“At the heart of each IMEX show is a living, breathing marketplace – the fundamental and effective way of doing business that powers our industry,” explains Carina Bauer, CEO of the IMEX Group.

“We’ve carefully curated all elements of this year’s IMEX Frankfurt show – from the layout, the education and the experiential – to complement and enhance these in person business conversations. We’re seeing momentum building all the time and look forward to throwing open the doors to our friends and colleagues this May.”

Trends-wise the show will reflect many of the big shifts and changes in the meetings and events industry globally. As a buying force, the Chinese market is back and Asia in general is flourishing, driving event demand, locally and internationally. The big tech companies in Korea are one of several factors behind this growth.

International hotel groups plus smaller boutique hotels will be making their presence felt on the show floor, many of them introducing new service offerings or properties. Frankfurt itself has added to its hotel portfolio with several new openings including the impressive Scandic Hafenpark and B’Mine, the first WorldHotels Crafted Collection hotel in Germany, and NH hotels signature Nhow brand which IMEX is showcasing as hosted buyer accommodation in the city. Many hosted buyer hotels have also benefited from recent refurbishments including the Steigenberger Frankfurterhof, the Marriott, Hilton and the Westin.

Destinations, venues and suppliers span the world and include Croatia, Malaysia, Peru, Portugal, Ras Al Khaimah and Spain. Hotel groups Hilton, IHG Hotels & Resorts and Radisson are among the exhibitors expanding their presence onsite as well as Los Cabos and Morocco. Sarawak, the largest of Malaysia’s 13 states, will have its own stand for the first time and will also be joined by the region’s Tourism Minister during the show.

Experts from Google, Microsoft & Pinterest

An extensive programme of over 150 educational and networking events begins with dedicated learning sessions the day before the show, on Monday 22 May.

Monday’s programme is tailored to specific sections of the event professional community:

The complexities of delivering events in a hybrid world will be explored in detail at Association Focus, delivered in association with ICCA, AC Forum, AMC Institute, ASAE, ESAE and Global Association Hubs.

A stella line-up of experts from world-renowned companies spearhead Exclusively Corporate, IMEX’s high-level, invite-only event for corporate event specialists. This includes Microsoft’s Bob Bejan and Salesforce’s Charlotte Pedersen who will go head to head in The tale of two titans – the evolution of event strategy and experience design. Moderator Nicola Kastner explains: “Very rarely do we have an opportunity to learn from two massive tech brands taking such radically different approaches.”

Year on year IMEX’s Agency Directors Forum is redesigned to meet the prevailing business needs of senior agency professionals. 2023’s facilitated discussion will focus on business management issues.  Hot topics are set to include people and talent management; succession planning; business drivers, trends and technology and new business strategies, plus new revenue generation models.

New co-located events for 2023 include MICE Impact Academy, an exclusive invite-only education event for German planners, and ELX (Event Leaders Exchange), a meeting for this two-year old community of senior event corporate event leaders from 3,000+ headcount organisations with $3billion+ annual revenue.

Human Nature underpins learning programme

The IMEX 2023 Talking Point – Human Nature – provides a steer for education and interaction. Carina explains: “Our industry is in the business of human gatherings, face to face connections and building communities, so it felt natural to focus on what it means to be human in the 21st century. When we meet in person something special happens – from driving business growth to developing relationships that span the world. This need to come together and meet is an innate to our human nature.

“Our Talking Point also helps to deliver a positivity boost – we’re focusing on what’s good, constructive and loving about human nature; about our potential and ability to change, adapt and thrive in supportive and co-operative ways,” she says.

The result is a set of education tracks reflecting the way people live and work now. Event Marketing is a new addition, while Technology and Innovation; Trends and Research and Experience Design are tried and tested and always in demand. A new Business Practices track will include the ever-popular Event Planner Toolkit while a People and Planet track will specifically address Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), Professional and Personal Development, Leadership, Culture and Engagement, Wellbeing and Sustainability.

Children as crisis management teachers

New headline sessions will feature contributions from values and human behaviour expert David Allison. From deep inside the data, David brings a clear and powerful truth to transform the way we work and the world we live in. “Our values unite us,” he says. “They can light the way for purpose-driven brands and lead us to a more values-driven world.”

