Last month, we wrapped up our biggest and best Cvent CONNECT Europe yet! With close to 1,000 registrants — comprising meetings, events, and hospitality professionals from across Europe — this year’s event more than doubled last year’s numbers.
Here’s a high-level look at all the action:
Day 1
CEO Reggie Aggarwal kicked off the event with his energising opening keynote on the power of LIVE. In his session, he talked about how technologies like artificial intelligence, the internet of things, facial recognition and machine learning were all elements of a new tech-fueled era, labelled the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which was set to have a profound effect on the meetings and events industry worldwide.
The morning concluded with the Event Cloud and Hospitality Cloud roadmap sessions that highlighted all the incredible product developments set for release down the road. The afternoon was filled with solution sessions, best practices, tech tours, and panels. Even the lunchtime roundtable discussions featured in-depth conversations about room block management, Business Transient, Project Flex, maximising event ROI, and more.
The day ended with two incredible keynote sessions on the main stage: a session on Insights Into Customer Success by Chuck Ghoorah and another one by Paul Cash, Founder of B2B Marketing Agency Rooster Punk, where he smartly proclaimed, “ROE is the new ROI – Return on experiences is the future of the event industry”.
Day 2
Kate Ancketill, Founder and CEO of GDR Creative Intelligence, kicked off day two with a keynote session about the key to creating more experiential, personalised and impactful events. Attendees walked away from the session with plenty of inspiration to deliver next-gen experiences.
The rest of the morning and afternoon were filled with solution sessions and popular best practice breakouts on topics such as measuring event ROI, onsite attendee engagement, and the value of powerful mobile event apps. Fay Sharpe, of BCD Meetings and Events, spoke on the topic, “Have your cake and eat it” and other life goals, which turned out to be one of the most socially engaging sessions of the day. This was followed by another engaging session on ‘Women Leaders in the Events Industry’. The session gave rise to some stimulating and motivating panel discussions.
The second day was capped off by a session by Laura Schwartz, Former Director of White House Events, where she shared the story of her inspiring journey from White House intern to Director of Events – all because she viewed each day and each task (no matter how small) as an opportunity to grow and learn.
Day 3
Though the “official” conference wrapped up on Day 2, plenty of attendees still hung around as they wanted more! Event professionals joined us on the third day for classroom-style training sessions that were part of our newly introduced Customer Education Day. With no competing sessions on the agenda, their focus was 100% dedicated to learning. Attendees were able to walk away from each workshop with practical knowledge, helping to build their confidence with Cvent, making them stronger, more strategic users. We also led certification courses for both our event and supplier audiences.
All in all, the second annual CONNECT Europe was a thoroughly educational and enjoyable affair for our attendees! Besides the keynotes, these sessions emerged as the crowd favourites:
- Top 3 EC Sessions:
- Future of Event Technology
- Panel Session: Women Leaders in the Events Industry
- Have Your Cake & Eat it and Other Life Goals
- Top 3 HC Sessions:
- How to Grow and Own Your MICE Business
- Inside the Mind of the Travel Manager
- Win-Win Negotiating: Tips from Planners & Hotels
FOR KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE CONFERENCE, HEAD TO OUR CVENT CONNECT EUROPE PAGE.
