Duncan Kirk is CEO of the UK-based, private equity-backed trade show organiser ROAR B2B. The company was formed in 2019 with the acquisition of healthcare, environmental and marketing tech events from Prysm Media Group. In 2023, it had revenue of £11mn, with £2.5mn EBITDA and 50 employees. Its largest events are: Environmental Services & Solutions (500 exhibitiors, 10k audience), Call & Contact Expo (400 exhibitors, 10k audience) and Naidex/ Care (300 exhibitors, 8k audience). In 2024, all events are said to be substantially ahead of pre-pandemic 2019.
Kirk, who was sales director of Reed Business Information for almost a decade, graduated from the UK’s University of Huddersfield in business studies.
What were your earliest ambitions?
Like many Brits, my first ambition was to be a professional footballer…. Those hopes were soon extinguished playing on the pitches of North Kent and South East London in my teens! After university, I followed my father’s career path into media sales. I wouldn’t say it was a burning ambition to build a career in media but it seemed relatively exciting – and, back then, a quick way of getting a company car!
What was your first media job?
After a few short-term roles at Angel Publishing and Reed Exhibitions (now RX), my first job of real significance was in sales at Miller Freeman which, ultimately, became CMP Media and then UBM. Working in B2B advertising sales in the late 1990s was an eye opener. I was surrounded by good people who grounded me, taught me how to sell and, importantly, the value of hard work.
What were your milestones at Reed Business Information?
At the age of 30, joining RBI was perfect for me at that stage of my sales career. I loved my time at CMP but Reed provided an environment for me to develop as a person and as a manager. For someone who thought they knew everything (!!) the leadership training and emphasis on personal and professional development at RBI enabled me to think differently and become a more effective manager. I worked with bright, professional, well-trained people and collaboration was important: I learned the value of teamwork. On the flip side, working in a big organisation can sometimes stifle entrepreneurial thinking and, towards the end of my decade working at RBI, I wanted to take more risks and find a new challenge in a more entrepreneurial business.
What about Techmedia?
I joined Imago Techmedia which was a founder-led entrepreneurial business. It was very different to the corporate environment – fast paced, quick decision-making, less structure. It was alsoan exciting time in the exhibition industry with new launches, rapid growth and I enjoyed working with the owners Mark Steel and Hugh Keeble. I built a great team and grew into my leadership role, using my training and experience of the tech sector from my earlier career. Delivering RoI for customers in tech remains the key priority whether the media is digital or events.
What’s the ROAR story?
I am very proud of ROAR and the journey we are on. It’s a people business, we work as a team, we have great loyalty to each other and covid taught us to be resilient. It was formed following a management buy-in supported by Apiary Capital, acquiring three portfolios from Prysm Exhibitions in 2019. The portfolios broadly staged trade exhibitions in the Business Technology, Environment and Healthcare sectors. Timing is everything, of course, and the pandemic hit four months after we completed the deal! Apiary were supportive throughout covid and held their nerve, despite not actually staging our first ROAR live event until late in 2021.
The business has developed and grown strongly particularly in the last two years. We now have a multi-platform approach to serving our customers which has been built through strategic acquisitions and organic launches. Our biggest portfolio is the Environment group that has been bolstered by the acquisition of EMG Publishing which has helped us to deliver the growth of the UK’s largest Environmental Services Show at the NEC, in Birmingham, incorporating RWM, Contamination Expo and Water Management expo. Naidex is our flagship brand for the disability community, also at NEC, and we stage our three thriving Business Technology Shows at London’s Excel in November. We also stage conferences and have content platforms in our sectors.
What’s special about your company?
The people, the passion and culture are what make us special. ROAR’s propositions are all about supporting the community. Too many events businesses have been one dimensional. ROAR delivers a multi-platform approach to serve an industry, which provides a foundation for a trade show to thrive.
Our Environment portfolio offers access to customers through many platforms rather than a one-dimensional ‘event first’ approach. We’re aiming to offer access to customers and buyers through Publishing/content platforms, Conferences, Awards competitions as well as Exhibitions across the ROAR portfolio – as we do in our Environment Group. There are a few examples of media businesses that offer a multi-platform approach to the sectors but it is not a common strategy deployed across the events industry. We believe that can set us apart from the others.
What’s your own primary role?
My role is to set the vision and strategy, to support our leadership team to deliver the operational plan and to be out in the wider market looking for the next growth opportunities. I’m at my best when I’m meeting people, which is pretty handy when you’re working in the events industry!
Which companies do you most admire?
I have huge respect for organisations that go about their business quietly and effectively while doing the right thing for their people, suppliers and customers. The best example I have seen first-hand is the evolution of Reed Business Information over the past 15 years. I didn’t appreciate it at the time, but the way that CEO Mark Kelsey led the transformation from a traditional B2B magazine publisher to a hugely successful online data services and analytics business deserves the utmost respect.
What is your best lesson?
Treat people the way you would like to be treated.
