Facing the future: European Outdoor Summit in Cambridge

Interview with Scott Nelson at a glance

1. What is the European Outdoor Summit all about for you?
2. Who is the European Outdoor Summit for?
3. From your point of view, what are the current main challenges in the market and how do they get picked up at the European Outdoor Summit?
4. Besides keynotes or workshops catering to specific topics, where do you see the main benefit of attending the European Outdoor Summit?
5. You will be up on stage at the European Outdoor Summit for the concept launch of OutDoor by ISPO 2025 with Tobias Gröber, Executive Director Messe München, and Mark Held, EOG co-founder and former president. Can you give us a sneak peek of what to expect?
6. You have mentioned the challenges and changes the outdoor industry is facing. What have you learned about the needs of retailers and brands when it comes to trade fairs?

The European Outdoor Summit (EOS) is a really important touchpoint in the trade. It wasn’t created by the European Outdoor Group (EOG). It was created by the industry as an opportunity to network, connect, and engage as executives or senior leaders outside the trade show context.

Just think about this: You arrive at a trade fair. You have so many things you need to accomplish. Your schedule is jam-packed. So there was an ask for a place where people could enter a frame of mind to discuss larger topics, to debate, to kind of, you know, go through a little bit of a process. You often don't have the time for that at a trade fair.

The European Outdoor Summit exists for senior leaders to come together to discuss what's important, what's on the horizon, and what the future of the sector includes. It is a space and format specifically designed for that - with keynotes, panels, interviews, networking times, sharing a beer, and dinners. It's meant to be very much a networking event and it's meant to target the executives and the senior leadership in the industry. So it's not for everybody and spaces are limited.

I would say, two big themes will feature heavily in the European Outdoor Summit. There's the ecological component which always features very heavily, which is something that's an existential threat to our industry. And then this year there is also much more weight being placed on an economic component.

We want people to know how to run their businesses better, but also how to run their businesses more responsibly. Those tend to be the two biggest themes or topics or points of discussion that the executives within the industry are being drawn to right now.

Ultimately, we would love it for people to come for the ethos. We want people to know that it's not just about that, it's about improving your organization, both in terms of how it responds to ecological crises and social needs, but also in how it responds to economic crises and economic needs.

There's going to be a whole new look and feel. We've got to the point where the concept has so many good elements built in connection with the trade. The trade has been very clear. They said we want something new, we want something different. And I'm really excited to see this launched because the advisory board has been responding very, very positively to what has been shown to them so far.

It’s going to look different. It's going to feel different. Likewise, it's going to be different in the way that we exhibit, and there's going to be more flexibility than we've ever had, more ways to take part. People need to feel new and you will definitely feel that energy with the new concept.

We've spoken to the trade, we've listened to them, we've interviewed them, we’ve surveyed them. And something that we've learned is very clear: the trade knows that in order for an event to be successful, we need to work together. 

The trade has also been very clear about saying we're in challenging times economically and we're less unified than we've ever been. But they have started to speak in a unified voice on the matter of trade shows, saying: This means a lot to us and it's not enough for brands to just show up. We need you to show up with your products and with your stories. We need you to be there to exhibit and we need this to be a common ground for communication and working together on ideas. Not just taking from the brands or ordering from them. And we're hearing from the brands: We need to see the retailers committed that they're going to show up in order to be there.

We've always talked about this as a common issue, but we're starting to see a lot more unity of voice around this. And so from my perspective, I think that we're seeing a shift, and we're starting to see people realize over the past few years that if we don't actually show up, both retailers and brands, it benefits nobody.