46 festivals across the UK, Europe, Australia and North America have been awarded the prestigious Greener Festival Award for their green efforts in reducing their environmental impact 2011.

The Awards are made by environmental campaign and advice group A Greener Festival and to achieve the Award each festival must complete a detailed 53 part questionnaire, submit relevant information such as a carbon footprint, traffic plans and waste and recycling management schemes.

They also need to have an independent environmental audit to complete the Awards scheme.

Organisers said they were extremely pleased with the results which took place against “very difficult financial pressures in some parts of the festivals sector” and “challenging summer weather” in both hemispheres.

Birmingham has been selected as the top UK events destination outside London for the third year in a row, according to an in-depth study of the views of more than 600 British event organisers by The British Meetings & Events Industry Survey 2011/12 (BMEIS).

Nearly half of organisers, both in the corporate and association sectors, have used Birmingham as a destination for a conference, meeting or business event in the last twelve months, ahead of Manchester, Leeds and Glasgow.

The survey also revealed that many organisations are favouring smaller, shorter and more regional events, with city centre hotels topping the preferred venue type, “value for money” influencing venue selection and social media playing a significant role in event organisation.

Ian Taylor, Commercial Director at Marketing Birmingham, the city’s strategic marketing partnership which operates Birmingham’s business tourism programme Meet Birmingham, said: “This year’s survey findings confirm Birmingham as the UK’s natural meeting place.

Research conducted by the Event Production Show indicates spends on municipal events to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee in 2012 could exceed those of 2011’s Royal Wedding.

A celebratory weekend, Saturday 2 June to Tuesday 5 June 2012, of street parties and pageantry will mark The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. The special long bank holiday is set to boost UK leisure and tourism spending by a predicted £620m as schools and offices close for the four day break.

This is reflected in the fact that some 22 per cent of attendees registered for the Event Production Show - taking place from Wednesday 1st – Thursday 2nd February 2011 at London Olympia - represent a public body or local authority, compared to 13 per cent in November 2010 ahead of 2011’s show.

The Welsh Government’s Major Events Unit recently hosted leading experts and key decision makers in the international major events industry for the inaugural Event Wales International Conference.

The conference, held at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Cardiff, outlined Wales’ vision for becoming a leading destination for hosting major events and discussed the significant opportunities and challenges that face the Wales, broader UK and international events industries.

Showsec joined a panel of high profile professionals for a lively discussion on festival safety at the UK Festival Conference, 15th November, HMV Institute in London.

Mark Logan, director at Showsec, joined the “Weather – Or Not” debate which explored safety standards following the stage collapse tragedies this summer. The panel was mediated by Andy Lenthall, general manager at Production Services Association, and featured fellow festival industry leaders including Live Nation UK COO John Probyn, Hedwig De Meyer from Stageco and Simon James from The Event Safety Shop.

Mark drew on personal experience, to discuss how thorough contingency plans, site-wide monitoring processes and incorporating external agencies are vital to diminish threats posed by adverse weather events.

The cost of providing security for the London Olympics has risen by £271 million following a decision to recruit and train almost 14,000 more personnel.

The London 2012 organising committee (LOCOG) will now need nearly 24,000 venue security personnel plus specialist security equipment.

According to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) the decision to increase the number of security staff from 10,000 to 23,700 was not in response to "any specific security threat".

Olympics minister Hugh Robertson said that the additional spending would not put the Games over their £9.3 billion budget, because of savings of more than £910 million achieved by the Olympic Delivery Authority since 2007.