EventNewsDXB

Paul Berger: Built To Impress with Arena Events Group CEO

• W4 Podcast Studio • Season 1 • Episode 9

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Paul Berger: Built To Impress with Arena Events Group CEO


In this episode, Paul Berger, CEO of Arena Events Group, shares his journey from the advertising world of 1990s Dubai to leading one of the world’s premier event infrastructure companies. From launching the city’s first indoor karting facility to developing Dubai Autodrome and scaling Arena globally, Paul has played a pivotal role in shaping the event landscape.

He opens up about the surprising differences between global event markets—especially how the Middle East consistently outpaces the US and UK in event quality and guest expectations. 

Paul also unpacks the power of long-term partnerships in the industry and reveals Arena’s plans to move beyond seasonal events and into semi-permanent, game-changing structures.

Whether you're in events, hospitality, or just curious about how world-class experiences are built, this episode is packed with insight, inspiration and a masterclass in global scale-up strategy.


Podcast Rundown

• Arrival and early days in Dubai.
• Dubai AutoDrome and F1.
• Joining Harlequin and partnering with Arena.
• Arena's expansion throughout Middle East and Asia. 
• Key market differentials and quality gap.
• Importance of long-term partnerships over transactional relationships.
• Health of Dubai's events industry.
• Arena's future plans.

Production Credits:

Presented by: Ian Carless
Studio Engineer & Editor: Roy D'Monte
Executive Producers: Ian Carless & Joe Morrison
Produced by: EventNewsDXB & W4 Podcast Studio

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Ian Carless:

Welcome to Event News DXB. Before we begin, I've got a quick favour to ask. There's one simple way that you can support our show, and that's by hitting that follow or subscribe button on the app you're listening to the show on right now. It really does make a huge difference in helping to get the show out there to as many people as possible. So please give us a hand and click that button now. Thanks a bunch.

Ian Carless:

You're listening to the Event News DXB podcast your behind-the-scenes look into the world of events in Dubai, the UAE and the MENA region. I'm Ian Carlos and each week I'll bring you the latest news, industry trends and insider stories from the people shaping one of the world's most dynamic event markets. This week on Event News DXB, we're talking to Paul Berger, ceo of the Arena Events Group, a global event services company with offices in the UK, us, middle East and Asia. Paul's career highlights include tripling in size Arena Middle East and Asia to become the fastest growing division within the group. He brings a lengthy history of working in events in the region, cutting his teeth as an account director with BBDO and then later establishing his own sports marketing company, but it's perhaps safe to say that it's his work with Arena where he's really made a dramatic impact. Paul, welcome to the podcast, thank you.

Paul Berger:

Thank you for inviting me in.

Ian Carless:

Now I've got a whole bunch of stuff that I want to cover with you today, but let's do what we always do. Let's start at the beginning. What brought you to Dubai, gosh?

Paul Berger:

yes, that was in the 90s. I was working in London in advertising and I picked up campaign one day, as you do. Yeah, saw a very interesting position being advertised in Dubai for the BBDO group. Omnicom group Wanted an account director on their below the line we used to call it below the line in those days below the line activities, which was my speciality Interviewed and ended up being offered the job to move to Dubai. That happened in the 90s. I expected to be here three years working for an international advertising agency, thought I'd move on within the group. And here I am, you know, 25, 30 years later.

Ian Carless:

It's a common story, isn't it? I mean, I'm the same. I think I arrived here thinking, oh yeah, two or three years, and then yet, 22 years later, still here. It's a comfortable groove, isn't it, that you get into here. I'm not going to call it a rut, because that's a negative connotation, but it makes it very easy to move on, or very difficult to move on so you've got to be pretty determined or focused if you really want to leave.

Paul Berger:

I mean, yes, you do get into a groove. It's been a fantastic journey here, extremely enjoyable and, yeah, difficult difficult to leave. In fact, people who I've met on that journey who've left, often come back because they haven't been able to sort of resettle after four or five years in dubai and often come back. It's always that. It's that question that all everybody who's still here asks each other. You know where we're going to end up one day and it's uh, yeah, none of us expected to be here this long yeah now, I met you.

