Budapest rallies to the Power Of Live Events

The #PowerOfLiveEvents initiative, along with the newly-formed Budapest Convention Bureau and the Budapest Festival and Tourism Centre and industry associations, recently hosted an all-day live Power of Live Events Conference. The event was held at the Puskás Arena, and saw the launch of the safety protocol and Covid handbook for business events. In order to comply with Covid-19 guidelines, there were a number of health and safety protocols put in place for the conference, including a disinfection gate with a digital thermometer and coloured armbands that indicated how much distance the wearer wanted to keep from other people. The live conference aimed to prove that “by creating the right conditions and involving a well-prepared organising team, it is possible to organise MICE events for up to hundreds of people in Hungary in accordance with health-safety rules”, as well as “showcasing how events can be organised under the current circumstances”. The Power of Live Events Conference was opened with a presentation of the UNICEO research on 200 large international companies, which revealed that, in the first quarter of 2021, 64% of companies surveyed wanted to continue organising events. The lineup of foreign speakers included Jens Oliver Mayer, CEO of Jack Morton Worldwide, who discussed how the domestic event industry could benefit in the future from a polished user experience and the utilisation of data, followed by Jan Oršič, head of the Ljubljana Convention Bureau, who gave advice on how the event industry could reach the right target groups during the shutdown caused by the coronavirus, while retaining key partners. Gorazd Čad, CEO of Slovenia-based publisher Toleranca Marketing, presented some marketing strategies for overcoming the crisis. The event also saw discussioni of Budapest as a MICE destination, its strategy for helping the sector, and the safe event protocols developed there. Anna Békefi, managing director of Budapest Convention Bureau, said: “In the current situation, we all now need to work together, shoulder to shoulder, to help industry workers and strengthen our position in the international MICE market. It is in our common interest to bring quality tourists to a liveable city, also keeping sustainability in mind. We are strongly convinced that Budapest and the Hungarian meeting industry professionals are prepared and able to organise and conduct business events for hundreds of people in accordance with current epidemiological rules. Delivering this message across borders and boosting the business events market requires a proactive, solution-oriented attitude and the collaboration of the entire profession. With this conference, we have taken the first significant step in this collaboration.” Csaba Faix, CEO of Budapest Festival and Tourism Centre, added: “I consider it our most important task and one of the main goals of the co-operation urged at the conference to jointly create the framework with which we can make Budapest attractive for business travellers… Nothing is impossible for Budapest.” The benefits of live events over digital or hybrid events were highlighted several times throughout the event. Zsolt Kassai, CEO of Special Effects International, one of the initiators of the event and programme series, said: “With their different tools, digital events may partially support some corporate goals, but they are not up to live events in terms of doing business, engaging and retaining employees, or creating experiences. We also managed to prove to the professional audience and corporate partners participating in our conference that, with the appropriate precautions, a live event for hundreds of people can be held safely in the current situation.” Szabolcs Botond, CEO of Visual Europe Group, one of the initiators of the event and programme series, added: “The Power of Live Events campaign aimed to bring to life the experiences and memories that only live events can bring. It is in our common interest to restart quickly, as the epidemiological situation allows. In a short time, nearly 170 companies from 25 countries have joined our initiative, an unprecedented collaboration in our industry. Despite the extreme difficulties, the event industry has not disappeared in Hungary. In fact, it is more unified and better prepared than ever before.” A Covid Handbook will be compiled, based on the experiences of the Power of Live Events conference. It will contain health and safety protocols for business events and delegates covering the guest journey from arriving in Budapest to departing from the city.