‘The Agenda Is Key’: ILMC 32 Sets Dates, Adds Venue

The International Live Music Conference (ILMC) announced its 32nd edition will go down in London March 3-6. 

Organizers expect some 1,200 delegates to attend the main conference, with around 2,000 professionals at ILMC events across the week in total.. Satellite events around the main conference include the second edition of the Futures Forum, March 6, which invites 250 young executives to discuss the future of the business; The Arthur Awards, March 5; and the ILMC Production Meeting and Green Events Conference (GEI), March 3. 

As usual, ILMC’s organizers came up with a theme for the event. In 2020, it will be TV game shows, hence the ILMC 32 tagline “The Game of Live.”

Last year’s conference program included keynotes from Roger Daltrey and Dua Lipa, as well as guest speaker slots from executives including Klaus-Peter Schulenberg (CTS Eventim), Tim Leiweke (Oak View Group), Michele Bernstein (WME), Alex Hardee (Paradigm), Marsha Vlasic (Artist Group Intl.), Steve Lamacq (BBC 6Music), Phil Bowdery (Live Nation) & Bill Silva (Bill Silva Mgmt). The 2020 agenda will be published in January.

Companies supporting ILMC’s 2020 edition include Live Nation, Ticketmaster, CTS Eventim, Integro, MOJO Rental, Showsec, WME, eps, Aiken Promotions, LiveStyled, Universe, Feld Entertainment and Buma Cultuur. 

Pollstar asked ILMC head Greg Parmley about the most important factors for maintaining ILMC’s spot as the most important gathering for live entertainment professionals outside the U.S.. 

He said that there were a few: “The agenda is key – we start work on the agenda in late summer every year, liaising with 150 industry figures around the world to establish what topics are the most pertinent to them. 

“Building an ILMC is not a copy and paste exercise – we start from scratch every year to present the most relevant and contemporary format we can, be that the format, meeting space, networking events etc.”

Addressing the industry trend of booking artists earlier and earlier, Parmley explained: “A few years back, March was a tough time in the calendar as the festivals were all booked and no one was working on the following year. But with booking getting earlier, discussions about headliners have come full circle – March is increasingly a very key period to do business.”

Seeing that past ILMC editions seemed to be bursting at the seams, ILMC 32 will take over a second location in 2020, in addition to the Royal Garden Hotel, its long-standing headquarters. 

The nearby Baglioni Hotel will offer ILMC delegates delegates exclusive meeting and networking space. It also allows the ILMC team to expand the event’s program. “With the top promoters, agents, festivals and venues landing in London from over 60 markets, meeting space is always at a premium,” said Parmley. “Adding a second site responds to this increasing demand, gives delegates room to do more business, and allows us to expand our programming.”

ILMC founder Martin Hopewell told Pollstar in a previous interview that the staff of the Royal Garden had become friends over the years. “They understand us. Most five-star London hotels really wouldn’t get the ILMC. They get it, and they love having the ILMC delegates there,” he said.

When Pollstar asked Parmley whether the staff at the Baglioni had any idea what was coming, he joked: “Definitely not!”