With international meetings and incentives on the rise again, now is the perfect time to make sure your destination and product knowledge is bang up to date. Considering Algarve, Boston, Copenhagen or Davos for your next event? Want to know what’s new in Zimbabwe?

There’s no need to travel across the globe to find out. You can do all of that at The Meetings Show at London ExCeL, and more, later this month.

Double the size

From A-Z, the impressive exhibitor list features over 500 international and domestic suppliers, allowing buyers to get all the latest updates and compare event solutions from around the world in just two days, and all in one place. Taking place on 29-30 June, this year’s show is twice the size of last year’s, featuring everything from venues, hotels and destinations to technology and specialist providers and the industry’s leading associations.

Finland Convention Bureau, Israel Government Tourist Office, Korea Tourism Organization, Ljubljana Convention Bureau, Mallorca CVB, Visit Norway, Penang Convention and Exhibition Bureau, Singapore Tourism Board, Destination Toronto, and many more international destinations are exhibiting this year. They will be joined by convention bureaux from all four corners of the UK, including representatives for Aberdeen, Bristol & Bath, Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, London, Liverpool, Harrogate, Leeds and Manchester, as well as regional bodies VisitBritain, Visit Belfast, VisitScotland and Visit Wales.

All these exhibitors are gearing up to share their latest news with buyers. Head to the VisitMalta Meetings & Incentives stand, to find out more about the destination’s new branding and campaign for the MICE market. Korea Tourist Organization, will share how it recently obtained the ISO 20121 sustainable event management standard, enabling it to better support buyers with making sustainable event decisions.

With sustainability top of the agenda right now, many exhibitors will be showcasing their latest sustainable innovations. Meet with Make Venues to find out about its newly launched ethical food and produce initiative that will provide insight and education to delegates, guests and businesses that visit its three UK venues in Leamington Spa, Bristol and Central London. Meanwhile, etc.venues’ latest initiative is recycling coffee grounds from events held across its portfolio to create carbon neutral biofuel pellets that are used to power biomass boilers.

The Meetings Show has also just announced that The Complete Sustainable Events Course, its online course for the event professionals created in partnership with isla, is back for its second year. The first Complete Sustainable Events Course received overwhelmingly positive feedback from the first intake of students in 2021, with +41 Net Promoter Score. Buyers will be able to find out more and register for this year’s course, which starts in September, by visiting isla’s stand.

Hot topics

If you’re hungry to learn more about this crucial topic, the show also features several educational sessions on sustainability. Find out how you can make a difference in a session entitled ‘Reduce, measure, and report your event carbon footprint’. Led by Eloísa Urrutia, Head of Sustainability – Meetings & Events – American Express Global Business Travel, it will help you understand how to measure and report carbon emissions and learn best practices to reduce them.

Chetan Shah, micebook CEO & founder, is leading a session titled ‘ReBuilding Better – Is the world a better place because your company is in it?’ He will be joined by a panel of industry experts including Abena Fairweather, Managing Director – Legacy Events, Ana Carolina Moutella, Programming & Partnership Manager – Good Hotel London, Emma Wellstead, Founder and Director – Warwick Events and Claire Pearson, Director Business Development – Belu, to discuss how events can be used as a force for good.

Accessibility and inclusivity are also hot topics but are often an afterthought for planners. The goal of every event is to ensure great experiences for everyone who attends – find out how to create accessible events and share ideas in ‘Be part of the change’, how to create an inclusive event through catering to dietary requirements in ‘Remove the booze (and other food-related gripes!)’, and how to make memorable experiences for introverted people in ‘Designing events for Introverts”.

Senior event industry experts from corporates, agencies, destinations and venues including McKinsey & Company, Grant Thornton, DRPG, Identity, Agito, Glasgow Convention Bureau, London & Partners and Lime Venue Portfolio are among the stellar line up of speakers confirmed. This year’s education programme has not shied away from tackling tough topics and burning issues such as ‘Is the meetings industry suffering from PTSD?’, ‘Is the industry greenwashing?’, ‘Are venue finders being displaced by technology?’ and ‘How can the industry rebuild its workforce?’

Hundreds of buyers have already registered to attend The Meetings Show including senior representatives from corporates, agencies and associations such as Ericsson, Capgemini, BCD Meetings & Events, Yellow Fish, NHS Federation, and the Stroke Association. It’s not too late to join them!

Register for The Meetings Show today https://www.themeetingsshow.com/