Nov 21
maureen-pickellTrade Shows imex, Las Vegas Hotels
I am looking forward to IMEX America 2012 but could not help share a few photos with you from the 2011 show last month – the show was worth a visual revisit.
Sales Team member Julie at our IMEX America stand
The ConventionPlanit.com Booth was a welcome resting spot for our Hosted Buyer group, who were off making business connections much of the day.
CP.com supplier member ACC Liverpool - talking to CP.com hosted buyers at IMEX America
Thanks to our great supplier members and hosted buyers, ConventionPlanit.com’s philosophy of putting buyers and sellers together was at work in the truest sense! See you next year, IMEX America!
Oct 12
Ashley ChalmersTrade Shows imex, meeting experiences, meeting trends
This week several members of the CP team have headed to Las Vegas for the first ever IMEX America! We can’t wait to hear about all of the networking and learning going on at the event.
Until our staff has time to send us some updates, the IMEX team has shared a few updates with us from the 2020 Fast Future Research session. Director of the study, Rohit Talwar, shared the following popular trends among Gen Y and Gen Z conference attendees:
- short keynotes and breakouts: kept to 15-20 minutes followed by breakout opportunities with the speaker
- action-oriented formats like speed networking and meetings
- more time spent in Q&A with presenter (prefer this to occupy majority of session)
- shorter sessions repeated more frequently
- one-on-one access to creators of new products and services
Are these methods appealing to you as an attendee? As a show organizer, have you incorporated any of these practices into your meetings or do you plan to?
More on IMEX throughout the week!
Jun 28
maureen-pickellTrade Shows aibtm, Event Industry Networking, imex, overseas meetings, upcoming meetings industry events
Well, this time your intrepid ConventionPlanit.com blogger didn’t need a passport to travel cross country to attend the festivities in Baltimore for “ America’s Meeting Week.”
First stop was the CIC Hall of Leaders Gala held 6/21 at the Hilton Baltimore. Four inductees representing the industry’s brightest talent were honored at a reception and dinner – among them Fay Beauchine, President of Business Loyalty (a.k.a. Incentives) at Carlson Marketing Group and Cliff Wallace, Managing Director of the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre. The common thread in their acceptance speeches was an acknowledgement of the passion and commitment that has kept them intrigued and challenged over the years. And that’s what we “lesser talents” call a normal day at the office!
The SITE table with Hall of Leaders inductee Fay Beauchine (4th from left front row) at the CIC Gala
Second on the agenda, on 6/22, was the opening day of the AIBTM exhibition. ConventionPlanit.com supplier members Switzerland Convention & Incentive Bureau, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, DMC Network, American and Delta Airlines and World Marketing Group greeted planners who were participating in set appointments. Stephanie Kreps of the CP.com team gave site demos to new planners at our booth.
AIBTM will be followed by IMEX America this coming October – so there will be more opportunities for North American meeting professionals to be educated in planning meetings and incentives abroad. Can’t attend? Come to www.conventionplanit.com to find information and sales contacts for unfamiliar, international destinations and service providers!
May 31
maureen-pickellTrade Shows imex, meeting industry, overseas meetings
Being in Frankfurt last week was a whirlwind experience! Here is a recap of our time over there, in addition to some wrap up thoughts.
The ConventionPlanit.com Hosted Buyer Group survived their appointments and were rewarded with a lovely evening of excellent food and entertainment that only the Swiss can provide. CP.com supplier member, the Switzerland Convention & Incentive Bureau, hosted an event that challenged the group to join teams to compete in the areas of shooting, golf and building a cow (only the Swiss would consider this a competitive sport!) Two of the group were on the winning team – but everyone actually won by the end of the evening having been treated to that special brand of Swiss Hospitality!
The work and the fun continue – another IMEX day began with a delightful breakfast and presentation sponsored by CP.com “new” supplier member – ACC Liverpool. The “Ladies of Liverpool” headed up by Kerrin MacPhie had the group totally focused on the destination as a result of a thorough and entertaining presentation. Evidently, along with being the home of the Beatles, Liverpool is also a great place to hold an event. The arena and conference center announced plans to add a new exhibition and events complex – scheduled to be completed by 2014. London now has some competition!!
Your world traveler blogger Maureen Pickell with ConventionPlanit.com Member Extraordinaire Jane E. Schuldt, CITE, of the Wolrd Marketing Group
As IMEX 2011 closed on a “high”, your traveling Director of Global Accounts and the ConventionPlanit.com hosted buyers collectively managed to avoid “data overload” and instead left Frankfurt excited about all the new information they are taking back to their offices. The exhibition has shown the meetings industry poised to experience an upturn as confidence gradually returns to the sector.
