The identity team at the Conference of the Year and Grand Prix awards

Identity’s winning run at the C&IT Awards continues into 2022 as we picked up both the Conference of the Year prize and the highly coveted Grand Prix award. Both accolades were in recognition of our performance in delivering the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow. An event of truly global importance, where Identity was judged to have created an impeccable visitor experience – while also maximising taxpayer value and setting new standards for sustainability in events.

The Conference of the Year was secured on the back of the exceptional outcomes Identity achieved for our client, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), and the challenges we overcame along the way. For example, delivering a safe, inclusive, and carbon neutral-summit, for 40,000 delegates from 127 countries – under intense media scrutiny – in the midst of a global pandemic.

For the Grand Prix award, which honours a company that the judges felt has achieved outstanding excellence in event delivery, scale and innovation were the two clinching factors. Indeed, C&IT panellists noted how these came together to make possible the UK’s largest ever hybrid summit event involving a physical site that occupied over two square kilometres – and nearly 5,500 project staff. An event that paid special attention to each delegate’s journey, with specific spaces created to sooth, energise, provoke, and orientate.

In addition, every meeting was hybrid-capable, with digital engagement reaching record levels – including over 100,000 YouTube views, 2.7 million website visits, and 1.05 million online mentions. As for sustainability, Identity worked hard to ensure this was factored into every aspect of planning, design, delivery, and legacy. A commitment that led to measurable results which helped reinforce our awards submission – from CO2e savings of over 50% on power generation, to the saving of 80 tons of CO2e from landfill.

Both awards also acknowledge the close collaboration we established with the local community of Glasgow and surrounding region. Where Identity was able to source 30% of the event’s supply chain from Scotland, and deliver back over £310,000 of social value donations to 24 Scottish charities. All of which led to COP26 being the best attended COP ever, being deemed by the UN accessibility team as the “most accessible COP ever”, and now being globally recognised as the new gold standard in event sustainability.

In the words of Paul Fitzpatrick, MD of Identity: “Achieving the standards needed to win one C&IT award, let alone two, starts with the ambition to create an event that has the whole world talking, for all the right reasons. A global ambition, underpinned by the imagination to bring the event to life, as well as the practical excellence to deliver flawless execution. We couldn’t be prouder as a team.”