The Rotterdam edition of Convening EMEA featured keynote speaker, academic and economist, Noreena Hertz, who set the scene to an event designed to ensure human connection across generations and the diverse sub-groups of the PCMA community.
There was an underlying sense that there is a changing of the guard under way as Boomers prepare to exit the profession and a new generation prepares to assume control with very different needs and challenges ahead. In the video report below, Sherrif Karamat – President of PCMA – reflects on a job well done by the event’s Head of Content + Community, EMEA, Josephin van Waasen, DES – herself young enough to be his daughter.
Swapcard’s Iyortyer: “How do we find a way to have technology & human connection be a real solution?”
Building on the programme architecture introduced in Barcelona in 2024, van Waasen worked with the EMEA Board to create the spaces needed for interoperable human connections – across disciplines, clients, suppliers, and disparate age groups.
“Our community feels really engaged,” she said. “From addressing emotions we’re all feeling but no-one brings into the conversation, Convening EMEA goes places where others don’t dare to. For a lot of people that’s an afterthought. For us, that’s where it starts.”
NEW FACES, NEW SPACES
Avershima Iyortyer, Senior Account Executive at Swapcard asked. “How do we support Gen K to be able to connect with people? They’re the same generation that are all about technology so how do we find a way to have technology and human connection to be a real solution [to their sense of disconnect]?”.
The impact of the event was evident at the Closing Ceremony by way of comments from the floor including Laura Caprioli, Growth & Sustainability Manager, Visit Britain Business Events who quoted Hertz from the Opening Keynote: “In difficult times we deliver experiences that make us feel better and smarter,” concluding that “I just love that sentence and it made me think of the deeper impact of Business Events and what we do. And I think that resonated pretty well over the past few days because you could see how people valued being here.”
Convening EMEA 2026 will be hosted in Lisbon, 13-15 September.
