,a live events and communicationscompany with UK and USoperations.Both the Event Industry Forum(EIF) and the Business Visits andEvents Partnership (BVEP) aresupporting the initiative.news and views5EXHIBITING- March 2011 www.exhibitingmagazine.co.ukPrism, the new Melville exhibitor servicereported by Exhibitinglast year, islaunching its new dashboard atmeetings and incentives exhibitionInternational Confex this month.Prism aims to support exhibitors infour key areas: pre-show, during theevent,post-show and general helpand advice."Over the 12 months since welaunched Prism, we have restructuredthe company to ensure that we candeliver the promises we have made,"said Melville group commercialPrismexhibitor dashboardlaunches"The creation of an APPG was oneof the partnership's manifestopledges, and this takes us closer toincreasing the influence of the sectorwithin Parliament and Government,"said BVEP chairman Michael Hirst.Several MPs and representativesfrom all political parties have beeninvited to join the group and takepart in a programme of activitiesdesigned to raise awareness of it.Keep checkingexhibitingmagazine.co.ukfor furtherdevelopments as they happen.Parliamentary group createdtorepresent the events industryCoker and Burrows join forcesto formnew brand agencyThe founder of Coker Brand Design,Simon Coker, has launched a newbranding company with businesspartner Nick Burrows.Brand Spirit will focus onconnecting internal and externalbrand building by addressinginternal stakeholders and externalcustomers equally.Coker worked with Burrows, whois the former MD of Nuffield Health,Fitness and Wellbeing, to create theTable Table and Taybarns pubrestaurants brands for the Whitbreadbrewery, among other projects."Brand Spirit is a blend ofbusiness experience and brandingexpertise. Burrows and I have beenon both sides of the fence, and wefeel that our ways of developingbrands as a seamless process ispotent," said Coker.Some exhibitionorganisers gothe extra mile toensure theirexhibitors havea fruitful time attheir events. A prosperousexhibitor plussatisfied visitorsequals repeat bookings for next year'sedition. That equation is so simpleeven I, a mathematically-challengedwriter, can understand it.I went along to an exhibitor trainingday for an international food showrecently. It was attended by personnelfrom the organiser, the show's PRcompany, the food industry press anda dedicated exhibitor trainer. All thesepeople answered questions andoffered helpful advice to the 60attendees. But where were all the otherexhibitors? The show hosts hundreds.Sadly, those who think they 'know itall' will be the first ones to blame theorganiser, their contractor or the carpark attendant when their showparticipation yields no positive results.People can't help you unless you areprepared to help yourself. That smallband of attendees will now be onestep ahead of their fellow exhibitors,however big or small that step may be.If you are offered an exhibitortraining day or equivalent, I imploreyou to take advantage of it. Don'tshun the free advice and chance todirectly network with the peopletaking your exhibiting budget.Organisers want you to have a goodshow, and you want to have a goodshow - I think that's called a balancedequation?!See you on the show floor,James BarrettDeputy editor jbarrett@mashmedia.netwww.exhibitingmagazine.co.ukTwitter: exhibiting"Forewarned isforearmed"director, Ted Bloom.A programme of development willsee enhancements and new featuresadded, all driven by feedback fromorganisers and exhibitors.