Some highlights we can we can pass along:
- Association Day during IMEX hit a record attendance with more than 320 association executives enjoying the tailored educational and networking program.
- Messe Frankfurt is renowned for its warm welcome to IMEX, exhibitors and buyers alike. The city has a history as a trade fair destination going back over 800 years.
- The Slovenian Convention Bureau has revealed details of their current socially responsible campaign “BeBee.” Through adopting bee colonies as an effort to preserve the meeting and incentive destination of Slovenia, future generations of meeting planners will be able to hold their meetings in an honestly green destination.
When you think you’ve planned the most unique special events:
- Finland offers cool activities in the form of the Icebreaker Sampo – the only passenger icebreaker in the world. It offers your attendees a chance to try something remarkably different. You can even have a swim in the middle of a vast ice field – in a special thermally-insulated suit, of course. You can also enjoy a drink on the rocks-literally – after cracking and breaking through ice more than a meter thick.
- On the island of Tenerife, a renovated banana plantation factory has been operating events for 600 people. Plans are being developed to offer multi-meeting sessions spread across the working banana plantation. Talk about “going bananas!”
Final image of the exhibition – which saw close to 9,000 attendees – was that of Ray Bloom, the show organizer standing in the departure hall personally saying good-bye and thank you to the last exhibitors to leave the show.
I asked him if he would be turning out the lights as well, and he said yes, for the time being. They will go back on this coming October when IMEX America opens in Las Vegas!
May 23
maureen-pickellTrade Shows Event Industry Networking, imex, overseas meetings
What global meetings industry event is in its 9th year in Frankfurt, Germany and can give planners access to information on Mongolia, Montenegro and Latvia along with London, Paris and Rome – all in the same place?
Well, if you guessed IMEX 2011, you are correct! Your ConvnteionPlanit.com intrepid traveler, Maureen Pickell, arrived in Frankfurt, with 11 Hosted Buyers to attend the this exciting exhibition.
Thousands of exhibitors from across the globe will be attending along with a large enough number of corporate and association planners to keep them all busy from May 24-27. This should prove once and for all that the meetings, events and incentive travel industry as a whole is healthy and showing excellent signs of innovation and growth!
With over 90 educational seminars and events to choose from, planners will also be given “the opportunity to see in new directions.” New campfires on the show floor will offer informal, fast-track learning – just turn up and tune in!
Our attendees will also be busy with their group and individual exhibitor appointments – and a few ConventionPlanit.com supplier member sponsored events.
More to come…
Jul 22
Ashley ChalmersTips for Meeting Planners, Trade Shows advisory council, imex, meeting ideas, overseas meetings
If you were unable to travel to Frankfurt in May for IMEX, it’s not too late to beef up your industry knowledge!
Show organizers have made 53 presentations available for free download on the IMEX website, including all of the German language seminars (organized by the German Convention Bureau).
Several presentations are available via webcast, including:
A Clear Pond Has No Fish – Is Transparency the Enemy of Profit: Roslyn McLeod, Managing Director, arinex pty ltd and Philippe Fournier Vice President of IAPCO and Managing Director of MCI, Paris
The Impact and Implications of the Iceland Volcano Eruption: Martin Sirk CEO of ICCA
Emerging Destinations – How to establish and build a CVB: DMAI
Develop Your Personal Branding: Mary Power, Executive Director of the Human Resource Certification Institute (and a ConventionPlanit.com Advisory Council Member!)
Convention 2020 – The Future of Meetings, Venues and Destinations: Rohit Talwar, CEO of Fast Future Research
Getting Competitive Advantages from Culture in the Meetings Market: Michael Gates, Managing Director of Richard Lewis Communications
Be sure to check these out – before you know it, IMEX 2011 will be here!
Jun 02
maureen-pickellTrade Shows imex, meeting industry, overseas meetings, upcoming meetings industry events
Greetings from the U.S.A.!
IMEX 2010 came to a close at Messe Frankfurt on Thursday, May 27 and the intrepid ConventionPlanit.com Hosted Buyer Group enjoyed a busy last day.
We had presentations by the Mexico Tourism Board and the Dubai Convention Bureau and enjoyed learning about “what’s new” in the MICE arena for each country.
