Ondertussen in Spanje: 310 eventprofs ontmoeten elkaar op grootste live event van dit jaar

De Meeting Incentive Summit had als thema het reactiveren van de eventindustrie in Spanje. Grupo eventoplus, mediapartner van EventBranche.nl, kijkt tevreden terug en heeft naar eigen zeggen laten zien dat het kan: veilig evenementen organiseren, ook als we nog in de pandemie zitten. 

“A professionally organised meeting is one of the safest place to be: multi-layered security measures, highly responsible attendees, full traceability and antigen tests conducted less than 24 hours before the event; all provide a level of reassurance. The MICE industry is important sector as it helps companies to communicate, sell, train, drive loyalty, motivate, etc…, but it has to return to business with safety measures in place, and we have shown that it is possible,” comments Eric Mottard, Co-Founder and CEO of Grupo eventoplus.

Een kijkje achter de veiligheidsmaatregelen op het event:

• all attendees, including the organisation staff and on-site crew, had to show a negative antigen test result done in less than 24-hour before the event.
• All attendees were provided a free test in clinics where they are based, as well as tests on-site.
• At the entrance, attendees were also given FFP2 masks which they had to wear it throughout the entire duration of the event.
• Distancing was also applied in the distribution of the venue and the placements of the furniture.
• Ventilation was enhanced not just by the high ceiling and the system of the hotel, but windows were left opened to maximise the air circulation.
• Lunch was also organised in another room to allow air renovation.

Het evenement bestond onder meer uit 1-op-1 meetings tussen inkopers en eventbedrijven. Daarvoor werd een platform ontwikkeld zodat een ieder een eigen meetingagenda kon beheren.

'These meetings are important for buyers to find out about the new market offers as well as to renew relationships which had been kept in a remote mode since the pandemic. Reactivation also come in educational topics such as storytelling, keys to return to travelling in meetings, the future of medical meetings, the key sanitary measures to put in place in meetings, how will international meetings come back to Spain,… New and fun formats were also experimented in both the face-to-face and online events: speed networking (mini-meetings of two minutes between two participants and when time was up, they moved on to get to know another participant, an effective networking activity); elevator pitch of 30 seconds by exhibitors which allowed buyers to get to know the many offers in a short time; bullet points sessions by destinations with 3 key takeaway messages, a fun online trivial with 4 contestants connected to play vía zoom while the audience were also able to put their meeting knowledge to the test through the event platform at the same time; a “breakout” photocall where attendees shared their professionally taken photos in their social networks which helped to make #meetMIS a trending topic.'

Varend op de hybride event trend werd na de dag vol live ontmoetingen, ook een online event georganiseerd. In de online setting ook de combinatie van inhoud, kennis en netwerken. 'During the online event, one-to-one meetings were conducted via videocalls in the event platform, small debates were held in “chat rooms”, presentations were short yet dynamic, a Virtual Café was created where participants could take a break and network with other professionals, thanks to staff from Grupo eventoplus who were always there to make introductions. Fun was also injected with an improv activity with content generated by the participants and a live band that played the 5 most voted songs from a playlist. An online event has the challenge of retaining attention. It is very important to ensure that the content is dynamic, the programme has a good rhythm and different formats are introduced to engage the participants. And that was just what we did', comments Lynn Wong, Co-Founder and Director of Communication and Events in Grupo eventoplus.

En de harde cijfers van dit evenement:

8,029 messages were sent between participants

10,842 interactions

2,376 meetings requested

85 exhibiting companies

310 participants at the face-to-face event

159 connected to the streaming of the programme while one-to-one meetings continued within the platform