Celebrating 10 Years of the Showcase & Awards
CELEBRATING the tenth year of the RCA Showcase & Awards, the marquee event of the Racecourse Association which launched last week, marks the coming of age of an initiative that provides a platform for excellence and innovation among racecourses.
The RCA team are looking forward to hosting the tenth annual Showcase & Awards
This year’s event will take place on Thursday 14th November at Hamilton Park, the reigning champions, and will be partnered by Great British Racing, Racing Post and Moët Hennessy. A decade is a long time in any walk of life, and the Showcase & Awards is no exception as RCA Racecourse Services Director Caroline Davies recalled.
Inspiring & Celebrating Change
“When the Showcase idea was pitched by the RCA and Great British Racing (formerly Racing For Change), it was fair to say there was a mixed response from the various bodies that had to sign it off,” said Davies. “We had to introduce it gently and needed to remain true to the positive principles we wanted to convey. There was some nervousness about the degree of competition between the racecourses, and whether there was room in the calendar for another awards ceremony.”
Accepting of the need to inspire and celebrate new initiatives, the green light was given and the idea pitched at a racecourse managers’ gathering at Chester in 2009. What would become the Showcase & Awards would follow a year later with a one-day conference at Doncaster, led by brand consultant David Fraser of Harrison:Fraser who remain valuable partners to the RCA’s Raceday Experience Forum to this day.
The Showcase Seminar has a reputation for its fun and open environment to share best practice
“As you would expect, there were racecourses that were early adopters, but some were more cautious” explained Davies. “As organisers, the RCA needed to convince them that a better experience at individual racecourses would help us all in the long run and that it was necessary to look outside of the racing bubble at what ‘excellent’ looked like from elsewhere.
“The data we’ve now got from Two Circles tells us that there’s not massive competition among racecourses for attendance. The competition is around what else is going on in the local environment that will attract the leisure pound at a given time.
“Over the years we’ve been able to build people’s confidence that this is a proper learning and sharing experience and an event that they cannot afford to miss.
Across the Board
A decision on what the categories for the Awards should be was taken early in the process and has remained ever since—the Awards must reflect all aspects of the operation of a racecourse.
Davies, who worked on the project in its early days alongside Racecourse Services Manager Holly Cook, takes up the story: “It was to our then-chairman Ian Barlow’s credit that he saw the advantages of opening up a range of categories across the racecourse. He led the conference at Chester and the first Showcase at Doncaster, where the response was extremely positive.”
Aintree became the first Jockey Club Racecourse to become Showcase Champion in 2017
The formalisation of five Award categories in 2011 – Best Campaign/Marketing, Events, Food & Beverage, Operational Excellence and an overall champion – has evolved over the years to reflect the increased breadth of racecourse commitment and areas that the RCA wish to inspire change amongst racecourses.
“We were, and remain, fortunate to have such an expert sounding board in the RCA’s Raceday Experience Forum to discuss not only the Awards themselves but what was important to the racecourses” explained Davies. “This group has been an integral part of the evolution of Showcase.”
The Racing Together Community & Corporate Social Responsibility category was introduced in 2012, followed swiftly by categories on the Owners’ Experience award, Digital & Social Media, Love of the Sport and Diversity & Inclusion, with the latter receiving the backing of the pan-sport Diversity in Racing Steering Group.
Gear Change
After the second Showcase event at Epsom Downs in 2011, the Davies-Cook administrative axis was augmented by the addition of the Ascot head office’s newest arrival Paul Swain. In time Swain was promoted to the roles of running the annual event and managing the RCA’s raceday experience strategy.
Moet Hennessy have been a valued partner of the event for many years
Swain, now the RCA’s Brand & Experience Manager, reflected: “Showcase has become far more sophisticated in its tone and presentation because, as organisers, we acknowledged we had to up our game. We’re putting on a marquee event for people who put on marquee events every day of the year!”
“We’ve worked hard to build trust with the racecourses and curate an event which has become an established part of the racecourse calendar. Showcase recognises two brand values at its core: excellence and innovation. We stress both terms in everything we do.”
Expert Independence
The judging panel, unsung heroes of the Showcase process, have and always will be an independent body comprised of experts in their own field. A three-year limit was introduced to the panel to ensure a fresh stream of ideas continued to flow and to ensure no perceptions of complacency or bias could be cast.
“The structure of the awards has to befit the work the racecourses put in” explained Swain. “The submissions are a labour of love for the authors and in some cases we are talking about hours of work. It’s essential that each submission is judged on its merit and by a panel who have the required expertise to decide between the good and the truly excellent.”
The Real Value of the Exercise
A significant aspect of Showcase’s success has been the recent focus on developing the daytime seminar, which Swain describes as “the real value of the exercise.”
He explained: “As the awards have become more established, we have given the seminar a real push. In the early days we were working through our little black book to find speakers but now it’s the opposite—we get more offers than we can accommodate on the programme.
“We give a platform to those racecourses which have reached the peak of excellence that year, and then combine that insight with the best from outside the sport. We’ve had some fantastic speakers form huge brands: Center Parcs, the Royal & Ancient, Liverpool, Everton and Arsenal football clubs and Wimbledon to name but a few.
“We’re never afraid to put something on the agenda that we think will stretch and challenge the racecourses, because the whole point is to inspire them and drive up standards. It’s incredible how many new ideas introduced by our speakers have been adopted by other racecourses who are then able to put their own spin on them.”
Awards for Awards
The success of the Showcase & Awards has not gone unnoticed in other quarters. The RCA and the ECB have an established partnership which sees Showcase and the Business of Cricket awards (BOCAs) share best practice with each other, and the RCA received international acclaim at the 2017 European Association Awards for Showcase. “It was an unexpected but wonderful moment to be recognised by our peers, particularly on a European level” recalled Swain. “It gave us a taste of our own medicine in many ways—we now know how all of the nominees must feel at Showcase!”
The RCA secured recognition on the European stage for the success of the Showcase & Awards
All Roads Lead to Hamilton Park
Taking the event to reigning champions Hamilton Park will be a landmark moment for Showcase given that it will be the first time it has been hosted in Scotland. “Once Hamilton Park were crowned Champion Racecourse, it was a case of when and not if we could get the meeting in the diary with Vivien Currie and Ashley Moon to discuss the logistics of bringing Showcase to them” Swain said.
“I have no doubt it will be a fantastic event, befitting of our champion racecourse. The RCA has had unbelievable support from both Hamilton Park and Scottish Racing in the planning thus far. I can’t wait to welcome all racecourses to Hamilton alongside Vivien and Ashley later this year.”
All roads (and airports and train stations) lead to Hamilton Park
