Every year, Conventa Crossover invites world-renowned meeting planners, marketers, entrepreneurs, and creatives to share their knowledge in Ljubljana, Slovenia. This year, inspiring individuals who have helped co-create and transform the meetings industry will be joining us in August. At the same time, we will be opening the stage to a new generation of young and talented meeting planners and marketers. You will learn from keynote speakers who have successfully transformed their events and are recognized as the pioneers of our new reality.
Joining the 6th Conventa Crossover conference is Colja M. Dams, the CEO of VOK DAMS – an agency that has been one of the international market leaders in events and marketing. Before he joins us at Conventa Crossover 2021, we wanted to hear his thoughts on the future of the meetings industry and see what surprised he has in store for us.
Interview with Colja Dams
Q: What do you think about the theme of this year’s Crossover –The Meetings Industry AC/BC (After Corona/Before Corona)?
We are carefully optimistic that the events industry will bounce back to how it was before the Pandemic for a certain period of time. The natural desire of people to meet in person has been affected by Covid-19 but not eradicated. We do believe in the Campfire DNA in all of us – as soon as people can meet safely again, they will.
After the expected peak of live in-person events, we will settle for Hybrid Events as the main event format of the future followed by live only and digital formats. We have learned throughout the Pandemic that digital solutions are effective not only from a sustainability point of view.
Q: What is your forecast for the meetings industry in the coming year (2022) and beyond?
After a peak of pre-pandemic levels of live in-person events – Hybrid Events will become the main event format.
Physical Live Events will become more regional – involving less travel for the attendees. We start seeing a revival of the high quality roadshow format. Instead of one central launch event flying in the world – Brands are bringing the events to all continents for smaller groups but more event days.
We also forecast a rise in popularity of Brand Experience Hubs, closing the gap between digital and live customer touchpoints. Enabling a seamless customer journey as the basis for Data Driven Experience Design and Marketing Automation. Brand Experience Hubs will make all content – live / digital and hybrid – available to different target groups in one central location, foregoing the multiplicity of creating specific content or channels for specific target groups only and putting the participant in control of content selection and consumption from wherever they want.
Q: How do you envision agility and innovation in overcoming the corona crisis? Can you share some examples of best practices?
Without exaggerating, our switch to Agile Event Management and our IT system overhaul just before the pandemic hit, has been the main reason of our success the past year (next to our awesome teams). Agile Event Management allowed us to closely work with clients and adapt our concepts, planning and production quickly when the rules and regulations changed. Which at certain times was on a weekly basis.
Our investments in a new – mobile first – IT structure were focused on making remote working more efficient. We luckily switched to Microsoft TEAMS a couple of months before the first lockdowns happened, so when everyone started to rely on TEAMS, we were experienced with all the possibilities.
Technology has always been a driving force at VOK DAMS, even though the personal interaction is of key importance for events and meetings. Clients want to have the best and latest technology and we can’t allow ourselves to be behind on technological innovation by relying on others. Therefore we developed our own open platform for hybrid events together with world leading Tech company IBM early in the Pandemic. Our platform was the basis for a number of brand experience hubs for clients like Grohe, Lange & Sohne, Boeringer Ingelheim and Merk/Pfizer and many more.
Q: How would you comment on the following statement? “Coronacrisis has shown the need to organise events that are responsible to the environment, the participants and the community as a whole”
Responsibility to the environment, participants and the community has always been part of our way of working. The pandemic has accelerated the acceptance of digital and hybrid alternatives and made people realize that virtual solutions work well and have positive impact on the environment and the well-being of people and their communities.
More importantly, COVID-19 has taught us how precious and important personal interaction for us humans is. We only truly realized that when it was taken away from us. It is also the reason why the event and meetings industry will survive: we just cannot live without live social interaction.
Q: What will you surprise us with at this year’s event?
By showing a couple of examples of Digital / Hybrid and Live Events we managed to produced. And of course showcasing you the Future of Hybrid Events – Brand Experience Hubs …
Every year, Conventa Crossover invites world-renowned meeting planners, marketers, entrepreneurs, and creatives to share their knowledge in Ljubljana, Slovenia. This year, inspiring individuals who have helped co-create and transform the meetings industry will be joining us in August. At the same time, we will be opening the stage to a new generation of young and talented meeting planners and marketers. You will learn from keynote speakers who have successfully transformed their events and are recognized as the pioneers of our new reality.
