IMEX: Examining Meetings

Tradeshows around the world aim to attract attendees not only with the showfloor, but also with educational sessions.

IMEX, billed by U.K.-based show organizer Regent Exhibitions as the essential worldwide exhibition for meetings and incentive travel, scheduled May 26-28 at Messe Frankfurt in Frankfurt, Germany, is no exception.

This year's seventh edition boasts a robust conference program. Show officials said they expect more than 3,500 exhibitors from 157 countries, and IMEX also will have more than 70 educational sessions, including the Meetings Under the Microscope series, an IMEX New Vision initiative.

“This initiative is particularly timely, both in the United States and the rest of the world, given that the meetings industry has come under pressure to justify itself from all corners of the world in recent months,” said Carina Bauer, marketing and operations director for IMEX.

The show intends to have the workshops each year, she added.

Meetings Under the Microscope includes 11 workshops addressing meetings content and audience engagement, managing emotional states and the psychology of learning, meetings environments, facilitation and preparation management.

“IMEX believed it was time to address the future of meetings in a more in-depth and detailed way,” Bauer said. “Our ambition has always been to meet the specific needs of as many different audiences within the international meetings industry as possible.”

In addition to Meetings Under the Microscope, the education program also includes seminars during the IMEX Association Day that are provided by associations from all over the world.

“The value of this participation is that the association market is especially resilient in times of economic turbulence, which is important to exhibitors,” Bauer said. “Association sessions for association members attract a new and ever-growing audience to IMEX, who then stay on at the show to network with colleagues and, of course, to research and place business.”

The American Society of Assn. Executives & The Center for Assn. Leadership is one of several associations with a seminar at IMEX.

The session, titled, “Leading Your Association into the Future – How to Survive and Thrive in Turbulent Times,” will focus on how association leaders can weather the economic recession that's reverberating around the world, said Greta Kotler, chief knowledge and strategy officer at ASAE & The Center.

Kotler will speak during the session with Rohit Talwar, a global futurist researcher and CEO of Fast Future, a think tank in the U.K.

Talwar worked with ASAE & The Center on a study of the trends that will impact associations in the future, which resulted in the book, “Designing Your Future: Key Trends, Challenges, and Choices facing Association and Nonprofit Leaders.”

“Part of what we're doing is raising awareness,” said Megan Freedman, international program director at ASAE & The Center. “By having sessions … we can expand the breadth of knowledge (around key issues).”