This year’s Imex Association Day will be held at the Messe Frankfurt Congress Centre. This important annual event allows association buyers and planners to participate in a tailor-made education and networking programme. Concurrent and themed sessions for 2010 include: Strategic Global Planning for Associations; How to Decide where to Hold International Congresses and Leveraging Conference Content Online.
The day’s educational programme will also include ‘Convention 2020 Research - A Snapshot of The Future of Association Meetings’. Following the educational element, suppliers from recognised association partners of Imex will be invited to network with Association Day guests. This evening drinks reception frequently draws up to 700 people and has become the unofficial start of the show, taking place as it does the night before opening.
Industry leaders and politicians attending this year’s Imex Politicians Forum will hear the views of panellists including Hein Verbruggen, president of SportAccord and honorary member of the International Olympic Committee and Bruce Baird, MP, Australia. Both have extensive experience of the impact a major sporting event can have on a destination and its long-term legacy and will share their insights with delegates.
2010 will also see a total of 13 separate Imex-MPI Future Leaders Forums taking place around the world. The forum’s mission is to help inform and unite the next generation of industry leaders to give them valuable insight into the industry and position them to lead it in the future. The global programme now includes internships, an International University Challenge competition and a global mentoring network.
Imex 2010 will present a choice of 17 German language seminars addressing issues facing the industry in Germany. The programme has been devised by the German Convention Bureau.
Imex has also taken the market’s appetite for environmental education and green suppliers into account by developing a new green education and awareness programme with workshops and discussions.
Exhibitors will also be able to apply for a new Green Ribbon scheme this year if their stands meet a number of criteria.
Other seminars and presentations will include Women’s Forum sessions on ‘How to develop your personal branding’ plus a cross-cultural seminar on ‘Getting a competitive edge from culture’ by Richard Lewis Communications.
A team from the COP15 taskforce will look at ‘How to implement extremely sustainable events that transform a destination’ and share the lessons learned from the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009.
Teachings from New York Times Bestselling book ‘Influencer’ will also be presented and a number of industry associations will be delivering seminars including CIC’s ‘In alphabet soup’ and DMAI’s ‘How to establish and build a CVB’.
The Professional Development and Innovation Pavilion is again expected to be extremely popular. Sponsored by the CIC (Convention Industry Council) it will also host Imex’s new Meetings Under the Microscope education programme. Launched last year, this scheme aims to help meeting planners keep up to date with the latest ideas and advice on how to improve meeting content delivery and information retention. One of this year’s speakers will be graphic facilitator, Andrew Parks of Cognitive Media.
Earlier this year Imex joined forces with ICCA and Fast Future to fund and support an important new piece of global research.
The ‘Convention 2020’ Strategic Foresight Study will look in detail at the conventions industry in 10 years’ time. The study is being conducted by a large team from research and trends company Fast Future. Its CEO, Rohit Talwar, will present six different seminars, each detailing the study’s first phase findings.
Also new this year is a partnership with i-Meet, the industry’s largest online social network. This will enable Imex hosted buyers to network with each other and share ideas in a private online environment both before and after the exhibition. Imex will create a ‘community within the community’ at i-Meet, and offer various ways for attendees to join.