After a week packed with insights and inspiration on future horizons for the meetings and events sector, Abu Dhabi Business Events Week has drawn to a close. The team at the Digital Tourism Think Tank was there throughout, to follow the conversations, debates, keynotes and ideas generated.
After a week packed with insights and inspiration on future horizons for the meetings and events sector, Abu Dhabi Business Events Week has drawn to a close. The team at the Digital Tourism Think Tank was there throughout, to follow the conversations, debates, keynotes and ideas generated. All this, with the spirit of collective cooperation towards a strong and resilient future, underpinned the themes emerging around innovation, purpose and a drive towards continual adaptability.
This key event in the MICE sector calendar was Abu Dhabi’s opportunity to bring global leaders in the sector together with globally recognised experts from a wide range of spectrums. If you’re keen to get a feel for the opportunities that came to light in Abu Dhabi, keep on reading where we’ll be exploring the key takeaways from this year’s event.
The first day started with a scene-setting welcome address from H.E. Saleh Mohammed Al Geziry, Director General of Tourism at Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism (DTC Abu Dhabi). He highlighted the crucial need for collaboration and the importance of establishing partnerships which create new opportunities, to position Abu Dhabi as an ever more prominent and competitive MICE destination. With this welcome, collaboration and partnership became the running themes of the event, where the determination and unity of Abu Dhabi’s ambitious events sector show value in competing collectively and working together.
Alister Frost, one of the event’s opening keynotes, delivered an inspiring and reassuringly down-to-earth keynote where everyday life challenges with the technology we welcome into our homes, help us understand the humanity we need to consider the implications behind any change. This was all part of Alister’s message about the importance of having a healthy relationship with change, being able to adapt and understand how crises can become opportunities and the benefits that can come from working outside our comfort zone, remaining curious and ready to embrace new developments. Not too much, but perhaps more than a little.
A panel led by Kevin Edmunds, President of SITE, brought together international perspectives to discuss the state of the industry in 2022 and explore the huge potential that Abu Dhabi and the wider Gulf region present for the MICE sector, one that promises considerable strength for a destination that really does have it all, with outstanding quality and premium experiences.
The panellists, which included the likes of Senthil Gopinath, CEO of ICCA, Steen Jakobsen, Associate VP of Dubai Business Events and Mubarak Al Shamsi, Director of the Abu Dhabi’s Convention & Exhibition Bureau, highlighted that the key to a fast recovery of the sector was the result of the successful collaboration between government entities and private organisations. All panellists stressed the importance of strong, quick and innovative recovery, whilst welcoming the opportunity to go beyond, in building rich collaborations rooted in reinvention and transformation.
There were a range of perspectives shared from both regional and global perspectives, all united in their common view that establishing new partnerships and fostering strong collaboration were key to harnessing the future potential of our industry. So too was the importance of reflecting on the various hurdles we face as an industry, such as inflation and increased costs, where ultimately, having an understanding of the data that we own and maximising our use of that is key to recognising its full potential. This can lead to a better understanding of behaviour and how this impacts the decision-making process.
Whilst recovery, growth and resilience were certainly some of the strongest themes emerging from this year’s event, so too was sustainability, a priority that the global events sector knows it must address head-on. Helping to offer a fresh perspective on this was keynote speaker Geneviève Leclerc, a globally renowned expert with more than twenty years of experience in the MICE sector, helping to steer it towards a sustainable future with her expertise and methods.
Geneviève’s talk explored how the MICE sector can further its positive impact on destinations, introducing us to the concept of ‘impact’ to emphasise the need for organisers to take every possible chance to create positive effects amongst the cities, regions and communities where events take place.
Geneviève explored everything from applying widely known frameworks, such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals, to evaluating the outcomes of events, whilst actively making decisions that will alleviate their negative effects, transforming them into positive and impactful ones.
Data has also been a common theme in achieving these, where Abu Dhabi demonstrated how they are maximising their understanding through data to gain better knowledge of traveller behaviour and event patterns, helping them respond to change effectively in times of disruption.
Developments, such as those brought about by an increasingly demanding and complex playing field when it comes to data, require innovation to thrive within, amongst and between stakeholders to drive the MICE sector to thrive. This is why Abu Dhabi is continuously investing in new technologies and visitor experiences and believes firmly in the importance of continual investment in the sector to take its competitive offering to the next level.
