Feature
United by one voice
A joint Meetings Industry Council global webinar series has been shaping
content for an eagerly anticipated Manifesto for Economic Recovery
Using Business Events. EN listens in on the conversations
These unprecedented times
have brought about an
unprecedented collaboration.
On 2 July, the Joint Meetings
Industry Council (JMIC)
and its Iceberg project, with
the support of four global
industry trade events –
AIME, IBTM, IMEX, and
Meetings Africa – provided
their platforms for industry
leaders to contribute to a
common global messaging
campaign, the JMIC
Manifesto for Economic
Recovery Using Business
Events.
This expert crowd-sourced
Manifesto is to be used as
an advocacy tool before
government and decisionmakers.
And there is surely
the need for the business
events sector to align behind
common messaging and to
speak with a united voice.
JMIC president Kai
Hattendorf introduced
the project, describing
the Covid-19 pandemic as
the biggest threat to our
industry in his professional
career. Many elements of the
sector had been grouped into
generic “mass gathering”
terminology, he said.
“As diverse as we are, we
must be a united industry
when we talk to decisionmakers
and lawmakers and
those who we rely on to get
back our licence to operate.
We have to have the right
words and messages to
convince our customers and
communities we work for
that it is safe to return to
events of all kinds around
the world,” Hattendorf
added.
Global cities authority
professor Greg Clark took
part in the interactive
conversations advising on
how to deliver key messages
to governments most
effectively.
JMIC executive director
Rod Cameron said the
project showed the industry
had come together as one to
sharpen its value proposition
and make it easy to
understand the critical role
that business events have
to play in the post-Covid
recovery.
Robert Coren, curator
of the Iceberg, JMIC’s
online platform dedicated
to celebrating the legacies
of business events, said
two dozen videos or Zoom
interviews had contributed
to the project which had
reminded the world what it
had been missing these past
few months.
The contributors had
reinforced the core Iceberg
message of meetings
industry value, which Coren
emphasised was not all about
the smaller visible hotel and
travel spending element that
pokes up above the ‘Iceberg’s
surface, but about the
weightier long-term benefits
for society, of meetings that
lie hidden under the water
and which are harder to see
and measure.
One of the European
panellists was German
Convention Bureau chief
Matthias Schultze who
stated succinctly: “Events
are platforms for exchanging
experiences and ideas”.
Strong soundbites followed
from Oscar Cerezales, COO
Asia for event management
specialists, MCI Group,
who added: “We grow,
engage activate and
monetise communities with
events”; and from Caroline
Teugels, executive director,
International Federation
ofPodiatrists, who noted
the impact of a congress
was not only economic, but
was big for individuals who
participate because they get
inspired and leave a legacy at
a destination.
Teugels also noted
the important role of
associations and their
meetings. “We are not for
profit and all for purpose. We
change the world and are the
veins nurturing society.”
Sisa Ntshona, CEO South
African Tourism, in his video
contribution said: “When
great minds get together
they tend to come up with
solutions.”
IMEX Group CEO Carina
Bauer added: “Businesses
and governments realise
that the most effective way
to communicate is through
live events. That’s why we
were on a high in January
2020. We must remember
and convey that in our
messaging.”
Some urgency was injected
by Lesley Williams, MD
BestCities, who said it was
“tragic” that our industry
has had to practically
crumble before government
realised how valuable it is.
Along with the strong
comments underlining
the value of meetings,
Lyn Lewis-Smith, CEO of
Business Events Sydney
noted that “the world has
changed and was turned
upside down and stopped
in its tracks in terms of us
acquiring international
events.”
Fellow Aussie Geoff
Donaghy, CEO of ICC
Sydney added that the
30 — September