Ian Carless:

I think it was back in 2003, 2004, and you were in a very different role then, weren't you? I think you'd probably moved on from the agency. I met you actually on a karting track at the uh, was it american university and dubai media city.

Paul Berger:

Yes, that's exactly so. Yeah, look, after I left the advertising world, I loved Dubai, didn't want to leave, didn't really want to stay in advertising, but looked around and decided to go into motorsports. And in those days, ian, there was desert rallying and there was what I did with the karting. There was no Formula One, there was no motor racing tracks anywhere in the Middle East, motor racing tracks anywhere in the middle east, and I saw this niche it was very popular at that time in london, particularly indoor karting, and I saw, yeah, the weather, people wanted to do things more inside. So I thought, yeah, let's get a big warehouse, put some air conditioning units in there, put a track down and let's go racing and, and and that's what happened. And then that expanded to arranging 24 hour endurance racing.

Ian Carless:

That's right.

Paul Berger:

That's right Outside on the streets and we used to build temporary circuits. One was at the American University in Dubai, outside the old hard rock in those days Yep Gosh, yeah. To do it down at Dubai International Marine Club. We did it on the. We closed the roads at the Hyatt Regency opposite the British Embassy in Dubai. I mean, we did about 22 races over the years and we had three, three or 400 people racing, you know, split into teams obviously.

Ian Carless:

Good fun, I remember that. I remember that. Fantastic. I'm sure it was hard work.

Paul Berger:

It was stressful, it was hard work because obviously you're closing public roads and building temporary tracks. You know health and safety was always on the you know you thought what could happen. That was always a worry because these carts were fast. I mean they were going 120 kilometers. They're two engines pro carts, 220 kilometers. You know, on the straights and these weren't professional drivers. You know there were some, obviously some Formula One drivers or ex-F1 drivers, racing and celebrities, but generally they were just people, you know, having fun.

Ian Carless:

Yeah, now we'll move on. Obviously, your journey continued and you've moved on to Arena, but you mentioned Formula One there. You had a little stint as well, didn't you? I did, being associated or working alongside F1.

Paul Berger:

I did so. We were advertising karting.

Ian Carless:

Yeah.

Paul Berger:

And then I ended up building the first racing track here, which was the Dubai Autodrome, with union properties. So, yeah, that was an idea that we came up with, managed to convince the UP to secure the land and we built what is now today's Motor City. That was a fabulous experience, you know, taking a piece of desert and creating a, you know, a world-class motor racing track out of nothing. And then, just accidentally, and because I spent the last sort of that time, most of my time in motor racing, it built up quite an interest in the sport. Yeah, ended up working in f1 and setting it, set up my own, uh, consultancy here that worked with a number of teams, particularly mclaren, ferrari, williams, worked with them to develop their business, their partnerships in this part of the world.

Paul Berger:

Yeah, again, I reiterate, bahrain was the first track that came on stream and now we've got four formula one tracks, but in those days it was really limited to bahrain. The dubai autodrome was never going to host an f1, but it was certainly could do. It was, it was built to that purpose. So, yeah, I worked in f1 and I loved it. I mean, I, I worked in the courtyard and el coz had fabulous offices. Um, really, really enjoyed it. Yeah, similar to where we're sitting today. Really enjoyed it. Traveled, went to probably 14, 15 of the races a year, so most of them, certainly two thirds.

Ian Carless:

Yeah.

Paul Berger:

Worked really closely with some fabulous teams, fabulous drivers, enjoyed the sport. And then I got a call out of the blue from my brother-in-law who had set up in the late 90s what is best described as an upmarket english marquee company here called harlequin.

Paul Berger:

Yeah, the famous harlequin that launched in the early 2000s and basically was the go-to party tents company that if you wanted a, if you wanted a super amazing tent built in your garden or for your function or whatever it was, um, harlequin was the go-to company. Right, very small business set up from by charlie and his wife, and it had been going about 10 years and charlie, out of the blue, called me one day and said, can we have a coffee? And that was the start of the next chapter in my life, if it was going into event services right.

Ian Carless:

How different was that industry from what you were doing before, and also how difficult was the transition it wasn't that difficult.

