mim117

E U R O P E M A G A Z I N E

EUMA in Athens

MIM Europe Magazine, the meetings and incentives magazine for European corporate planners, in exclusive partnership with by EUMA, the European Association of Management Assistants.

#117

Afgiftekantoor-Bureau de dépôt: 2800 Mechelen 1Published 4 times a year: February, May, August, November Edition November 2011

MEETINGS IN VIENNA The epitomes of events in the meetings industry?

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MEETINGS INNOVATIONS

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GENERALMarcel’s comment 3EUMA 4Vienna’s survey 17

COLOPHON

CONTENTS

MIM Europe Magazine sets great store by sustainable development and therefore chose responsible FSC® certifi ed paper which comes from a controlled source. More info: www.fsc.org ® FSC, A.C. FSC-SECR-0045

Content is KingSometimes people ask us what the nature of our magazines is. We never have to think long to come up with an answer: we are content-driven niche publishers. That being said, I’m glad we can end the year with a very special edition of MIM Europe Magazine, fully in line with our ‘Content is King’ slogan.

I’m sure you all have noticed: this 117th edition is slightly thinner than usual. It has a simple explanation: for once, we separated the in-depth articles from our destination report. This report is fully dedicated to one of Europe’s most beautiful green regions: Wallonia. Inside are more than 50 ideas for meetings and incentives, spread over a 44-page supplement. Of course you’re welcome to get in touch with any of the suppliers that all have something very special to offer. This supplement is specifi cally meant for European organizers of meetings and incentives for businesses.

In this MIM117, our seasoned investigator Rose Kelleher wrote no less than fi ve in-depth articles about Meeting Innovations. Whether it be new Apps being used in the meetings industry, how technology has changed the way meetings are organized, the future of the meetings landscape or new ideas to network better, I’m sure you will fi nd all of them inspiring!

2011 was the year of the big meetings. 2012 will be even bigger but also more interesting. At least that’s our wish. When MIM Europe Magazine is available on Ipad and Android next year (it will be the fi rst real corporate magazine digitally available), it will increase our readership by the thousands. Already a Happy New Year to everyone!

www.mimagazine.eu / marcelsblog.typepad.com

MARCEL A.M. VISSERSOwner - Editor in chief

SPECIAL FEATUREApps for meetings 8Filtering Meetings through a tech-minded lens 10Let’s meet in the cloud 11Corbin Ball’s crystal ball 12Innovations in networking 14

SPECIAL DESTINATIONWallonia

MIM magazine IS THE EUROPEAN MAGAZINE FOR THE MEETINGS INDUSTRY. IT IS PUBLISHED 4 TIMES A YEAR BY MEETING MEDIA COMPANY BVBA/SARL, WITH A CIRCULATION OF 5000 COPIES.

Editor in ChiefMarcel A.M. VissersT: +32 (0)3 226 88 [email protected]

Managing DirectorCécile Caiati-KochT: +32 (0)2 761 70 [email protected]

Account Manager - International SalesKelvin LuT : +32 (0)761 70 [email protected]

Managing EditorRémi DévéT : +32 (0)761 70 [email protected]

EditorRose Kelleher

Address59, rue René Declercq B - 1150 Brussels (Belgium)T: +32 (0)2 761 70 50 F: +32 (0)2 761 70 51 www.mimmagazine.eu

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MIM 4

It has also been extensively written about the importance of the MICE market in the development of tourism and the economy of a country in general. The advantages, as pointed out in relation to other forms of tourism, are obvious: meetings and conferences tend to take place regularly,every year or every two years and delegates tend to spend more than your average leisure tourist. All this is abso-lutely true and there are many countries both north and south that compete to acquire the largest possible share.

The study of the growth of the meetings market in the last twenty years leads to some useful conclusions. First of all, the rapid development of the industry has signifi cantly exceeded the average growth of almost all other forms of tourism.

Secondly, meetings technology has developed at the speed of light. We all remember the presentations made by slide projectors and we all have witnessed the transition to modern projectors and digital technology.

It is also very impressive to watch the development of important industries and services supporting the MICE industry: PCOs, audiovisual companies, caterers, venues of all kinds, convention bureaus, promotional & PR companies, but also universities and other educational institutions. It’s a huge market consist-ing of many different and innovative professions that has seen the light of day - it has created a global competition and hundreds of thousands of new jobs internationally.

As such, the meetings industry is constantly aiming to improve and to use

Over the years many things have been written about the conference tourism, which includes meetings, workshops, symposium,

exhibitions and incentives. The professionals call it MICE (for Meetings, Incentives, Congresses and Exhibitions).

