July/August
2016
Cadbury Carnival conference
anyone? Delegates on a recent
Dunedin famil got to try their hand
at Jaffa racing from the top of the
world’s steepest street ahead of the
annual Cadbury Jaffa race, where
75,000 of the chocolate treats are
hurled down Baldwin Street as
part of the Cadbury Carnival. Sally
Dickson, Conference Innovators; Amy
Abel, Conferences & Events; Lizzy
Tankard, Promote Ltd; Chris Hughes,
Air New Zealand; Alex Mitchell, S2N
Events line up to race. Check out the
full famil coverage on page 10.
The International Association of
Convention Centers (IACC) recently published
a report detailing predictions from meeting
planners as to what the meeting room of the
future will look like.
Seventy-five per cent of those surveyed
reported that their current role involves
more ‘experience creation’ than two to five
years ago. Over 77% of respondents reported
that access to interactive technologies such
as tools to engage audience participation,
collaborative communication platforms and
others are more important now versus the
last several years. And 47% reported the
importance of flexible meeting space now
versus in the past.
Meeting planners also strongly agreed
that access to collaborative meeting spaces
will become more important in the next two
to five years, indicating the need for more
creative, less traditional options.
The evolving industry landscape means
that meeting planners need to continually
evaluate all elements of the meeting
experience to ensure they are providing
The meeting room
of the future
The meetings industry is transitioning at a rapid pace.
Delegates don’t want the same thing out of a conference
anymore, they want interaction, innovation, newness, value,
purpose. Yet meeting rooms and conferences today don’t
actually look all that different to what they did 20 years ago.
...continued on page 4