Paul Berger:

Okay, the big challenges were going from running a very small sports consultancy, which was effectively myself and a few others yeah, to running a company with 50 45 people yeah, and then growing that company subsequently. Um, so, yeah, you had all the issues of managing people and leading a company rather than really just effectively doing it for yourself, the business itself. I mean, I didn't need to know what the front end, the back end, of a tent was. I mean, technically, I knew nothing about structures. I know a little bit more today, obviously, but at that time in 2009, I knew very little. But where the similarities were was before I acquired Harlequin.

Paul Berger:

I decided that I would bring in a partner, and that partner was Arena, and Arena at that time were the largest event services company in the UK Just the UK, very well known company in the UK just the UK, very well known. They're building the iconic summer events in the UK, like the Open, queens and Wimbledon and Henley Royal Regatta and all the Derby and all those famous events in the UK that they were well known for. And they were fundamentally a tent company and a seating company and 90% of their business was in sports. When I approached Arena and said look, would you be interested in expanding into the Middle East? They were, so we did it together. So there were huge similarities. But, having come from the F1 world, having come from organizing events to the commercial side and partnerships in F1, then coming into event services, but event services that were mainly around sports, there was a lot of similarity.

Ian Carless:

Now I think it's safe to say, isn't it, that Arena's seen some absolutely phenomenal growth over the last sort of 10 years. What's been the main driver of that?

Paul Berger:

Yeah. So when I got involved with Arena, it was owned by two entrepreneurial Irish guys who bought it two or three years before. The younger one was very keen to build the brand into a global event services company, the other one less so. Dubai and Harlequin was the first stop on that journey. I then ran the first part of the international business.

Paul Berger:

So when we took over Harlequin, the strategy was to grow the business in the Middle East and then to grow it into Asia and in parallel, my colleague in London. We left the UK alone. He then focused on growing the business into America. That growth was funded by we went into private equity. So for five years we had two London private equity funds that would back that growth for us, and so it was done largely by acquisition. So what I would do is I would go. When I went into Asia and Malaysia, we identified a structured business. We would work with them for a year and then, if we got to know each other and we felt that there was a marriage, there a synergy we did get married and we bought the business, started off in singapore, we then went into malaysia, which is where our main hub is today in asia.

Paul Berger:

We then went into hong kong, did the same thing in korea, set up some joint ventures in japan and the same over here in the middle east. You know, we grew organically and by sort of bolt-on acquisitions and ended up, as you can imagine, you know, in Saudi, which is now a very important part of our business globally. So that was the journey. It was funded by private equity. We then listed on the London Stock Exchange, on the secondary market, in 2017. So the P exited then and then for the next five years we were a publicly listed company right on and through the majority of COVID.

Ian Carless:

So I think what's quite interesting and I'd like to tap into a little bit is obviously your experience across the markets and the things that differentiate between the markets. It's not too often so far that we get somebody on board who's got experience, you know worldwide. So what would you say was the difference, for example, between the market here in terms of events, and say Europe and Asia?

Paul Berger:

Yeah, it's interesting. I mean, if I talk about arena, I mean although we're similar in terms of our offering. So our offering is fundamentally temporary structures, you know, temporary seating, and then we in some parts we'll do fencing and barriers. Each market is very different. In the US we are primarily a tenting company. We do the frame and canvas. We do not get involved in any of the interiors, the fit out, the look and feel of the structure. We simply go in and do the framing, canvas and we're the largest in the US Right, okay, and that's what the market. They prefer to work with multiple suppliers in that respect.

Paul Berger:

In the UK it's similar, although in the UK we might do the linings and some basic fit out on the structures. We're very big on grandstands and temporary seating in the UK and then we also do the fencing and barriers. In the Middle East it's very different. In the Middle East we do a complete turnkey. So we don't only just build the structure but we take care of the interiors. We create the hospitality experience. We put the cooling in the air conditioning, we fit it out, we make it look like a wonderful, you know, designed, five star, whatever is required. So we do the furniture, we do the interiors that fit out all the general look and interior design of that um. So it's a turnkey service what drives that then?

