CONVENTA BEST EVENT AWARD
In the first phase of event evaluation, all submitted entries will be evaluated by a jury consisting of international experts from the field of event organisation. The jury consists of 12 members who participate and have equal votes in evaluating the submitted entries. Every member of the jury makes their decision individually on the basis of their expert knowledge, reputation and authority.
We’ve asked the 12 judges to give some advice to the applicants and share what they want to see in the competition.
Director of the Vienna Convention Bureau, President of the Austrian Convention Bureau and former ICCA President. Managing a team of 12 people, trying to position Vienna as the leading meetings destination. Interested in any new developments and ideas which could influence the advancement of the Meetings Industry.
The best advice that you, as the member of the jury, would give to the applicants for the Conventa Best Event Award?
Make us curious.
How could an applicant ease the jury’s work?
Clear, short, to the point.
With his business partner Padraic Gilligan, Patrick Delaney is Managing Partner at SoolNua, a specialist MICE agency helping destinations, hotels and venues with strategy, marketing and training based on 6 decades of expertise as global leaders in the industry. Prior to founding SoolNua, Delaney was Managing Director of Ovation, MCI’s global DMC network.
The best advice that you, as the member of the jury, would give to the applicants for the Conventa Best Event Award?
APPLY APPLY APPLY. Send in your entry; if you are not in, you can’t win.
How could an applicant ease the jury’s work?
Follow the guidelines and the criteria in the application, that’s what we as judges will do. Answer the questions, how you meet, no, how you exceed the criteria. Tell the story and bring the event to life, remember we, as judges, have not had the benefit of being there.
Since January 2017 Luca Favetta serves as Regional Business Director EMEA at PCMA (Professional Convention Management Association), the world’s largest network of Business Events Strategists, and is responsible for developing PCMA Brand and Educational Services in the Region. With 25+ years of Corporate events experience, Luca has previously served as Senior Director Global Events and Programs at Hewlett-Packard International as well as Senior Director Global Events EMEA at SAP SA. He seats on the advisory board of Bea (Best Event Award) World and has also served as a faculty member at Master in Tourism Management, IULM University Milan, Italy and at ECM (European Cities Marketing) Summer School.
The best advice that you, as the member of the jury, would give to the applicants for the Conventa Best Event Award?
Be relevant. Clearly show how the event contributed to achieve overall Business Objectives. Show the ROI.
How could an applicant ease the jury’s work?
Stay Focused, tell us a story describing the Event path from Objectives, to Creative Idea – Format – Execution -Measurement. Let the Jury clearly understand the strategy behind and how you achieved your client objectives.
I fell into events accidentally some 18 years ago while switching jobs from TV&Film production to advertising. The agency searched for someone who would look over TV ads and events production that they dreaded from, and I was looking for something new, where I could use my knowledge and upgrade my creativity, away from exhausting film jobs. It was a match made in heaven and the ever so fun rollercoaster ride started (and not yet stopped).
The best advice that you, as the member of the jury, would give to the applicants for the Conventa Best Event Award?
Apply with events that make a difference. Sometimes less is more. The end effect is that counts.
How could an applicant ease the jury’s work?
I guess being a juror doesn’t comply with having an easy job. So bring it on, we have a job to do ;).
Davor Bruketa is the Creative Director at Bruketa&Žinić&Grey – global Grey group ‘s Design and Digital Shopper Hub. With over 450 awards for advertising, design and events, their project The Tunnel was also the most visited Croatian exhibition in 2017 and was pronounced Event of The Year by Media marketing.
The best advice that you, as the member of the jury, would give to the applicants for the Conventa Best Event Award?
Prove why your idea made a difference, what were the reasons behind it and how did it benefit your client. The presentation for the jury is a new „event“, and the jury members are the „guests“.
How could an applicant ease the jury’s work?
Be clear, concise and creative.
Jan-Jaap is owner-moderator at Masters in Moderation. He is a firm believer that a carefully selected moderator-facilitator will make meetings more effective, more fun and definitely more worthwhile. His dream is to raise the standard of meetings worldwide, by providing them with the best moderators. His mission is to upgrade the moderator profession, by training both professional and unexperienced moderators.
The best advice that you, as the member of the jury, would give to the applicants for the Conventa Best Event Award?
Bring us the proof! Don’t just tell us how great everything was, show it to us.
How could an applicant ease the jury’s work?
Send us money.😊 Or even better: make the objectives of the event very clear and show us how you measured the effectiveness.
Ivo J. Franschitz owns a Master degree in International Marketing from the Vienna University of Economics and his early career milestones include Senior Marketing & Management positions in the Tourism and Meeting industry. Currently he holds a Board member position with EMBA (Event Marketing Board Austria) and with LiveCom Alliance, as well as being an active member of ICCA and of 27NAMES. His qualifications include an ISO certification (Certified Event Expert).