TEXT RENE PANAGOPOULOU, DEPUTY NATIONAL PRO EUMA, GREECE

The transformation of the meetings

industry

International quality network of management support professionals > www.euma.org

the latest ideas and innovations. Like any other product after it has reached the stage of maturity, it needs to be renewed otherwise the ‘aging’ and ‘death’ are inevitable Innovations are needed, not only in technology support-ing the MICE industry but also in the organization and the design of events in general.

Our lives are changing, transforming and this dynamic creates new needs and ways of communicating. Companies and people who will adapt within this envi-ronment will be the winners. Without doubt, the same applies to the MICE industry - after all it’s all about commu-nicating knowledge and experience.

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USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA15TH EUMA INTERNATIONAL TRAINING DAY

To blog, to twitter, to tag… it might be clear from the origin of these verbs: social media are in and are widely adopted. Whereas some might see it as a hype, the trend is likely to stay. Corporations as well have seen the necessity to create a social media strategy in order to exploit all the possibilities of the features on the web.

But how to measure the benefi ts of social media on corporate life? How to guarantee consistency with the corporate identity on a medium we do not completely manage ourselves? And furthermore, how can we, management assistants, use them in our day-to-day job?

Save the date for the next EUMA International Training Day com-pletely dedicated to this trend with an internationally renowned expert in the fi eld.

Hop on and be aware of the unused features to boost your career!

WHEN? 28 April 2012

WHERE? Crowne Plaza - Athens, Greece

More details to be published shortly on www.euma.org

SAVE THE DATE: APRIL 28TH, 2012 – ATHENS

EUMAEUropean Management Assistants, EUMA,

is the only Europe-wide quality network of

top management assistants who focus on

their self-development and professional

evolution, and refl ect on the future of

their profession. The association is a non-

profi t association, has no political aims

and does not engage in political or trade

union activities. EUMA provides a forum

for management assistants, employers and

educators to promote an understanding

of the training, experience and career

opportunities necessary for the development

of its members. EUMA promotes an image

of the management assistant as an essential

element of the management team. EUMA

was founded in 1974, and is currently

represented by over 1300 members in

26 countries.

Athens

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special feature > meetings innovations

Ruud Janssen is the founder of a new kind of collaborative consultancy, TNOC (The New Objective Collective) and prime mover of Eventcamp Europe, a brand new forum that started off as a talking point for the techies of the events world. Through a network of tech savvy partners, a background in events and a feel for the changing landscape of meetings, he helps planners apply new ideas to an old formula.

‘One of the conclusions that we’ve come to is that events is one of those horizontals that crosses all the different silos of business.

Events touch on every part of what’s going on in the globe, just like the Internet.’ Meetings are nothing if not a means to share information, and there is an ongoing conversation on new ways of doing just that. From behemoth congresses, like the 3,500-delegate ESOT (European Society of

Organ Transplantation) Congress, to the tech savvy Eventcamp in Glasgow, both held in September, Ruud’s international TNOC collective helps planners fi nd angles through which to explore new ways to organise and promote their events.

Leaving footprints, changing behaviours Ruud emphasises the importance of exam-ining how things were done in the past. He then fi lters client expectations through a new, more tech-minded lens: ‘We look at their previous event. Then it’s a process of

defi ning their new objectives and fi nding partners that have similar objectives so they can collaborate. Primarily, we work with the clients on the format, the look and feel and how the participant would consume the content on-site and off-site.’ Though Ruud has a background in events, he doesn’t involve himself in the day to day organisation, but rather how technol-ogy can be applied to more effi ciently allow users to consume content: ‘We help organisations craft their events and to leave a footprint.’

Ruud Jannsen

Filtering meetings through a tech-minded lens Interview with Ruud Janssen

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special feature

CONTENTS+ Meetings through . . . . . . . . . . 8

a tech-minded lens Ruud Jannsen explains how

technology is changing the way meetings are done

+ Apps for meetings . . . . . . . . 10 What Apps are useful

when it comes to meet

+ Let’s meet in the cloud . . .11 How clouds can help you enhance

the way you work

+ Corbin Ball’s crystal ball . . 12 The consultant looks into

the future of meetings

+ Changing the role of the participant . . . . . . . . . . 14

Conversations with three meetings professionals

ALL TEXTS BY ROSE KELLEHER

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This means introducing and incorporating new media for conferences and events, fi nding ways they can be used to make con-nections before the event, and then extend-ing the shelf life of the event afterwards: ‘This is something that is relatively new, but I take examples from organising other types of events like Eventcamp or TEDx, other spaces that use this technology already. Those communities are more connected. Now we are transposing it onto more tradi-tional events, like the ESOT congress.’