Ian Carless:

what drives that differentiation?

Paul Berger:

I think for us, you know the, the uae in particular, which is effectively the, the, you know the events has been for many years the events capital of the Middle East. It is extremely competitive, extremely competitive. And we as a company, you know you, have very, very good structures, companies who will just provide the structure at a very, very good cost-effective rate. For us to be able to compete in that market, we have to offer something different. For us, it's about innovation. It's about being able to offer something that nobody else can. So always looking at the latest designs, interiors, and being able to fulfill that as a turnkey and offering that one-stop shop, you will, where an event manager, an event promoter, doesn't have to talk to 10 different companies. He can say, right, arena, can you build that? And knows from a to z that they'll be able to walk into that structure. Everything is there and the next thing is, you know, put the catering in and the guests come in. It's a turnkey and it's a much, it's headache free.

Paul Berger:

We don't have that skill set in the US and we don't have that skill set necessarily in the UK, but that's how we positioned ourselves here and that's how we've grown, always looking at what is the next type of structure. And if you look at sports generally and what we do in the middle east versus the us, the level here is far higher. The quality is far higher in the middle east than it is in the uk or the us, but the us is furthest behind. Well, so you walk into a hospitality structure here at an international golf tournament and you walk into an equivalent in the us, is it? You cannot compare a bit like their airports exactly exactly everything here is the best five star. It doesn't even feel temporary.

Paul Berger:

Yeah, and that's what the market expects here. That's what the brands expect, the organizers expect they want this to be really high end, the best of the best In the US. They don't need to do that. People go to the events, people will buy hospitality and it's sold out and there's a waiting list. They don't actually need to spend any and the quality over there is actually very, very low compared to what you find over here.

Ian Carless:

Would you say the demographics drives that, then Just the fact that the sheer volume of people that they're getting or able to attract to these events just means that they don't need to pay as much attention to quality?

Paul Berger:

Yeah, I mean, I've had many conversations over there with the PGA and Formula One. You go into a hospitality structure at the Miami Formula One Grand Prix and you compare that to what you walk into in Abu Dhabi it's chalk and cheese and I think you know. When you talk to the promoter in Miami, he said look, he's selling it at a much higher price. He's got a waiting list. If somebody drops out of a hospitality suite, he doesn't need to go and spend an extra thousand dollars per person to make it look like, you know, look like a five star hotel. They get away with it.

Paul Berger:

Yeah, the quality of the furniture, the quality of the structures, the quality even of the food and the catering and the services is substandard compared to what you'll find at a Grand Prix over here. But that's just the market For companies like ourselves and event services. It's really important to have long-term relationships, relationships, partnerships with our clients, which enables us to invest in structures, seating, new furniture, whatever it may be. Absolutely the great thing about the american market and I think the difference is there is a loyalty over there, you know, where event promoters and event managers do not change suppliers on a regular basis. If you're doing your job and you're doing it well. You'll do it for a long, long time and it enables you to invest and give a better service.

Paul Berger:

It's a long-term relationship. It's almost like a race to the bottom. It's a case of, oh, we can go so-and-so, they can do it cheaper. Or you know you're too expensive and want to go out every single year to the market.

Paul Berger:

And it's very difficult for companies like us and others to be able to invest in people, to invest in assets, to be able to invest in people, to invest in assets, to be able to grow our business, to be able to provide what the clients require on a long-term basis, because you just don't know year to year whether you're going to retain that business. And there are many other people out there that will go and say, oh, we can do it the same way, we can do it to the same standard as that company, and they never can. But people, naturally, they've got a budget, they're looking to cut their costs, they're looking at whatever, they will switch and they change, and so therefore, in the US and in the UK, there is much more of an appreciation for what companies in our sector do and can deliver and how important they are to the whole event ecosystem.

Paul Berger:

You know, if we disappeared in the us tomorrow, the pga tour would have a massive problem. They wouldn't be able to deliver 20 of their golf tournaments. Right, it would be a massive effort for them to be able to deliver 20 golf tournaments. It would be a headache for them. And so, therefore, people, they appreciate and want companies and we've retained the same clients In the Middle East. You know, if you're not here today, there's always somebody else, there's always that view that somebody else can step in and therefore, I think the respect and the appreciation of what you bring to an event is not there.

