IMEX Panelists Discuss Meetings and the Sharing Economy — Meetings Innovation Report

The weekly Skift Meetings Innovation Report defines the future of meetings and events by deciphering disruptive strategies that improve knowledge sharing.

The Future of Meetings + Events

At IMEX Frankfurt today, I co-moderated a panel with Padraic Gilligan, managing partner of SoolNua, called: "How Can We Work With The New Sharing Economy?" The goal was to provide insight for meeting planners into the different verticals in the peer-to-peer user experience, including room, ride, food, and venue-sharing.

During the 90-minute session, the crowd submitted questions using the audience participation tools provided by the Abbitt event tech group. Not surprisingly, there were a lot of questions from planners uneasy with the idea of Airbnb due to safety, consistency, and regulatory concerns.

After the session, IMEX Group released a survey of 729 meeting professionals, stating that 35% of planners said they would not use a sharing economy service for business. Panelist Jean-Michel Petit, founder of Paris-based VizEat who we recently profiled, thought that was great. He'd imagined the number of meeting planners against sharing companies would be much higher.

Other panelists today included: Gary Schirmacher, SVP of Experient, a Maritz Travel Company; Jan Hoffmann-Keining, CMO of Spacebase; and Damian Oracki, co-founder of Showslice. Click here to access data from the sharing economy survey.

— Greg Oates, Senior Editor

Social Quote of the Day

"@Cvent agreed to be acquired for $1.65B, read more on @ReggieAggarwal's @LinkedIn"

— @Cvent on Twitter

IMEX Frankfurt 2016

Event Tech Startups Aim for Attention at IMEX Frankfurt: The IMEXPitch contest showcases new event tech in an easy-to-digest experience, and this year's event profiled a diverse range of products from digital goodie bags to smartphone translation. All IMEXPitch needs now is a bigger stage. Read more at Skift

Keen Discussions At IMEX Politicians Forum On How Destinations Are Preparing For The Future: Stuart Ayres, minister of trade and tourism for New South Wales, Australia, discussed the importance of coordinating business events and meetings industry strategy with trade and investment policies. Read more at IMEX Group

Global Beacon Alliance Launches at IMEX Frankfurt: This new organization launched with the intention of producing standards, governance, and more credible information on the effective use of beacons and other location-based technology in meetings and events. Read more at Event Industry News

French Tourism Office Launches New Meetings-Themed Video with Chef Guy Savoy: Here's your guilty pleasure of the week. Atout France launched a new meetings video at IMEX Frankfurt, with star chef Savoy ruminating on the local French lifestyle to inspire creativity and innovation. Watch at Atout France

Hospitality + Tourism

Tourism Bureaus Band Together to Promote the Meetings Industry’s Economic Impact: Global Meetings Industry Day last week was an advocacy effort by hospitality and tourism companies to promote the value of face-to-face meetings, but there should be more focus on industry insight versus marketing-speak. Read more at Skift

What It Meant for Cleveland and Philadelphia to Win National Political Conventions: Philadelphia and Cleveland have invested heavily in their downtown districts and public-private partnerships, so they’re viewing their two national political conventions as coming-out parties. Read more at Skift

Strategic Alliance of the National Convention Bureaux of Europe signs Memorandum of Understanding: Signed last week during the Global Meetings Industry Day, the new alliance agreed to promote and support knowledge-sharing among members, simplify and strengthen the approach to key markets, and enable comprehensive market research via joint activities. 

Next Generation Event UX

One Day Isn’t Enough. Make Your Conference Count All Year Round: Mightybell CEO Gina Bianchini dives deep into how conferences are evolving into year-round, "always on" media platforms to expand audience, drive reach, and facilitate more business transactions. Read more on LinkedIn

IBM and Comic-Con HQ Make for Strange Bedfellows: IBM announced a new deal this week with Hollywood producer Lionsgate, revolving around IBM’s cloud platform supporting the new Comic-Con HQ video channel. Read more at Fortune

6 New Trends Impacting Consumer Events & Festivals: Targeted, niche events celebrate everything from the newest anime out of Japan to the latest seasonal craft beer. Even at larger events, this trend towards customization and variety has festival and event directors rethinking their methods about how to cater to attendees. Read more at Eventbrite

Tech Open Air in Berlin: A Pioneering Role for Future Conferences? This feels like someone helicoptered SXSW in Austin into Berlin. Organizers for the tech event crowdsourced programming ideas from the community, leading to a broad range of new integrations highlighting art, music, and science. Read more at German Convention Bureau

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The Skift Meetings Innovation Report is curated by Skift senior editor Greg Oates [go@skift.com]. The newsletter is emailed every Wednesday.

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