APRIL | TRENDING
Words: Stuart Wood
T
he word ‘festivalisation’ gets
thrown around quite a bit in
the events industry, as a way
to describe business events - such
as conferences and exhibitions –
incorporating the kinds of fun we
traditionally associate with music
festivals.
B2B organisers are beginning to
see the value in creating a sense of
community around an event, and
engaging audiences with unique
experiences they can share over
social media and beyond. But
‘festivalisation’ is not a one-way street
– it is part of a wider trend that has
seen events from across the festival,
conference and exhibition industries
cross-pollinating.
This month, we take a look at two
recent high-profile examples of this
cross-pollination: first, the European
Meetings and Events Conference
in The Hague, which took a healthy
amount of inspiration from the
festival world. And secondly SXSW,
a gargantuan crossover beast that
touches all corners of the events
industry across two weeks in March.
What can conferences learn from
festivals?
Access attended the European
Meetings and Events Conference
(EMEC 19) from 9-12 February
on behalf of our sister magazine,
Conference & Meetings World. But
the extent to which the event was
informed by the festival industry was
striking.
The opening dinner of the
conference, rather than offering us
a sit-down meal, supplied a series
of food trucks, each with a different
stipulation. One asked us to order
our food in rhyme, while another
would only serve us if we were in the
company of someone from Poland or
Canada.
Elsewhere, a series of ‘learning
journeys’ got us outside the
convention centre and around the
The Hague region. Some visited an
orchestra to learn about leadership
from a classical conductor, while
others visited the zoo for a lecture
about ape management.
Access attended a crisis
management wargame, which put
us in the shoes of an imaginary
company which had been hacked
by Anonymous. We played out a
scripted storyline which forced us
to deal with an escalating crisis on
the fly, exercising our diplomatic and
persuasive skills to the fullest.
“The focus for EMEC 19 was to
bring people together and create a
sense of community,” says EMEC 19
B2B or not B2B?
Following the conclusion of SXSW, a crossover event of
dizzying scale, Stuart Wood asks: how are the festival and
conference industries learning from each other?
20
project leader Sven Boelhouwer. “This
was the thinking behind the opening
dinner, and the learning journeys
which preceded the conference. We
encourage people to connect with
those who share similar interests and
aspirations.”
With a range of social activities
both in the build-up to and during
the conference, EMEC 19 very cleverly
constructed a sense of community
around itself. It meant that delegates
already knew each other by the time
they sat down for their first keynote
and led to a massive uptake of
engagement on social media.
It was a far cry from the
anonymous conference experience
which many organisers fall back on,
where delegates will grab a coffee,
sit down next to strangers they don’t
speak to, and leave with some vague
new ideas about sustainability or
Brexit. “EMEC 19 was about changing
the game,” says Boelhouwer. “I hope
more conference organisers will take
Below: Some very
serious networking
at EMEC 19’s tropical
beach party
Bottom: A choir
performs at the closing
keynote