Paul Berger:

So the contracts that we have in the Middle East are all long term. So we've been building Formula One abu dhabi now for 15 years, yeah, and that's a really really strong partnership. Yeah, and it goes both ways, yeah, so when you walk into that formula one track, I mean it's world-class what's there? Yeah, but that's come from 15 years, yeah, of a partnership yeah, and I think that's what's missing in this market, isn't it?

Ian Carless:

I think that word partnership is super, super important. I still think, know, because I've been talking to a lot of, obviously, event individuals and I think you know one of the gripes is that you know many of the event companies. They're still considered as a supplier into it and that's incredibly frustrating because in that sense you're not being rewarded for doing a good job. You can do the best job ever. But then what's the incentive then if you know that in 12 months time this whole event's going to go out to tender? Now I wanted to just pick up on.

Ian Carless:

Obviously you do a lot of the bigger events F1, the tennis, the golf, et cetera. How easy is it to manage those relationships then? Because obviously Dubai is quite transient and I can understand, perhaps with some of the local events and exhibitions and things like that. Then obviously the turnover has come. So you establish relationships and I know we had somebody recently saying your whole relationship shouldn't be down to one person. Your client servicing team should have a much bigger remit and if your main contact goes, that shouldn't mean the event goes. But realistically, it's all about relationships, isn't it? So how easy is it then to manage those kind of business activities then with international companies versus, say, more locally based events. Does that make the job easier?

Paul Berger:

no, you're absolutely right. You know, anybody can build a tent, yeah, okay. Anybody can provide a bit of furniture. Anybody can put a grandstand up Okay. It's about the people, yeah, and we're a people business. Yeah, the success of our business globally is about who we employ and therefore, you know, for our turnover of staff is very low, yeah, there is a reason why people move on.

Ian Carless:

Not usually job. It's not. It's not a job.

Paul Berger:

And we hope not. So being an employer of choice is something that we work at and that's really important because the relationships that are held and the trust that are held between an account manager, a project manager and a client is key. There's a huge amount of trust there because the one thing about event services and one thing about events is you can't be late. An event starts on a certain day. It's there for four days a week or whatever it is, and you've got to be ready. Yeah, you, you can't, we'll hand it over, you know, in a couple of days. No, no, the event starts on that saturday morning, thursday, whatever it is. Yeah, so therefore, you cannot miss your handover date. So you know there is a huge amount of trust between us and the event promoter and that is built up over many, many years and that's earned. And therefore, yeah, look, we try, take, make sure that our account managers, our project managers, stay with us, and the same with our, with our clients.

Paul Berger:

We have contracts that that extend internationally. So you know, whether it's in golf, whether it's in tennis, whether it's in formula one, and our teams around the world have similar processes, yeah, and similar standards of how we manage and deliver an event, and sometimes we even rotate people as well. So we'll have teams that will go around the world delivering international golf tournaments as part of a tour. So it's the same faces on, you know, whether it's in Malaysia or Singapore, or in Jeddah or Riyadh or here, they're the same faces and that's very, very important. You know it's a particularly in the middle east. You'll find that arena is much more involved in the big, large international events and events that are happening on, you know, on an annual basis, whether it's an exhibition, whether it's the boat show, or whether it's a golf event or a Formula One Grand Prix.

Paul Berger:

These are events that happen every year, regardless of COVID or pandemic or, you know, a trade war, whatever. You know Tariffs, tariffs, those events. You know people say, you know, is this affecting? Well, no, the calendar is the calendar. You know the athletes are there. We've got to deliver what we have to deliver. So, when it comes to more what I call the local events, which are more one-offs, yeah, yeah, of course we'll work, we have relationships, but you know there's a sector for everybody. Yeah, okay, and we strategically fit into a certain sector, yeah, okay, and you, we, we focus on that area. We don't like one-off events. We, you know, we like, we don't like. My CFO is always, you know, he doesn't like the peaks and the troughs World Cups.

