The IBTM World Conference is the leading global event for the meeting, incentives, conferences and events industry. This year it was held in Barcelona, from the 19th till the 21st of November. Over the course of three days, industry professionals had the opportunity to network, discuss the latest trends and innovations in event technology, to inspire and to share knowledge and education with colleagues from all around the globe.
ICCA World Forum for young professionals
The ICCA IBTM #FYP18 programme took place before IBTM World in Barcelona. The programme included a series of seminars and discussions, led by Industry experts all discussing relevant topics in the MICE Industry to inform and inspire future young professionals in the industry. Patrick Delaney led an interactive, energetic session on the topic of ‘Networking’ which took place at the Valkiria Innovation hub. Pádraic Gilligan also spoke about destination Marketing and Aoife McCrum led a round table discussion on the topic of Social Media.
Aoife also also took over the @ICCAWorld Social Media accounts, including the @ICCAWorld Twitter and Instagram accounts, where she shared highlights from the Future Young Leader Programme.
SITE Global
Pádraic and Aoife represented the SITE marketing team at the IBTM trade show, where Aoife McCrum led a social Media Clinic at the SITE booth, sharing her social Media knowledge and advice.
Networking
The 2018 Tech Watch Awards
IBTM World announced the winners of the prestigious 2018 Tech Awards. Zenus and Fielddrive were announced joint winners of the Award from a shortlist of nine finalists, for their pioneering and impactful work in bringing facial recognition software to the events industry. The very first Tech Watch ‘People’s choice’ award went to Kubify. Pádraic Gilligan was one of the judges on the panel alongside other high-profile professionals from the events and technology industry.
Check out the full article here: https://www.eventindustrynews.com/news/ibtm-world-announces-winners-of-2018-tech-watch-awards
Wrap Up
According to the IBTM press release, IBTM World 2018 closed having broken records both for the number of pre-scheduled meetings and across its Hosted Buyer programme. Over 77,650 pre-scheduled business meetings took place over the three-day event, with exhibitors and event planners reporting extremely positively on both the quantity and quality of meetings taking place. This year exhibitors from 150 countries attended, including some major names taking stands for the first time. 54 percent of Hosted Buyers were participating in the programme for the first time this year – up 20 per cent on 2017. 50 per cent of Hosted Buyers were completely new to the IBTM portfolio, an increase of 16 per cent year-on-year. The IBTM World 2019 will take place again from 19-20th of November 2019 at Fira Gran Via in Barcelona.