‘I think one of the major shifts over the last two or three years has been the afford-ability and the quality of the technologies you can buy off the shelf. It offers a real alternative to the traditional live meeting formats.’ But it’s important, he says, to gauge who you’re dealing with, too. ‘The key thing about functionality’ says Ruud ‘is to really know the audience and how they behave. It’s important to know what kind of devices they are using. In the case of the ESOT, because we didn’t know what types of devices they were using, our online tools were accessible by any type of device. There were no limitations, whether it be Blackberry or Android or Nokia, or an iPhone. That’s an important thing to be aware of before you start selecting the type of app or the functionality you want built in.’

As the demographics and training of any gathering varies, Ruud reckons onsite assistance is also an important factor: ‘A big effort was made at the opening session (of ESOT) to explain to people how they can use these innovations. We created an onsite help desk to help people get connected, this way they really learn how to use new media components. We had volunteers from the association to connect with the more senior individuals in their industry. Technology seems to be the thing that helps them to connect to their peers - to explain to them how to send a tweet or take a photo and to put that on the photo stream of the conference.’ There is an added value for the organisation in this: ‘By helping people solve those problems quickly and easily instead of doing it for them, you’re creating room for a conversation that turns into a value: behaviour change.’

Roles beyond description Ruud admits it’s not always easy to ‘pin down’ what it is exactly that he

does: ‘I think the complexity of events is dramatically increasing, which is good in one way, as I’m sure it will create a lot of new roles and functions in the future in the industry.’ But, these new roles are not easy for people in a traditional sense to understand: ‘People always try to pigeon hole you and say so you’re a consultant, or a media agency. It’s hard to say what the role is of our team members have onsite because the services are so complimentary to what the traditional professional conference organisers do.’

With a recent study announcing that 65% of jobs that today’s school children will be doing as adults do not exist yet - what will the future job descriptions in this industry look like? In terms of education, new technologies are only just starting to garner attention. ‘I see people recognising that this is a need

that people have; the service of enabling people to use technology.’ he adds ‘I teach at a couple of hospitality schools. I think that’s probably the best learning school for identifying which roles will be relevant in the future, and how can we deal with them and start innovating events today. I talk about dealing with the turbulence of hybrids coming online, about new media technologies and how that can be applied to events.’

And what does the future hold for the tra-ditional event planner? ‘I think you need to have a really hospitality minded team that are really willing to solve problems onsite. I also think there will also always be a role for the traditional conference organiser, because let’s be honest, putting on an event like ESOT with 3,500 people over a 4 day period requires signifi cant skills in logistics and being able to deal with large amounts of people.’

The audience outside the roomEventcamp is the result of a twitter community of the hashtag #eventprofs, initiated by Blair McCullough Carter. Meetings professionals found a common place to discuss the use of technology and its evolution at events, communicating on weekly tweet chats on Friday afternoons. ‘And after some 14-15 months’ says Ruud Jannsens of TNOC (see over) ‘someone said we should meet, what a crazy idea!’ So the fi rst event camp was born in New York. ‘It was a very informal unor-ganised conference type event, to experiment with new technologies and formats amongst ourselves before we bring these things to the marketplace for our clients.’

‘At fi rst everyone was involved in events and technology, but the community has grown very quickly and now a lot of the corporate event planners and association planners are getting interested. People knew that if you don’t have a Twitter account and you’re not tweeting out questions then you’re not part of the conversa-tion.’ Eventcamp, which took place in Europe for the fi rst time in September, featured 5 remote ‘pods’, alongside the live event in London. Of 150 participants, 40 were onsite.

‘A lot of the traditional thinkers are basically troubled by hybrid events and don’t exactly know how to react’ - but there are just as many people embracing this type of experimentation: ‘They want to involve audiences outside of the room.’

Ahead of the game hybrid events like EventCamp don’t necessarily signal the death-knell of the traditional face-to-face: ‘I think the more con-nected you make people to an event, the more they have the desire to be at the live event. I also think he best marketing tool for live events (if it’s done well) is this connectivity to these people outside of a room. If a hybrid event is done well and connected it generates so much more attention than it would if it were just a live event. People have turned to me to say can you come help us organising our upcoming event because they want some of this magic sauce. But I don’t consider it magic sauce. It’s just another way of dealing with information.’

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Still resisting? Get to grips with Apps for meetingsApple did to software what they had already done to music: they broke it into tiny bite size pieces. This meant that consumers could cherry pick the bits they wanted, and ditch the bits they didn’t. Others soon followed suit, with Android, Palm and Blackberry App stores and more popping up within two months of the App Store launch in 2008.

