EMEC 2021 | On-Demand Access

We are delighted that Robbert will start the day and officially declare EMEC 2021 open. 

This is the first-ever virtual edition of EMEC and is, therefore, a significant moment. Join us as he virtually cuts the ribbon and we get underway. After Robbert concludes his comments he will introduce our virtual hosts, Alastair Greener and Tiffany Kemp. They will help you to understand how to make the most of your virtual experience.

By now we have all experienced the virtual world of communicating whether we are working remotely and/or keeping in contact with friends and family.

What do you think of it? Have you found it more tiring than face to face meetings? Have you discovered a problem with boundaries such as working even longer hours or not taking breaks or others in your house interrupting you? Perhaps you’ve found it hard to express yourself appropriately online?

The good news is that science has developed some insights and answers that you may be interested in.
By the end of this talk you will have a clearer idea about what is happening to us when communicating virtually and know how to better express yourself emotionally, how to avoid virtual fatigue and how to put boundaries in place so that you thrive.

After a year with way too much time to think and not enough business, now is the moment to have a vital meeting with yourself. If you want success in the new-normal (whatever that means), you’ve got to radiate confidence, passion and inspiration.

That’s easier said than done, when you’ve had the toughest year ever and when the truth is you really need to make some money. Lots of it. And now.

But the more you’re in a hurry, the more important it becomes to dig deep into you. Because you cannot afford to have a watered-down version of you running the show. Lukewarm, watered-down you is not going to create the success your bank balance (and your soul) really craves.

Event data is incredibly valuable. It is essential in helping organisations understand exactly what is happening at their events and how they can improve things in the future. But with virtual and hybrid events now thrown into the mix, managing data is increasingly becoming a complex issue.

Event planners are collecting more data than ever before. Sponsors and exhibitors are asking for more data to justify ROI. Attendees are getting more concerned about what data they share online – and as in-person events resume, Covid restrictions will force organisers to be a lot more careful on what data they collect from on-site attendees.

This session will unveil the results of a new research study by Eventsforce investigating the changing role of data across events and why good data management will be critical for your post Covid-19 event strategy. It will explore what steps organisers can take to get more value out of their event data and see some of the growth opportunities a good data management strategy will bring to their events over the coming few years.

The events industry is now full of questions most of us never thought we would have to ask: How can we be sure when it is safe to meet face-to-face? How can we inspire confidence in employees and volunteers, as well as attendees in returning to physical event spaces? How can event professionals give confidence to organisations that their staff will be in safe hands at an event?

These questions have levelled the industry to a certain extent; many organisations have made a giant leap into an unknown world (for them) of virtual events. They will be feeling their way towards successful solutions to the questions above for some time rather than relying on wealth of experience, knowledge and networks as they did previously. As we reach these crossroads, we need to make informed decisions. Despite the surrounding volatility and uncertainty there is a vast amount of knowledge and experience we can utilise from the study of organisational psychology to help. We apply thinking behind marketing, strategy, finance, project management and customer service to event design and delivery all the time, but there is so much to be applied from research and practice on leadership, motivation, change management and emotional intelligence.

This session explores the significant implications of understanding smaller-scale thought processes, behaviours and relationships, in order to take some of the fear out of facing the above ‘big questions’ head on. We will identify explore attendees’ readiness to return to face-to-face events, and begin to develop a toolkit so they can understand others’.

For decades, business gurus have told us that in order to succeed, you have to "look the part" of the role you're trying to play. For many, that was a suit and tie, pantsuit, or other semi-formal outfit. For others, it's just a nice dress shirt and dark jeans or a neat, but more casual dress. And yet even after a year of almost exclusively online meetings, so many of our executives and event industry colleagues show up to their online meetings in the digital equivalent of flip-flop sandals: up-the-nose camera angles, poor-quality audio, lighting that makes them look like they're being interrogated in a police drama, and choppy wifi. The new "dress for success" is caring about how you look and sound online- and not just for our events!

We are in-between meeting in a pandemic and the world being vaccinated and this means we are in deeply uncharted waters.

This session will happen in 15 minutes and offer up 10 ideas for meeting safely in a world that is partially vaccinated, with varied levels of comfort for meetings, eating and eventing right now. This will be based on the lessons learned from our first live event with SITE in 15 months.

Traditionally, leadership roles and titles were bestowed upon people based on their seniority, experience, results achieved, or rank in an organization. In today’s digital age, anyone can be a creator, communities are constantly interacting, and something as simple as a tweet can start a movement. In our always online, hyper-connected climate, having the ability to take an idea, craft it into a vision, and lead a team, usually when nobody asked you to, is a crucial skill that will help you stand out from the crowd.

Join Anh Nguyen, catalyst behind the #GMIDGoesVirtual movement, founder of the #EventProfsBreakShit community, and head of engagement at twine, as she shares her unique approach towards grassroots, community-focused leadership. In this session, you’ll learn that you don’t need to be a senior VP, executive, CEO, or President to be a leader. You’ll learn that anyone can take an idea, build a shared purpose for your team, and motivate and inspire them to accomplish it.

This is a top-notch panel. Every single member has great experience and knowledge of running events, the business of events, and the wider strategic issues that the sector needs to address.

Where is the sector heading? What are the key issues and where are the opportunities? And, how relevant is the work of event professionals?

You can be sure that we have some hard-hitting questions ready. The beauty of this session is that whilst the panel members have a big soft spot for the events sector, they are ‘distant’ enough from it to be our critical friends to help provide guidance and advice on what needs to happen next.

Through their constructive comments, you will see events in a new light.

In this session, Jessie States will be in conversation with MPI’s President and CEO Paul Van Deventer and Stephen Revetria, who is the current Chairman of MPI. Between them they have stacks of experience and insights to share.

The global pandemic has severely impacted the events sector. No one has come away unscathed. However, MPI has always had a global outlook helping event professionals at all stages of their careers. Today MPI is more important than ever in being the organisation that helps those professionals cross borders, continents and oceans. Collaboration and having a world view has never been more important. Find out how these senior leaders of MPI see the international opportunities available to you and discover how you can get more involved and develop your career.

In this session Paul will reflect on some of the issues that have been raised and what that means for you and as importantly for how you want to help shape the events sector.

He will ask that you take action as a result of attending EMEC 2021. It isn’t a big request just a natural one. Little point in attending a virtual conference unless you are going to do something with the insights, thoughts and stories that have been shared.

But don’t worry you can keep your actions to yourself. There is no need for anything to be shared. This is the time for you to sit back and reflect.

In the fast paced world of events, sometimes we need to take a breath, stop and be grateful for all that we have. The desire to always improve, always keep moving and always keep being better than you were before is tiring.

Being involved in MPI means that you can stop and celebrate key moments. You can be with kindred spirits and people that understand what it means to be an events professional. There is a lot to be grateful for.

In this session we offer our thanks to those people that have helped us and we take a look at what we can do to help others.

But it’s not all about words, we have some a surprise or two in store in this session.

As the virtual production heads into the final stages, we look forward to the closing comments of Annette Gregg, Senior Vice President, Experience for MPI.

Closing comments can often be overlooked but you don’t want to miss the thoughts and sentiment of Annette. She is an inspirational presence and is sure to help us end a thought-provoking event on a big note.

And let’s not forget she will be announcing the winners of the challenges. You better stay tuned.