The best advice that you, as the member of the jury, would give to the applicants for the Conventa Best Event Award?
Be authentic and stay focused. Let the event speak for itself. Less is more.
How could an applicant ease the jury’s work?
Choose the right combination of words & imagery, and make sure any visuals are of good quality.
Founder of the eventoplus Group of event and MICE related publications and events (eventoplus.com, Eventos magazine, IBTM Daily, eventoDays, Premios eventoplus and Fitur Daily…). Entrepreneur, trainer, speaker. Jose has been fully dedicated to the events and MICE industry for the last 18 years, as an organiser, as a final client and as a professional media publisher.
The best advice that you, as the member of the jury, would give to the applicants for the Conventa Best Event Award?
Applying for a Best Event Award is always a challenge. Jury members, we watch dozens of videos and read lots of event descriptions in a very short period of time. Let me give you a couple of tips to organise your ideas:
Be wise and try and describe your event from the attendants perspective, try to connect with us by making us relive what your event was about. We want to be engaged and transported to your event. This is live communication!
On the other hand, do not forget the objective that the client wanted to achieve with the event being described and convince us that it was achieved, leave us no doubts about it, be serious on your demonstration.
Best of success with your application!!
How could an applicant ease the jury’s work?
To make our life easier, make a real storytelling of your application. Tell us about the objective, the challenges, the means you had to organise your event, the event itself and the outcome. Do not leave any of these parts unexplaind as we then lack of substance to judge.
In 2003, Stefan Kozak founded a company focused on live & event marketing, CREATIVE PRO and consequently he built diversified group of companies, called CREATIVE PRO group, with business present mainly on Slovak and Czech market, Hungary and Poland. Except for managing the group and its organisations he is in charge of business development, strategical acquisition of new business as well as specific ‘live marketing’ projects.
The best advice that you, as the member of the jury, would give to the applicants for the Conventa Best Event Award?
Try to think about the content/project that you are planning to nominee for CBEA already before the event happens. This will help you to have the best tools for successful project nomination (strong content, clear creative strategy and storyline, channels innovations and production highlights).
How could an applicant ease the jury’s work?
KISS approach. Try to Keep It Smart and Simple and focus on the maximum three of the most important project highlights.
20 years ago, Ilka followed her desire to work on events and live communication, managing international corporate events in the ITC industry. During her 12 years at Symantec as Head of Global Events EMEA she was in charge of the integrated event marketing strategy for Europe. Today, she is a Senior Partner, consultant and trainer of the Event ROI Institute helping event professionals to increase the effectiveness of their events with the Event ROI Methodology.
The best advice that you, as the member of the jury, would give to the applicants for the Conventa Best Event Award?
What makes an award-winning entry? The intention is to award those events that are not only innovative and creative, but also effective – those that achieve, or even exceed, their long-term communication, marketing and business aims. So don´t forget to always relate all the creative and innovative elements of your event to your stakeholders overarching objectives.
In case you will be selected to go on the shortlist, you will have the opportunity to present live and face-to-face in front of the participants who will be your smartest critics. This might be your biggest challenge and biggest opportunity. So prepare your short 10 min pitch carefully, use videos and pictures rather than long text. Focus on the objectives of your event and share your unique, creative and innovative ideas that were supporting these objectives. Also share your challenges and failures as this makes your story personal. And don´t forget a creative opening spike to raise attentions and finally present in an inspiring and interactive way involving the participants.
How could an applicant ease the jury’s work?
Before you enter an event, read the categories carefully and make sure that your event really matches the category description. During online voting, we will be judging each submission on a number of criteria such as creativity and innovation, communication strategy, sustainability, and event results and effectiveness. So make sure that your entry delivers a SHORT and FOCUSED description for every single criteria (if applicable). Try to relate your description to your overarching objectives so that we always understand your event strategy and why you have chosen the specific instructional design and elements of the programme.
Kevin Jackson has been voted the most influential person in the UK event industry. He worked with marketing groups such as Interpublic, Grey, Saatchi, Jack Morton and George P Johnson. He is using philosophy of business growth, engagement, participation and action in his new role as Editor in Chief of Live Communication magazine, a bi-monthly publication for the Live industry.
Salvatore Sagone is co-founder and president of ADC Group, a media holding company. The group includes the communication news agencies ADVexpress and e20express, Nuova Comunicazione and e20 magazines, and the I Quaderni della Comunicazione reading series. In 2006 he launched the Best Event Awards, that are now acknowledged as the main international events award.