Instead of forking out hundreds for expensive software suites, consumers can now pick and choose the functionalities they need, whether it be for leisure (the best sellers are games) or for work (one of Apple’s biggest sellers at press time was the Fabiosoft, a business collaboration tool).

So now what?So now that we can pick and choose the most useful tools to make our jobs easier, surely we’re all at it? Apparently not. MPI, through their FutureWatch 2011 Survey, said that though over 80% of planners use smartphones in our jobs, relatively few use mobile applications for their own meetings. Apps can simplify your work and enhance the event experience for yourself, attendees and exhibitors. Finding them is easy: Invenia Incentives, in collaboration with the IMEX Group, created meetingsapps.com, a portal in which they pool all apps useful for plan-ners. It is the undisputed champion source for all meetings-related apps.

Apps can be used on a number of devices (Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, iPad...), and don’t need constant internet connection onsite. Many can be used while offl ine and will download updated data when an Internet connection is detected. Apple sells over 225,000 Apps. Some are free, some are not. You can try your teeth on free ones before you shell out for the best.

But who develops them? Pretty much anyone who is so inclined. Planners can build their own event-specifi c apps by following Apple’s detailed developer guidelines, or fi nd someone in their organization who can do it. It might not be terribly sophisticated, but it can be done. But you don’t have to be a tech geek - hire someone who is. Find a good and reasonably priced app developer, examine the needs of your clients, and off you go. You can even get someone to make a private-label version of an already exist-ing app, for that special touch.

The features of a good app for meetingsThe best should offer schedule informa-tion, the ability for attendees to create their own schedules, an integrated social media feed, attendee search and speaker information... and perhaps a secondary tool like a city guide. There are other functionalities like lead exchange, business card readers, marketing and advertising of events and sub-events, product and merchandise sales with micropayment capabilities, and poling.

But remember that Apps are not a com-plete substitute for traditional forms of communication. You have to prepare your

clients: you can’t just assume they’ll be ready. But the least you can do is make sure any event related website landing page is mobile friendly. Do a web search to

fi nd a company that can make your page accessible to mobile devices. Oh, and if you’re not yet convinced, online content means reduced printing costs, extremely environmentally friendly.

Though over 80% of planners use smartphones in our jobs, relatively few use mobile applications for their own meetings

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Let’s meet in the cloud To end users, the ‘cloud’ in cloud computing is invisible. That means that consumers - like the average PCO, destination management executive or event participant - don’t know, or need to know, about the underlying technology that supports and stores all the meeting management software, meetings ‘apps’, collabora-tion and task management tools that are fast becoming vital to the events business.

In a few years from now, all businesses will not only have incorporated cloud based services into their day to day functions, but their IT operations will likely have ‘switched’, wholesale, to the cloud. What exactly does that mean? Douglas Black, Brussels-based IT Manager, explains.

Imagine arriving at an event and realising you’ve left your important documents on your desktop at home, or on a USB key in your offi ce network. If you fi nd yourself laughing at Dropbox’s slogan - ‘Never email yourself a fi le again’ - then you might be interested in fi nding out more about cloud computing in general, and storage as a service in particular. Cloud storage services like SugarSync, DropBox and Carbonite, plus a whole host of others, mean it doesn’t matter where you last saved your data or fi les - you can access them anywhere, by borrowing someone’s laptop, through your mobile device, or the clunking great machine in the lobby.

You can share it, or keep it private. Google, Flickr and Youtube, along with simple single - function webmail applications like Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo Mail are all examples for cloud-based consumer services. Collaboration tools, like Google Docs, or task management tools like Wunderlist and Evernote are based in the cloud, too. Apps that you download onto

your smartphone to deal with registration, airport timetables and so on, along with your fi les and folders, can be accessed by any machine that has a browser, process-ing your private ‘cloud’ based data with public cloud-based applications.

If and when you need itBut for businesses the term is wider than just these handy tools. Advocates of cloud computing like Douglas Black believe that it will fundamentally change the way com-puting work is done and IT services are sourced. In the future, he says, IT services will be provided over the internet as utili-ties just like electricity or water.

‘The key thing about cloud computing is that it enables you to buy services like software, storage and infrastructure as ser-vices. You don’t invest in physical hardware that will sit around doing nothing when you’re not using it. If you want to store lots of video or text fi les for an event, you don’t need to use your own physical storage.’ The data is stored somewhere on one or more server’s hard drives in a data centre somewhere in the world.

