While there is always news about what’s going on in the Events Management Community (EMC), it has never been properly introduced to everyone, so here it is! Having been nominated as a finalist at the 2025 Scottish Event Awards for the best in-house planner or events team, it’s safe to say this community is a fantastic one to join.

Introducing the EMC

In summer 2022, Dawn Dodd and Catherine Hetherington in Service Management (ISG) were tasked with establishing an events community which would be representative of the entire events community of the University and play a key role in improving engagement between ISG and this new community. To make events planning less daunting, especially with all the resources the University offers, they established the EMC, a central place for event planners to collaborate and share ideas, advice and resources.

18 months later, the community has grown and developed enormously, starting from 20 members to over 450 today (and still growing!). Initially as an online community with information sessions, members now are offered to attend events including the annual and topic-specific in-person conferences that are always fully booked.

In a nutshell, the EMC is a one stop community dedicated to spreading and sharing advice and resources on all things event planning. The Teams channel is an informal place to ask questions, share thoughts, and gather resources.

Benefits of Joining

Membership is completely free, and all you need to do is plan events of any shape or size, or indeed be an event planner! It doesn’t matter what department or where in the University you work. You can meet new colleagues, get to know colleagues from different departments at the University, and find a place where organising events is less daunting and much more approachable and friendly. (Conferences and EMC events often have a delicious lunch and catering involved too!).

Everything is event-savvy, with a sustainability conference informing members about the future of event planning. The community can also get involved in pilot testing for event-specific applications, including the centrally run Eventbrite. If you are thinking of joining, please do as new members are always welcomed into the community with brilliant induction sessions.

Newest Initiatives

With the rapidly growing number of members, an exciting new Community Communication SharePoint site will be launched soon. As well as the Teams channel to ask questions and collaborate, this will be a great place to find anything an event planner might need! Once its launched, there are some brilliant directories of information to go through.

If you are an event planner and want to join this fantastic community, email Dawn (dawn.dodd@ed.ac.uk) or Catherine (catherine.hetherington@ed.ac.uk) to find out more!

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