CMW Guest Author

How to fall in love with public speaking

By Julian Agostini, MD Mash Media Has anyone ever asked you to love them?  It’s normally when you don’t, of course so unfortunately, it’s kind of futile request isn’t it? But whilst it might be awkward, it’s not as annoying as someone telling you to be calm, if you’re in a panic or ‘just be confident and be yourself’ when you are a bag of nerves. Public speaking engenders this reaction for a lot o...

Overcoming the unexpected and delivering more than expected

ICCA’s CEO Senthil Gopinath (pictured below) urges vigilance around innovation, sustainability, and advocacy Most of us have spent the past two years “expecting the unexpected”. Now that business travel is back on the rise and more events are returning in-person, it’s easy to discard this sentiment. However, we are seeing new surprises on the horizon for the association meetings industry. One of t...

Gaining momentum: how Korea is bouncing back

Catie Owen sits down with Korean Tourism Organisation (KTO)’s acting president Sang Yong Shin to discuss the buzz around South Korea’s MICE For anyone with an interest in popular culture, the surge of affection for all things South Korea over the last few years has been unmistakable. Even before 2021’s mega-hit-series Squid Game, 2020 had seen two defining moments for the cultural phenomenon; with...

Full house in Las Vegas

A ‘power-packed business experience’ to meet new needs of the industry at IMEX America, which returns to Las Vegas, 10-13 October IMEX America is set to address the new needs of the industry head on, bringing together the global business events community in a four-day show designed to deliver a tailored, targeted, and efficient business experience. This edition builds on the success of last year’s...

10 ways to create a more inclusive event

Arinex managing director, Nicole Walker (pictured), uses case studies to identify 10 ways the events industry can improve its inclusivity. As event organisers, sustainability means that we often focus on environmental aspects of events, but social capital – referring to diversity, equity, access and inclusion – is another important sustainability pillar. Diverse and inclusive events co...

Back in the saddle again

Pádraic Gilligan, SITE chief marketing officer, contemplates the swinging pendulum for incentives By all accounts congeniality and Covid-19 were spread in equal measure by the thousands who descended upon Frankfurt recently for the first IMEX show in Europe since 2019. All caution was thrown to the wind as we found each other again and feverishly embraced the opportunity to connect in-person, both...

Working on the Edge

CMW interviews specialist consultancy GainingEdge executive chairman Gary Grimmer Tell us how you came to set up GainingEdge – and about some highlights of your time at Melbourne CVB before that. How big is the GainingEdge network now and where do you see your USP? Melbourne was my fourth bureau, third as CEO. I’m originally from the US and my first three bureaus were there.  I wanted to work inte...

Opportunities to transform the future of events

Matthias Schultze, managing director of the GCB German Convention Bureau, shares his research into the industry’s future potential and reveals the top three opportunities organisers should pay attention to The main goal of our Future Meeting Space (FMS) innovation network is to provide insights for the events community and practical guidance on how to build sustainable businesses that are fi...

Avantgarde experiences

CMW speaks with Dr Lesley Anne Bleankney (pictured), the newly appointed chief people officer at the global brand experience agency, Avantgarde, about sustainability, recruitment and the issues facing the events industry As the new chief people officer, what does the events industry need to do differently to address its current recruitment and employee retention issues? The Covid-19 crisis proved ...

Pulling together

IMEX returned to Frankfurt, 31 May to 2 June, and encouraging discourse from the Policy Forum has set an optimistic tone Last month CMW returned to IMEX Frankfurt for the first time since 2019, and what an occasion it was. To the uninitiated, it was just another trade show, but to many eventprofs around the world, it was the first major industry event for which they could attend. There were absent...

Moving beyond the buzzwords – Sustainability and the events industry

CMW international reporter Oliver Thomas reflects on the events industry’s sustainability progress eight months after COP26 ‘Build back better’, ‘the new normal’, ‘Net Zero’. Just over eight months ago, as COP26 grabbed global headlines, undoubtably most event industry stakeholders would have used at least one of these phrases. Strategies, programmes, and pledges set out changes to the basic princ...

Moving beyond business as usual

ICCA CEO Senthil Gopinath says the global meetings industry is transforming as a meta industry The sentiment as we wrap up the first half of 2022 is “We’re back”. International business travel is returning to pre-pandemic levels and long-awaited reunions with business partners and colleagues are finally happening. I was fortunate to have attended the 20th IMEX in Frankfurt, where the industry’s ex...