IMEX Frankfurt 2023: Boosting belonging, future-thinking and the elephant in the room

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Event professionals from agencies, associations and corporates gathered for specialist education sessions earlier today before IMEX Frankfurt opens tomorrow.

Planners arrived with the desire to take a fresh look at their meetings and events, and with the new needs of attendees front of mind. Googleโ€™s Global Events Strategic Solutions Lead Megan Henshall explains: โ€œThereโ€™s been an anti-establishment cultural shift – you have to earn peopleโ€™s trust and earn their time now.โ€

Is there a future for events?

Megan was part of a panel discussion at Exclusively Corporate along with Amanda Whitlock EY Global Events Leader and (joining remotely) Ewelina Dunkley, Events Lead of Meta. Moderator Patrick Delaney asked a blunt question: Is there a future for events? (The answer? Yes โ€“ more than ever!).

He followed up by probing if the strategic role of events was better understood post-pandemic. Whitlock explained the significance of in-person events has grown for her team since 2019. โ€œWe now emphasise networking and the importance of the live, person to person experienceโ€ฆ people appreciate being together so much more now.โ€

Henshallโ€™s view is that strategic understanding โ€˜still depends on the leaderโ€™ and explained that Google events are not only evaluated on revenue, but also community building and cultural continuity. At Meta, where Dunkleyโ€™s responsible for internal events for 10,000 people in London and globally, the focus is on community, culture and engagement. โ€œWeโ€™ve found a clear causal link between attending an event and a stronger sense of belonging to the company which translates into feeling part of something bigger.โ€

IMEX โ€“ the โ€˜super playgroundโ€™

The power of belonging shone through as one of the areas association planners wanted to explore. Valentina Tudosa from the EMEA Power Transmission Distributors Association – one of the attendees at Association Focus – explains: โ€œWith 200 member countries, the challenge for me is to find new ways to unite and engage the entire audience. Iโ€™m after the โ€˜wowโ€™ factor โ€“ a creative format or topic to bring together the wide range of countries and cultures my association serves. I hope to find it here โ€“ IMEX, after all, is like a โ€˜super playgroundโ€™ for the meetings and events industry.โ€

Association planners are looking at their event formats with new eyes post pandemic, as Steven Henry from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat explains: โ€œFor the first time this year weโ€™re trialling smaller regional events alongside our main annual conference โ€“ in fact, weโ€™re holding our first ever event for European members next month.โ€

Other issues association professionals wanted to explore were event design, contracting and sustainability. The latter was the main theme of the plenary session – moderator Genevieve Leclerc, CEO and Co-Founder of #Meet4Impact explains: โ€œThereโ€™s an elephant in the room and weโ€™ll be tackling it today โ€“ sustainability.โ€ A Slido poll of attendees showed that itโ€™s an issue which planners are already addressing: 37% confirmed that sustainability is a priority; 27% said theyโ€™re making changes in the right direction.

Agency planners helped to curate their own programme for Agency Directors Forum. Discussion topics included building and developing talent and new ways to grow a business. Recognising the need to adapt to a changed commercial landscape and expectations underpinned the interactive afternoon programme.

Association Focus was delivered in association with AC Forum, AMC Institute, ASAE: The Center for Association Leadership, ESAE and ICCA.

IMEX Frankfurt begins tomorrow, 23 May, at Messe Frankfurt.โ€ฏโ€ฏ

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