With festival season drawing to a close, conference and trade show season is on the horizon. First up is the International Festival Forum (IFF), bringing booking agents, agencies and festival organisers to London from 7–9 September.
Upping sticks from south of the river to Soho the conference heads to Outernet London for 2026, with the showcases taking place across venues on Denmark Street.
Ahead of a stacked programme of networking events, workshops and panels from industry experts, we had a quick sit down with Greg Parmley, MD of IFF and the International Live Music Conference, to look back at the 2026 festival season and what the move means for IFF.
Festival Insights: what are your personal highlights from the festival season this year?
One of the most exciting things about the festival industry is the constant innovation in the sector, and that was as evident as ever this season. That can be around areas such as accessibility or sustainability – or wholly new concepts and ideas.
Just this year alone we’ve seen things such as completely new approaches to camping at huge festivals such as Reading and Leeds as well as an ever-increasing use of battery technology at festivals across Europe.
On a personal level, my highlight was seeing The Cure at the Isle of Wight Festival, a reminder of the power that long-successful artists have to unify an all-age crowd.
Elsewhere, with artists including Kneecap, Massive Attack, Wolf Alice and many, many others speaking up against the war in Gaza, it’s been heartening to see artists use their voices for more than just crowd pleasing. Festivals have the power to move huge numbers of people for good and are important cultural moments in their own right.
Festival Insights: how do you think the industry has coped this year?
At gatherings such as IFF, there have been discussions for years about climate change and its likely impact on the sector. But 2026 seems destined to be remembered as the year when the future arrived, in all its unrelenting heat.
The impact of heat on northern European events is new and dramatic, with impacts spreading out from other areas of the world that have been dealing with the issue for a number of years now. European festivals will have to provide more cover moving forwards – either as shade or rain cover.
US festivals are also feeling the impact, with some of the very biggest festivals, such as Bonnaroo, hit year after year by what were once ‘freak’ weather events. There’s such a wide impact on production, budgets and ticket sales, with last minute and walk up sales impacted by events taking place in 30-degrees plus.
Otherwise, the industry has coped in a way that proves how creative, resilient and passion-powered it really is.
Festival Insights: why the move to Outernet?
We’ve been half outside for the last few years and at the mercy of the autumn weather in the UK, so taking place in a covered venue felt sensible. IFF is taking place on Denmark St in central Soho, placing us at the heart of the historic UK music industry and its nightlife hub.
The venue gives us more space for delegate networking and agency/festival meetings, while also providing the opportunity to deliver evening showcases in some fantastic grassroots venues in conjunction with our agency partners.
Festival Insights: what will the new venue bring to the event and Showcases?
Our new approach this year means we will have more agency partners showcasing than ever before. This year, we’re opening up the showcases to become a wider industry get together on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, soundtracked by some of the most exciting emerging talent around.
IFF has a huge pedigree of showcasing future headliners including Raye, English Teacher, Lewis Capaldi, Tom Grennan, Idles, Yonaka, Bob Vylan, Sam Ryder, Black Midi, Loyle Carner, Dermot Kennedy and Shame.
Information on registration for IFF is available here.
The post ‘Festivals have the power to move huge numbers of people for good’: IFF’s Greg Parmley on festival highlights and the year that’s been appeared first on Festival Insights.
