Rimini. Rich and varied educational and information content, designed to meet the needs for professional updating and debate of all stakeholders in the meetings and events industry: BTC, the Italian trade show for the events, meetings, conferences and incentive travel industry, which will take place at the Fiera di Rimini Exhibiton Centre on 30 June-1 July 2011, proposes a programme of seminars, presentations and panel discussions, open to all participants over the two days and divided into five educational tracks: The organiser’s warehouse, The event under the lens, Growth paths: from relationships to leaderships, Rewards and costs of destination marketing, and (R)Evolution: the trends of a changing market.
The first track, The organiser’s warehouse, proposes some “technical” seminars organised by Federcongressi&eventi. It will include a panel discussion – chaired by Enrico Rainero of BY Innovation, with Marco Montemaggi, vice-chairman of Associazione Musei d’Impresa [Association of Company Museums], and Massimo Roy, architect and founder of Progetto CMR Integrated Design – on how to use environmental factors (nature, architecture and technology) to boost events’ contents and emotional impact.
The track The event under the lens is centred on the event as a marketing tool. It features seminars organised by Stratego. These cover: the design of the client’s experience as a source of competitive advantage (speaker: Maurizio Goetz, brand advisor and innovative marketing consultant); the event as a means of improving relations with stakeholders (Giancarlo Magnaghi, owner of consulting firm Studio Magnaghi); and finally, how to talk and create a buzz about your brand as a lovemark and in new media (Christian Ubbiali, communication consultant). This track also includes a seminar conducted by Unicom, the communication agencies association, with the presentation of case studies of innovative events.
The third track, Growth paths: from relationships to leadership, is designed to provide tools for personal and professional growth: the first presentation is Managing emotions to excel in business, by trainer and communication expert Claudio Maffei; there follows two seminars by Sergio Borra, master trainer and CEO of Dale Carnegie, on building a team through engagement and motivation, and on how to best present ideas, generating consensus and credibility among customers and partners.
The main event in the fourth track, Rewards and costs of destination marketing, is the panel discussion supported by communication agencies association Assocomunicazione on Promoting Italy as an events destination on international markets: destination marketer Josep Ejarque (FourTourism), Newtours chairman Giuseppe Lepri, Paolo Audino (journalist and CEO of TTG Italia and Exmedia, the company that organises BTC), a brand promotion specialist and a social media marketing expert will take part. The panel discussion will be preceded by the presentation of The events market survey, promoted by BTC and conducted by the Piepoli institute. Nicola Piepoli, a well-known market research expert, will set out the results of interviews with Italian and European corporate managers on their investment strategies in events and on how Italy is valued as an event destination. As part of the same track, Stratego will organise a seminar on competitiveness of the offer (speaker: Francesca D’Angella, lecturer at IULM University). Finally, the University of Trento will present its survey on the economic value of events and conferences in the region of Garda Trentino commissioned by Riva del Garda Fierecongressi conference and exhibition centre.
The fifth track, (R)Evolution: the trends of a changing market, proposes three seminars with international speakers: Rob Davidson (University of Greenwich) gets the ball rolling, with a presentation on the economic, social, technological and demographic trends that influence and will influence the events industry; then, Linda Pereira (CMP Events) will talk about the meetings industry after the crisis of 2008, illustrating how client demands have changed and what professional skills will be required in the future. Finally, Raphael Kamp of ICCA will hold a seminar on the use of social media in events, providing instructions on which actions are useful and which are not very productive.
Business travel will also be covered, with Andrea Guizzardi from the University of Bologna organising a seminar entitled Beyond direct cost analysis – Efficiency, benchmarking and effects on companies of the business travel management process, with the participation of corporate travel managers and business travel experts.
“The rich educational programme reflects BTC’s commitment to offering buyers, exhibitors, visitors and journalists high-quality professional content”, comments Gabriella Ghigi, BTC exhibition manager. “Knowledge of the market, understanding the trends at work within it and sharing experiences and expertise are key to the industry’s growth and development. We are therefore extremely proud of the fact that BTC is not only the sole Italian trade show specifically focused on B2B for the meetings and events industry, but also an event that offers high added value in the educational opportunities it provides to the whole meetings community”.
The complete programme of educational events will be available at the end of May on the BTC website: hosted buyers, exhibitors, visitors and journalists will be able to enrol in individual seminars through the reserved area of the website.
