The Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Event (AIME) returned to Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) in February, and by any measure, AIME 2026 was the most significant edition the organiser had staged. For those who made the journey to Australia, the scale and ambition on display were impossible to ignore – and the conversations happening on the floor reflected a region that is increasingly confident in its position on the global business events map.
Talk2 Media & Events, which has now delivered six editions of AIME since returning post-Covid, has extended its contract to run the show through to 2028, and chief executive Matt Pearce was in bullish mood when he spoke to CMW during the two-day event. “This is certainly the largest show we’ve delivered.”
That’s a significant claim, but context matters. Pearce pointed to 2015 as a watershed moment when the event took a noticeable dive, followed by a prolonged slide. The rebuild since has been substantial, and 2026 represents its clearest expression yet.
Layout and logic
The most visible change for returning visitors was the floor layout, reorganised into four distinct quadrants – Australia, hotels, international exhibitors, and a fourth section housing the broader supplier community. It’s a simple idea, but it works. The clarity of navigation helps buyers and exhibitors alike, and Pearce was particularly enthusiastic about that fourth area.
“Those smaller exhibitors are often what makes the event pop,” he said.. “Everyone needs destinations and venues, but they also need all the ancillary services that make events work.”
The hosted buyer lounge was relocated towards the end of the hall, making the sheer scale of the event immediately visible on arrival. Pearce was keen to stress that growth is deliberate and curated rather than simply a numbers exercise. “We’re now spending as much time on the buyers as we are on the exhibitors,” he explained. “If you don’t get the right buyers, exhibitors will leave because they’re not getting outcomes. The devil’s in the detail.”
The core hosted buyer group sits at around 1,500 individuals, all rigorously vetted. “We spend a lot of time making sure they’re real buyers, that they’re active, and that exhibitors can do meaningful business with them,” said Pearce. It’s a philosophy that prioritises outcomes over optics – and on the show floor, it showed.
A healthy market with its own challenges
The market is in good health – which has created its own complications. Several vetted and approved buyers withdrew in the weeks before the show simply because they had too much work on. “When the market is up, they’re always looking for new business, but they’ve also got to manage the business they’ve already won,” Pearce explained. The answer is to recruit more buyers than strictly needed, creating what he described as an ‘insurance reservoir’.
The buyer base is also becoming increasingly international. Strong foundations in Australasia and Asia are now complemented by American, Chinese and wider APAC representation. Pearce was clear that depth matters more than breadth. “We’ll do quantity, but not at the expense of quality,” he said – a principle that runs through every aspect of how the show is managed.
Geopolitical currents were also present in the conversation. Pearce noted that it is now, in some respects, easier to do business with China than with the United States, and that if people feel less welcome in America, they will look elsewhere. “Markets are like water,” he said. “If you block one route, they’ll find another. Trade will continue; it just might not all be in the US.” Several destinations across Asia and the Middle East are already positioning themselves to capitalise on that shift, and their presence at AIME felt timely.
Technology and the AI question
AI has been embedded in AIME’s meetings-matching system for around four years, and Pearce is a firm advocate. The technology handles much of the laborious process of gathering and validating buyer information, but human judgement remains central to the final decision on whether someone is the right fit for the show. “AI can handle the laborious bits quickly; humans still make the final call,” he said. It’s a measured position – embracing the tools available without overstating what they can replace. Pearce added that the system is getting better all the time, and that the quality of appointments being generated is improving as a result.
Associations and co-location
One of the less visible but arguably more important aspects of AIME’s growth has been the deepening of its association partnerships. ICCA, PCMA, SITE, AIPC and a range of national and regional bodies are all engaged with the show, and Pearce described these relationships as critical. “The event covers so many different communities,” he said, noting that ICCA in particular brings strong reach into the global association sector – a significant part of AIME’s audience.
Co-location activity is also developing carefully. AIPC used AIME as a platform for its academy for the second consecutive year, and Pearce sees real potential in the model. “If AIME can be the reason people add extra training, connection or networking with their own communities, that’s a win for everyone,” he said.
Matt Pearce
Looking ahead
Pearce is about to embark on a five-year strategy for AIME, but he was clear that scale is not the primary ambition. “Size is a bit of a vanity metric,” he said. “You grow it and then you have to deliver to that size. The priority is staying relevant. That’s the long-term objective.”
With the contract secured to 2028, the team’s focus is on refinement rather than reinvention. “We’ve rebuilt this event and we don’t want to see it suddenly fall in a heap,” Pearce said. It’s the kind of measured, long-term thinking that has characterised Talk2 Media’s stewardship of the show.
The broader outlook for the region was a thread running through almost every conversation on the floor. As Pearce put it: “When you listen to economists talking about 2026, they’re pretty bullish about Asia Pacific and the Middle East having strong years. You can feel that confidence here at AIME.”
On the evidence of this year’s show, that confidence appears to be well-founded. Melbourne delivered, and AIME looks in very good shape indeed.
