The ninth edition of IMEX will open on 24 May at Frankfurt Messe. It is a momentous year for the flagship show as IMEX America will also launch in Las Vegas in October.
Organiser IMEX Group says it is expecting a strong turnout at the Frankfurt show. Last year’s event claimed 9,000 visitors and 3,800 hosted buyers from 60 countries. IMEX Chairman Ray Bloom tells CMW: “We have aimed to both increase the strength of our hosted buyer programme and, importantly, the quality and buying power of those buyers who come. As each year goes by the global market changes and influential new markets and sectors emerge.
“We have continued this year to invest in the technology that drives communications and business between exhibitors and buyers; the quality and type of industry partnerships we need to leverage and the relevance and scope of our educational offerings.”
Twenty new hosted buyer groups are confirmed for 2011. These new buyers include CWT Group, Ring Hotels and Sport Accord.
New exhibitors this year include Tanzania, Malla Travel and Trek Services Nepal, Eventsforce and Showcare Event Management. Thailand, Paris, Moscow, Hungary, The Netherlands and Switzerland have all increased their stand sizes. This year’s Wild Card Winners, three destinations which are new to the international meetings and conventions market who won a free exhibition place at the show, are Mongolia, Budva in Montenegro and Jurmala in Latvia.
Education
The market-education programme will feature 80 sessions, including a new Woman’s Leadership Forum led by Liz Jackson, President of Jackson Consulting, and Susan Sarfati, CEO of High Performance Strategies. Other seminars will include ‘Build your perfect events team’ and ‘The success pie’. A new addition to the IMEX education programme will be the ‘hot topic campfires’. These are 30-minute sessions which will be available to 10-12 visitors offering an intimate setting to discuss subject matter with experts and peers.
The annual IMEX Association Day, which takes place the day before the show opens is expected to attract 300 international and European association meeting buyers. The day’s education programme is co-ordinated by the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) and concurrent seminar topics include ‘Lessons from cutting-edge medical congresses’ and ‘Product development within associations’.
A new mobile phone app has been developed for the show in partnership with Meeting Professionals International (MPI). It will allow users of smartphones, iPhones and Blackberries additional information about the show, plus a direct link to their IMEX online diaries.
Bloom says: “The fundamental ethos of IMEX in Frankfurt is that it exists to help buyers and exhibitors do business more efficiently than they could possibly do elsewhere or by any other means, and that has never changed.”
To see the photos from day one, click here.
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