Bahaa Okasha
PLACEHOLDER
Category: Opinions
IMEX: They Continue to Really Do It Right
What makes an event worthy of being a role model? David Adler reflects on IMEX America and the people behind its success, making the case for a different way to think about events. He introduces the idea of a “Lovemark Event” and explores what the industry can learn from one that gets it right.
Why Have So Many Meetings Failed to Evolve?
The Iceberg Curator Martin Sirk is interviewed by Jan Orsic and Gorazd Cad on a range of industry issues, from AI as enabler vs barrier, to why we persist in organising and attending sub-par meetings that fail to extract and utilise even a fraction of the intellectual capital they’ve spent so much effort gathering together.
The Story That Was Still Happening
What happens when an association’s impact continues long after we have stopped watching? Ksenija Polla explores how Women Deliver conferences have helped spark political commitments, mobilise communities and advance the rights and health of women and girls, and considers why the true impact of a meeting often unfolds months or years later.
Do Meta Glasses Belong at Events?
In this episode of The Meeting Room podcast, host James Lancaster talks with Tamar Beck, CEO of events marketing agency Gleanin, about one of the most pressing privacy and risk-related issues facing our sector, exploring what can be done to ensure attendees feel safe and secure in the age of covert surveillance.
Why Ireland’s Association Strategy Goes Beyond Economic Impact
Fáilte Ireland’s Ciara Gallagher explains why focusing on ambassadors, legacy, sustainability and societal impact makes good business sense from a tourism-metrics perspective as well as in terms of inward investment, positive healthcare outcomes, scientific progress and identifying concrete solutions to important societal challenges. From Conference & Meetings World…
JMIC: One Size Fits All Does Not Work Anymore
Executive Director Dorian Kronenwerth outlines JMIC’s priorities for the years ahead, and argues that the future of business events depends on speaking with one voice. He sets out how JMIC plans to turn stronger advocacy, sustainability and collaboration into practical tools that help the global events industry demonstrate its value. From Headquarters Magazine…
Beyond ROI: Can We Measure What an Event Does To People?
Can an event change the way people think, feel and behave – and, crucially, can we measure it? One UK festival is putting this question to the test, asking attendees whether exposure to different ideas and perspectives has shifted their outlook and behaviour. Paul Harvey, M&IT, asks whether we should all be following their example…
Are We Leaning Too Hard On Legacy?
AMI’s James Lancaster poses an existential question for anyone involved in business events advocacy: what if the reality for most business event organisers doesn’t align with the messaging of the industry that supports them? If we place too much emphasis on the society-wide and host destination-specific benefits, are we failing to deliver sufficiently authentic messaging?
The Event Is Over. The Impact Isn’t
BESarawak’s CEO Jason Tan Chin Foo elaborates on the close collaboration required between government, industry, academia and local communities to ensure business events create meaningful and lasting benefits, creating opportunities to improve lives, strengthen communities and influence future services. From M&C Asia…
The Wonderful Responsibility…That You Need to Take Seriously
Crisis and leadership communication expert Marjie Hadad gives an outsider’s perspective and issues a strong wake-up call to the Business Events sector, arguing that we need to craft far more effective messaging, tailored carefully for every key audience and group of stakeholders, with local voices but high-level consistency of our key talking-points. Business Events leaders…
Associations Commons: An Essential Portal for Asia-Pacific Associations and Their Perspectives
Peng Ee Ooi outlines the unfulfilled needs that led to the creation of Associations Commons as a portal for associations in the Asia-Pacific region to share their perspectives, challenges, and solutions with one another. Western know-how and methodologies are often not easily translatable, for cultural or economic reasons, into Asian scenarios, whereas local associations have…
Inspiring Global Visitor Economy Leadership
Y.T. Anderson, of Visit Northern Finland & Oulu Convention Bureau, reflects on City DNA’s 40th Summer School, designed for newcomers to business events. He shares insights into the changing models of destination leadership, the shift from bednight-driven metrics to societal impact, and the growing influence of the new generation of future leaders in our sector.
Why Legacy Has to Be Engineered, Not Left to Chance
Destination Canada’s Virginie De Visscher calls for the wider industry to adopt the lessons from the first three years of their unique study into international event impact and legacy. The biggest surprise in the research: the power of inclusion and diversity during planning, creating and delivering events. From Conference & Meetings World…
Conferences: An Antidote to Our Digital Derangement
AMI’s James Lancaster argues that when so much of our professional life has been compressed into screens, feeds and notifications, conferences seem a little quaint – people travelling for hours to sit beside colleagues, listen to someone imparting information and then chat about it over a coffee. But this quaintness increasingly looks like the point.
What If the Main Purpose of Place Branding Is Not Recognition
Ihor Chava from Kyiv School of Economics argues that the primary purpose of place branding is not to shape a new image for a destination, but to create a space where all place stakeholders can align themselves around a shared vision, agree on the highest priorities and collectively nurture civic pride. From CityNationPlace…
The Future of Conferences Isn’t Bigger, It’s More Meaningful
Meeting design guru Adrian Segar argues the meetings industry has spent decades measuring success as a matter of volume: more attendees, more exhibitors, more sponsors, more square footage. But bigger events don’t necessarily create greater value for the people who attend. Segar puts forward his predictions for the rise of delegate-centred success metrics.
Context Creates Value: Connecting Destination Expertise and Events
GCB Managing Director Schultze argues that while the world of business events has access to more data than ever before, and destination and venue information is widely available, the real value emerges only when different data sources are connected and placed into a meaningful context. Schultze outlines what Germany is doing to illuminate these connections.
Informa’s Diversification Thesis Meets a Major Test
Kai Hattendorf conducts a deep dive into Informa’s recent state-of-business report for the first half of 2026, drawing our attention to the impact of geopolitics on global trade show sector performance, and the company’s strategic and tactical decisions on issues such as event postponement vs cancellation, regional prioritisation and differentiation, and risk management.
Don Welsh, Coach and Showman in Chief
Destinations International’s President & CEO Don Welsh shares his personal business philosophy and his views on the future role of convention bureaux or DMOs. Leaders of these organisations will need to evolve into “alternative mayors”, ringmasters of the complex institutional relationships that make up modern place leadership in destinations large and small. From GatheringPoint.news…
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