The Power of Events launches 500-workplace youth initiative

The Power of Events has secured grant funding to roll out a large-scale workplace exposure initiative for young people, aiming to create 500 structured opportunities across the UK events ecosystem. The programme, called Experience of Work, is designed to offer compliant, meaningful and accessible insight into careers spanning business events, festivals, sport, cultural experiences and brand activations.

The funding, provided via a Purple Guide Grant, will underpin both the set-up and delivery of the first wave of placements. The initiative targets students and early-stage talent who may not otherwise have a clear pathway into the events profession, while giving organisations a common framework for safe and well-managed short-term experiences.

Background and industry context

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The events sector continues to face persistent skills shortages, with many organisers, venues and suppliers reporting challenges in attracting and retaining new talent. At the same time, educational institutions and young people are seeking clearer, more practical routes into the industry that go beyond short-run volunteering or informal work.

Event professionals have also been under increasing pressure to ensure that any placements or work experiences comply with health and safety requirements, follow duty-of-care best practice and deliver genuine learning outcomes. Traditional models of work experience, often ad hoc and unstructured, can be difficult to scale or to align with organisational compliance frameworks.

The Power of Events has previously worked to map and showcase the breadth of the UK events ecosystem, highlighting opportunities across live, digital and hybrid formats. Experience of Work represents a further step in linking that ecosystem with the next generation of potential employees, freelancers and entrepreneurs.

Key developments in the Experience of Work programme

The newly funded programme will establish up to 500 Experience of Work placements, coordinated in collaboration with participating event businesses, agencies, venues, suppliers and related organisations. While detailed criteria and timelines will be managed by The Power of Events, the core elements of the scheme are expected to include:

Structured short-term experiences that go beyond basic shadowing, giving participants exposure to real workflows, planning processes and onsite operations where appropriate.
Clear guidance for hosts on safeguarding, health and safety and legal obligations, incorporating best practice frameworks used across the sector.
Support materials for both organisations and participants to define objectives, capture learning outcomes and gather feedback.
Alignment with existing pathways such as internships, apprenticeships and early careers programmes, acting as an earlier step in the talent pipeline.

The initiative is positioned as the next stage in broader efforts to make the events industry more visible and accessible to young people, including those who may not have personal networks or prior exposure to events as a viable career choice. By aggregating and standardising opportunities, Experience of Work aims to reduce the administrative and compliance burden on individual organisations while raising the overall quality of placements.

Industry impact and stakeholder alignment

For employers, the scheme provides a structured gateway to engage with future talent at an earlier stage, while helping to address diversity and inclusion goals by opening doors to a wider pool of candidates. Organisations that participate can test new outreach approaches and identify potential recruits in a low-risk environment, informed by common standards and support from The Power of Events.

The Purple Guide Grant support underlines the importance of safety and regulatory compliance in any programme that brings young people into event environments. By embedding guidance and best practice into the Experience of Work framework, the initiative seeks to reassure both employers and education partners that placements will be managed responsibly.

For the wider sector, a shared national programme has the potential to create more consistent expectations around what a high-quality work experience in events should look like. This could, over time, help align the efforts of academic institutions, training providers, professional bodies and employers that currently operate their own isolated schemes.

Why this matters for event professionals and technology providers

For organisers, venues and agencies, access to fresh talent is increasingly critical as event models evolve to incorporate hybrid formats, data-driven planning and more complex technology stacks. Young people entering through Experience of Work placements may bring digital skills and new perspectives that complement established operational expertise.

Event technology providers also stand to benefit from a more structured entry route into the sector for early-stage talent. Placements may expose participants to registration systems, mobile apps, audience engagement tools, streaming platforms and data analytics, deepening the talent pool familiar with core event tech workflows. This, in turn, could support faster adoption of new tools as graduates and junior staff bring hands-on experience into their future roles.

Education and training partners may see the programme as a bridge between classroom learning and live practice. For example, students on event management, marketing, hospitality, AV production or digital media courses could use Experience of Work opportunities to contextualise theory, understand cross-functional collaboration and observe how technology is applied in real event environments.

For organisations already investing in skills development, the initiative provides an additional mechanism to showcase company culture, test new operational processes and gather feedback from a younger demographic. It can sit alongside apprenticeships and graduate schemes as an earlier touchpoint in a longer-term workforce strategy.

Conclusion

The Power of Events’ Experience of Work programme, underpinned by Purple Guide Grant funding, signals a focused attempt to strengthen the UK event industry’s talent pipeline through structured, compliant exposure for young people. By targeting 500 placements, the initiative aims to move beyond fragmented, informal work experience towards a coordinated model that supports both participants and host organisations.

As the sector continues to adapt to changing audience expectations, hybrid delivery and evolving safety requirements, building a workforce that understands both live operations and integrated technology will be essential. Experience of Work is positioned as an early-stage intervention in that journey, offering a framework that event businesses, educators and technology providers can use to engage, inform and inspire the next generation of professionals.