International crisis leader Thomas Lahnthaler will talk about building successful remote teams. He’ll also join Eszter Mattiassich-Aszody, Head of Global Events at Siemens Healthineers to explore leadership and life lessons from children. Thomas explains: “Observing my children is looking at crisis managers in action. The skills that children execute daily are what we as adults have somehow unlearned because of our experience.  I want to share these skills that we’ve forgotten how to use.”

The Listening Lab returns with both education sessions and bookable one-to-one coaching. Sessions will explore how people’s individual nature’s influence their professional personas as Dawn Wray, coach and co-founder of The Listening Collective, explains: “Everything’s connected. It’s impossible to disconnect the person and the work issue from who they are and how they show up in the world. We’re learning that people may say to us ‘I want to work on my presentation skills’, for example. But once they start talking, they talk more about how they feel when they’re presenting.”

New, single IMEX account

IMEX has also redesigned the online registration process for its shows. With a focus on improved marketing tools and business insights for exhibitors, to more and better connection opportunities for all attendee types, the new process means every participant has a single IMEX account for both shows. Pre-scheduled appointment functionality has been enhanced while the IMEX app has also been improved. The result is a faster customer journey intended to connect buyers and exhibitors to each other in a way that boosts business and networking return.

IMEX Frankfurt evolves every year and May’s 2023 edition will be no exception. This time around, however, attendees can expect a few surprises – the IMEX Group is set to evolve even further, with more details to be revealed onsite.

IMEX Frankfurt takes place 23 – 25 May 2023. To register click here.

Travel and accommodation details – including new hotel booking discounts – can be found here.

(William Whyte)

Submitted by Gary Hernbroth, Chief Motivating Officer, Training for Winners

Amid all of the post-pandemic commerce being done in this industry via new group bookings and the resurgence of industry gatherings and events, many people are still bemoaning the fact that it’s still very tough to build and maintain relationships.

I hear this every week from event professionals and hospitality colleagues alike. People seem insulated, hard to reach, hard to get responses from on a timely basis, and the difficulty of breaking through the wall with many e-leads is still a daunting task in certain cases.

In other words, communication is still clunky in many places.

Who or what is to blame? No one thing, certainly, and maybe everything. I don’t like the “blame game,” it’s not one you can win. Rather, let’s admit that we all could do a better job and that the fix belongs to all of us. Truly, this axiom applies; “If it is to be, it’s up to me.”

Here is my short list for improving communication immediately:

1. Pick up the phone: Just today I got a call out of the blue from someone who wanted to pick my brain on a business idea stemming from a recent podcast that I did. We didn’t know each other and he just took a shot and picked up the phone. We are now going to work on a project together to help both of us with new business opportunities. The phone is NOT dead!

• Return phone messages, emails, texts, etc. Don’t ghost people. The Golden Rule works best for great communication. It takes nanoseconds to type a reply and hit the reply key. That way, the other party doesn’t feel ignored.

• Write and speak clearly: Say what you mean clearly, both verbally and in writing. Don’t tap dance around a topic or complicate the uncomplicated, thereby forcing others to figure out what you are trying to convey.

Connect with Gary Hernbroth 

The 11^th edition of IMEX America held in Las Vegas recently saw an overall participation of 12,000 attendees, of whom over 4,000 were buyers and 2,500 were suppliers representing 150 countries. Between the easing of travel restrictions and 40% of returning exhibitors taking more booth space, this year’s version was 45% larger than last year’s. And, IMEX Chairman Ray Bloom was very proud of the fact that “hundreds of students, our future leaders, have been here learning and experiencing the industry first hand and in full color.”  

Each year, ConventionPlanit.com proudly hosts buyers at IMEX. This year we were fortunate to include a number of student interns from the University of Las Vegas at our ConventionPlanit.com stand. As future meeting and event planners, the experience provided ULV students with an overview of the marketplace and current meeting planning priorities.    

The traditional excitement, business and sheer energy that are hallmarks of IMEX were combined with a program attuned to addressing today’s realities.  Along with the themes of sustainability, diversity and service levels, those of wellbeing and mental health were factored in as important considerations. Demonstrating these topics were several of the innovative engagement strategies positioned throughout the exhibit hall. 

One sponsor brought in trained dogs for attendees to pet and scratch for stress relief between educational sessions and show-booth interactions. Taiwan used an inflatable room complete with a faux campfire and a video screen providing over stimulated planners with a cozy presentation space. And CoralTree Hospitality won friends and influenced buyers with a foot massaging station complete with your choice of an essential oil to take away for an aromatherapy jolt to be applied when energy was bound to flag!

