Event Production Show 25-26 February 2026

Goc O’Callaghan is Global Experience Strategist where she combines analytical skills with creative flair with a holistic approach to experience consultancy encompasses everything from strategic planning and concept development to execution and evaluation. This dynamic approach and innovative experience consultancy facilitate clients to find, define and unlock the perceived and actual value in the experiences for their end-users.

As the founder, owner and director of the award-winning ArcTanGent Festival, Goc has transformed the event into a cultural phenomenon, attracting thousands of attendees from around the globe. The visionary approach to festival curation of unorthodox artistry has earned numerous accolades, including the prestigious Best Small Festival in the UK Festival Awards.

Goc is a respected trend forecaster, specialising in predicting future trends in the experience industry. Their insights have been instrumental in guiding brands and organisations to stay ahead of the curve, ensuring that their offerings remain relevant and engaging in an ever-evolving market. Goc’s trend reports are highly anticipated and have been featured in leading industry publications.

Chris first became involved with events at Glastonbury Festival in 1979, whilst working as a GP in Somerset. He has been with FMS since its beginning over forty years ago, occupying a variety of roles. The organisation, which covers Glastonbury, Reading, WOMAD and several other events, is unusual in being a not-for-profit charity, staffed by volunteers and making grants to medical and humanitarian projects around the world. It was recently honoured with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.
In addition to event cover, FMS is a training provider and has been heavily involved in the NHS Covid vaccination programme in the West Country. Recently it has partnered with World Extreme Medicine to produce and ship bespoke boxes of trauma equipment to medical colleagues in Ukraine.
Chris has considerable experience of providing medical input into SAGs and event working groups. Now retired from NHS practice, he lives in Somerset with his wife and two cats.

Bev Osborne specialises in developing and delivering training solutions addressing the crisis management and emergency response needs of events and venues, companies and organisations in the UK and overseas. She became involved in the Resilience Sector by leading a 5-year programme to design and deliver multi-agency, simulation based, training exercises for Strategic Commanders in the Public Sector in 2007; and in 2011 launched Training 4 Resilience with her Business Partner Adrian Seward. She has designed and delivered over 150 crisis management and emergency exercises since 2007 for a wide portfolio of clients including Premiership Football and Rugby Clubs; Music Festivals and Concerts; the NATO Summit; the Tour de France and all London 2012 Olympic Venues.

Alasdair is the Co-Founder and Director of The Intrepid Collective, an award winning events agency that specializes in placemaking, destination marketing and community engagement events for the built environment.
The Intrepid Collective have worked with clients to deliver activations across some of London ‘s most iconic public spaces and destinations. In 2024 the agency won awards for Best Event, Best Team and the prestigious Judges Award at The National Outdoor Event Association Awards.

Al also sits on the Executive Committee for Checking-IN, the network of LGBTQ+ professionals and allies within the hospitality and events industry

With more than thirty years event and sports safety management experience, Richard Bate is the Chief Safety & Sustainability Officer at the E Bike Grand Prix Series and Vice President of the Royal Chartered Institution of Occupational Safety & Health (IOSH). Richard’s early career as a Paramedic in the UK NHS was diverse, including emergency response, helicopter aircrew, training, and management. While working for the NHS he built a portfolio of skills, which via a circuitous route, including incurable volunteering, brought him into Occupational Safety & Health as a full-time profession. Richard holds a BSc in OSHEM, a Post Graduate Diploma in Events Safety Management and holds Chartered Member of IOSH, Fellowship of IIRSM and is a Professional Member of the American Society of Safety Professionals.

I work as part of the wider marketing team, serving Brands and Properties (Rights Holders) across campaigns and activations. I have worked in around 50 countries over the last 23 years and really enjoyed working within different cultures. Our industry and the event specialism is always facing challenges and right now is no different. We have been members of NOEA for over ten years and are always keen to play a proactive role, improving our environment and ways of working, across areas such as safety, CSR and sustainability. I asked to join the NOEA council in order to try and help our industry as it moves towards the future and the new challenges it faces.

Julie Coates-Walker is Group Head of Sales at ARC Racing & Leisure Group, the UK’s largest racecourse operator, overseeing sales across a diverse portfolio of 21 venues. With over 25 years’ experience in hospitality and events, Julie has held senior leadership roles at Levy Restaurants, Leiths at ExCeL London and Lime Venue Portfolio, part of Compass Group. Known for her collaborative and commercially focused approach, Julie specialises in building strategic partnerships and creating engaging experiences across both indoor and outdoor environments, helping clients deliver impactful meetings, events and live experiences at scale.

Tom Rees is Managing Director of AeroAVA, and Partner at Audience & Brands. With over 35 years’ experience across live events, entertainment and brand marketing communications, he is known for bridging creative ambition with rigorous delivery. Drone and remote effects have become a core specialism alongside Tom’s background in theatrical engineering design, underpinning a deep understanding of complex productions, technical risk and audience experience. He advises clients, agencies and production partners on innovation and governance, helping shape standout experiences while championing best practice and collaboration across the production services community.

Caroline is a highly regarded Cultural Leader in Birmingham, respected for her skills in producing and production. As the Founder and Managing Director of award-winning Outdoor Places Unusual Spaces, a female-led major cultural-events producing house that works at a range of scales to deliver on it’s mission of transformative cultural events that connect audiences to people and place, Caroline’s considered approach sees her devise, commission and manage memorable, creative, experiences, taking a collaborative, proactive and inclusive approach. Understanding the imperatives of delivering events in the outdoors and in non-conventional arts spaces, with ambitious programmes underpinned by detailed behind the scenes planning and sustainable outcomes.

Alistair Turner is Managing Director of EIGHT PR & Marketing, a specialist creative agency servicing the events industry. Alistair has over 20 years experience in the PR industry, working across some of the biggest brands in FMCG, tourism and most recently the international events industry. Over the course of his career, Al has worked with stellar brands, cutting his teeth with Haagen Daaz, Tropicana and Muller, he was also once described as ‘Bertie Bassett’s right-hand man’ when he was leading the Trebor Bassett account. He was also involved in the re-launch of Bill & Ben the Flowerpot Men when working with BBC Worldwide. Since entering the global events marketplace, Al has worked across the full range of events, from business conferences and exhibitions, through brand activations and into the sporting and festival industries. As well as influencing media and representing the events industry, he has also been involved in the influence and communication with the UK government; he was secretariat for the All Party Parliamentary Group for Events, and project managed the groups’ Enquiry into the international competitiveness of the UK events industry in 2013. He has also been a government advisor on the 2012 London Olympics and the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Finally, he has been involved in ministerial briefings on the events industry at Secretary of State level and below. He was heavily involved with No.10 on its development of the ‘Britain is GREAT’ initiative, and the ‘Events are GREAT’ implementation of that campaign. He is a regular speaker on events and PR at a number of universities including Hertfordshire, MMU, Westminster, University of East London, Greenwich, Hertfordshire, and St Margret’s. He is also a regular contributor to The Events Academy educational programmes.