Apart from negating the need to buy, install and continually update expensive software suites or maintain private data centres or server rooms, by offering applications on demand (software as a service), and servers to store your data (storage as a service) cloud computing providers also offer infrastructure as a service. ‘If you were a small DMC and every quarter you had to administer the payroll of a few offi ces, you would only need to use the processing power of your computer once every quarter. Or if you did a lot of computing for a large congress every couple of years, you would use all your computing power at that time. Traditionally, however, you would need to have that power throughout the year. With cloud computing, you can call on processing power when and if you need it. You get power on demand, and when you stop needing it, you stop using it.’

And only pay for consumption. The shift is from managing and maintaining complex infrastructure to managing and maintaing services for your business, maximising the IT spend on productivity, not technology.

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The cycle of regularly updating and replac-ing hardware and infrastructure is broken.

Doesn’t matter the device Another key thing about cloud computing is that it is device independent, whether it’s PC in an internet cafe or a friend’s smartphone, or your old desktop at home. Better still, says Douglas, ‘You don’t even own a desktop anymore. If you had an com-pany with 100 employees, traditionally you would have a computer on a desk where you would store an operating system, a Microsoft Offi ce suite, your meetings man-agement software, and some fi les stored here and there. If something goes wrong

with that computer, you’ve lost everything, or else you have to call in a technician to fi x it. But now you just tell your employees “Go to this address”, and you connect to a private cloud, and then it is as if you’re all sat in the same offi ce.’ This can be a useful for meetings planners, and people whose jobs require lots of running around between venues and offi ces.

New technologyIn the past services like this were often only possible for large corporations with custom setups and huge costs. ‘In a few years time’ says Douglas ‘it’s the only thing that people will be using.’ As for fears that storing your data over a multitude of locations might not be safe, he disagrees. ‘It’s much safer. Providers - like Amazon EC, Microsoft Cloud Services, and Apple’s new iCloud - have service level agreements, and you pay for the level of service you want. These companies have resources to provide availability and security that only the larg-est of global organisation could afford in the past. The worst thing that can happen is it might be unavailable for one or two hours a year. To have a guarantee that it will never be unavailable, then you have to pay for that, just like any other service.’

Advocates of cloud computing believe that it will fundamentally change the way computing work is done and IT services are sourced

Corbin Ball’s crystal ballWe asked Corbin Ball, international speaker, consultant, writer and meetings technology expert, to look into the future and tell us about the meetings technology landscape in 2012.

Beginning with the basics, Corbin tells us that planners will increasingly expect free access to

wifi at venues next year. After all, the UN earlier this year added internet access to their list of basic human rights, didn’t they? Charging for internet access has been a traditional money spinner for venues, but high bandwidth access costs money. Plus, many venues may not be able to cope with a large number of attendees simultaneously downloading content. It can be expected, says Corbin, that such high volume demand will still be charged as an extra. But being able to check your mails in the lobby for free is increasingly de rigueur. And not

just free, but wifi will be expected to be easy to access. ‘Opening the browser and clicking “OK” is all that should be required’ says Corbin.

Mobile Apps are here to stay, and in 2012 we’ll see plenty of new ones. Getting your hands on these super software gadgets will get easier in 2012, says Corbin, as there will be more apps available either for free or at low prices. Free? Surely there’s a catch? Not really. Developers make their bread and butter through advertising, and freebies increase the number of eyes on ads. Corbin reck-ons that more and more DIY apps will pop up in the future because sites that allow users to make their own are proliferating. Planners, even tech novices, will soon be able to create ‘fully featured, cross-platform business apps with customized logos, colors and content’. From early

Corbin Ball

ndscape in 2012.


WWW.MESSECONGRESS.AT WWW.VIENNA.CONVENTION.AT

Hybrid events are set to digitally extend the reach of events even further in 2012

adopters, apps in 2012 will be used by the majority at meetings. Corbin adds: ‘If a meeting does not have a mobile app, the attendees will soon wonder why the organ-izers are behind the times.’

He also predicts that HTML5 will progressively overtake as 2012’s standard programming language for web pages, as opposed to native programming languages or older versions of HTML. In terms of devices, iPads and tablets will make more and more appearances in the hands of attendees. They are lightweight and ultra - mobile and as Corbin points out, they will increasingly be used for interactive confer-ence programs, course notes distributions, surveys, interactive exhibit fl oor plans, product displays, information kiosks, lead exchange, speaker Q&A, and onsite blog-ging/social networking.

