Events

Since 2003, the Policy Forum (formerly Politicians Forum) at IMEX has provided the only high-level event to bring together industry leaders with representatives of governments and government agencies. Government understanding and support is critical to the advancement of the meetings and events industry.

The Forum has evolved over the past 15+ years and hosts not just politicians but a wide variety of policy makers and government influencers. We bring together the meetings world and public policy makers with the aim to influence policy, rather than influence politicians.

The IMEX Policy Forum is built around five elements: Strategy; Advocacy; Development; Engagement; Enlightenment. The overarching aim of the Forum is to act as a catalyst and provide a collaborative global discussion platform critical to the creation of policy that directly benefits our industry.

New in 2018 – The evolution of cities in the meetings industry – a workshop with Professor Greg Clark CBE
We are delighted to confirm that Professor Greg Clark CBE will once again participate in the 2018 Forum. Professor Clark will be working with us to create a new workshop session held before the start of the Forum, designed specifically for local, municipal and regional policymakers and destination representatives.
Chaired by John Greenway, former Member of Parliament, UK

 National government discussion
In collaboration with UNWTO
Ministers and senior national government representatives are invited to join the national government discussion. We typically welcome government representatives from travel and tourism, economic affairs and any portfolio related to the meetings and events industry.
Chaired by ICCA President, Nina Freysen-Pretorius

Registration for the Policy Forum

• The Policy Forum is open to national ministers, government officials, local and regional political representatives and accompanying persons. Senior decision makers from international organisations, intergovernmental bodies and the meetings industry are also welcome to attend. Please note that there is no charge to attend the Policy Forum.
• We will support you with the arrangements for your invited political representative in Frankfurt, including a transfer from Frankfurt airport, an invitation to the IMEX Opening Ceremony, entrance to IMEX 2018 and registration for the Policy Forum.
• Prior to registration we kindly ask that you nominate one point of contact, who will be responsible for coordinating the participation of your political representative/delegation. All correspondence with IMEX will be via this contact.
• When registering a political representative, you will be asked if they require an airport transfer. This is provided on a complimentary basis.

Please use the link below to register your political representative and accompanying persons:
https://imex.eventsair.com/if18-policy-forum-registration/pf2018

Should you have any questions regarding registration please contact annie.speyer@imexexhibitions.com

For your complimentary copy of the 2017 Forum report, please visit the Policy Forum webpage.

Further information including the provisional 2018 Policy Forum programme can be found here.

ECM will be present at IMEX, May 15-17, 2018

Visit us to learn about:

• ECM workshops
• ECM activities
• ECM Summer School
• ECM Academy
• ECm Meetings Statistics Report
• … and much more!

We are pleased to let you know that registrations are now open for City Fair 2018.

City Fair is the event for European cities, destinations and suppliers to showcase all of their tourism products to the international travel trade in a productive business environment.

The 2018 programme includes:

• Welcome drinks reception on Sunday 10th June
• City Fair workshop on Monday 11th June
• The Digital City Visitor Conference on Tuesday 12th June

Sign up now and save £300 with our special early bird offer till March 23!

What is City Fair?

City Fair is a one day event of pre-scheduled appointments dedicated to the lucrative and growing sector of city tourism organised by ETOA and ECM.

It combines ETOA’s long track record in running highly-targeted workshops with ECM’s expertise in city marketing. ETOA’s tour operator members alone represent a combined buying power of over €5 billion, while ECM has a membership of more than 100 cities.

City Fair gives European destination suppliers the opportunity to meet selected travel buyers in a productive business environment.

• One-day B2B event of up to 32 pre-arranged one-to-one meetings
• Around 400 attendees, including 200 exhibitors, with over 6,000 appointments in one day
• Unique format of targeted business workshop with marketing opportunities
• Substantial cost and time saving on product contracting and exhibition fees
• Suppliers from more than 25 European countries
• Product developers and contractors with direct purchasing responsibility from tour operators, online intermediaries, wholesalers and MICE specialists

Why attend City Fair?

City tourist boards and suppliers (such as hotels and attractions)
Participate as an exhibitor to gain competitive advantage for your destination, and to meet with operators, whose business represents both high volume and niche sectors from Europe and all major long-haul markets.

Tour operators
Participate as a buyer to consolidate your existing programmes, to keep abreast of the latest developments in European cities and source new product for your city tours. Attendance is free of charge for buyers.

#ECMMalmo2018

European Cities Marketing will present a toploaded program for the ECM International Conference where Europe’s city marketers and tourism professionals meet industry thought leaders to debate and strategise the new normal in urban travel and tourism.

More information and registrations to come soon !

#ECMSS18

The 32^nd ECM Summer School will be held in Thessaloniki, Grece from August 25-29, 2018.