Paul Berger:

So we have a part of our business that is focused on major global events, what I call periodic events, like an Olympics. So we have a team it doesn't disrupt our business that focus on those major periodic events and that's very successful for us. But the day-to-day business is about recurring business, long-term contracts, partnerships super important collaboration, people-driven, and that allows us to innovate and invest in new tools, in new assets, in new designs that we can deliver for our clients and that's fundamentally the model that we have on a global basis. We've been working. I mean we've been delivering wimbledon, all the seating at wimbledon in london, for 40 years, 45 years. That's phenomenal, yeah, yeah, I mean even in the middle east and we talk specifically about here, I mean formula one I think it's in abu dhabi, is now 15, 16 years and I think bar the the first and we helped there we've delivered every single one.

Ian Carless:

Yeah. So as someone who's worked across, you know many of the global markets. If you had to write a health report for the Middle East, in particular Dubai, let's stick with Dubai to begin with, because we can talk a little bit about Saudi, the new entrant, later. But where would you mark Dubai, the dubai, in terms of the, the health of the event industry?

Paul Berger:

I mean it's super healthy. You know, dubai is obviously, you know, in many ways still the the event mice capital of the region, even though saudi is.

Paul Berger:

But yeah, dubai, in terms of is, it's contributed to the local economy, it's huge I mean it's, it's the, it's the focal point, it's got all the infrastructure here and it's quite a mature market. And I say that because, from an event perspective, yes, we've got some world-class events here and more events coming. The industry that delivers that is huge. It's a big industry and it tends to be small companies, a lot of entrepreneurs. It enables people to to come in you, you know, you, and I've seen that over the years, whether it's individuals, freelancers, whether it's startups that have grown and become very successful. They tend to be from sort of two or three people to, you know, 20, 30 people. There's very few that get to where we are, you know, which is, uh, three or four hundred, you know, and, and there are a few, but you know, we're sort of, you know the, the dinosaurs, if you will, we've been here now. Or, if you take harlequin, we've been here since 1999, so it's a long time it's a long stint, an arena, has been here 16 years yeah

Paul Berger:

but there are others and it sort of sets. It does set the bar and what I love about this Middle East Picnic is a lot of our clients here are the same in Asia and the same in the UK, right, which is why we've now created EMEA. So we have a leadership team that covers Europe, middle East and Asia, because the clients are very similar, the agencies involved at our level are very similar. The agencies involved at our level are very similar. So, again, going back to people, it's just extending those relationships across a bigger geographical area.

Paul Berger:

America is a completely different market, completely different, very different to the way we operate in EMEA and it's half our business as Arena. It's half our business and the other half is is an emia. Right, the uae is very important, but saudi is the fastest growing. You're seeing a lot of investment into the events calendar in riad and jeddah and, of course, like everybody else, very involved and we've set up, set up offices and warehousing and hubs over there and got a big team of people. You will start off by servicing it from dubai or abu dhabi and now people are obviously setting up and being based over there and it's very, very important. It's growing and, um, you know long may it continue just sticking on dubai a little bit.

Ian Carless:

Obviously we had the blimp that was covid, and I'm not going to go into. You know how we all survive covid, etc, etc. What I would like to ask, though, is, obviously, as somebody who's been on both sides of it is where would you place the industry now in again on a sort of health check basis? Are we? Are we back to the same levels that we were before covid, or have things slightly?

Paul Berger:

changed. No, I think it's come back big time since covid. Yeah, it was a tough period covid, but events have come back in a big way. They tend to be the first to go and the last to come back, absolutely yeah, but they're back now with a vengeance, as though COVID or the pandemic never existed. I think it's very healthy at the moment. Now people are traveling a lot, yeah, it's back to normal. And our business in terms of if you look at our business from a revenue perspective, yeah, it's larger than pre-COVID levels. Right, I mean 2019 for us. The year before COVID was a bumper year for us globally. Yeah, particularly in the Middle East. It was a huge year for us in the Middle East and we're back to those levels now and that's great to see.

Ian Carless:

Yeah, absolutely. And before we wrap up so where are you going next? What's next?