Hybrid events are set to digitally extend the reach of events even further in 2012, we are told. Handy tools like Twitter and

Youtube are established elements in the industry already. Is it any surprise that these social media tools will be increasingly incorporated by planners to manage events and engage par-ticipants? Corbin hints at the growing

use of other noteworthy social media utilities, such as WordPress, Flickr and SlideShare. ‘Standard wifi triangulation’ he says ‘is not good enough for precise tracking though an exhibit hall, venue or for person-to-person fi nding at an event.’ Indoor positioning systems have been developed to provide very precise positioning of wifi enabled smart devices, which by next year, no doubt most attendees will have.

Gaming will pop up more and more in 2012 as a way to get virtual attendees engaged with the three dimensional kind. Conference recording, an old stal-wart, will be cheaper next year. Corbin says: ‘The price of high-defi nition video cameras has plummeted - we are even carrying them around as mobile phone feature. Video streaming encoders are turn-key.’ Next year will also see a rise in the number of planners using Near Field Communication connectivity to do things like ticketing, payment, business card exchange and picking up digital docs, like conference literature. Corbin adds that though he bases his observations on the US market, these are global phenomenon ‘and the trends are happening all around.’

ent.’en

MIM 14

Brussels

Benoit Froment Managing Partner Meetaxis

I can’t say there is anything wrong with traditional meeting formats, but we think that changing the format of the meeting by allowing people to participate in the discussion is a

much better way to learn. We made a study of

100 planners one year ago, to fi nd out

why they go to fewer meetings. There were

2 reasons. The fi rst was

that there are far fewer people in the

offi ce, even though they have the same workload. And now they really need to be able to justify leaving the offi ce for one or two days to go to a meeting. They

should be able to say they are going to a forum to learn something, and that they will be able to apply to their

work what they learned.

At Meetopolis, we introduced new ways to exchange and share informa-tion amongst the participants. We introduced a new format, with new animation techniques because we were looking for something different. To break the ice and to facilitate network-ing, we set activities all day long. In the fi rst activity, for instance, when they arrived at the forum, we took a photo of each participant. We then mixed all the photos we put them on the ground at the fi rst session, and we asked everyone to take one photo and to fi nd the person who was in the picture, and to speak with that person.

The second action during the coffee break was to visit one of the destina-tion stands, and to speak with the sup-pliers. From the survey results we have seen so far, people really learned a lot at Meetopolis. For Meetopolis 2012, we will organise some workshops in the meantime, to allow the planners to go further in the topics, a second session between events. Now we are going to build up our group on LinkedIn, and we are going to build nine sub-groups on the topics discussed at the live event.

The second edition of Meetopolis will take place at SQUARE-BRUSSELS MEETING CENTRE, on 16 October 2012.

Copenhagen

Ann Hansen Meeting Development Consultant

Yes, I would call myself an innovator. The difference between being a crea-tive person and an innovative person is an innovator not only comes up with new fun, creative ideas, but they are also able to convert it into reality. We are bringing creative ideas to life. You know the body thinks its going to sleep if you don’t use it for 20 minutes? There are 4 different learning styles, visual, auditive, tactile and kines-thetic. We need to use all 4 learning techniques, in order to be engaged, to remember and to process. The only way that people can learn something is if we can get them to relate to the subject and fi nd out what it means to them, to their company to their everyday work.

I help meeting owners to create a meeting format where the theme of their conference gets a more ‘involving’ angle, where we optimise knowledge sharing, and thereby networking opportunities There is no way you will meet the objectives of a meeting if the content doesn’t have the optimal playground for learning. If we only get new information or new knowledge in spoken words from a presenter, or from powerpoint or increasingly, video, you are only activating the visual and a part of the auditive side.


Ann Hansen and Benoit Froment

Changing the format of the meeting by allowing

people to participate is a much better

way to learn.

Involved participants, Meetopolis 2011Involved participants, Meetopo

Changing the role of the participantConversations with three meetings professionals

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MIM 15

Brussels

Anis Bedda Freelance Events Management Consultant and Web 2.0 Expert

Traditional formats are boring. They don’t meet people’s expectations. People lose focus quickly, and the meeting doesn’t bring knowledge for them. They go home with nothing to apply. Our next event at The Hub, in December, is a pan-European confer-ence on intrapreneurship. We will use open space technology, where issues raised by participants relating to the intrapreneurship theme, will contribute to the agenda.

We have designed a program that is a mix of different concepts, with lots of opportunity to participate and

interact. It starts with a series of short speeches, a la TED X, given by inspiring professionals who work in organisations which have

applied intrapreneurship in their own company strategy. Then we will have an interactive, walking lunch, in a world cafe format, where people go around and share knowledge with everyone else. The process begins with rounds of conversation for small groups seated around tables. At the end of the twenty minutes, each member of the group moves to a different table. They leave one person as the ‘host’ for the next

round, who fi lls the next group in on what was discussed in the previous round.

