September, 2020
Opinion 13
Change
of planets
Carina Bauer, CEO of the
IMEX Group, walks EN
through the process of
creating Planet IMEX in the
aftermath of a devastating
cancellation
Words
Carina Bauer
Like all of us in the exhibition
business, our job at IMEX is to
ensure we put on a good show. It’s
a part of what we do every day – we
manage risks, work out priorities
and shift focus, ensuring that whatever
else happens, the show goes on.
Cancelling a show is not in the
‘DNA’ of any organiser. That’s why
it is a truly gut-wrenching and
frankly devastating experience.
In early March we were still
convinced that we could successfully
deliver our Frankfurt show
in mid-May. By 11 March we had
cancelled the show. In the space
of a week, registrations flatlined,
exhibitors started cancelling, and
travel bans meant that even the
tourist offices and hotel groups that
exhibit were no longer able to travel.
Just a couple of days after cancelling,
we started to discuss what ‘going
virtual’ might mean for us. We wanted
to thank our community for standing
by us, and try to replace what
was lost in the absence of our show.
We agreed on three strategic
priorities for the project, which each
idea needed to be judged against.
First, is this unique to IMEX?
Second, does this build community
and connections? And third,
can we bring joy and light-heartedness
to our industry friends?
We then broke down the different
elements of an IMEX show to
see whether it was possible to deliver
those in a virtual world. These
elements were: tech, tools, design,
business and networking connections,
educational content, sustainability,
wellbeing, media and community.
The result? PlanetIMEX! At the
heart of PlanetIMEX are three 3D
‘desert islands’ built on a gaming
platform called Storyscape 3D: Education
Island, Community Island and
Networking Island, all with their own
content and occasional live events.
We launched PlanetIMEX on 6
May, and had 12,500 participants
in the sessions across 5,000 unique
individuals from across the world. The
whole process of creating PlanetIMEX
– in a very short space of time - also
uncovered new skills within the business.
Some of our team were even able
to apply their personal talents - for
example, one of the operations team
is now resident DJ for PlanetIMEX
and provided a live mix during one
of the EduMonday Live social events.
In PlanetIMEX, I’m confident we’ve
created a virtual offering that’s true to
our values, creative, of benefit to our
industry and truly brings together our
community for business, education,
networking and fun. Our aim now is
to develop our new virtual experience
over time – and we’re looking at how
to monetise some of the content too.
We’ll also be working to blend PlanetIMEX
with our in-person exhibitions
- IMEX Frankfurt and IMEX America.
I’d better go. No time to rest…