Third annual Cvent CONNECT Europe brings 1,200 event and hospitality professionals to London

More than 1,200 meeting, event and hospitality professionals from across Europe and the UK attended Cvent CONNECT Europe held 14^th – 16^th October at the InterContinental London – The O2.

 Cvent’s industry-leading event technology conference has more than tripled in size since the first conference in October 2017 and  offers attendees the unique opportunity to experience the latest Cvent solution innovations, network, learn best practices, and discover the latest trends in the meetings, events, and hospitality industries with sessions led by both Cvent experts and industry influencers. 

Cvent CEO and Founder, Reggie Aggarwal, launched the conference with a call to MICE professionals worldwide to embrace their entrepreneurial spirit and uncover new business opportunities to capitalise on the growing MICE industry which is projected to reach [1]$1,439.3 billion by 2025. Reflecting on Cvent’s 20 years in business, Aggarwal highlighted lessons he has learned from being near bankruptcy to becoming a global event and hospitality technology leader and offered five entrepreneurial takeaways to drive success.

Industry Expert-led Sessions

More than 70 workshops, panel sessions and roundtable discussions were featured during the conference. Topics included the latest industry trends and best practices and covered areas such as event marketing, event design, maximising mobile event apps, the state of MICE business, sustainability, social psychology for event organisers, the ongoing impact of GDPR, and more. The pre-conference Cvent “Academy Education Day,” hosted on 14 October, offered a full day dedicated to Cvent users to expand their product knowledge through interactive workshops and classroom-style training with Cvent experts.

Innovation

The conference offered attendees the opportunity to explore Cvent’s latest technology developments across both their event and hospitality platforms in the Innovation Pavilion. In addition, the onsite Supplier Showcase connected event organisers with over 40 exhibitors and suppliers from across the industry including hotel chains, DMCs, incentive/gift, AV, and travel/transportation providers. 

Keynote Speakers

Cvent brought three renowned external keynote speakers to the main stage: Lara Morgan, Founder and Former CEO of Pacific Direct Group Ltd, Baroness Karren Brady, CBE and June Sarpong, MBE – the newly appointed BBC Director of Creative Diversity. All echoed Aggarwal’s message and highlighted the importance of great leadership and entrepreneurial spirit to drive business success.

Key sessions from the conference included: 

·       The Future of Event Technology: Attendees heard about the latest trends taking the industry by storm and the ones to watch including biometrics, voice interfaces, mixed reality, and autonomous transportation.

·       Women in Leadership Panel: A panel of female industry leaders inspired attendees with their journeys to success and offered guidance on how to advance in the workplace. In addition, employers were given tips to promote fairness and equality. 

·       Sustainability in Events: The Growing Need to “Go Green” Panel: This session highlighted specific recommendations on how meeting planners and venues can address the sustainability concerns most important to their clients and help create the foundation for a more climate conscious industry.

·       Measuring Event ROI and the Pillars of Event Intelligence:  Less than a quarter of businessexecutives say they can calculate ROI for events. In this session, delegates learned about the most critical data that needs to be captured to measure event success and how to break down their event reporting into pillars of importance. 

·       What Travel Managers Want from Hotels: Insights were shared from recent Cvent research conducted amongst 500 travel managers across Europe regarding their budgets, priorities, preferences, concerns and requirements when considering hotels for their organisation’s event programmes.   

What Cvent CONNECT Europe attendees had to say:

“Come to Cvent CONNECT [Europe] because of the thought leadership content. It is a genuinely helpful conference and allows you to improve your [industry] knowledge.” – Will Lawton, Global Campaign Team Lead, Receipt Bank

“The main reason to attend Cvent CONNECT Europe is for training and learning more about Cvent. Mission accomplished. The training day was superb.” – Cyrielle Doll, Events and Projects Associate, EPRA

Third Annual Cvent CONNECT Europe Conference Brings More Than 1,200 Event and Hospitality Professionals to London“This is my second year to attend Cvent CONNECT Europe and I thought this year was a necessity.” – Heleen Konermann-de Leeuw, Senior Event Manager, Topcon Europe Positioning BV