In-house event planners and corporate meeting directors from around the world brought their success stories, challenges and aspirations to Exclusively Corporate to a specialist education day on the eve of IMEX Frankfurt, which opens 20-22 May. Imagination emerged as a common theme with many attendees at the Frankfurt meeting, citing the need to do more with less along with the added pressure of including fresh ideas each time.
Carolina Rocha from Bayer said: “My organisation has a very established and structured approach to events – my challenge is how to rethink them so they really support engagement.” Adele Farina from CIS acknowledged the need for creating a personalised experience. “It’s important to really understand your leadership. Give them what they want so they can walk into an event and feel good,” she said.
Opening speakers at Exclusively Corporate, sponsored by Destination DC, were Kim Arazi from sensory innovation collective innosensi and Pigalle Tavakkoli from the School of Experience Design. Together they delivered a session sharing examples of their inventive approaches to events. Their specially designed ‘edible icebreaker’ was used to demonstrate how to use food to create multi-sensory engagement and embed positive memories.
Arazi said: “What we’re often missing in events is a deeper connection. There are many creative ways to use food, to not only nourish and energise delegates, but to tell a story, support learning and challenge perceptions.”
Exploring the ‘expectation economy’
While attendees were immersed in dimensions of the experience economy at Exclusively Corporate, association professionals were being introduced to the ‘expectation economy’ at Association Focus, sponsored by Amsterdam Convention Bureau. Keynote and futurist Henry Coutinho-Mason told the audience: “We live in an expectation economy – your competition isn’t other associations or organisers – it’s the companies, the brands, the start-ups that are creating best-in-class expectations around our basic human needs. Look at innovations to understand how they’re changing fundamental human needs and wants.”
His session at the dedicated day of education for association planners focused on ‘thriving in the AI era’. “AI will not be a technological story – it will be a human story,” he explained. “The organisations that win will be the ones that use AI to empower their employees and members to do things better.”
Bel Hanson from the International Society for Computational Biology detailed how her organisation is using AI. “There are just five of us supporting over 4,000 members, so we use AI to help with tasks like marketing copy and translation.”
Adapting event models
Discussions also centred on the global business landscape and how association planners are adapting their event models and approaches. Hanson explained: “One of the ongoing challenges in 2025 is ensuring global equity and access for our members when planning events – deciding where to hold them, balancing finances, and making sure we’re meeting the needs of members around the world.”
Association Focus featured two tracks, one devoted to meetings and events, the other to management and leadership. The programme wrapped with a look at ‘the personal side of leadership’ including the critical skills leaders need to navigate disruption while maintaining wellbeing and leading with authenticity, especially in times of complexity and rapid change.
Photo: Henry Coutinho-Mason at Association Focus in Frankfurt, 19 May
