IMEX opens for ‘bumper’ week of business, education and networking

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The 10th IMEX in Frankfurt trade show opened on May 22 at Messe Frankfurt with its traditional focus on generating strong business opportunities for buyers and exhibitors, high-level networking events and its largest ever professional development programme.

20 new hosted buyer groups have joined the hallmark IMEX hosted programme this year, which is set to welcome almost 4000 hosted buyers from over 60 countries. 75% of buyers will attend from the key European markets with the remainder from the growing long-haul markets of the USA, Brazil, Russia, India, China and Latin America.

On the show floor 47 new exhibitor stands join the already extensive global line-up. New exhibitors include ATA Hotels, Best Western Hotels, Buy the Sea cruise lines, Hornblower New York cruise line, Jakarta Convention & Exhibition Bureau, Lithuanian Exhibition and Congress Centre, Mice Mallorca, Qatar Airways, Song Division and the Venetian Macau Resort Hotel. Brand new destination – Georgia – also joins the exhibitor line-up for the first time. A greater presence by technology exhibitors sees the technology area of the show expand by 10%.

35 existing IMEX exhibitors will be showcasing their products and services on bigger stands this year, including Atout France, Discover India, Jordan, Lufthansa, Philippines, Preferred Hotel Group, Rocco Forte Collection and Taiwan.

From the US market, Las Vegas, Texas and Visit Florida also have a stronger presence this year and Detroit, San Francisco and Visit Pittsburgh are amongst the new stands. IMEX's founding partners, the German Convention Bureau (GCB), are also exhibiting with more than 200 German meetings and event industry suppliers.

This year's IMEX education programme has been greatly expanded, with the introduction of short, small group 'campfires' of no more than 45 minutes taking place on various show floor locations - the IMEX-CIC Inspiration Centre (sponsored by Poland), the Sustainability Hub – Powered by GMIC - and the Tech Tap (co-ordinated by the Meeting Support Institute). Campfires are also scheduled on the new iPad bar, which is sponsored by QuickMobile and PSAV and designed to give quick, hands-on events and meetings app tuition, and on the Meetings Mindset stand.

IMEX's partnership with Meetings Mindset continues to expand, with CEO and Founder, Jon Bradshaw offering the chance for visitors and buyers to take a 'pitstop' on the stand. Here they have to chance to recharge and refocus on their business goals for the show using the Meetings Mindset formula of 'Prepare, Perform, Produce'. In a related activity, the Meetology Group has teamed up with IMEX to investigate and measure the psychological differences between face-to-face and virtual meetings. In a series of live, quantifiable experiments, psychologists Dr Jon Sutton and Dr Paul Redford will invite visitors to take part in short, 10 minute tests to help define the true differences in human behaviour when we meet face to face or 'virtually'.

In total over 130 different seminars, workshops and campfires are set to take place over the next three days (in addition to 17 ICCA Chapter Meetings, which took place yesterday). Just some of the highlights include: "Break, Burn or Ban the Professional Meeting Box"; "Participant Driven Incentive Travel Design for Better Results"; "Dare to Compare with El Bulli"; "Winning Ways to Win Bids" and "Destination Leadership".

Due to strong demand IMEX has increased the number of sessions offering technology or social media education this year. Among them are: "Using iPad Apps to Manage Attendees"; "Social Media Communications Strategies"; "Indoor GPS Technology"; "How 9 Events Came to Life in Less Than 2 Years out of a Twitter Community" and "Best Practices for Mobile Engagement."

The GCB is also running a three-day German language seminar programme with a full day dedicated to social media education (Wednesday 23rd May). Guest speaker, Jean Marie Pfaff, ex Bayern Munich and international goal-keeper (known in Germany as 'the David Beckham of his day') is also set to attract a strong crowd when he talks about engagement and how the discipline required in top level sport complements that required for business success.

Heightened interest in green meetings and events issues this year means that the Sustainability Hub will present 26 different sessions, among them "Scary Sustainability Stories", "Why Conference Apps Are A Must For Green Meetings" and a number of sessions dedicated to exploring the implications of various green meeting frameworks, such as BS 8901, ISO20121, Apex and ASTM.

The IMEX Green Awards – run in partnership with GMIC - will be awarded at the Gala Dinner on Wednesday evening.

Among the new research studies being presented during IMEX 2012 are the GCB/DZT Annual Meeting and Event Barometer and tmf dialogue marketing's new Mice Market Monitor (mmm) study incorporating social media trends. IMEX will also be presenting the findings from its new Power of 10 research report (tomorrow - Weds May 23rd). The study represents the largest ever foresight research study into the future of the global meetings and events industry. Conducted by Fast Future Research, and building on the findings from the Convention 2020 report, the Power of 10 research both looks back at the changes that have defined the industry over the past decade and also ahead to the next 10 years and produces a roadmap of key trends, business challenges and opportunities. Researchers conducted over 100 face-to-face and in-depth telephone interviews with industry leaders, respected practitioners, innovators, change agents and future thinkers from all sectors of the industry, as well as an extensive online survey and student essay competition.

Also new this year, and designed to capture the full 'IMEX buzz' during the week, will be the presence of IMEX TV - sponsored by Iguassu Falls. Interviews and footage will be broadcast throughout the show via the IMEX website. In addition, an 'IMEX Social Team' consisting of social media experts from Dutch company, Triqle, will be roaming the show floor helping exhibitors, visitors and buyers use social media to get even more value from attending IMEX.

A number of new services have also been introduced for the 2012 show to help visitors, buyers and exhibitors to get even more out of their time at the show. The launch of free wifi throughout halls 8 and 9 for the duration of the show allows all participants to easily access the IMEX App, plus check emails and surf the web on the go.

The next IMEX in Frankfurt takes place 21 – 23rd May 2013.

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