IMEX Frankfurt to put planners in the driving seat for change with 2023 education programme

Embracing change is fast becoming a core skill in today’s business climate. The education programme at IMEX Frankfurt this May is responding to that need by focusing on helping planners navigate their way through change, both professionally and personally. The IMEX 2023 Talking Point – Human Nature – provides a steer for education and activity at this year’s Frankfurt show, which takes place 23–25 May. Running as a thread throughout the show, the Talking Point celebrates the innate human need to meet face to face and its ensuing benefits, from driving business growth to creating lifelong, global connections. The result is a new set of education tracks reflecting the way people now live and work. Event Marketing is a brand-new addition, while Technology and Innovation; Trends and Research and Experience Design are tried and tested tracks. A new Business Practices track will include the ever-popular Event Planner Toolkit while a People and Planet track will specifically address Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), Professional and Personal Development, Leadership, Culture and Engagement, Wellbeing and Sustainability. The education programming has been crafted in a variety of formats, from solo presenters to duos and panels, workshops, co-labs and ideation sessions, all designed to serve diverse learning approaches. The full range of speakers and sessions are now live online. The day before IMEX Frankfurt, on Monday 22 May, is dedicated to specific buyer audiences from the global events community. The opening plenary session at Association Focus, sponsored by Messe Frankfurt and delivered in association with ICCA, AC Forum, AMC Institute, ASAE and ESAE, will bring together industry sustainability experts and associations to share practical ways of reducing the carbon footprint of events. Senior speakers from Meta, EY, Google, Microsoft and Salesforce are among the global brands spearheading an  interactive programme for corporate event planners and senior leaders. At Exclusively Corporate, the future of corporate events, digital vs live and the metaverse all top the agenda. Microsoft’s Bob Bejan and Salesforce’s Charlotte Pedersen who will go head-to-head in The tale of two titans – the evolution of event strategy and experience design. Moderator Nicola Kastner explains: “Very rarely do we have an opportunity to learn from two massive tech brands taking such radically different approaches to their events.” This year’s Agency Directors Forum is redesigned to meet the prevailing business needs of senior agency professionals and the discussion will focus on business management issues. Hot topics are set to include people and talent management; succession planning; business drivers, trends and technology and new business strategies, plus new revenue generation models. New co-located events for 2023 include MICE Impact Academy, an invite-only education event for German planners, and ELX (Event Leaders Exchange). ELX’s two-year old community of senior event corporate event leaders from 3,000+ headcount organisations with $3billion+ annual revenue will meet at the show for the first time. Headline sessions include Rock Your Business Founder, Brian Allan (pictured), who adapted his Choral Singing Workshops to help Ukrainian refugee children in Poland. To date he has conducted workshops for over 10,000 children to raise funds to open weekend centres around Poland where these children can receive musical therapy. Carina Bauer, CEO of the IMEX Group, said: “In the current climate, we’re all dealing with an increased pace of change. The choice is how we frame the changes that face us at any point in time. Our learning programme at IMEX Frankfurt has been designed with great detail and care to guide people and help them embrace change to benefit their lives, their teams and their events.” The education at IMEX in Frankfurt is free of charge and open to all. Full details can be found here. Check out the highlights here. IMEX Frankfurt takes place 23–25 May. To register – for free – click here.