Joining the 6th Conventa Crossover conference are Gundega Skudriņa, Creative Director at Creative Association “Skudras Metropole” and Mārcis Ziemiņš, Installation Art Director at Don’t Panic Design, who will be holding a keynote lecture together. Before they join us at Conventa Crossover 2021, we wanted to pick their brains about the future of the meetings industry and see what surprised they have in store for us.
Interview with Gundega and Mārcis
Q: What do you think about the theme of this year’s Crossover –The Meetings Industry AC/BC (After Corona/Before Corona)?
Everything that happens is for the good. When the winds of change blow, some people build walls, others build windmills. Those who can change, will survive. The events industry must be able to restructure itself, change itself, and ensure that winds of change are favourable for it so that it can continue to offer new experiences and vivid emotions to humanity. Cultural heritage needs to be passed down from generation to generation in a new and innovative manner.
Creativity, courage and the desire to improve will be the best allies in the process of change.
Q: What is your forecast for the meetings industry in the coming year (2022) and beyond?
Hybrid forms will become more stable, digital events will develop, and people will appreciate new and innovative forms and unique ideas that will be able to open up new and successful routes for the industry whilst also encouraging economic growth. The confluence of various sectors will facilitate new types of offers.
Events in future will be designed, not organised.
Our agency has been doing that for the past several years, and right now this is a trend that is modern and in much demand.
Q: How do you envision agility and innovation in overcoming the corona crisis? Can you share some examples of best practices?
The year of the pandemic was very successful for our company, opening up new entrepreneurial doors, encouraging international co-operation, and ensuring a pile of awards for new and innovative ideas and their implementation.
Keywords here include new ideas, courage, unprecedented solutions, a good team and a strategy for the future.
As we have dealt with the crisis, we have created new and unprecedented events in a box and pursued an entirely new area — the concept of biophilia.
Our series of “Untamed Nights” has facilitated recovery for the tourism, economic, hospitality and events industry, and it has allowed us to work in very small forms, indeed:
Series 1: The levitating “Mirror House” above the Amata River
Series 2: “Untamed Night on the 20th Floor”
Series 3: The “Floating Island” on Lake Mordanga
We worked with the internationally renowned company Hugo Boss and the Boss brand to create new types of presentations of the latest fashion collections.
“Theatre by Phone” reached nine countries and was implemented in one month’s time with no one who was involved in the process needing to leave his or her home.
Q: How would you comment on the following statement? “Coronacrisis has shown the need to organise events that are responsible to the environment, the participants and the community as a whole”
Sensible people have known for some time that the world is yearning for changes, and so for the past several years, such companies have organised events whilst thinking about the environment and the public. “Sustainable events” is a category that will not be an innovation on shortlists and competitions. It must become a leading category so that the tale of each sector and each brand can continue.
We are proud of the events that we have created, and they have received international appreciation in the past. We will work to make sure that in future, that continues to be true.
Q: What will you surprise us with at this year’s event?
We have had a positive worldview that has allowed us to create successful examples during the past year. We have been able to share our experience in terms of how to earn a GRAND PRIX and 10 1st places during the course of the year at all kinds of local and international competitions.
We are going to share experiences in terms of finding new niches in processes and to organise projects that can be ensured without leaving home but presenting them in 9 different countries.
Date: 8 – 9 October 2020 Location: Online and at The Herman Potočnik Noordung Center of Space Technologies Organiser: Eventnika d.o.o. Event website:https://www.worldofsynergy.com/
EVENT CATEGORY: CROSSOVER EVENT FORMAT: HYBRID
Event description and key objectives
World of Synergy (WoS) Confluence was a sequel to the World of Synergy 2019: Inclusive Leadership conference. Due to the changing circumstances the format of this new edition took multiple forms. But the core of the conference stayed the same throughout the changes – a living experience that expands perception, perspectives, potential, and possibilities and is co-created by everybody.
Supported by free online sessions that took place 6 months prior, this learning journey reached a peak at the conference over the course of 2 days, from October 8th to October 9th. The first day of the experience took place online (Zoom platform) and the second day online (Zoom platform) and in-person (Noordung Center). By using a combination of online and in-person moderators, different online platforms and simultaneous video and audio transmission, we created an event that allowed the same experience for online and in-person participants.
