IMEX 2016 Revs Up Preps in Frankfurt

To help all sectors of the global meetings and events industry better understand the implications of this new business model, IMEX has created a series of presentations running during the three days of the trade show in April. They include a new seminar: ‘How can we work with the new sharing economy?’ from 0900 to 1030 on Wednesday 20th April.

The highly knowledgeable speakers, with several sharing economy entrepreneurs among them, will cover various aspects of this new approach to business. They include Caleb Parker, CEO of MeetingRooms.com; Jean-Michel Petit, CEO and co-founder of Vizeat.com; Gary Schirmacher, SVP of Experient, A Maritz Travel Company and Damian Oracki, co-founder of Showslice.

Moderated by Greg Oates, Senior Editor of Skift and Padraic Gilligan, Managing Partner of Soolnua who, during his introduction, will exclusively reveal the thought-provoking findings of recent research carried out by IMEX in Frankfurt among hundreds of meetings industry specialists across the world.

The research reveals the views, experience and concerns that meeting industry professionals in different parts of the world have about the sharing economy. They also share their thoughts on how the sharing economy will progress and evolve over the next five years; on the issues, challenges and opportunities it faces and whether usage will decline, plateau or increase over time.

Carina Bauer, CEO of the IMEX Group, explains: “We see our role at IMEX as facilitating business, understanding and education and in this capacity we believe it is important to enable the industry to fully explore the emerging trends associated with the sharing economy. This important discussion is intended to be one in which everyone can have a voice and everyone’s opinion is valid.

“In the same way that nobody could predict the growth and impact of social media when it was born, nobody really knows the future for the sharing economy business model. However, our research will reveal valuable insights into what the industry thinks might happen including intriguing regional variations around the world. It also shows what proportion of the industry currently would, or would not, use sharing economy services for business. The results are fascinating.”

In total over the three days there will be seven education sessions covering the sharing economy including two in German.