The Spanish Chapter of MPI (Meeting Professionals International), the largest international association of meetings and event professionals, organized six top-level educational sessions during EIBTM, held in Barcelona from 30 November-2 December. As in previous editions, over 800 professionals attended the sessions.
World-class keynote speakers and acknowledged MICE experts shared knowledge and experiences regarding current industry issues. The most interesting aspects of each session are summarized below:
How to obtain great results from coaching
Using a number of interesting case studies, Jorge Brugallo, CEO of Win+Win Coaching, explained to the audience the coaching methodology applied to the corporate world, as well as how to identify limiting beliefs that impede success and personal and professional growth.
Thanks to this discipline, we can improve communication, prioritize objectives and adapt to change in a proactive way. In addition to helping us to practice techniques geared to improving leadership, self-esteem and self-confidence, coaching makes it easier to identify resources and resolve conflicts.
The four pillars sustaining the coaching methodology are the art of posing questions, based on the Socratic Method, with the aim of identifying limitations and objectives; empathic listening, since it is impossible to trust someone who does not conduct a diagnosis before putting forward a solution; the feedback coaches provide clients through both verbal and non-verbal communication; and confidence.
Brugallo concluded that corporate group coaching tries to copy the way certain birds fly, in which group objectives are more important than those of each member of the flock.
Creative catering: thinking beyond food
Renowned catering professionals unveiled the keys to creative cuisine, which can be vital to the success of an event. Sergi Amigo of Prats Fatjo Catering & Services, Manuel Cobos of Cobos Catering, and Oscar Alsina of Food & Mambo coincided in that the surprise factor in catering goes beyond the food itself.
Along these lines, Alsina stated that "the key resides in the capacity to imagine catering beyond the guests’ stomach, generating an experience and, therefore, a surprise. When this happens, the event is a success." Similarly, Cobos remarked that the catering industry should be focused on experience marketing: "We make people feel, think, act, relate to one another." For Amigo, the customization of each one of the elements comprising a catering service can provides this surprise factor .
Sustainability was another of the aspects that was addressed. Sustainable formats are the trend, "but clients aren’t willing to pay a euro more for sustainability," stated Alsina, while Amigo advocated for sustainable prices as well; that is, striking a balance between the price and sustainability: "From starting our as pure catering companies, we have become creators of ideas for our clients." Along these lines, Alsina agreed insofar as the creative part consists in implementing green practices, while providing services at a reasonable price.
The session ended with each of the speakers describing their business practices with respect to creativity: Prats Fatjo gives a modern touch to classical cuisine; Cobos Catering bases its services on theming; and Food & Mambo communicates via the services it provides, such as gastronomy, staging, staffing and logistics.
The future of communication at events, keys and trends
Moderated by Eric Mottard, partner-founder of the eventoplus group, there was an interesting debate between communication and event industry experts in which communication – one of the most important aspects of any event – was addressed.
Mottard got the session underway by asking the participants about the evolution of the marketing mix. In the opinion of Melendy Britt of Weber Shandwick, this evolution depends on providers having a greater understanding of communication and a greater enhancement of brand values. Susana Vilas of Bayer Hispania assured those present that integral communication is a must, although "we choose the messages that an event should transmit because it’s an expensive tool." Merce Hostench of Wow stressed that the return on live experience marketing is totally different from the messages transmitted via other actions: "It’s the best tool experience marketing can offer, so let’s not dwell on how expensive it is."
Along these lines, the subject of event ROI was then broached. All the speakers acknowledged that they measure the impact of an action more by objectives than by exclusively financial results. Christian Martinell of Saatchi & Saatchi Healthcare stated that "a post-event analysis is essential for measuring the impact of a communicative event, deciding on which metrics should be used and making sure that the action lasts a long time," while Cesar Gonzalez of EDT explained that the final analysis "depends on an event’s objective, cost and target." Melendy Britt proposed a number of indicators, including the number of online conversions, YouTube visits or tweets.