To inspire the audience and spark new ideas around innovation, our very own Nick Hall, founder of the Digital Tourism Think Tank, guided us through some of the most disruptive technology advancements and trends that we are observing in the tourism and events industry. He helped offer participants a glimpse at the future, to understand where the opportunity for innovation might lie.
With this, things smoothly transitioned from digital and innovation to conceptual thinking around how to redesign visitor experiences, connecting them with the MICE offer. This is an area where the UAE and Abu Dhabi in particular are excelling, with exciting ambitious developments such as Yas Island, where many exciting new developments are being built. There is also ongoing investment in transformational experiences, where emerging tech in areas such as VR, AR and XR and creating entirely new ways of experiencing both events and the wider destination experience around them.
There was widespread consensus amongst speakers and audience members that this magic mix of investment in a smarter and more digitally immersive destination experience, together with the creation of outstanding new visitor experiences, will be key to activating and leveraging the opportunities throughout the Gulf region.
Sustainability was unsurprisingly something touched on many times throughout the event, benefitting from Geneviève's scene setting. Another word, Purpose, also emerged, which perhaps helps us get behind the true meaning driving change in the sector. Purpose was referred to across all the talks, with the recognition that for events to be impactful and meaningful, both in form and delivery, they must also offer a sense of purpose from the outset.
Nick explored purpose in both panels, where he moderated lively discussions on ‘How to Create Amazing Visitor Experiences’ and ‘Net Zero by 2030 Frameworks and Opportunities’. DCT’s Faisal Khan spoke about the new sustainability framework being launched for Abu Dhabi’s tourism sector, whilst others such as Naji El Haddad, Regional Director for UFI and Oisin Command, Head of Abu Dhabi’s Sustainability Week, talked about the sense of purpose driving change, yet the sense of reality needed in achieving change.
All agreed that change starts with education, helping to ensure everyone in the sector understands the key issues at play in relation to sustainability and, for example, the difference between ‘Net Zero’ and ‘Carbon Neutral’.
It was important to acknowledge that the need for change isn’t only coming from the supply side, but consumers are demanding change too. The lessons learned on creating amazing visitor experiences provided a glimpse into the increasingly conscious traveller, seeking to travel with brands and experiences that offer a sense of purpose.
Etihad’s Terry Daly spoke with passion about how innovation was driving change in their ambitious commitment towards their own sustainability goals and the re-imagination of the guest experience within the business, underpinned by a sizeable digital transformation process. Manuel Rebate, Director at Louvre Abu Dhabi, shared an entirely different perspective on purpose, where Abu Dhabi’s flagship attraction is built upon a core set of values promoting interpretation and accessibility to art and culture, with innovation and a holistic view being defining factors in imagining an entirely new cultural experience.
With high-level discussions and thought-starters setting the scene for this year’s event, Abu Dhabi really has established itself as a front runner in the global MICE sector, where this pivotal event has brought together key players to work strategically and also at a more operational level too, on the changes happening in the sector.
As the event drilled down to more functional needs, keynote speaker Paul Rulkens, helped the audience drill down on how to realise its full potential, guiding us through different techniques that teams and organisations can implement in their day-to-day work, in an engaging and creative keynote.
Do you ever consider the importance of things like clarity, delegation, elimination and outsourcing? These were just some of the reflection points, amongst other actions designed to explore how we can further our efforts towards improving our competitiveness and striving to become more relevant in the market. These might just be the keys to applying innovation on a day-to-day basis within our teams and amongst our sector, as key challenges such as flexibility, human capital, changing generational needs and talent retention all dominated the second day of the event.
What did we learn at this year’s event? The meetings and events sector has proven to be determined, resilient and most of all, truly innovative in adopting an open outlook as to how the sector might evolve. The sustainability priorities dominating industry conversations right now were brought into perspective by exploring what sits at the heart of impact and purpose.
For Abu Dhabi, the opportunity here lies not only in innovation but also in expertise. Fostering deep knowledge of the themes, topics and interests which determine the attractiveness of a particular event community lies at the heart of a competitive offer and more importantly, one that offers relevance. Seeing the destination as a canvas as a testbed for new ideas within the sector, but also a testbed for ideas for events to build upon is all about adding meaning and purpose - an offer defined by impact.