IMEX America offers an incomparable opportunity to make connections in the meetings, events and incentive industry. Mark your calendar and see you next year for IMEX America #12 – to be held October 16-19, 2023 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center.

Along with the myriad of challenges today’s meeting participants must overcome in deciding whether or not to attend an event, air travel (and its repercussions) presents one of the more formidable issues to consider. 

TSA screened 8.76 million air travelers over Labor Day weekend beating out 2019’s pre-pandemic number by 2%!

Whereby statistics like this were normally used to describe a holiday weekend, an ordinary mid-week, off peak time to fly now has passengers experiencing a significantly increased number of fellow flyers. Along with this higher traffic volume comes more delays and/or outright cancellations. Historically, deciphering obscure rules as described in the Contract of Carriage relating to restitution due passengers has been the norm when an airline failed to provide the service paid for through no action or fault of the consumer.

However, help is on the way! In late August, the Transportation Department introduced an Airline Customer Service Dashboard which allows passengers to see what each carrier is committed to doing for them in cases of “controllable” (meaning their fault) cancellations or significant delays.

Re-accommodation can range from handing out food vouchers in case of long delays, providing a hotel in case of an overnight cancellation/delay to rebooking you on the same airline at no additional cost, or even on a competitor’s flight. However, not all airlines will offer the same levels of re-accommodation with the ultra-low-cost carriers less amenable to some of the above mentioned entitlements.

Now passengers can consult this simple dashboard rather than trying to read through the excruciatingly small print of the aforementioned Contract of Carriage on an individual airline’s website to find out what they are entitled to – or not. What the Transportation Department is saying now is that more focus in dealing with the aftermath of delays and cancellations is long overdue and they are laying down the law.

Hopefully this will help to eliminate the attendee’s question of “should I or should I not rely on an airline to get me to my meeting, event or convention on time and unstressed?” 

Submitted by Maureen Pickell

The IMEX Group is set to remodel the professional learning programmes delivered at both of its global trade shows with the appointment of Tahira Endean as Head of Programme.

Vancouver-based Tahira’s new role signals a new era for IMEX. A three-year education strategy will capitalise on IMEX’s free to attend programming to meet the industry’s thirst for knowledge and continuous development while embracing a growth mindset.

The IMEX education programme was envisioned and developed in 2005 by Dale Hudson, Knowledge and Events Director. It has grown in size and quality over the last 15 years, adding substantial value to the visitor experience. Tahira’s addition to the team will build on that legacy. She’ll work with both the IMEX Marcomms and Knowledge and Education teams to design learning programmes that enrich the show’s value proposition and deliver measurable business benefits.

Tahira explains: “We’re focused on designing learning with buyer requirements in mind first and foremost as we want them to have meetings that are enhanced by education at the show. Our combined aim is for attendees to leave each session with tangible takeaways that also support their meetings onsite. IMEX’s legacy of tailored education that meets the particular needs of agencies, associations and corporate event professionals has always been strong; we’re looking to build on that too.”

“As a veteran of the MICE industry and self-confessed event nerd, I recognise IMEX as the professional home for our global industry. The opportunity to provide knowledge that helps us all develop and grow through turbulent times is important and to do it with a team as committed, passionate and talented as IMEX is really exciting.”

Carina Bauer, CEO of the IMEX Group, adds: “We’re delighted to welcome Tahira to our team. Her extensive industry experience, large network of contacts and fresh approach supports our aim to keep on innovating and provide powerful, purposeful and multi-faceted experiences for all attendees.”

Changes to education programming are already in place for IMEX America which opens with Smart Monday, October 10 in Las Vegas. IMEX has announced an education theme for the 11th edition of the show – ‘Pathways to Clarity’. Its learning tracks have been consolidated and redesigned. Details will be announced in the next few weeks.

IMEX America 2022 takes place at the Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, and opens with Smart Monday, powered by MPI on Monday October 10, followed by the three-day trade show October 11-13. www.imexamerica.com

Tahira, former Head of Events at SITE, is currently studying for a MSc in Creativity and Change Leadership. She lives with her family in Vancouver, enjoys cooking and immersing herself in nature.

Press information, please contact: Emma Blake: emmablake@clareville.co.uk

Best Business Practices Between Meeting Professionals and Hospitality Sales Executives

Another year has passed and with the marketplace in constant flux. We decided to survey our network again to gain an updated understanding of the current trends and challenges to provide up to the minute helpful advice.