The key objectives of the conference were:
To form a creative approach to how we connect and learn together.
To include everybody as a co-creator – there were no spectators.
To encourage interactive explorations to grow collaboration capacities in unpredictable times.
To stimulate questions that invite us into spheres of possibility previously unimaginable.
To stimulate a process that has been proven to be a very powerful approach in finding and empowering new forms of being and working together, as individuals and as a collective.
Key challenges
During the forming and planning, the following key organizational, financial and content-building challenges emerged:
1. How to organise a conference in the times of COVID-19? With a strong wish of executing at least a part of the conference in person, we searched for the way that will allow us to organize a conference that stimulates learning experience and encourages domestic and international participation. We discovered that a hybrid event allows us to create a part of the conference in person, gives participants the opportunity to decide whether to join in-person or online and it allows an easier transformation to a full online conference, in the case of the ban of in-person events.
2. How to create the same experience for online and in-person participants? We brought together highly capable content builders, facilitators, moderators and speakers that worked together for six months to find a way to stimulate the same experiences. They found that we had to plan two different events – one online and one in-person with the same objectives.
3. How to provide enough financial resources to cover the expenses of the conference, as we had limited marketing results and sales? With a team of notable experts with wide networks and negotiating skills we managed to provide sufficient funds mainly through sponsorships and volunteering, connecting us to like-minded organizations and individuals.
Creativity
Creativity was integral in organising and executing and it shows through:
1. INVENTIVE FORMAT: Our main guide in planning this conference was to conceive a creative approach to how we connect and learn together. We wanted to create a format that allows innovation, creativity and insight on spot, which influences the direction of the conference. For example, we created badges for in-person participants with 5 different insightful questions, which were later used to randomly group people together. We also created a new workshop WILD WEB WALK that took place in nature and allowed participants to connect not just via Zoom but also with our inner self and even with nature.
2. IMAGINATIVE CONTENT The content was created in a way to stimulate interactive explorations to grow collaboration capacities in unpredictable times. It stimulated asking strong questions, active listening, non-violent communication, reinvention technique, embodied leadership and mobilizing community potentials for the development of individual initiatives.
3. ADAPTABLE EXECUTION: Due to the changing circumstances, the execution was changed multiple times. That meant that we had to have multiple options for final execution while simultaneously providing the same level of quality and participation. At the end we created a hybrid conference which meant that we had to transform the space for in-person participation in accordance with COVID regulations and set strict rules for organisers, participants and partners.
Innovation
The focus of the conference was the co-creation of the experience by everybody. This meant that we couldn’t have the strict, rigid programme that is present on most of the conferences. We saw our program as an unfolding process that invites co-creation, unexpected insights, memorable experiences, and a sense of allyship in this changing world. The programme was a map; we expected that the living experience might change as circumstances changed.
To stimulate the co-creation by everybody we scheduled a preliminary session in August, where we invited the participants to help us shape the programme of the conference. By asking them directly, what are the topics that are important to them, we included them in the planning of our programme map. We also encouraged participation and co-creation of our 5 programme topics (dialogues) by inviting sharing and asking questions at the conference. This was enabled online by the Zoom function “raise hand”, in-person by physically raising hand and by external online platforms (Mentimeter).
Our conference consisted of 5 interactive dialogues, each with a light structure and content piece that catalysed a collective learning & sharing experience:
DATA dialogue: New forms need a different kind of data
CULTURE dialogue: Re-inventing community collaboration
PRESENCE dialogue: Being present; learning from the unknown
FUTURE dialogue: Re-creating futures together
INTEGRATION dialogue: What is next-level aspiration now
Execution
The execution of the event was possible by the virtue of:
5 core team members,
10 volunteers,
7 technical team members,
4 moderators (2 online and 2 in-person),
11 main sponsors,
18 partners,
18 months of preparations and many updates.
Each of the members and partners had an active role in the planning and carrying out the conference and in managing specific tasks.
The challenges of 2020 encouraged us to start (executing) the WoS experience 6 months prior to the conference and activate our RESPONSE-ABILITY in the form of free online sessions. We wanted to help each other build up our ability to respond and find new ways to deal with the uncertainty together, as a community.
