Set up in 2024 to nurture the next generation of Saudi events professionals, the educational arm of MDLBEAST, BeastED, is continuing to deliver on its early promise. As regular readers of TPiMEA will remember from our previous article on the initiative [see TPiMEA #51], the first year of the BeastED Career Path Program saw scores of Saudi students make their first steps into the live events industry, and since then, the programme has expanded significantly.
“Last year was our first year and we had two terms with a total of 72 students – almost all of whom are now employed in the events industry. We even filled 63 roles at last year’s Soundstorm with BeastED alumni, which was fantastic,” commented BeastED Strategy and Education Lead, Melanie Lemnios. “We saw that the concept worked and that there was an appetite for what we’re doing and room to grow. So, for 2025 we expanded to deliver six terms over three months, with 200 students accepted out of more than 2,000 applications.”
If these astonishing numbers weren’t proof enough of BeastED’s exponential growth and importance to the future of the Saudi Arabian live events industry, the scene TPiMEA witnessed at the inaugural Back2BeastED Alumni BBQ surely was. “All of our alumni from this year and last are invited, as well as all of our industry partners who have delivered classes,” Lemnios explained, as we stepped away from the hubbub of high-fives and handshakes between former students and sat briefly in the multiuse space that serves as production offices while Soundstorm is operational and classrooms for the rest of the year. “It’s a chance for everyone to let their hair down, celebrate all their hard work and, of course, do some networking, which is so important in this industry.”
Lemnios takes great pleasure in the way that the students have created their own network as a result of BeastED. “It makes me so happy whenever I hear about the students meeting up outside of class – whether that’s an evening at the coffee shop working together on CVs or a game of padel at the weekend, new friendships are flourishing everywhere,” she beamed. “The practical side of that is when one of them sees an opportunity or gets a job, they will share that with their friendship group and the whole network becomes elevated as a result. This is happening more and more.”
‘We give our students the full picture’
Anyone who is over 18, lives in KSA and has the right to work in the Kingdom can apply for BeastED, and unsurprisingly, this year’s programme attracted a huge volume of applications. “Even before we opened registration, we did some targeted marketing to universities, alumni groups and to people who had been certified in different fields that could transfer to events,” Lemnios stated, explained how the BeastED team refined its process this year. “When it comes to registration, once we establish a candidate’s eligibility for the programme, they’re asked to answer a few written questions, which are assessed by an AI programme that we built in-house, before eventually being put through to a face-to-face interview.”
The interviews are conducted by BeastED’s recruitment team – two of whom are BeastED alumni. “It makes a difference that our recruitment team is made up of mainly young Saudis who can relate to the students,” Lemnios commented. “They are always here on site, so when students are on campus, they see a familiar face and have someone who can share advice as they progress.”
And the recruitment team isn’t the only source of advice for the students beyond the classroom, as BeastED has also developed its career counselling offering, with three dedicated career coaches working with the students from day one to help them find their ideal career path.
“We’ve found the counselling to be beneficial not only for the students, but also for us, so we’re better able to track and record our students’ progress in the industry,” Lemnios revealed. “Selfishly, of course, I want everyone who completes this programme to work for MDLBEAST, or one of our industry suppliers, but there’s a big wide world out there, and if someone ends up doing something else, that’s great as well.”
The expanded format of this year’s BeastED has meant that that several new courses could be added to the programme. “All of our classes are taught by industry partners – companies that have KSA entities and are looking to grow their local workforce,” Lemnios stated. “We’ve added several new classes this year. We give our students the full picture of everything that is needed to put an event together. There’s so much work that goes into a project before and after the show days, and we’re showing our students that it’s not just the DJ, the lights, and the special effects that matter; it takes a whole ecosystem to create a successful event… Although the special effects are pretty cool, and we do a class on that, too!”
This year’s BeastED suppliers included: Academy of Live Technology, Aggreko, ARGA, Clair Global, Creative Technology, Entertainment Gears, ER Productions, eventlab, Eventos, ESM Operations, Full Cycle, JAM Event Services, MA Lighting, MDLBEAST’s RESPECT campaign, Robert Bird Group, Rock-it Cargo, ROE Visual, Safe Events Global Arabia, Shine, Showforce, Special Projects, TAIT, TAG, THA Staffing, The Event Verse, Trivandi, and W.E.L.Safe.
A champion for BeastED from the start, MDLBEAST’s Executive Director of Events, Michael ‘Curly’ Jobson, shared his thoughts on the progress of the initiative: “BeastED is a source of great pride and a testament to MDLBEAST’s investment in young Saudis and the future of the event sector here in Saudi Arabia,” he commented. “Our partners who have invested in the course material and given their time will reap the benefits going forward.”
‘The real learning takes place on site’
While the classroom is where it all starts for these students, Lemnios is a big believer in the importance of practical, hands-on experience. “There’s only so much you can learn in the classroom; the real learning takes place on site, where people have to think on their feet and problem-solve under pressure,” she commented.
With an eye on the future, Lemnios hopes the programme can continue to grow exponentially. “I would love for BeastED to reach a place where we’re delivering year-round courses. That’s a few years off, but if someone would have told me two years ago that we would be here at a BBQ with over 250 alumni, I would have thought they were crazy, so you never know what can happen,” she shared. “At the size we are right now, I know every single student’s name, and I don’t want to lose that by becoming too big, too soon, because I think that is one area that sets us apart from other learning opportunities that are out there.
“There’s so much happening in Saudi Arabia already and so much more that will happen over the next decade, and all these events need a local workforce; flying in teams from the UK and US was fine the start with, but it’s not sustainable,” Lemnios concluded. “I told our students, ‘I want you to take my job’. I love it here and I love doing what I do, but if we do it right, then in a few years, we’ll be obsolete. And it won’t be because we’ve taught people to produce events in the Western way; we want our students to take on the grounding principles we’ve taught them and then go and produce events in a way that is distinctly Saudi Arabian, and we’re already starting to see that happen.”
Photos: MDLBEAST
