Paul Colston talks to RX’s newly appointed digital product chief Jamie Harrison who advises exhibitors to lean into digital tools as business enablers  

EW – How did you come to be in the events industry? What was your early career path and your early ambitions?  
I first encountered the exhibitions industry in 2001 while working for the digital agency Conchango. RX (then Reed Exhibitions) commissioned us to design marketing personas and refresh their digital customer engagement. That project introduced me to the events world and sparked enduring connections with RX.  

Before that, my ambition had always been to build creative digital solutions and eventually found my own agency. My career was rooted in digital design and information architecture, and I dreamed of being an agency founder transforming challenging problems into innovative digital accelerators. But, once I discovered the exhibitions space, I realised it was where I could make the most meaningful impact.