After the small groups, individu-als are invited to share insights or other results with the rest of the participants. It is at this stage of the program that participants have the opportunity to set the agenda for the second part of the event. The audi-ence will then be divided into three workshops where they will learn how to apply what they have learned to their own working environment. It’s close to zero cost, all you need is fl ip charts, a good, creative, interactive space that improves group dynamics: you ‘respect the circle’, and allow everybody to speak up. It requires creativity but it’s not hard. As long as you are willing to involve the audience, your role is to encourage those who want to speak, make sure they are not bullied, don’t press the participants, ask questions, try to involve, ask ‘how do you feel about that’, ‘how does it apply to your every day life in the offi ce’… and so on.


I often set up specifi c goals where we say 80% of participants should go home with ten new contacts. That’s why I constantly regroup participants during a session. It’s even better if you have a specifi c profi le for each of the participants so that they indicate what kind of networking opportunities they are looking for. Perhaps not to name people, but establish the profi les of those present. It could be divided into what kind of company people are looking for, or the size of the meetings they organise. For example someone might say they only want to meet people who organise big congresses for example. It requires a lot of planning ahead. Planners put in a lot of programs like networking coffee break, networking lunch or networking cocktail, but if nobody’s facilitating it, it’s not going to work it will just be random, by chance that you run into a person who you think is interesting. That should be part of the planning. The more you participate, the more energy you get. You don’t get tired if you are enjoying yourself and you’re excited about it; if you’re active. Its the opposite. You get tired if you are just sitting down and listening.

Traditional formats are boring.

They don’t meet people’s expectations.

The only way that people can learn something is

if we can get them to relate to the subject.

LETGOOD

THINGSHAPPEN

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MIM 17

Every fi ve years, the Vienna Tourist Board commissions Martina Stoff-Hochreiner, management consultant and lecturer at Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, to analyze Vienna’s national and international congresses to highlight develop-ments in this sector, allowing trends for the future to be predicted and corresponding strategies to be drawn up for marketing the congress destination. Between 1991 and 2011, a lot has changed. Witty observants will say that what happens in Vienna may well be what happens in the rest of the world.

Between October 2009 and October 2010, the fi rm of Triconsult Ges.m.b.H. carried out personal interviews with a total of 4,114 individuals (3,715 congress delegates and 399 exhibitors) at 35 congresses (26 international, 9 national) at 16 conference venues for the survey which Stoff-Hochreiner recently pre-sented at a press conference.

‘The most remarkable results include those with a direct impact on bednights,’ she explained. ‘This related primarily to the number of accompanying persons, which has fallen sharply. Whereas in 1991 just over every second congress delegate came in company, by 2010 this applied to only one in six delegates. Over the period 1991 to 2010 there was also a marked decrease in the average length of stay, from 7.3 to 4.6 days. In 2010 for the fi rst time, this indicator was even identical with average congress duration. It is now the exception for a delegate to extend his or her stay, a situation aggra-vated by delegates who do not even stay for the entire congress. Time has become a rare commodity, as indicated by the question as to what might prevent an individual from attending a congress at all: 68% of respondents mentioned lack of time, whereas only 49% stated a

shortage of funds. All these trends are clearly manifested in Vienna’s results for 2010: they are prevalent world-wide and will continue.’ ‘This is also clearly apparent from other details of this survey,’ confi rms Christian Mutschlechner, director of Vienna Convention Bureau. ‘Everything points to the fact that - from the delegate’s point of view - congresses have largely lost any tourist value, and are perceived almost entirely as professional engage-ments. The effect of this attitude is refl ected not only in the decline in the number of accompanying persons and extended stays, but also in the activities of delegates during the congress. We have seen a signifi cant drop in participa-tion in the offi cial supporting programs arranged by congress organizers. Whereas in 2004 some 75% of congress delegates took advantage of them, in 2010 this fi gure was just 53%. Delegates prefer to use their time for professional activities. 17% stated that they spend signifi cantly more time on meetings and further education programs than they used to: this fi gure is further relativized by 28% who have not yet been attend-ing congresses for long enough to be able to make a comparison. The same

Meetings in Vienna - the epitomes of events in the meetings industry?

general > survey

CRITERIA FOR ATTENDING A CONGRESSImportant criteria for attending a congress: 95% relevance in fi eld of activity, 94% good accessibility and 90% excellent scientifi c content.

