Exclusively Corporate at IMEX, the dedicated event for event and travel planners (corporate), has been redeveloped for IMEX in Frankfurt 2017. The IMEX team has collaborated with planners from across the globe to gather views and experiences, creating a new, free of charge, one day programme for the show.
Some of the challenges raised by event and meeting executives included the need to create a fresh event experience be it through new technology, emerging destinations or unique venues – all on an ever-decreasing budget.
The newly bespoke programme for Exclusively Corporate at IMEX reflects these issues with speakers drawn from companies including Cisco, GSK, Lego, Dell, AstraZeneca, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Estée Lauder, EY, BNP Paribas and Barclays. All will share their experiences in a series of in-depth 45-minute sessions. The case study focused panel sessions then lead to opportunities for attendees to brainstorm and generate ideas with their peers.
The dedicated education and networking programme begins on Sunday 14 May with a networking dinner hosted by Hilton. Attendees then begin Monday 15 May with breakfast hosted by Dubai followed by a full day of free education on topics such as delivering ROI, creative event formats, new technologies, security risk and emerging destinations and trends. After a series of group sessions, the education then splits into two streams with sessions on strategic global programme management for senior event professionals and operational issues for event managers.
Planners can then explore IMEX in Frankfurt, which takes place 16–18 May at Messe Frankfurt. With 3,500 exhibitors from 160 countries under one roof, the show enables visitors to discover new destinations and suppliers and see the latest technologies designed for the events industry.
Attendees find Exclusively Corporate at IMEX an invaluable opportunity to meet and share ideas with other executives in the same role, as Alise Long, CMM, Manager Strategic Meetings & Events at DSM in the Netherlands, who took part last year explains: «Exclusively Corporate at IMEX is one of the pinnacles of IMEX in Frankfurt. There are three or four times a year when I can step away from my office and this is one that I value. I like to get together with my peers».
Alise Long returns this year as one of the speakers who’ll discuss how to build and manage a global team as well as exploring which technology trends are shaping the future of events.
Carina Bauer, CEO of the IMEX Group, summarises: «This year’s agenda has been researched and developed with much more detail and input from past attendees. We’ve focused on the biggest challenges that in house marketing, travel and event executives are facing in 2017 and developed an extremely current and detailed programme for them. This is a great opportunity for professionals to benefit from a high quality, free of charge education programme – something which is particularly valuable in the face of decreasing training budgets across many organisations.
«As with every aspect of our shows, we collaborate closely with our attendees to ensure our offering remains relevant and provides the support and inspiration our various audiences need to have the best possible experience. We’re also supported by some fantastic sponsors. Their contributions are vital as they allow us to serve this influential group of buyers and planners with a unique programme that also recognises the fact these planners rarely ever have the chance to meet or talk to each other».