The Meetings Industry Association has announced the Ignite conference, set to take place on Thursday November 4th at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel, London.
Tourism minister Nigel Huddleston will be the opening guest speaker at the Meetings Industry Association’s forthcoming conference, designed to equip the sector with foresight to navigate the ongoing evolution of the events sector.
Aptly entitled ‘Ignite’, the conference will fuel the next chapter of the business meetings and events sector’s recovery, with an inspiring programme designed to demonstrate how venues, booking agents, corporates, suppliers, and destinations need to respond and evolve in order to recover.
Following Nigel Huddleston’s address, a series of pioneering futurists will take to the stage. Global innovation strategist Will Higham will unveil how venues can attract more bookings in a post-COVID environment, identifying the motives and values of the future event delegate and how to serve them. Reflecting a well-documented shift in consumer behaviour, business anthropologist Lucia Laurent-Neva will uncover how such patterns have impacted organisation’s positioning, and how brands can continue to connect with consumers.
With a new eco-system for business events, Matthias Schultze of the German Convention Bureau will proceed with an assessment of forecasted recovery scenario’s, gearing organisations with agile response plans to mitigate future risk. Beyond just business and bookings, Dr Eliza Filby will assess the future of work in a post-pandemic age, while Green Tourism’s Scott Maclean draws attention back to sustainability and Simon Stenning explores the future of foodservice.
Jane Longhurst, chief executive of the Meetings Industry Association, said: “The last 17 months have no doubt been the most challenging of times for event professionals spanning the entire supply chain. When delivering our last physical event in February 2020, the first in our Extraordinary Matters series, we didn’t quite know just how powerful all the advice, guidance and pre-cautionary measures would be, and we have very much set out to replicate this level of pertinence to now drive the sector’s recovery forward.
“We have been listening to our members and their needs throughout the pandemic and have consulted with expert strategists, government bodies and more to compile a programme that offers practical advice that will stimulate business recovery no matter whether you’re a venue, booking agent, corporate, supplier or destination.
“Given the current state of affairs, this will undoubtedly be one of the mia’s most pertinent events to date, and we are looking forward to providing exciting insights that will certainly inspire. We’ll also be building in plenty of time throughout the day to allow delegates the opportunity to raise any burning questions.”
The mia conference is open to the entire events industry and has been designed to support venues, destinations, suppliers and corporates across a wide range of functions, from management and operations to sales, marketing, HR and more.
To find out more, visit www.mia-uk.org/Conference.