RELEVANCE OF CONGRESS IN MY FIELD OF ACTIVITY (in%)

GOOD ACCESSIBILITY (in%)

EXCELLENT SCIENTIFIC CONTENT (in%)

NETWORKING POSSIBILITIES (in%)

ATTRACTIVE VENUE (in%)

INTERNET ACCESS IN THE HOTEL (in%)

INTERNET ACCESS IN CONFERENCE ROOMS (in%)

POSTER SESSIONS (in%)

FAVOURABLE HOTEL COSTS (in%)

ACCOMPANYING EXHIBITION (in%)

CATERING INCLUDED IN PARTICIPATION FEE (in%)

LOCAL SHUTTLE SERVICES (in%)

OFFICIAL SOCIAL PROGRAM (in%)

SATELLITE SYMPOSIUM SPONSERED BY INDUSTRY (in%)

DINNER (in%)

(1 as most important, 4 as least - in%)

66 29 14

1 2 3 4

58

54

36 51

36 8 2

51

41

39 8 2

43 12 4

41 36 15 8

39 34 18 9

29

28

41 22 8

47 20 5

26 42 25 7

25

24

43 22 10

37 27 12

23 46 24 7

19 33 31 17

11 29 38 22

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MIM 18

destinations > survey

MIM Europe: From a delegate’s point of view, congresses seem to

have lost their tourist value. All the more work for convention bureaus

and less for tourist offi ces?CM: The focus of the work of a

convention bureau is changing. In the past, our role was just to inform the

clients about available infrastructure; now we more and more have to consult

and discuss and try to give advice on how they can make their meetings

more sucessful for delegates.

MIM Europe: Does this mean no matter where the congress will

be held, as long as the academic/educational value of it is there,

people will also be there?CM: The future is clear - content must be of top quality, all kinds of scientifi c

communication must be of the highest standards possible and attendance

for delegates must be made as convenient and easy as it can be. If all

these ingredients are to be found, then, yes, where meetings are held

doesn’t really matter.

MIM Europe: In what ways what happens in Vienna refl ects what

happens in the rest of the world?CM: We see change happening this very

moment and European congresses are the fi rst concerned. But in the long

term this will have an impact on desti-nations globally - it’s all about trying to

fi gure out in which direction the market develop, so we can try to help and support clients as best as we can.

3 more questions to Christian

Mutschlechner

trend is revealed by the indicators of what is important in a congress. 52% of delegates considered congresses a very important opportunity for networking, 44% as a discussion platform, and 43% as educational events. On the other hand, only 20% attached much importance to the tourism aspects.’

Favorite recreational activities: shopping and visiting museums Some 85% of congress delegates stayed in hotels, 7% in pensions, and 8% had private accommodations. Accommodation costs of 24% were the largest item of their domestic expendi-ture, followed by travel costs to and

from Vienna (21%) and congress fees (18%). Shopping accounted for 14% of their expenditure, food for 10%, and cultural and recreational activities for 6%. As far as accommodations were concerned, there was a trend towards four-star establishments, which increased their share to 49% (compared to 43% in 2004), whilst luxury hotels shrank to 19% (compared to 24% in 2004). The majority of del-egates traveled by air (76%), with only 11% travelling by car and 10% by train. Shopping was congress delegates’ favorite recreational activity, with 52% indulging in it, 19% visited museums, 13% strolled around the city, 10% went to the opera and 5% to concerts.

“Everything points to the fact that - from the delegate’s point of view - congresses have largely lost any tourist value”

CURRENT AND FUTURE RELEVANCE OF CONGRESSES‘Networking’ ranks currently (52%) and in the future (58%) amongst the most important aspects.

NETWORKINGfuture (in%)

currently (in%)

PLATFORM DISCUSSIONfuture (in%)

currently (in%)

CONTINUING EDUCATIONfuture (in%)

currently (in%)

TOURISTICAL EVENTSfuture (in%)

currently (in%)

1 2 3 4

(1 as most important, 4 as least - in%)

58

50 35 11 4

50 35 9 6

6

24 36 23 17

52 37 9 2

44 39 12 5

43 40 11

20 37 26 17

32 8 2

CAN NOT ANSWER

28%

YES

17%

NO

55%

COMPARATIVE EXPENDITURE OF TIME, MORE TIME FOR MEETINGS AND EDUCATION THAN BEFORE17% of the participants spend more time for education, compared to previous congress stays.

Christian Mutschlechner

Gent, the Medieval ManhattanCity of Knowledge and Culture“Creative City of Music” - Unesco“Third most authentic historical destinationin the world” - National Geographic TravelerGent’s Light Plan crowned withthe ‘International City-People-Light Award’Veggie capital of Europe

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