The award-winning show once again set new records for hosted buyer numbers and countries represented. A record number of well over 3,800 hosted buyers from more than 60 markets attended this year’s show, among a visitor total of nearly 9,000!
The mood amongst buyers and exhibitors was also positive and optimistic, with many reporting increases in levels of business and appointment numbers.
Individual and group appointments rose by 14% this year, which represents a total of 57,000 business appointments made between buyers and exhibitors before and during the show.
“The past couple of years have challenged our industry on many fronts, not least economically, but I am delighted that both buyers and exhibitors have voted with their feet and turned up in greater numbers than ever to do business at IMEX this year,” said Ray Bloom, IMEX Group Chairman.
Padraic Gilligan, Managing Director of Ovation Global DMC, described the most recent turmoil quite succinctly when he stated,
“This year I have learned how resilient we are and everyone has learned to expect the unexpected. Just when “green shoots” were beginning to appear for the European meetings industry, they were covered by the thick veil of grey volcanic ash. Next year I predict we’ll have a plague of locusts but we’ll deal with that too.”
This traveler is ready to look ahead for IMEX America in Las Vegas this fall, and IMEX 2011, of course!
Jun 02
maureen-pickellNews, Trade Shows imex, meeting education, meeting experiences, meeting industry, overseas meetings
I have successfully returned from Frankfurt, but before jetting off to my next destination, I had to share some experiences from the remainder of IMEX from last week!
The Berlin Convention Bureau hosted the ConventionPlanit.com group with a breakfast and presentation. Fresh from being named the 4th most popular association meeting destination by ICCA, Heike Mahmoud took us on a slide and video tour of this exciting city. And the breakfast buffet stoked the group for a day of appointments! Vielin Dank to Berlin!!
The IMEX Daily newspaper featured an article entitled “Response time guarantee ends planners call backs” highlighting the ConventionPlanit.com 24 Hour Guarantee for RFP’s submitted to Caribbean and North American properties. And IMEX attendees actually read this Show Daily!
The first day on the trade show floor started off with the Ovation Global team giving the ConventionPlanit.com group a geography lesson based on the locations of their DMC portfolio members, and it ended with a clever game of Concentration in which the Switzerland Convention Bureau challenging our group members with matching tiles highlighting Swiss venues and events. In between we were educated by Malaysia and feted by Singapore – Singapore Slings being their traditional way to end a hectic day!
Speaking of which, Atout France (French Government Tourist Office) helped to revive our intrepid planners with their famous wine, cheese, pate and some German beer thrown in for good measure at their annual first night event. A sudden shower refused to dampen spirits at the outdoor gathering and all the French partners are to be commended for spreading around their special brand of joie de vivre!
IMEX Wrap-Up to come…
Mme. Blogger
May 26
maureen-pickellTrade Shows imex, meeting industry, overseas meetings
Greetings from IMEX – where 8 of the ConventionPlanit.com Hosted Buyers attended IMEX Association Day – a unique annual event for association meeting planners which focuses exclusively on professional education and round-table debates with each session tailored specifically to address the professional concerns of association executives.
Sessions concurrently during the day to allow delegates to achieve maximum return from their time. Association buyers regularly account for approximately 12% of IMEX’s hosted buyers each year. As such, they deliver huge buying power and influence to the show. The day was capped off by an elegant reception at the Westin Hotel Frankfurt.
Also ending the day on Monday (or starting the IMEX Trade Show segment – depending on how you looked at it) was the first European SITE NITE held at the Frankfurt Intercontinental. Sponsored by the hotel and Abu Dhabi, planners and suppliers mixed and mingled for the benefit of the SITE Foundation…and a lovely time was had by all!
Trade show tomorrow – countdown to business!
May 24
maureen-pickellTrade Shows imex, meeting attendance, meeting experiences, meeting industry
Greetings from Sunny, Warm Frankfurt! Your intrepid ConventionPlanit.com Blogger arrived today to be ready to welcome our 16 hosted buyers to the IMEX 2010 Extravaganza!
Lufthansa provided their usual fine service, hampered only by wind shear issues that delayed the departure. At least volcanic ash wasn’t the culprit!
Beginning tomorrow with Association Day, our planners will be educated and entertained by suppliers from around the world for three days. Thanks go out to Stephanie Kreps, ConventionPlanit.com Marketing Coordinator Extraordinaire, for handing all the arrangements for the Group.
I’ll be busy setting up the CP stand and preparing for the Meet & Greet Reception at the Maritim Hotel.
Looking forward to a great week..more to come!
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