How has the year to date been for BCD Meetings & Events in EMEA and how have its teams been dealing with the situation around Iran for its clients?
We are off to another strong year despite all the challenges happening in the region and around the world in general. After navigating the end of the pandemic in 2022, followed by the war in Ukraine, rising inflation, shifting tariffs, and now renewed tensions in the Middle East, the meetings and events industry continues to prove its extraordinary resilience.
The situation in the Middle East remains a challenge but our clients and employees’ safety remain our top priority.
Our clients are asking for support in cancelling or relocating events scheduled in the region, but they also need help with urgent evacuations or the mid to long-term relocation of their employees. Since logistics is just one of the many services we offer at BCD M&E, we are doing everything we can to support them.
Our crisis teams have been on high alert and there is plenty of recent experience that we can apply to developments.
Crisis management needs to be clear in objective and ready for immediate action. When we deal with clients in situations like the Middle East, we can sometimes find ourselves in between their HR department and security department. That is not a favourable position for us to be in as different stakeholders sometimes provide an inconsistent direction. In situations like these, where we are faced with indecisive directions, we advise our clients to please align internally first before going external.
“Crisis management needs to be clear in objective and ready for immediate action. When we deal with clients in situations like the Middle East, we can sometimes find ourselves in between their HR department and security department”
Wide view of dining room set up Left: 2016 Goodyear Danube Cruise
Tell us about BCD’s external creative services (The Collective) which I gather is already launched in the UK. Which other countries/markets will be involved in the roll out?
Over the past five years, the demand for production and content driven events has increased, which has hit the sweet spot of The Collective. The idea behind The Collective being launched in other markets outside the US and the UK is that we want to differentiate our services but also meet our clients in key markets where we currently aren’t able to provide this today. For the EMEA region, we will launch at least one new market in 2026 – potentially more.
How can The Collective support customers at scale and help elevate event experiences?
The Collective helps organisations deliver with confidence at defining moments. Whether navigating change, driving growth, or delivering consistently where it matters most, we use behavioural insight, experience design, technology, and creative precision to move people, deepen knowledge, and elevate every outcome.
I gather there are three growth paths being explored in the expansion plans?
Organic investment (building internally) In markets where we have a strong Event Solutions team but lack production and content expertise, or where production and content are in place, but logistics capabilities are missing, we can invest in key talent to build and launch the full offering. Combined with client demand and a market that is ready for The Collective, this creates a strong foundation for growth.
Joint ventures BCD M&E EMEA operates in 12 wholly owned and 23 partner markets today. A joint venture could potentially include a partner market, but it could also be something we would consider in a wholly owned market as well. It all depends on what the joint venture deal structure would look like.
Mergers & acquisitions Anyone familiar with the M&A space knows that it is not only a financial numbers game but equally important to find a match in culture, service, vision and ownership structure. This means that many Investor Memorandums (IM’s) don’t even make it past that first stage, which makes the process difficult to plan and foresee.
What other projects are you involved with now at BCD?
We are quite active in the M&A, JV and organic investment area which takes considerable time and effort.
We never share details regarding our clients, but what I can tell you is that we are currently implementing a client within the Life Sciences sector. Globally, we won 80% of the RFP for EMEA alone. This client is being implemented in 28 new countries and will be one of our largest customers in the region.
What other current trends are you seeing in the EMEA meetings market?
Sustainability remains a key focus for some of our clients in key markets. The EMEA region is incredibly diverse, so it’s not accurate to treat sustainability as a universal trend. In some countries, sustainability simply isn’t viewed as a primary priority. In France, Germany and in the Nordics, we must meet our clients need and support with measuring CO2 and/or advising on how to plan and execute a sustainable event. Our ISO certification held together with our trained sustainability team enables us to fully support our clients and deliver on that commitment.
Despite the challenges we’re facing right now, I’m genuinely optimistic about the future of the meetings and events industry. More people are coming together in practical ways – listening more, solving problems locally, and staying focused on what we can control.
Looking ahead, my priority at BCD M&E is to keep moving forward with purpose by supporting our communities, strengthening partnerships, and turning lessons from recent years into smarter, more resilient plans.
Progress is still possible and it starts with steady, consistent action and a commitment to each other.