Paul Berger:

for Arena? Good question. I mean, look, we have obviously business targets financially to achieve, but I think for us it's about diversification. We're very much an event services business which, as you know, is very seasonal. So for us it's looking at trying to address that seasonality by doing more in the off season, so more non-events and more long-term. So we're looking at trying to, you know, moving more from the temporary space into what I call the semi-permanent.

Ian Carless:

Yeah.

Paul Berger:

So where we can? You know people want modular, they want, they want something a lot quicker than bricks and mortar. We have this ability to be able to go in and build something that could be a sales center. For six months or for 12 months, we can go and activate a site, make it look habitable, make it look like something's going on ahead of a major development, ahead of a major development. So, whether it's, you know, a temporary beach club, a temporary restaurant, a temporary office, we're diversifying much more into that space, which is less seasonal. The events will always be who we are, it'll always be the icing on the cake, it's what the brand stands for. But let's use the same skillset, the same skill set, the same tools, the same processes to be able to get more into the non-event sector and to have a much more sustainable business on an annual basis. And that is that is a big focus of us moving forward. We'll still grow organically, but also looking at some interesting acquisitions.

Paul Berger:

but all again, says with a glint in his eye there Some markets were not, you know, and I hinted at some just earlier in this podcast. But yeah, always looking at new opportunities, always looking to innovate. Ai is another huge thing. You know for us. You know how do we apply AI into our business, how do we get younger people into our business.

Paul Berger:

How do we get you know kids come you know who are graduating, get them interested. They all love to go and organize and promote events, but building events is a different skillset and it's hard work. How do we, how do we attract those people? And that's exciting. So, yeah, we're 30% into our journey. You know we've got a long way to go to get to be finished article and that's the mindset that we have as a company.

Ian Carless:

Is there anything that keeps you up at night? Business-wise.

Paul Berger:

Yeah, I think anybody in my business is. You know health and safety. You know we're building public events. I've got thousands of people sitting in our grandstands coming into our hospitality structures. You know that's really important. A failure, yeah, would be my biggest nightmare. So for me, you know we've always got to keep an eye on on, on our. We have a responsibility. We have to build something that's safe, structurally safe. You know so. You know all our engineering, our calculations are our systems that we put in place to ensure that we cover those bases off because we're pushing the bar, we're building some amazing structures.

Paul Berger:

That is the thing. Singularly, that will always. When I see a major event and I see people on our balconies and thousands of people, I just go. I can't wait for the Monday morning when they're all out. I mean, yes, it's just something that, for me, will will never go away and two quick questions to finish off with.

Ian Carless:

Do you still follow the formula one? I love it. Yeah. Who's your money on this year then?

Paul Berger:

oh, god, well, my, I mean I'm a big lewis fan and he's, and he's well, he started off well in china. I think it'll be interesting. I think the mclarens you know my old team yeah look particularly strong. They've got two good drivers and and it's the car I mean, they've got a much stronger car. So I I think if I was put my money on, I would, I would go for mclaren and then finally, just to finish off with we.

Ian Carless:

I've asked all the guests this I'm a huge music fan. I'm sure you are too. What's on your playlist at the moment? What do you? What do you put on there to chill out and relax, or otherwise?

Paul Berger:

work out. Oh god, it's, it's. I mean, I guess you know, for me. I mean coldplay, I mean, you know, is something that I I'm a big fan. I I was fortunate enough not to go in abu dhabi, I went to the their concert in singapore, but then I'll go back into the oldies and go back into the uh, the 80s and and go back to that, that old old general and and and listen to Motown and things like that, if I just really want to just chill out and think about, you know, the past. But yeah, generally, having today put me in a good mood, I think I would say Coldplay and something like that.

Ian Carless:

Yeah, fantastic. Well, paul, thanks for joining me on the podcast and best of luck in the future.

Paul Berger:

Thank you thank you, ian, it's great to be here.

Ian Carless:

Event News. Dxb was presented by myself, ian Carlos, the studio engineer and editor was Roy DeMonte, the executive producer was myself and Joe Morrison, and this podcast is a co-production between Warehouse 4 and W4 Podcast Studio Dubai, and if you haven't done so already, please do click that follow or subscribe button. See you next time.