The four questions we asked in our survey:

1. What kind of salesperson are you today as compared to a year ago?
2. What do you see as the biggest challenge in responding to inquiries?
3. What’s your biggest obstacle while adding new clients?
4. What was the biggest hurdle in contract negotiations?

We are happy to share the responses today compared to a year ago indicate that salespeople are feeling positive and optimistic, they are truly ready for customers. As a bonus, they feel they are more personable and better in their roles overall.

We have compiled and analyzed the data and have shared the results in the form of common themes and experiences, as well as our recommendations with you below.

Positive Changes

• More personable and understanding of how to navigate the current climate and COVID-19 requirements
• Improved sales skills overall and are more optimistic in booking business
• No barriers or obstacles when it comes to growing client list or negotiating contracts

Relationship Building

• Willing to spend time building relationships and seeking aligned clients
• Employing people skills to work within shorter timeframes and smaller budgets
• Transitioned from reactivity to proactivity, particularly as it pertains to maintaining relationships and earned trust of clients
• Communication has transitioned to email and away from verbal communication or in-person meetings
• Building capabilities to respond to inquiries in a faster manner, clients are becoming increasingly time sensitive
• Increased emphasis on contracts and conditions with COVID-19 making it difficult to predict and navigate potential cancellations

Resources

• Challenges arise with delayed responses and inquiries which are more general in nature
• Pressure on resources as calendars are becoming increasingly full
• Client budgets and expectations don’t match the value provided
• The need to move towards more digital resources as manual processes including credit cards, estimates and contracts are now inconvenient

Job Performance

• Increase in diligence and determination to close sales
• Realizing and adjusting to the time investment required to respond to all inquiries
• The need for creativity to ensure potential client replies and increased communication

Professional Knowledge and Skills

• Higher focus on problem solving and negotiating skills
• Spending the time to go through processes thoroughly
• “Soft” skills like patience and understanding are more valuable in client and supplier communication
• Lean staffing levels pose a challenge

Values, Perceptions and Thoughts

• Overall feeling more hopeful as to the current and future state of the industry
• Increased need to balance flexibility with forward planning as event calendar fills
• New entrants into event positions sometimes mean communicating with less experienced potential clients and contacts, requires thoughtfulness and patience
• Finding creative ways to understand a potential client’s vision for an event via written forms of communication, previously was easier via in-person meetings or phone calls

Flexibility and Adaptability

• More in tune with the need to pivot and provide virtual content and services
• Clients require more consultation to understand needs and move towards being ready to book
• Shifted from administration to the need for marketing with the increasing need to identify buyer audiences, purchasing habits, preferences, and unique needs
• Determining the best practices to qualify leads for best use of time and resources
• Adapting to the short-term nature of more opportunities compared to last year
• Still navigating how to be flexible and adaptive during COVID-19 times and potential last-minute cancellations

Intuitiveness and Awareness

• Sales professionals are realizing they are now more cautious while others are experiencing frustration, and for some they have learned to become patient

Given the responses to this year’s survey, we have revised our recommendations to remedy some of the challenges and issues.

All themes explored in the survey play an important role in each person’s development as they reassess their skills to move forward effectively. A noteworthy observation is that goals are shorter than they have ever been before and that the market and environment have truly changed.

Contract negotiations are becoming more tedious making salespeople stressed as clients strive to cover every little detail, particularly as it pertains to COVID-19 regulations. This has meant that contracts take longer to finalize. We highly recommend ongoing contract reviews for both sides to identify realistic terms and conditions with a quarterly review before negotiations are final.

When it comes to building better relationships, flexibility and adaptability are key skills that require continuous improvement to have the ability to fulfil each client’s specific needs on an ongoing basis; this will be a major factor in negotiations and successfully securing business.

If you’re interested in learning more about securing and growing your business in these new economic times, please feel free to get in touch with us at lynne@lynnewellish.com, we are more than happy to chat to you about how we can help.

Presented by:

Lynne Wellish, CMP, CHSE Sales Activator with a focus on unique boutique businesses in the Hospitality Industry.  Lynne@cplanit.com

LoriAnn Harnish, CMP, CMM, CED, CTA Strategic meeting professional. LoriAnn.Harnish@gmail.com

Both are life-long learners and hospitality educators at Scottsdale Community College. Each year they collaborate on a survey to stay current with trends as they update and curate content for their students. Please email your experiences regarding the survey results or to inquire about customized recommendations to help grow your business.

