Top trends forecaster Kate Ancketill to speak at Cvent Connect

One of the world’s top trend forecasters and innovation expert – Kate Ancketill – has been announced as a keynote speaker at Cvent CONNECT Europe.

Kate is Founder and CEO of GDR Creative Intelligence – a global consultancy with a focus on innovation and emerging trends in retail, leisure and hospitality around the world. During Kate’s presentation ‘Lessons from experiential brands: what event organisers need to know’, attendees will learn how to showcase the best in service, technology and brand communication from a new wave of disruptors spanning retail, hospitality and entertainment. They will also benefit from case study examples as well as gain intelligence on ways to future proof their business and priorities for investment.

The latest news follows on from Cvent’s recent announcement that Laura Schwartz, former Director of Events at the White House during the Clinton administration, will be also be a keynote speaker at this year’s event. In addition, MICE industry champion Faye Sharpe, Vice President BCD Meetings & Events and Founder of the award-winning Fast Forward 15, will be presenting the session: ‘Have your cake and eat it and other life goals’. Faye will share her personal story from humble beginnings to multimillion pound success.

Cvent CONNECT Europe 2018 is set to double in size with more than 700 event and hospitality professionals expected to attend on 1^st– 2^nd October 2018 at the Business Design Centre in London. This year’s theme: ‘The Power of Live,’ will focus on the positive impact that live events have on the business world. Delegates already registered to attend the conference include representatives from market leading brands, industry experts and top hotels.

The two-day conference agenda has been built to maximise the number of networking and learning opportunities among attendees. Cvent CONNECT Europe will feature more than 60 educational and panel sessions that will highlight the latest industry trends and best practices across the live event’s world. In addition, hands-on technology demonstrations will take place in the Innovation Pavilion where attendees have the opportunity to see the latest innovations and product enhancements from Cvent’s Event and Hospitality Cloud solutions. A new addition at the conference this year is the Supplier Showcase which will connect event organisers with top venues and destinations.

Other educational and panel sessions at the conference will be led by Cvent experts and notable industry professionals.

Highlights include:

A panel of inspirational women leaders including Carina Bauer, CEO, IMEX Group, Angeles Moreno, CEO, The Creative Dots, Kerstin Wunsch, Editor-in-Chief, TW – tagungswirtschaft and Stacey Fontenot, Vice President of Event Cloud Marketing, Cvent will discuss what it takes to get a seat at the executive leadership table and how to find professional and personal success in the events industry.
Modern event marketing and viewing events as an asset, not an expense will be discussed alongside the findings of Cvent’s soon to be published CMO study. Delegates will hear views directly from some of the CMO survey respondents in a panel session.
Current industry hot-topics including hotel commission cuts, the rise of unique venues, GDPR, and trends towards experiential and personalised events will be examined, and opportunities to position an organisation for success will be highlighted in the session: ‘The changing MICE Landscape: Fast Forward 2020’.