After a week packed with insights and inspiration on future horizons for the meetings and events sector, Abu Dhabi Business Events Week has drawn to a close. The team at the Digital Tourism Think Tank was there throughout, to follow the conversations, debates, keynotes and ideas generated. All this, with the spirit of collective cooperation towards a strong and resilient future, underpinned the themes emerging around innovation, purpose and a drive towards continual adaptability.
This key event in the MICE sector calendar was Abu Dhabi’s opportunity to bring global leaders in the sector together with globally recognised experts from a wide range of spectrums. If you’re keen to get a feel for the opportunities that came to light in Abu Dhabi, keep on reading where we’ll be exploring the key takeaways from this year’s event.
The first day started with a scene-setting welcome address from H.E. Saleh Mohammed Al Geziry, Director General of Tourism at Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism (DTC Abu Dhabi). He highlighted the crucial need for collaboration and the importance of establishing partnerships which create new opportunities, to position Abu Dhabi as an ever more prominent and competitive MICE destination. With this welcome, collaboration and partnership became the running themes of the event, where the determination and unity of Abu Dhabi’s ambitious events sector show value in competing collectively and working together.
Alister Frost, one of the event’s opening keynotes, delivered an inspiring and reassuringly down-to-earth keynote where everyday life challenges with the technology we welcome into our homes, help us understand the humanity we need to consider the implications behind any change. This was all part of Alister’s message about the importance of having a healthy relationship with change, being able to adapt and understand how crises can become opportunities and the benefits that can come from working outside our comfort zone, remaining curious and ready to embrace new developments. Not too much, but perhaps more than a little.
A panel led by Kevin Edmunds, President of SITE, brought together international perspectives to discuss the state of the industry in 2022 and explore the huge potential that Abu Dhabi and the wider Gulf region present for the MICE sector, one that promises considerable strength for a destination that really does have it all, with outstanding quality and premium experiences.
The panellists, which included the likes of Senthil Gopinath, CEO of ICCA, Steen Jakobsen, Associate VP of Dubai Business Events and Mubarak Al Shamsi, Director of the Abu Dhabi’s Convention & Exhibition Bureau, highlighted that the key to a fast recovery of the sector was the result of the successful collaboration between government entities and private organisations. All panellists stressed the importance of strong, quick and innovative recovery, whilst welcoming the opportunity to go beyond, in building rich collaborations rooted in reinvention and transformation.
There were a range of perspectives shared from both regional and global perspectives, all united in their common view that establishing new partnerships and fostering strong collaboration were key to harnessing the future potential of our industry. So too was the importance of reflecting on the various hurdles we face as an industry, such as inflation and increased costs, where ultimately, having an understanding of the data that we own and maximising our use of that is key to recognising its full potential. This can lead to a better understanding of behaviour and how this impacts the decision-making process.
Whilst recovery, growth and resilience were certainly some of the strongest themes emerging from this year’s event, so too was sustainability, a priority that the global events sector knows it must address head-on. Helping to offer a fresh perspective on this was keynote speaker Geneviève Leclerc, a globally renowned expert with more than twenty years of experience in the MICE sector, helping to steer it towards a sustainable future with her expertise and methods.
Geneviève’s talk explored how the MICE sector can further its positive impact on destinations, introducing us to the concept of ‘impact’ to emphasise the need for organisers to take every possible chance to create positive effects amongst the cities, regions and communities where events take place.
Geneviève explored everything from applying widely known frameworks, such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals, to evaluating the outcomes of events, whilst actively making decisions that will alleviate their negative effects, transforming them into positive and impactful ones.
Data has also been a common theme in achieving these, where Abu Dhabi demonstrated how they are maximising their understanding through data to gain better knowledge of traveller behaviour and event patterns, helping them respond to change effectively in times of disruption.
Developments, such as those brought about by an increasingly demanding and complex playing field when it comes to data, require innovation to thrive within, amongst and between stakeholders to drive the MICE sector to thrive. This is why Abu Dhabi is continuously investing in new technologies and visitor experiences and believes firmly in the importance of continual investment in the sector to take its competitive offering to the next level.
To inspire the audience and spark new ideas around innovation, our very own Nick Hall, founder of the Digital Tourism Think Tank, guided us through some of the most disruptive technology advancements and trends that we are observing in the tourism and events industry. He helped offer participants a glimpse at the future, to understand where the opportunity for innovation might lie.
