AIPC
Bridge building in Brussels
GLOBAL VENUE ASSOCIATION AIPC CEO SVEN BOSSU DRAWS SOME CONCLUSIONS FROM ATTENDING THE EU DIALOGUE IN BRUSSELS
E xplaining the importance of the event industry to policy is a bit like running a never-ending marathon . At the same time , it is critical to continue to do so . The EU Dialogue which took place in Brussels on 17 April was a great example of the value these dialogues can bring .
The event , ‘ EU Dialogue : Driving Positive Change in the Meetings Industry ’ formed an official part of the Belgian presidency of the Council of the European Union . It brought together event industry leaders and European policy makers to discuss the positive impact the event industry has . Economy and operating conditions , sustainability , digitalisation , data , travel and mobility , innovation and entrepreneurship were all touched upon in sessions on the day . For me there were three key takeaways .
First of all , the challenges our industry is facing are no different than those of the global economy . According to a McKinsey report published earlier this year , CEOs across the world struggle with AI / technology , sustainability , talent attraction / retention , geopolitics and the fact that the economy is very different than five years ago – exactly the topics touched upon throughout the day and several speakers referred to examples outside the event industry as a point of reference . This cross-fertilisation provides great inspiration and is something to do more , also in our own events .
Secondly , good cocktails result in something nicer than the separate ingredients , and that was definitely the case at this event . Both the plenary sessions and breakouts had a mix of European policy makers , event industry leaders and clients having open discussions about challenges faced and – even more importantly – trying to find solutions . For example : one topic
Above : Sven Bossu
which came back regularly is how to make sure that the output of discussions like these , held in the ‘ Brussels Bubble ’ make it to the persons and organisations outside that bubble , and it was great to see that policy makers and the EU administration actually are taking action – also financially – to remediate this .
Thirdly , there is still the need to explain to policy makers that , while events bring direct economic benefits such as hotel nights , venue rental , etc ., the real value of events does not sit there . Or put differently : the EU Commission is composed of 33 Directorate Generals ( DG ). Each is under the responsibility of a commissioner and deals with a specific policy area . While the event industry officially falls under the DG Tourism and Transport , business events actually have an impact on all the other DGs , such as health care , industry , and so on . This is where the real value of events sits : by bringing together communities , events have the power to influence policies in many different ways , whether it is about debating content , disseminating information or coming up with alternative solutions . If the EU policy makers want to get citizens on board they need to embrace the power of business events and stop seeing them as a different form of tourism . To quote one of the speakers : “ We ’ re change agents , not travel agents ”.
Finally , the meeting also demonstrated one of the core assets of the event industry : the willingness to exchange information and best practices in order to elevate the industry to the next level . It never ceases to amaze me how generous our industry leaders are when it comes to ‘ giving back ’.
Dialogues are about building bridges between individuals and organisations , resulting in a better understanding of each other and in some case in a joint future . This was a great start of the journey . n
ISSUE 130 / CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD / 11