Events bring us together , and then we go forward ”
Leader
Remaining agile in a changing world , and quick and able to harness event technology
Managing editor , Paul Colston
O ur international industry associations are all on the front foot with plenty to say in their columns in this edition about future trends and offering action points and advice for advancing both event professionals ’ careers and businesses .
ICCA ’ s CEO Senthil Gopinath homes in on the need to remain agile in today ’ s market and to “ anticipate the swells in the sea ”. We must grow and adapt to change and shift as the landscape shifts and , he says , in an increasingly unstable world , the value of international meetings and events to draw members of our global community to exchange ideas and increase collaboration and innovation is more important than ever .
The choice for leaders is whether to remain within traditional frameworks or push forward to a more interconnected future .
And here in the UK we have been having an exciting preview of future event trends and services at International Confex , 26-27 February . The full breadth and talent of our industry was shining on show with innovative products and ideas for planners , organisers and agents to see , touch and engage with .
Inside our UK Conference News section ( which starts on p45 ), and chiming in with our overarching technology theme , Theo Reilly looks at some of the most useful AI tools now on the meetings and events market – a useful primer to read on pages 60-61 .
And our friends at international event agency VOK DAMS also share eight top trends for the live event sector , including : ‘ Data-driven decisions ’, ‘ The metaverse as a space for innovation ’ and ‘ AI as a gamechanger ’ , as well as ‘ The Hamburger Model : humans and AI in harmony ’.
‘ Harmony ’ was the big buzzword at the MPI European conference ( EMEC ) in Istanbul at the end of February ( see our front cover and page 35 for some strikingly harmonious photos of the event ) and , in an age of heated conflicts on the political scene and indeed battlefields , it is time , perhaps as MPI has done , to focus on the things that bring us together and use them as the strong building blocks to create progress through collaboration . And nothing does that better than the meetings scenario . As MPI CEO Paul Van Deventer put it in Istanbul , “ Events bring us together , and then we go forward ”. n
MANAGING EDITOR PAUL COLSTON pcolston @ mashmedia . net
PORTFOLIO DIRECTOR IAIN STIRLING istirling @ mashmedia . net
MARKETING EXECUTIVE CHARLIE CARTER ccarter @ mashmedia . net
CORRESPONDENT THEO REILLY treillyr @ mashmedia . net
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