The hostess, PR and protocol agency, which this year is celebrating its 15th anniversary, has a large number of male staff members on its books.
When talking about event organization, it is normal to extol the figure of the hostess and all the requirements that she should fulfill, but very rarely is her male counterpart mentioned, a practically unknown figure in the meeting and event industry.
The first male event staff appeared in some trade shows in Spain in the 1980s, but it was not until the following decade when this figure became more widespread.
Over the past few years, preconceptions have changed and male event staff members are more frequent than ever. A good example of this is the hostess, PR and protocol agency Market Development which has a large number of male event staff members on its books. ‘Most of our clients want an equal number of men and women, and in some cases only men. At the moment, men are increasingly more popular because they do a splendid job,’ admits Mónika Blasco, the firm’s director.
Therefore, brands are increasingly keener to use men at their events, since the results are excellent. ‘The event industry has always been chiefly female in this respect, since it was a firmly established tradition. But over the past few years, this trend has changed significantly,’ remarks Blasco, who goes on to point out that ‘at Market Development, we do not differentiate between the sexes, since both are needed according to our clients’ requirements and their specific training.’
The firm’s director also highlights that ‘if nowadays there are not more male event staff members at different events, this has nothing to do with the agencies, insofar as we have been using men for many years now. It is frequently down to the clients themselves, who prefer women, all which does not help to increase the number of men.’
