There is something uniquely revealing about attending an event when you spend most of your working life creating them. The choice of venue, the host, the entertainment, the food, and the format lands differently when you understand exactly what went into making it.
In June 2026, the Make Events team attended two of the event industry’s most celebrated evenings back to back: the Micebook Awards and the Conference & Events Awards 2026. The second night brought particularly good news — Make Events won Event of the Year (up to 1,000 attendees) for our Nobu Manchester Groundbreaking: Transforming a Construction Site into an Iconic Brand Experience.
But beyond collecting an award, both nights gave our team a chance to experience the industry at its best and to take notes. Here is what Managing Director Adele Woods, Chief Executive Officer Holly Bennett and Director Joel Bennett took away from two exceptional evenings.
Make Events Wins Event of the Year 2026
Before we get into the observations, it would be wrong not to take a moment. At the Conference & Events Awards 2026, Make Events was named Event of the Year (up to 1,000 attendees) for the Nobu Manchester Groundbreaking — an event we produced on a raw construction site beneath Victorian viaducts, with no existing power, heating or infrastructure, for a guest list that included Robert De Niro and Chef Nobu Matsuhisa.
“A visually striking and conceptually bold activation that transformed a raw construction site into a luxury brand environment. A distinctive, imaginative and high-impact brand experience executed with confidence and precision.”
— Conference & Events Awards Judges, 2026, judging panel
We are enormously proud of every person who made that event happen. Now, on to what we learned from the evenings themselves.
Joel Bennett, Commercial Director: Three Things That Determine Engagement at Any Awards Night
1. A great host is the biggest lever on engagement in the room
Good hosting is arguably the single biggest lever on engagement at any awards ceremony. A host sets the pace, holds the room together between categories and determines whether guests stay tuned in or start checking their phones. It is a role that is often underestimated in the brief — and it shows when it goes wrong.
Lucy Porter’s hosting at the Conference & Events Awards was a strong example of it done right. Sharp, genuinely funny and clearly attuned to the room, she kept energy levels high between presentations rather than letting momentum dip. That kind of hosting does not just fill time between announcements. It actively shapes how engaged an audience stays across the entire ceremony.
For anyone briefing hosts for their own events: treat the hosting brief with the same rigour as the AV brief or the run of show. The right host, properly briefed on the tone and audience, can transform an awards ceremony.
2. Match the format to your audience’s energy budget — not just the guest count
Both evenings chose very different structures for a broadly similar audience, and both worked — because each format was right for what that audience actually wanted.
Micebook ran an evening-into-late-night format built for an industry that wants to properly let its hair down after a hard year. The Conference & Events Awards, by contrast, ran as a lunchtime ceremony: pre-lunch drinks, a three-course meal with unlimited wine, beer and soft drinks served through to 4pm, entertainment and the ceremony itself — a contained, daytime format that lets guests get back to client work or catch an early train home.
Neither is inherently more engaging than the other. The insight is that engagement comes from correctly reading whether your audience wants a big night out or a no-hangover celebration, and designing the entire day around that answer — rather than defaulting to an evening gala with a DJ as the standard.
3. Build an emotional arc — and consider what keeps people warm between the big moments
A well-placed charity mechanic can add real warmth to an awards night without slowing it down. At the Micebook Awards, a raffle in aid of Meeting Needs raised £11,000 across the evening — giving guests something small and active to participate in alongside the entertainment and the ceremony itself.
It is a useful reminder that engagement is not only built through big-ticket production choices. Sometimes it is the low-effort, high-participation moments — a raffle, a vote, a shared experience — that do the most to keep a room connected and warm throughout a long programme. A well-structured emotional arc across an evening, with moments of lightness and warmth built in alongside the headline content, makes the whole experience feel more human.
Key takeaway
“"The format question isn't about guest count. It's about energy budget. Read your audience correctly and design around that - not around what awards nights are 'supposed' to look like."”
Joel BennettCommercial Director
Adele Woods, Managing Director: Three Takeaways on Personalisation, Entertainment and Connection
1. Personalisation creates an immediate sense of belonging
One of the standout personal touches at the Micebook Awards was the replacement of traditional place cards with personalised photo name cards. Attendees had submitted headshots in advance, and when they arrived at their table they found their own photograph printed alongside their name. Those images were later woven into a large photo collage displayed on the main screens during the evening.
