The live events industry has always been fast paced, particularly here in the Middle East – we solve problems quickly and deliver under pressure. It’s one of the reasons I’ve always loved working in this industry. It rewards agility, resilience, and creativity. However, the industry is maturing. Speed alone is no longer enough. Structure, governance, and responsibility are becoming just as critical as technical delivery.
After more than 20 years working across major events, production environments, and complex operational businesses in the region, I have seen first-hand how rapid growth can create both opportunity and risk. Over the past few years in particular, I’ve noticed a change between how event and AV companies operate and what the market now expects of them – particularly around compliance, sustainability and governance.
Many business leaders know what they want to improve and simply don’t have the time, headspace, or certainty to move those changes forward while still delivering day to day. That observation is what led me to launch Standard Practice, a consultancy focused on governance, ESG, and operational systems.
Learning from growth
My career began at Eclipse Staging Services – a company founded by my father, Mark Brown. I joined when the business was scaling rapidly, and over time watched it evolve from a tight-knit operation into a major industry player.
It was an invaluable education. I saw how fast expansion can stretch people, systems, and decision-making. I learned that operational success arrives long before governance maturity, and when systems don’t keep up with scale, risk grows. My role was always to bring order to the entrepreneurial excitement – to run the numbers, sense check the strategy, strengthen and support the systems. Eclipse grew fast, was owner managed, and grew to become the Eclipse Group, but a lot of lessons were learned on the way.
Years later, when I joined Creative Technology Middle East (CTME), I found myself working inside another fast-growing organisation, this time, within one of the most respected global AV brands.
As CTME grew beyond 100 staff, expanded facilities, and deepened its regional footprint, the need for formal structure became critical, and as Head of Operations and later Head of Business Administration, I supported and improved systems, managing ISO audits and frameworks, implemented ESG integration, improved governance frameworks, and operational system development across the business. That experience reinforced something I now see repeatedly across the industry; great delivery capability must be matched by strong foundations.
Expectations are rising
Many events companies in the region have grown at extraordinary speed. Demand is strong, project complexity is increasing, and expectations are rising. Environmental legislation, labour law reform, government procurement frameworks, ESG expectations, and ISO-based tender requirements are no longer just considerations; they are rapidly becoming standard. Yet, many businesses are still operating with informal systems, knowledge held in people’s heads, policies created reactively, and compliance treated as paperwork. This creates unnecessary operational confusion and doesn’t give scope for improvement.
ESG can feel intimidating – particularly for SMEs. It’s often presented as complex, corporate, and resource heavy. In reality, ESG in the event sector is much simpler: operate safe office, warehouses and sites, look after people, reduce environmental impact where possible, make transparent and responsible decisions, and be able to evidence what you say you do, then develop goals you can deliver on.
Most event businesses already do elements of this well. The challenge is consistency, documentation, and accountability.
With the introduction of UAE Federal Decree-Law No. 11 on Climate Change requiring UAE businesses to implement National Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV), alongside existing labour, environmental, and governance regulations, ESG is becoming less about aspiration and more about expectation. Monitoring of greenhouse gases is now a legal requirement. Clients, venues, and government entities increasingly want proof, not promises, and data is the key.
ISO certification is often misunderstood as a badge exercise. When implemented properly, it is the opposite. ISO 9001 (quality), ISO 14001 (environment), and ISO 45001 (health and safety) provide practical frameworks for embedding consistency, accountability, and improvement into everyday operations. They turn experience into process, good intent into repeatable behaviour, and compliance into operational strength.
What matters is not the certificate on the wall, but whether the system genuinely supports how people work on site, in warehouses, and across project teams.
The challenge for the industry
The live events industry operates in uniquely demanding environments. This means governance and compliance can’t be lifted directly from office-based industries. They must be designed for real-world delivery environments. Event companies don’t need more policy; they need better structure, clearer systems, aligned goals and practical tools that reflect how they actually operate.
After leaving CTME, I launched Standard Practice to work alongside leadership teams who know where they want to go but need support turning that ambition into action. Often the intent is there, but time, capacity, or uncertainty around the right approach gets in the way. My role is to help sense-check strategy, translate it into workable plans, and support implementation through to delivery.
The aims are simple: to build governance frameworks that support growth; complete those business projects that are always on the to-do list; implement ESG in a way that works operationally; develop management systems that strengthen, rather than restrict delivery; and help leadership teams create clarity, consistency, and confidence of all stakeholders.
This work is not about slowing businesses down. It is about making them more resilient, more credible, and more commercially competitive.
The events industry is entering a new phase. Technical excellence and delivery will always matter, but increasingly, so will governance maturity, ESG credibility, risk management capability and operational resilience.
Companies that invest early in these foundations will not only meet regulatory and tender expectations, but they will also build stronger cultures, reduce operational stress, and position themselves for sustainable growth – and if the industry can embrace that shift, I believe the next decade will be even more exciting than the past.
Photo: Standard Practice
