Interview
The whole world is in flux right now and
the key thing is to keep evaluating the
best way that we can achieve those
priorities and adjusting as needed.
Exciting news about the launch of
PlanetIMEX, set for entering orbit
on 6 May? It would have been a
shame for the industry to miss out on
all the content created for Frankfurt.
Tell us about the bold move into
virtual space. Quite an investment?
That’s correct - as soon as we were able
“We committed to refunding
our exhibitors 100% of
their stand costs, as well
as sponsorships and
advertising. We are also
working to refund our hosted
buyers and speakers.”
after the cancellation we gathered a core
team to start working on aspects of a
virtual event. We have a huge amount of
content to share and, in addition, we’ve
looked carefully at how we can provide
networking, business and educational
content in our new realities. We’re really
excited to be launching a brand new
experience.
As a top priority, we decided that we
wanted this to be a gift to the industry
from IMEX.
We started to look at all the elements
of the show and whether and how they
could work in an online world. We also
looked at whether we thought we could
deliver them in a unique way to IMEX
and how we could still build in our
Nature Talking Point. All that led to the
creation of the PlanetIMEX experience.
(See www.c-mw.net for full details - Ed).
We are seeing the launch in May as
Phase 1 of this project - we aim to learn
from this initial launch and tweak and
improve the concept over time. There
will be additional content and launches
as we move through that process.
In terms of investment - firstly, we are
enormously grateful to our partners
Cvent who immediately offered to help
us bring this to life and have been
extremely generous in their support and
sponsorship of the educational element of
PlanetIMEX. We also have a number of
other tech partners that we are working
with on other parts of the project.
However, even with such support it is a
significant investment, not least in terms
of time, with over half our team working
on the initiative, and we expect to
continue to invest in this project over
time.
Below:
Photo by Anke
Kristina Schaefer
Finally, your message to our great
industry in these troubled times?
Firstly, that #wewillmeetagain –
business events will come back and come
back strongly. But, the recovery may not
be a straight-line upwards and it will
inevitably take some time.
ISSUE 106
/
CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD
/
45