The ECM Summer School is an unmissable learning opportunity for all professionals working in Convention Bureaux, Tourist Offices, Congress Centres, Airlines, Hotels, DMCs, PCOs & Meeting Planners!
The aim is to equip professionals with the latest marketing tools and to help them to develop the knowledge and skills required for a successful career in conference, meetings and event management.

• • • Meet professional leaders of the industry
    • Gain knowledge and skills for a successful career in the Meetings Industry
    • Develop a network with new colleagues and peers from all over Europe
    • Get tools to acquire clients in the Meetings Industry
    • Gain CMP professional credits to acquire/confirm your CMP certification

Gain CMP professional credits to acquire/confirm your CMP certification!

CIC has reviewed the learning objectives of this activity and has indicated that attendees will receive 17.75 CE hours in the 5 Domain of the CMP or CMP-HC Standards. Learn more on the CMP on the CIC website.

What do they say about ECM Summer School…

«It was an unforgettable experience with very interesting topics about the Meetings Industry! Everything was well organised and structured. The ECM Summer School is one of the best oportunities to meet people with the same aims, challenges and difficulties in the Meetings Industry.»
Nadine Roth, Assistant Manager Conventions, visitBerlin Berlin Convention Office

«The summer school is an incredible opportunity to network with peers within the meetings trade. It is an opportunity to learn, grow and share experience with the experts who shape the industry – it is an invaluable network to be part of and a chance to discuss challenges and produce creative solutions.»
Graeme Mackay, Ambassador Programme Executive, visitAberdeenshire

«For me the ECM Summer School was a brilliant start into this industry. Next to brilliant classes I also made new contacts from all different kind of countries and learnt lots about their way of working. A real great experience, which I could recommend to everybody.»
Martina Fuhrer, Business Development Manager, Montreux-Vevey Tourism CVB

Should you have any additional questions, please contact ECM Head Office.

ibtm events, part of Reed Travel Exhibitions, recently announced that it is integrating ibtm latin america and ibtm america to create ibtm americas. The event will take place in Mexico City from 5-6 September 2018.

The decision enables ibtm americas to capitalise on the growing success of ibtm latin america and the rapid development of the market in that region, while allowing for growth in the North America market.

Kerry Prince, Portfolio Director, ibtm events, comments: “It’s no secret that the potential for growth in Latin America is huge and that the region is increasingly being recognised as a major player in the industry. We believe that our event in Mexico, already highly successful, has real scope to further support the market to become a prime date in the global events industry calendar, therefore combining the event to incorporate the North American market to create ibtm americas feels like a very natural evolution of the portfolio.

Herve Sedky, President, Reed Exhibitions Americas continues “We are looking forward to combining the experience of our Mexico team, our ibtm america team and the wider Reed Travel Exhibitions team and bring that to ibtm Americas. Ultimately by merging the two events we can offer bigger opportunities and a richer experience to our exhibitors, Hosted Buyers and visitors.”

ibtm latin america has been growing exponentially year on year; in 2016 the event saw a significant increase in international exhibitors – up 100%, with the event set to grow by over 40% in 2017.

The expanded ibtm americas will also see an increase in Hosted Buyers from North America of  800%, as well as continuing to attract senior level decision makers from latin, central and south America.  Currently ibtm latin america attracts 12% of its exhibiting companies from North America and this will continue to increase as the new show expands and develops.

David Hidalgo, Show Director, ibtm Americas comments: “We have developed an excellent working relationship with our partners in Mexico City and we are looking forward to continuing to build on that as we work together to deliver what I am confident will be an incredibly successful event with real longevity. Our customers mean everything to us, there really is nothing more important than them and I firmly believe the changes we are making will ensure we’re delivering the very best value and opportunities to them for the long term.”

The wider portfolio remains unchanged following the merger. Flagship show ibtm world continues to be held annually in Barcelona, with the landmark 30^th edition of the event taking place this year from 28-30 November. ibtm china 2017 takes place from 23-24 August, in Beijing; ibtm arabia will take place 5-7 February 2018 in Abu Dhabi and ibtm africa from 19-20 April 2018 in Cape Town. ibtm events will produce its final edition of AIME 2018, from 20-21 February, in conjunction with Melbourne Convention Bureau.

The 14th TourMIS Users’ Workshop and International Seminar is organised by the European Travel Commission, European Cities Marketing & MODUL University Vienna on September 13-14, 2018.

Both events are directed toward managers, academics, as well as consultants and representatives of governments and international organizations dealing with tourism. Participants are invited to register for both days or can choose to participate in just one event.

Registration will open later this year.

The participation in the workshop/seminar is free; however, travel and accommodation need to be covered by each participant.

We look forward to welcoming you in Vienna!