With this, things smoothly transitioned from digital and innovation to conceptual thinking around how to redesign visitor experiences, connecting them with the MICE offer. This is an area where the UAE and Abu Dhabi in particular are excelling, with exciting ambitious developments such as Yas Island, where many exciting new developments are being built. There is also ongoing investment in transformational experiences, where emerging tech in areas such as VR, AR and XR and creating entirely new ways of experiencing both events and the wider destination experience around them.
There was widespread consensus amongst speakers and audience members that this magic mix of investment in a smarter and more digitally immersive destination experience, together with the creation of outstanding new visitor experiences, will be key to activating and leveraging the opportunities throughout the Gulf region.
Sustainability was unsurprisingly something touched on many times throughout the event, benefitting from Geneviève's scene setting. Another word, Purpose, also emerged, which perhaps helps us get behind the true meaning driving change in the sector. Purpose was referred to across all the talks, with the recognition that for events to be impactful and meaningful, both in form and delivery, they must also offer a sense of purpose from the outset.
Nick explored purpose in both panels, where he moderated lively discussions on ‘How to Create Amazing Visitor Experiences’ and ‘Net Zero by 2030 Frameworks and Opportunities’. DCT’s Faisal Khan spoke about the new sustainability framework being launched for Abu Dhabi’s tourism sector, whilst others such as Naji El Haddad, Regional Director for UFI and Oisin Command, Head of Abu Dhabi’s Sustainability Week, talked about the sense of purpose driving change, yet the sense of reality needed in achieving change.
All agreed that change starts with education, helping to ensure everyone in the sector understands the key issues at play in relation to sustainability and, for example, the difference between ‘Net Zero’ and ‘Carbon Neutral’.
It was important to acknowledge that the need for change isn’t only coming from the supply side, but consumers are demanding change too. The lessons learned on creating amazing visitor experiences provided a glimpse into the increasingly conscious traveller, seeking to travel with brands and experiences that offer a sense of purpose.
Etihad’s Terry Daly spoke with passion about how innovation was driving change in their ambitious commitment towards their own sustainability goals and the re-imagination of the guest experience within the business, underpinned by a sizeable digital transformation process. Manuel Rebate, Director at Louvre Abu Dhabi, shared an entirely different perspective on purpose, where Abu Dhabi’s flagship attraction is built upon a core set of values promoting interpretation and accessibility to art and culture, with innovation and a holistic view being defining factors in imagining an entirely new cultural experience.
With high-level discussions and thought-starters setting the scene for this year’s event, Abu Dhabi really has established itself as a front runner in the global MICE sector, where this pivotal event has brought together key players to work strategically and also at a more operational level too, on the changes happening in the sector.
As the event drilled down to more functional needs, keynote speaker Paul Rulkens, helped the audience drill down on how to realise its full potential, guiding us through different techniques that teams and organisations can implement in their day-to-day work, in an engaging and creative keynote.
Do you ever consider the importance of things like clarity, delegation, elimination and outsourcing? These were just some of the reflection points, amongst other actions designed to explore how we can further our efforts towards improving our competitiveness and striving to become more relevant in the market. These might just be the keys to applying innovation on a day-to-day basis within our teams and amongst our sector, as key challenges such as flexibility, human capital, changing generational needs and talent retention all dominated the second day of the event.
What did we learn at this year’s event? The meetings and events sector has proven to be determined, resilient and most of all, truly innovative in adopting an open outlook as to how the sector might evolve. The sustainability priorities dominating industry conversations right now were brought into perspective by exploring what sits at the heart of impact and purpose.
For Abu Dhabi, the opportunity here lies not only in innovation but also in expertise. Fostering deep knowledge of the themes, topics and interests which determine the attractiveness of a particular event community lies at the heart of a competitive offer and more importantly, one that offers relevance. Seeing the destination as a canvas as a testbed for new ideas within the sector, but also a testbed for ideas for events to build upon is all about adding meaning and purpose - an offer defined by impact.
After a week packed with insights and inspiration on future horizons for the meetings and events sector...
After a week packed with insights and inspiration on future horizons for the meetings and events sector...
After a week packed with insights and inspiration on future horizons for the meetings and events sector...
.webp)