WoS experience culminated at the conference where the execution took place online and in-person. Online the conference took place on the Zoom platform, which was the budget friendly solution that allowed us to engage participants in multiple ways. To stimulate the co-creation online and create the same experience for all participants, we had 2 online moderators and a technical host that monitored and stimulated the participation. The in-person part of the conference took place in Vitanje in Center Noordung, where we had 2 in-person moderators, 10 volunteers and 6 technical team members that took care of the video and audio transmission. The scope of the location allowed us to safely execute the experience and wow our participants with the out of the box location.
Measurable results
Due to the COVID pandemic, which unabled us to carry out the planned conference in March of 2020, the first measurable result is executing the conference in October 2020, 7 months later. That meant that we had to plan a new conference in a completely new and changing situation while being responsible and communicate with confirmed participants about the cancelation and refunds.
To promote our conference and to build up our RESPONSE-ABILITY to this changing environment, we decided to execute at least a part of the conference in March, on the day that our original conference should take place. This session was carried out for free online and paved the path for the rest of our free online sessions till the conference. Altogether we organised 5 monthly 2-hour free online sessions which had 152 participants. On the day of the final conference we had 95 participants, on the second (hybrid) day we had half participants online and half in-person.
The cost of the whole conference was 50.000 EUR, half of the cost was covered by our sponsorship and half by the participation fees. We also gathered over 10.000 EUR in promotional material.
WoS results in numbers:
5 core team members, 10 volunteers, 7 technical team members, 11 main sponsors, 18 partners, 18 months of preparations, 5 free online sessions, 1 wild web walk, 2 days of conference, 4 moderators, 6 online speakers, 2 speakers in-person.
Communication
Our main communication channels were our event web page, our email newsletters and Facebook and LinkedIn social media profiles. The webpage was updated and modernized which allowed a better presentation of WoS ideas. Our newsletters were sent regularly (at least 2 times a month) to our subscribers which created a more trustworthy relationship. Social media was also a good channel which allowed us to connect with interested parties more easily. The communication messages were mostly focused on the insights from the last year’s conference, news about the current conference and spreading messages from our core team members and speakers.
WoS communication also included a more traditional, printed media, DELO d.d., the leading slovenian publishing house, and its weekly SVET KAPITALA. They supported our conference with presentations of our programme, speakers and sponsors and also creating a promotional contest for WoS tickets. Important channels were also our other sponsors and partners. They shared the information about WoS conference in their email newsletters, on social media and on their events.
Viral channels for spreading the WoS messages were our last year’s participants. The enthusiastic participants were able to create a buzz about our conference. Their opinions and desire for the second edition of the conference, inspired us to create the WoS Confluence in 2020.
The use of sustainable practices
Our vision for the WoS confluence was to bring more balance to the world. We wanted to provide the experience of harmonic collaboration, which activates the capacity of connection and wiser decision making within each participant. Decisions coming from a place of deeper connection with oneself, with others and something bigger than us are contributing to shift from force to power. This is directly connected to the sustainability and the harmonic future between people, businesses and nature that we can create together.
The conference addressed all three pillars of sustainability – economic, environmental, and social. In the economic sense, the organisers experienced revenue growth, visibility, acquired new partners, and exceptional reference. WoS was also very environmentally friendly: enabling online participation and thus reducing the carbon footprint, having only vegan and local meals on site, biodegradable name tags, including environmentally conscious company (beFresh) and having only non-alcoholic beverages. We tried to reduce paper use by online forms (necessary for NIJZ and health inspections). In the social sense the participants formed a real, tangible synergy that continued even when the conference ended. Everybody involved broadened their personal and business networks forming new project alliances and discovered how to work together better, as a community.
Date: 15.4. – 20.5.2021 Location: Virtual Event Organiser: Slovenian Tourist Board Client: Slovenian Tourist Board & Slovenian Tourism Providers
EVENT CATEGORY: B2B EVENT SUBCATEGORY: Best Trade Show / B2B EVENT FORMAT: DIGITAL
Event description and key objectives
Feel Sloveni@ Business Dates are virtual business tourism events, bringing together foreign tour operators (TOs) and tourist agents (TAs) with the representatives of Slovenian tourism industry. As the pandemic made live events impossible, we tried to come up with the most effective, interesting and hopefully not too sterile ways of moving this type of promotion and business communication online, with the clear aim of maintaining genuine contact between the participants as much as possible and showing that tourism is still about people and that behind every digital profile is a person with a name and a unique story.
