One hundred corporate event organisers, including representatives from Barclays, BMW, Grant Thornton and Starbucks Coffee Company have met for the Event Organisers Summit at the Grange Tower Bridge Hotel in London.

The two-day event, organised by Forum Events, will see buyers have one-on-one scheduled appointments with suppliers from 54 companies.

Forum Events' Shane Doherty said: “We have some very high calibre delegates taking part, this event is going from strength to strength. It's a more sophisticated way of doing business - it's a pre-qualified audience and its much more personal, people select who they want to meet.”

The event started with a presentation from drpgroup's Dale Parmenter questioning whether live events were an expendable luxury or indispensable profit driver.

Using case study examples from Sainsbury's, Thomas Cook and Lloyds Banking Group, he demonstrated the need to justify events, through planning the outcome, actions and influence to get the desired result.

“Sometimes events are seen as a luxury, rather than a profit driver or driver of communication,” Parmenter said. “An event is a shared experience, that's what makes events much more powerful than other media.”

Pictured: The Grange Tower Bridge Hotel, where the Summit is taking place