It is a simple idea, but the effect is immediate — guests feel recognised from the moment they sit down. As event planners, this is a powerful reminder of how thoughtful personalisation creates a stronger sense of belonging and makes an experience far more memorable than standard event branding. The investment is minimal. The impact is significant.
2. Live entertainment changes the atmosphere in the room
Both evenings moved away from pre-recorded music stings for award presentations and used live bands and singers throughout instead. The difference is palpable. Live entertainment creates momentum in a way that a track playing through a PA simply cannot. It signals investment, it gives guests something to react to in real time, and it makes the event feel more immersive and considered.
For anyone planning a corporate awards event in 2026 or beyond, this is a compelling argument for revisiting the live versus pre-recorded entertainment decision — particularly for the awards presentation moments themselves, where the energy either lifts the room or lets it flatten.
3. Networking should be designed, not assumed
One of the primary reasons people attend industry events is to meet the right people. Micebook addressed this directly by integrating a digital networking tool into its event app and website, allowing delegates to search for other attendees by name and location both before and during the event.
Rather than leaving connections to chance or relying on guests to find each other during a drinks reception, the organisers created infrastructure that made networking easier and more intentional. Digital tools that facilitate attendee connections, curated introductions and structured networking time add tangible value — particularly for delegate-led events where the networking opportunity is often as important as the content itself.
Key takeaway
“"Personalisation answers the most important question at any event: at what point does a guest feel like a guest, rather than an attendee? Get the answer right early and it sets the tone for everything that follows."”
Adele WoodsManaging Director
Holly Bennett, Chief Executive Officer: What Stood Out Across Both Evenings
The Micebook Awards: venue, spectacle and entertainment done right
The Micebook Awards were held at the Chancery Rosewood in London — and the venue alone gave people a reason to be there. There is a well-established truth in the events industry that an exciting, new or exclusive venue drives attendance, and the Chancery Rosewood proved the point. The grand ballroom featured built-in screens positioned so that sightlines were clear from every angle — a detail that is often overlooked but makes an enormous difference to guests seated further from the stage.
The entertainment programme was equally impressive. A singing host set the tone for the evening with warmth and energy. An aerial artist performing suspended by her hair provided a genuinely arresting centrepiece moment — the kind of act that generates conversation long after the evening ends. A dance performance behind a translucent voile sheet added a further layer of visual theatre, creating an atmosphere of intrigue and spectacle that kept the energy high across a long programme.
For event professionals, it was a reminder of how layered entertainment — combining live hosting, performance art and dance — can transform the atmosphere of an evening and sustain engagement across a lengthy programme.
The Conference & Events Awards: precision, format and exceptional food
The Conference & Events Awards — where Make Events collected the Event of the Year award — delivered its own highlights. Joel and Adele have already covered the hosting and the live music, but two other elements stood out.
The dual-host format — two presenters each leading separate sections of the programme before coming together for a joint finale — added dynamic variety to what can otherwise become a repetitive ceremony structure. It created a natural sense of build and momentum across the afternoon, with the joint finale feeling like a genuine payoff.
And the food, supplied by Moving Venue, was genuinely exceptional. A cured salmon and miso starter was followed by a succulent lamb main course, with a strawberry mousse dessert presented in the style of a Magnum ice cream bar — beautiful, playful and delicious. In a room full of people who create events for a living, the catering still generated conversation. That is a high bar to clear.
Key takeaway
“"In a room full of event professionals, the catering still generated conversation. Moving Venue set a seriously high standard — and it's a reminder that food is never just fuel at a well-designed event."”
Holly BennettCEO & Founder
What We’re Taking Back to Our Own Events
Attending events as guests — rather than as the team running them — offers a rare and valuable perspective. Both evenings reminded us that the details matter: the personalised place card, the live music sting, the host who reads the room, the networking tool that saves a guest from an awkward thirty minutes at the bar, the charity raffle that gives the room something to share.
They also reminded us why we do what we do. Sitting in a room of our peers, watching the industry celebrate the best of what it produces, and collecting an award for an event we are genuinely proud of — that is not a bad way to spend two evenings in June.
If you are planning a corporate event, an awards ceremony or a brand experience and want to work with a team that has just been recognised as the best in the industry, get in touch with Make Events today.