The following functionalities were at the forefront in selecting the platform for these events: the possibility of scheduling meetings in advance, one-on-one video calls between participants, an advanced platform branding options, an intriguing video content format. We also felt it was important to make the platform as easy to use as possible, not causing the participant too much stress or requiring too much effort.
In addition to representatives of Slovenian tourism, our target groups were foreign TOs/TAs, which were divided into four groups by market or product. Separate events were organised for them; the first one was dedicated to the DACH region, the second to MICE agents, the third to V4 markets and the last to Benelux and France. Our goals were to renew and strengthen partner relationships that exsisted prior to the pandemic, and to develop new ones.
Key challenges
During the pandemic, our reality largely migrated online, and most of us adapted quite successfully to the new circumstances. We got used to virtual meetings, no handshakes, without the possibility of reading body language and feeling other people’s energy in conversation. But as much now or even more than ever, it is true that tourism means people and stories which people tell and others believe and buy if they feel the stories are authentic. And authenticity can be created by looking into a person’s eyes, which is why our key aim was to enable one-on-one video meetings between participants. Our key challenge was attracting foreign participants to join our virtual events in a creative, fun and informative manner instead of using classic invitations; moreover we needed to motivate them during the actual events to really listen about Slovenian tourism products, services, latest news and offer.
To achive this, we put together a great deal of video content, from invitations, videopresentations, moderated discussions, interesting key note speeches and more with the clear aim of re-creating, as best we could, the experience the participants would have enjoyed live, and to get them to engage to actively participate in the event. Before preparing all of the above, we naturally had to invite and carefully select quality foreign TOs/TAs to sign up and take an active part at our events.
Creativity
Please find below a list of the materials that we’ve created in order to make our events as much attractive as possible:
Innovation
The key strategic aims of the Slovenian Tourist Board were divided into three areas:
First, the project is a development breakthrough in terms of a complete digitalisation of business events or establishment of a new business, virtual and international ecosystem in the new reality. It is a responsible, virtual, sustainable and innovative environment aimed at replacing live events.
Second, it is an efficiency-oriented system that enables constant presence on foreign markets and particularly the maintenance of existing and the establishment of new business contacts during and after the pandemic.
And third, it proposes a medium- and long-term strategy or agenda for business events in Slovenian tourism at the highest level and in accordance with the planned digitalisation of Slovenian tourism, taking into consideration preparations for the new Strategy for the Sustainable Growth of Slovenian Tourism 2022–2028.
Execution
Conspicuous, memorable, different events and unique, albeit virtual business experiences are an excellent foundation for recovery and maintaining global competitiveness.
To reach these goals, the Slovenian Tourist Board set itself the following success indicators:
Average number of participants per event – aim: 20 Slovenian, 50 foreign participants;
Average number of meetings per company – aim: 8–10 meetings;
Participant satisfaction with event attendance (on a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being the lowest and 5 the highest) – aim: 4;
Expressed interest in participating in similar STB events (% of the total number of present participants who would attend a similar event in the future) – aim: 70–80%;
Recommendation to colleagues to take part in a Feel Sloveni@ Business Date (% of the total number of present participants who would give a recommendation) – aim: at least 90%.
Measurable results
Based on the set goals, event results were measured and are as follows:
1. Average number of participants per event: a. aim: 20 Slovenian, 50 foreign participants b. actual result: 32 Slovenian, over 80 foreign participants; 2. Average number of meetings per company: a. aim: 8–10 meetings b. actual result: more than 11;
3. Participant satisfaction with event attendance (on a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being the lowest and 5 the highest): a. aim: 4 b. actual result: more than 4;
4. Expressed interest in participating in similar STB events (% of the total number of present participants who would attend a similar event in the future): a. aim: 70–80% b. Actual result: more than 80%
5. Recommendation to colleagues to take part in a Feel Sloveni@ Business Date (% of the total number of present participants who would give a recommendation): a. aim: at least 90% b. actual result: 100%
Communication
Before, during and after the event, communication took place via social media (Linkedin – more than 13,000 followers, and Twitter – more than 4,100 followers) – a total of 36 posts on both channels.
