This German premiere was our biggest to date Cvent Accelerate: More than 250 professionals from the event, marketing and hospitality sectors flocked to the Estrel Berlin this year. A day awaited the visitors with intensive networkingtop-class speakers, valuable insights and a lot of inspiration for this current and future day-to-day business. Featuring a number of respected industry visionaries, including the CEO of VOK DAMS, a leading global event marketing agency, the conference provided unique practical insights and enabled the audience to collectively discuss new perspectives for the future of the MICE industry.
The opening speech was given Cvent Chief Customer Officer Andreas Heckmann. “The overwhelming interest in Cvent Accelerate “Berlin highlights the rapid growth of our industry and clearly shows the need for a specialized forum where regional experts and industry professionals can exchange market insights, interact with the latest technology and share best practices,” he commented on the event. In his well-received keynote, Andreas provided a comprehensive overview of the current state of the MICE industry, including emerging trends. He highlighted the opportunities for event, marketing and hospitality professionals and provided insightful insights into the future. After this comprehensive industry overview, the diverse sessions began.
Event technology is the basis of success
A centerpiece of the sessions was the fascinating world of tomorrow’s event technology, which is already providing visionary impulses for the future. The topic was passionately about how technology can effectively support events – from finding venues to optimizing implementation, measuring success and forecasting the future. Among other things, Trends and innovative approaches to how modern technology will change the way events are planned and executed. In addition to technology, the focus was also on the power of data, whose influence on the future of the industry was passionately highlighted. In order to continue to inspire event participants and optimize operational processes, the use of the Event data become crucial to success. Over the course of the morning it became clear that tomorrow’s events can be planned and managed more easily, precisely and in a time-saving manner with the help of new solutions.
“We found a lot of hammers, now we need the nails”
Colja Dams, owner and CEO of VOK DAMS worldwide, on the transition from hype to productive use of artificial intelligence
A topic that no one could ignore that day was artificial intelligence (AI). It ran like a common thread through the agenda and always ensured an intensive exchange – and rightly so, because this development influences the entire event management – from planning to the registration process to the analysis of participant experiences.
AI: The wild experimentation is over, now AI is being used productively
In another inspiring keynote speech Inch This means that AI has now overcome the hype and wild experimentation. The owner and CEO of VOK DAMS worldwide emphasized that the phase in which AI is used productively is now beginning. Or, to put it in his words: “We found a lot of hammers, now we need the nails”. Inch In his inspiring speech, he gave practical insights into his agency’s work and used numerous renowned examples to impressively show what is already possible with AI today and how AI is already changing the event industry – and how it will continue to change it in the future.
Expert lecture shows: Influencers are more than event reporters
An expert lecture by Giannis Paraskevopoulos, co-founder and CEO of Linkster, caused great interest in the afternoon. He talked about a cutting-edge trend in marketing: events with influencers. He showed how influencers now not only accompany and promote events through the media, but are also organically integrated into the events and become part of the event themselves. Giannis was not only able to report on initial experiences, but also gave concrete tips for successfully integrating influencers into event marketing. He also cleared up misconceptions about influencer marketing. His credo: “Sales through influencers no longer happen by chance.”
Video marketing: the first seconds are crucial
On the Cvent Accelerate Berlin 2024 also made it clear: influencer marketing is not the only new path that event marketing is taking. The best example of this is the “Visitor marketing à la Netflix” session. Here, among others, the YouTube marketing expert Tom Zovko and the event content experts explainedCreator’s Irina Graf explains the importance of YouTube and video marketing for attracting visitors. “Videos come very close to a real conversation and build trust extremely well,” emphasized the expert.
“Videos come very close to a real conversation and build trust extremely well”
YouTube marketing expert Tom Zovko on the importance of videos for visitor marketing
But unlike in a personal conversation, his tip for the video spot is: You shouldn’t introduce yourself in the first few seconds of a video. According to the expert, the first 10 to 20 seconds in particular are crucial for the success of a video. In this short time you have to captivate the viewer and make them curious about the content. “Every minute buys the next minute,” says Tom. Conclusion of this round: Nice promises and delicious catering are no longer enough to get people excited about events. Videos, on the other hand, attract attention on the Internet and are an effective means of modern visitor marketing – and they don’t just work for them GenZ-Target group.
Exchange, network, sort impressions – lots of space for togetherness
Between the events it was always: networking, networking, networking. Whether over coffee and cake or during the lunch break: there was an intensive exchange of ideas about trends, technologies and practical implementations, and numerous contacts were made. And the successful event didn’t just provide pure theory: event professionals were able to exchange ideas directly with technology experts from our company on tech tours for different levels of experience.
In a basic tech tour, participants learned how their events can be managed by the procurement and registration up to the On-site management and optimize the analysis after the event. Advanced participants were able to immerse themselves in a world of cutting-edge technologies and learn how to create personalized experiences for event participants, communicate effectively with them and gain valuable insights for future events.
More in demand than ever: sustainable and barrier-free venues
In the afternoon, a less technical topic caused a great response from the audience: in the session “Sustainable and inclusive event locations” it became clear that sustainability and accessibility are more than just buzzwords for the industry. Maxim Streletzki, owner of Estrel Berlin, Kyra Reiter, Marketing Manager Conventions and Sustainable Meeting of visitBerlin and Reinfried Blaha, expert for accessibility and inclusion from the Association of Social Heroes, discussed under the moderation of Kris Justice, senior manager of Enterprise Client Success for Cvent Europe is working on how sustainable and accessible venues can act as catalysts for social change.
The panel of experts also discussed the question of what hotels can offer so that event planners can organize sustainable and inclusive events. The importance of certifications quickly became clear, as they provide good guidance when looking for sustainable and inclusive venues and can make the choice of location easier. Packed with information, exciting sessions and workshops, the afternoon flew by. An impressive and insightful day finally came to a celebratory conclusion with an evening reception and joint networking.
We say thank you!
We received a lot of positive feedback and once again it became clear that with its international orientation Cvent Acelerate ideally suited for this, know-how and Insights into the constantly changing industry, while at the same time being able to address market-specific peculiarities. But without you, this meaningful day would not have been possible. No matter whether you are a participant, speaker, sponsor or partner to the success of our Berliners Accelerate contributed: We say thank you very much! And we are already looking ahead.
With the Cvent CONNECT Europe the next big conference is already in the starting blocks. Our European conference opens its doors from November 5th to 7th at the Hilton London Metropole and brings event, marketing and hospitality experts together again with new, exciting topics. The event takes place on site and virtually. You are cordially invited to be there. We look forward to seeing you!
