Forum Business Travel reveals the latest trends in the events market at EIBTM in Barcelona
Congresses and conventions are no longer what they used to be. The trend comes from the United States but is beginning to catch on in Europe and, incipiently, in Spain. The organizing committee decides less and less and the future participants decide more and more. The content is adapted to the interest of the guests thanks to online tools and social networks.
Congresses and conventions where delegates take advantage of the slightest opportunity to escape from the conference room have their days numbered. Companies, associations and societies are starting to give more importance to the prior preparation of their events by listening to their potential attendees in order to meet their real needs.
Jesús María Gómez, president-elect of Meeting Professionals International (MPI) and speaker at Forum Business Travel, provides the keys to the meetings of the future that are already starting to become the present.““
They have more and more weight in the strategic organization of congresses and events those who do not go, because they follow their development virtually, social networks and the media, explains the speaker.
Gómez explained in the framework of the fair EIBTM, held from November 29 to December 1 in Barcelona, that Spanish companies are learning to value the return on the investment they make in holding their events. To this end, the new meetings prioritize the design of the content, giving participants the ability to express their knowledge interests, and an advanced log log stics.
According to the Forum Business Travel expert, the meetings market is moving toward a more consistent duration cooperation of meetings, cooperation ;The cooperation between different companies and entities with common interests for the celebration of joint events and a growing attention to the sustainability of the same. “Although the penetration of corporate social responsibility is still slow in Spain, there is no turning back,&rdquo, says Gómez.
In the current economic situation, companies have reduced their marketing budgets. Jesús María Gómez points out that they “apply the magnifying glass to everything that is contracted, sometimes not very productively, because you can't spend an hour discussing the price of photocopies,” he ironizes.
To improve meeting results, Forum Business Travel recommends a greater collaboration with suppliers, in a “peer-to-peer relationship”. It is the “only way to foster “smart buying”, accordingún Gómez. “Sometimes the best suppliers in your segment are not the most suitable for a certain customer”, he added.
At the session, which was attended by travel managers and event organizers from large and medium-sized Spanish companies, representatives of tourism suppliers endorsed this criterion.
“The supplier can contribute to the return on investmentón of events by helping to buy well, not giving problems and being very reliable”, underlinedó Hugo Rovira, vice president of Global Corporate Sales at Meliá Hotels International. For Rovira, “virtual and híbridged meetings are the future”.
María Ortiz, head of account management Groups & Events at American Express Barceló Viajes, notedó that “it is a necessity to be prepared for incidents and emergencies in group travel. They can have a very negative impact on the outcome of the event”.
For his part, Xavier Larruy, head of Key Accounts in Catalonia at Halcón Empresas, stressed that “the travel agenda can contribute to savings in the cost of events with appropriate technological solutions and tools for information and expense control”.