ECM together with the Digital Tourism Think Tank would like to invite you to this year’s #DTTT Campus on September 20-21, 2018 in Jersey!

We are pleased to announce the third edition of the #DTTT Campus, which is happening on September 20-21 in Jersey! Over the course of 2 days we will be talking all about content and the people behind it. We will be inviting a wide range of Content Leads and Creators to share their work with you and engage in discussion as they reveal the process behind it.

As an ECM member, you get 300€ discount for #DTTT Campus 2018 on the Full Flex Ticket. Hurry this offer is available until March 31, 2018.

Register now and avoid missing out on great keynote sessions and unique content creation and strategy workshops

Here are 3 reasons you should not miss #DTTT Campus

✼ Get inspired by case studies and talks

✼ Take part in unique content workshops

✼ Meet with 100’s of destinations & content creators

Register now before it’s too late ⏰

#ECMCC2018

Join us for the ^7th ECM City Cards Expert Meeting. Next year’s meeting will be held in Zurich on October 4-5, 2018.

Our broad approach will include presentations and discussions on latest product developments, successful partnerships, innovating marketing strategies and much more.

Our lunch-to-lunch event provides you with a unique opportunity:

• to meet and network with European colleagues managing city cards schemes,
• to share knowledge and insights to stay ahead of the latest market trends & anticipate customers’ needs,
• and to grow your business as well as strengthen your professional expertise.

This event is open to ECM members only, specifically to tourism professionals working on city cards schemes (Product Managers, Project Leaders, Marketing Managers…) who are looking to improve – but also share – their knowledge with other participants.

Conditions:

• The participants’ city must be an existing ECM member and already be running a city card scheme.
• Participants themselves must be directly working on or managing an established city card scheme.
• For City Cards Project 2018 members, participation is free for the first delegate. Extra delegates will be charged a 100 EUR participation fee, with a maximum of 2 delegates per city in total.
• For ECM members who are not part of the City Cards Project 2018, the attendance is limited to 1 person per city with a 190 EUR participation fee.

Please note:

• Lunches on October 4 and 5, dinner on October 4, as well as coffee breaks are included.
• The attendance is limited to 60 people !
• Your participation fee does not cover accommodation or transport.

For more information about the City Cards Project, please contact ECM Head Office.

IMEX America sets the pace for doing business on an international scale. Increasing in size and scope annually, this event features the largest Hosted Buyer Program in North America and attracts thousands of buyers and exhibitors from the U.S. and around the world. The energy at IMEX America is everywhere, connecting everyone with key players, generating innovative ideas and driving business with the force of global opportunities. Plug into the power source at IMEX America: the pulse of the meetings industry.

#ECMTIC2018

Join us for the 5th ECM TIC Expert Meeting. This year’s meeting will be held in Lviv on October 25-26, 2018. The meeting’s focus will be announced shortly.

European Cities Marketing, through its TIC Knowledge Group, organises every year an Expert Meeting for Tourist Information Centres managers and staff exclusively, whether they are ECM members or not.

Our event provides you with a unique opportunity:

• to meet and network with colleagues working in Tourist Information Centres all across Europe,
• to share knowledge and best practice with other destinations to stay ahead of the latest market’s trends, and to grow your business as well as strengthen your professional expertise.

Our TIC Expert Meeting offers a mix of incentive and exchange opportunities for all attendees. This is why the diversity of participants is of great importance to us. This event is for managers and TIC front office professionals coming from small and large cities and working for either public or private tourist information organisations – whether they are ECM members or not.

Please note:

• The attendance is limited to 70 persons, with a maximum of 2 delegates per city !
• Lunches and dinner included – check out our social programme
• Your participation fee does not cover accommodation or transport

The aim of the meeting is of course to get to know your European colleagues, to share knowledge with them but most of all, we want you to have fun and leave full of inspiration and with a bunch of new friends.

We are looking forward to welcoming you for this fifth edition!

The Digital Tourism Think Tank and European Cities Marketing have continued to team up to host the #DTTT Global on November 29-30, 2018 in Helsinki.

#DTTT Global is back for another year of amazing keynote speakers and talks from destinations and industry around the world sharing their insights in digital. Join for two exciting days of inspiration, innovation and networking and be part of the tourism industry’s most important gathering of future thinkers.

ECM together with the Digital Tourism Think Tank would like to invite you to next year’s #DTTTGlobal from 29-30 November, 2018 in Helsinki !

Over 250 delegates from all corners of the world gather to learn and discuss the latest innovation, trends and challenges in digital and travel.

Prices and content to come soon !

ECM organises the 12th Meeting of CEOs of Capital & Major Cities in Luxembourg on December 2-3, 2018.

For more information and programme, contact ECM Head Office