Essential reading for destination leaders interested in building stronger relationships with national or city policymakers: 120 Business Events association and destination marketing leaders and 20 policymakers (a mix of ministers and MPs, mayors and councillors, senior civil servants and advisors) met during IMEX in Frankfurt to discuss the practical steps our sector could take to…
Held during the 2025 IMEX Policy Forum in Frankfurt, this high-level interview with urbanist, author and global advisor Prof Greg Clark CBE FAcSS provides essential geopolitical and socioeconomic context for understanding the future potential direction of Business Events and what destinations that wish to strengthen their competitive positioning need to do. “A multiplication of opportunity…
Ex-UFI CEO turned industry thought-leader Kai Hattendorf was ubiquitous at this year’s IMEX, challenging the industry to up its game in terms of global advocacy, arguing that this is even more critical than ever during a time of geopolitical flux and uncertainty, and then eloquently demonstrating in a series of interviews how to frame the…
From Thoughts & Observations on Business Events with Kai Hattendorf: Today is the 10th “Global Exhibitions Day”. It was launched in 2016 by UFI to bring together many actors across the trade show ecosystem that had been mulling a joint advocacy activity for a while. Now, every year, exhibition professionals in more than 100 countries…
From Northstar Meetings Group: During the IMEX Frankfurt 2025 trade show, Virginie De Visscher, executive director, business events, for Destination Canada, sat down with Northstar Meetings Group editor Lisa Grimaldi to share insight into her organization’s goals for tracking the impact that meetings, conventions and incentives have on destinations. During their conversation, she discussed new…
The 2025 IMEX Gala was the setting for the sector’s leading associations to present awards recognising star individuals within their communities who are raising awareness of the enormous long-term economic and societal impact of business and scientific events, amongst both policymakers and citizens.
From Destination Canada: At IMEX Frankfurt, we shared insights that are reshaping how the global business events community thinks about legacy. Destination Canada’s Virginie De Visscher, together with The Iceberg, #MEET4IMPACT and GainingEdge revealed Year 2 findings of the Legacy & Impact Study—a groundbreaking initiative spotlighting the beyond-tourism benefits of business events.
The two of the three most important umbrella organisations for the business events sector, Events Industry Council and Joint Meetings Industry Council announced at IMEX 2025 a joint programme of advocacy, research and sustainability standards, including working together with Oxford Economics on the 2026 Economic Significance of Business Events Industry report, which will provide worldwide…
IMEX CEO and Iceberg Trustee, Carina Bauer, sets the scene for what will be a barometer of market sentiment in light of geopolitics. Filmed at AIME 2025 in Melbourne, much water has passed under the Yarra River bridge since. Nevertheless, Bauer reflects the ability of the sector to maintain its positivity. The theme of the…
Powered by 
