CELEBRATING its 25th year, EIBTM2012 will once again open doors from November 27-29 in Barcelona, Spain bringing the best possible business opportunities for suppliers and buyers. Besides which the show will offer three days of education and networking for this year’s Association Programme with highlights that include the return of the Great Association Debate and a keynote about the importance and value of certification to members and the industry.
“For the first time we are offering everyone who is in Barcelona for the show to attend the new EIBTM Forum, with a dynamic keynote speaker and another first – A Lifetime Achievement Award to one significant person in the meetings industry,” said Graeme Barnett, event director for EIBTM.
This year, 3,100 exhibitors from 90 countries will be meeting with approximately 9,000 meeting and event planners and buyers of which 3,960 are top-level international decision makers through the EIBTM Hosted Buyer Programme 25 years ago, EIBTM was launched in Geneva, Switzerland and when Reed Travel Exhibitions acquired the show nine years ago it moved to Barcelona.
“Some of the most notable differences, which have emerged over the past 25 years are in the overall size, diversity and appearance of the show. The global element of the show is also more evident than ever with over 150 countries represented at EIBTM 2012.”
“Another major change we have witnessed with EIBTM is the evolution of technology and its application to the show. This change is two-fold with an increasing number of meetings industry technology providers exhibiting at the show and availability of new technologies, which are being implemented to ensure the smooth running and productivity of EIBTM,” he added.
The Technology Village will also include bXb Online, the winner of this year’s Technology Watch Award which is the most high profile and longest running recognition scheme for innovation in the meetings industry worldwide.
“From the Middle East, we have 70 participating companies. Post show research from EIBTM 2011 confirmed that 45.1 per cent of all Hosted Buyers who attended specified a direct interest in placing business with exhibitors attending from this region,” added Barnett.
This year’s education programme will feature some 60 education sessions including those dedicated to Associations, Agency and Corporate planners. Some 40 sessions are open for everyone to attend. Feature sessions include Hybrid Events, the 2012 Trend Watch by Rob Davidson, The Amex Meetings Forecast for 2013, Social media and Mobile trends, The Tech Hour, ICCA Forum for Young Professionals, MPI’s session on the Future of meetings – flash forward to 2030.
“We have also introduced a story telling element to the education sessions this year, which will deliver energising and motivational experiences for the audience to encourage involvement from the audience. There will also be more focus on creativity in event production through technology and creative event design.”
“Our new partnership with ACTE (Association of Corporate Travel Executives) will, for the first time, deliver a focused number of education sessions covering travel technology in the future, business travel buying, understanding inter-departmental travel needs and top business travel trends,” added Barnett.
In addition to this a number of bite-sized sessions will be conducted from the show floor at the Sustainable Events Corner, Future Events Experience zone and new Business Travel Pavilion, allowing busy meeting planners to benefit from education content which will be presented in the form of short, direct sessions over the course of the three days.
Looking at trends from the region, the Global Meetings Industry Research report for the Gulf, Middle East and North African region, launched in March at the Gulf Incentive, Business Travel & Meetings exhibition (GIBTM), pointed to buyers and event organisers looking at increasing the volume of events, with a large number also looking at increasing their budgets for the region.
The results of the research indicated that 48.2 per cent of Middle East buyers and 47.2 per cent of global buyers said that they organised more events in the last 12 months as compared with the previous year, 64.5 per cent and 56.4 per cent respectively said that they are even looking at further increasing that volume. Supporting such an increase in the volume of events are 53.7 per cent of Middle East buyers and another 46.4 per cent of Global buyers indicating an increase in their budgets in the next 12 months.
The full results of the EIBTM Trends Watch 2012, which identifies the key trends for the meetings and incentives market and delivers insight into the global economic situation, will be presented by Rob Davidson, EIBTM Industry Analyst at EIBTM on November 27, at 11:30am-12:30pm in the main lecture theatre. The session will also be repeated on November 29, from 9am – 10am in the same location.