When you want your room cleaned every day – it matters where you stay.

When you stay at the Hilton New Orleans/ St. Charles Avenue hotel, you can rest easy.

For your comfort and safety:

• Daily housekeeping service
• Adequate staffing
• An ideal location, steps away from the French Quarter – but far enough away from the noise for a good night’s sleep

For your food and beverage needs:

• Restaurant Luke serves three meals a day, room service and meets all of your catering needs

Enjoy mindful meetings:

• Healthy Menu Options
• 24-Hour spacious fitness center
• Nearby trail access

Because cost matters, we are offering cost savings for qualified groups

• Discounted Group Rates – for 10 rooms per night or more, based on availability. Book by August 31, 2022 and meet anytime in 2022.
• 2% Rebate to master account, give back to your meaningful organization
• 3x Hilton Honors Points for the meeting planner upon conclusion
• Complimentary Beer & Wine for 30 minutes during dates of your meeting

Book Now and Save

The IMEX Group has won Best International Show – Americas at the recent AEO Excellence Awards. The awards, held last Friday (24 June), honoured IMEX America 2021 which took place in November last year at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas.

Carina Bauer, CEO of the IMEX Group, explains why the show was a milestone moment for the team and the wider industry: “IMEX America 2021 was our first show in over two years and enabled us to reunite with our events industry family – we’re delighted to commemorate it with this award. 

“IMEX America was the first international event on American soil after the US government lifted travel restrictions – in fact, the show took place on the day the borders opened.

“Organising a show under these challenging conditions took a Herculean effort from the team, but the appreciation and elation of the global industry who joined us onsite made it all worthwhile.”

Registration has formally opened for IMEX America, October 11 – 13 2022 at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas. Attendee registration remains free for all buyer and supplier types: https://www.imexamerica.com/register-for-imex-america 

By Barry Zidel, Principal at Meeting Connections, Inc. 

Genesis: How did the events and meeting planning industry really begin? 

In thinking about this wild, wacky, and wonderful industry in which those of us find ourselves, it must have come into being by pure happenstance…rudimentarily perhaps by an executive of a company asking his assistant set up the conference room so he or she could comfortably address either a potential client, or to address internal personnel with, let’s say a somewhat formal or informal luncheon…… something to impress! 

As do most things, those instances can become quite successful, if even by accident. This happenstance bore fruit based on someone’s creativity and labor. My oh my, how this “accident” has grown in global proportions! From these humble beginnings with a singular individual and some creativity, it grew into small independent event and meeting planning companies worldwide! In today’s world there are tens of thousands of these companies in every corner of the globe. 

Of course, beyond these independents, there are in-house corporate and association planners. Make no mistake, these planners are just as sharp and adept as the independents. In fact, there are various degrees of reliance of independents from the in-house planners. Independent planners, by the nature of their existence and potential growth, are exposed to multiple industries and disciplines. My feeling when I got involved in this industry was that one either got it right away, or one did not and honestly never would! There’s no mystique/ It involves: a bit of creativity, psychology, and knowledge of just about everything, and certainly a lot guts! 

So here comes the “rant”. Evolution occurs in every walk of life. In this business “in the beginning” our working tools were lined pads of paper; pens, you know those things you sometimes pickup at tradeshows; pencils that are virtually extinct, an electric typewriter, a high-end “toy” called a telex machine; and of course, a telephone. I found the telephone was a special means of communicating with other human beings, who by the way, were also eager to converse with the caller! 

Now, with all these tools at hand, we were off to the races! We made appointments, had face to face meetings, developed business relationships and sometimes even friendships. From that point, we knew every element we had to deal with and oh my, if we had questions, or better ideas to make a meeting more effective, all we had to do was pick up the telephone to discuss what was necessary and the betterment of the project. Our job, and still is today, is to make our clients look great! 

We understood everything because beyond that old-timers’ stuff, relationships were at the very core of how we conducted this odd-ball amazing business. Generations change of course. Technology really evolves at a more rapid pace than ever before. That doesn’t mean that we, at any age, and for anyone who really cares about this business, have the pride and fortitude to aim for perfection can just not give care about developing relationships at every level of what we do.  

The growth of this industry is thanks to businesses like our small independent planners, corporate and association planners, hotels, a/v companies, off-premises food and beverage companies, airlines, multi-media companies, digital marketing companies, and on and on!  

It’s all about service, knowledge and connections!