Following this, Mottard asked them if the communication tools that generate dialogue have more future than passive ones. "From counting how many people have listened to us, we’re now more interested in knowing how many people talk about us," concluded Melendy Britt, who clearly advocated for 2.0 communication, while other speakers, including Hostench, Martinell and Gonzalez, were more reticent about using social networks, and keener on a more strategic approach to communication.
Event creativity
"In moments of crisis, only imagination is more important than knowledge." With this quote from Einstein, the moderator Raimond Torrents of Torrents and Friends started a session that has featured in the last five editions of EIBTM.
Torrents then quoted the ten commandments of creativity applied to events: imagine your event in detail; the audience is the key (speak their language); the environment absolutely conditions the message; there is a sole opportunity for communication; non-verbal communication is part and parcel of the message; play with the senses (there is no other tool that allows us to combine the five senses); provoke emotions; give your event rhythm; be notorious; and be coherent.
Fernando Le Monnier of Kivivcom introduced the term "innovation", which provides possibilities for implementing creative ideas: "Creativity signifies thinking about ideas; innovation allows us to do new things." Likewise, David Duran and Carlos Morales of Di.com stated that being creative is designing for communicating and building for communicating, creating to be remembered: "Being creative isn’t following trends, we must be original, we should reinvent trends, try to bring out the genius in ourselves, being creative is trend setting." They ended by explaining what is currently expected of creative staff: "More clarity, less sophistication; ecology, greater sensibility; a greater impact with less resources; a global vision; volume, new textures and pure forms."
Oscar Alsina of Food & Mambo defined creativity using a case study: an edible exhibition that the company designed for a pharmaceutical company, in which the exhibited works of art comprised the menu: "Cooking for communicating."
Students’ session: "And now, where do I look for work?"
The moderators Francisco Quereda, president of MPI Spain and director of Malaga Convention Bureau, and Jesus Maria Gomez, director of evento.es, explained that the aim of the session – based on the ample experience of the speakers – was to share their experiences with students so as to orient them as regards job opportunities in the different sectors comprising the event industry.
Marc Rodriguez, CEO of CCIB, started his keynote by warning job seekers that the current market needs and corporate competition means that more is now demanded of students than 30 years ago. "You have to be a Jack of all trades," he explained, encouraging students to travel, taking into account the industry’s globalization. Having a good knowledge of English and the social networks, as well as being technologically literate, were the other watchwords.
Estrella Diaz, CEO of Staff Eventos, included excellent communications skills and creativity, in addition to postgraduate specialization, among the skills that future professionals should acquire. "To succeed, we have to do more for less," she concluded.
Likewise, Frank Barbaras, CEO of Ultramar Events Management, encouraged the audience to work in different sectors and posts, before concluding: "You’re very lucky to live in a country that is one of the world’s top MICE destinations, and therefore there’re many opportunities out there."
Technology within your reach to do more with less
Alberto Garcia, production manager of World Television, started his keynote by introducing the Web 2.0 concept (content syndication, podcasting, blogs, wikis, etc.), before touching on webcasting applied to meetings and event industry. This tool allows users to distribute audiovisual content via the Web, accompanied by a synchronized presentation, in addition to other functionalities, such as simultaneous broadcasting in different languages, formats and resolutions.
Webcasting incorporates other applications such as sending questions via texting (speakers’ answer them live), downloading documents, questionnaires about presentations (audience feedback), source podcasting, notebook functionalities, social network recommendations, etc. In short, it is an efficient and profitable way of making a presentation or sending a press release, whose impact is similar to that of TV, but with the added advantages of the Internet, such as interactivity.
Manuel Montes, CEO of Dnet.eu, stated that technology makes management procedures more efficient with less resources. There are many online and offline event management tools currently available. "Once you know a client’s needs, the type of control required is analyzed and the venue is mapped," he said, before explaining that the different software suites currently available facilitate full event management, and should feature a number of different modules (inscription, payment, transfers, security, etc.).
