Discover the profile of EMA’s Board Member Clare Melton, a seasoned event manager with 20+ years of experience in organising events of all types and scales. Explore her journey and learn about Clare’s vision and aspirations for EMA.
Tell us a bit about yourself
Having started my career agency-side, I quickly transitioned to managing events in the government sector. Most of my career, however, has been dedicated to working in and eventually leading in-house events teams. I have had the opportunity to manage events of all sizes and scopes across diverse geographies within the financial services, real estate, and, most recently, information services sectors.
Where/how did your journey start in the events world?
I fell into events, which I think is the case for many of my cohorts in the industry. I left university and fell straight into a graduate traineeship at a Marketing agency which specialised in tech companies – my intention was to do my rotation and save enough money to go back to studying a Masters in European Politics in Brussels, which is what my degree is in. Six of us graduates did a rotation of two months each in each of our six departments, and when I got to the events team 6 months into my rotation, I was stuck! The rest, as they say, is history!
What made you want to get involved in EMA?
When I first started engaging with EMA I was really looking for a community outside of my “day job” where I could understand and discuss challenges and opportunities in the industry that would give me a different perspective from the specific company view I had. The more senior I became, the more I realised that having access to a broad range of other experiences and views, and being open to the challenge that the views of peers presents, really is transformational for career development. And besides, I found the EMA group an extraordinarily supportive and collegiate group, and we all continue to support each other to this day.
What event trend do you think will be most impactful to event planners?
Without a doubt, AI. It’s not an event trend per se, but it will be leveraged more and more across the industry, and I genuinely feel that planners not actively embracing AI in the next couple of years will be completely left behind. I currently class AI as “front of house” (experiential tech that directly impacts attendees) and “back of house” (tools that streamline the planning process and do some of the heavy admin lift), and both have reaching implications for our industry – in a hugely positive way.
How do you relax/what do you do for fun?
I am a bit of a fitness fanatic! Any day off will mostly start with an early workout or 2 and I am so proud to have completed my first (but not last!) Hyrox in May this year. In complete contrast, any lovely summer evening will find me pottering around my garden – I’m a keen gardener, not necessarily a good one but definitely enthusiastic! Travel also rates highly for me and as my children get older, I am relishing the opportunity to experience new places and cultures with them.
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