Two press releases were also sent out (for the DACH event and the MICE event).
A news report for the Tourist Press Agency (TTA – issued by STB) was also prepared for each event – with over 4,500 recipients/news.
The news of the event was published in the Kongres Magazine newsletter – over 28,000 recipients.
Events were also advertised on LinkedIn, the posts reaching a total of 3,792 clicks.
Event publications in various specialised foreign business media (Business Traveller Poland, Business Traveller Germany, Event Motion, Travel Quotidiano, Tourist Press Agency Italia, etc.)
In addition to landing pages for individual virtual events Feel Sloveni@ Business Date, each event also featured a common landing page at www.slovenia.info.
The use of sustainable practices
Slovenia prioritizes sustainable principles. This is united in The Green Scheme of Slovenian Tourism, a tool developed at the national level and a certification programme. It combines all the efforts for the sustainable development of tourism in Slovenia. During the presentations at the virtual event we’ve communicated these values to the participants. And as far as the implementation of the actual measures at our events are concerned, as we’ve organized virtual events instead of live events like we were used in the past, we can safely say that our events were much more sustainable than in-person events heaving in mind the main factor at the events travel, which was not only reduced but non-existant.
All of the material, from events schedules, meeting lists, brochures etc., was stricly online.
Participants didin’t receive goodie bags (nor were they sent to them after the event).
We didn’t have any food waste as catering was obviously not a part of the event.
Having this in mind we can say that our virtual events were zero waste events.
Date: 12.01.2021 Location: Ferry Porsche Congress Center, Zell am See, Austria Organiser: Thomas Zauner, Wintersteiger AG
EVENT CATEGORY: B2B EVENT SUBCATEGORY: Best Product or Service Launch / B2B EVENT FORMAT: LIVE
Event description and key objectives
The premiere of Jupiter at the Ferry Porsche Congress Center was broadcast worldwide via livestream. Sports presenter Christian Nehiba hosted the extraordinary, literally magical, show. Additional guests were Anna Veith (Olympic champion Super-G), Christoph Bründl (Bründl Sports) and the world’s fastest quick-change artists “Sos & Victoria”.
Key challenges
Due to the Corona situation, the event could unfortunately not take place with the desired number of people, so the complete presentation was recorded live and broadcast worldwide. The technology had to work perfectly to guarantee a smooth stream.
Creativity
A spectacular show was delivered by the artists “Sos & Victoria”. They enchanted the audience in front of the new machine, with amazing tricks. With light and show effects, fireworks and star guests, the presentation created a wow effect.
Innovation
A machine from A to Z! With the new Jupiter, Wintersteiger offers an all-round package with five different processing modules, three loading variants and three application levels for different service requirements. Anyone, regardless of the size of their business, can have their machine customized and thus get up to 70 pairs of skis per hour in shape. Edge grinding with V-Edge technology, the “Trim Cut” sidewall processing unit and digital ski recognition, are among the major highlights of the Jupiter machine. In addition, the new development is better, more powerful, smarter and more flexible!
Execution
After a long lead time of 1.5 years, with many rescheduling and changes, the presentation of this innovative development was finally accompanied by the Ferry Porsche Congress Center. Even in times of Covid-19, the house manages to hold the event with strict security measures, such as testing before entry, spacing rules, ventilation and one-way systems, as well as increased cleaning measures.
Measurable results
Full confidence from both sides were given and therefore nothing stood in the way! Also at the event itself, nothing was promised too much – 11,000 customers had the opportunity to participate in this spectacular presentation live. A complete success, positive feedback and a good cooperation rounded off the event.
Communication
After the event, the presentation made it into several regional magazines and was met with great success. You could also read all about the event on all social media channels. During the presentation, participants were able to follow the event via a link that was sent out in advance.
The use of sustainable practices
Due to the live broadcast, not all people had to travel specially and could therefore watch everything from home. The ecological footprint was thus reduced.
As you might have heard, the 6th Conventa Crossover will be taking place in hybrid form, meaning the storytellers will be joining us both LIVE and ONLINE. Our new online platform will allow you to join the action through a live stream and exclusive prerecorded content. For the first time, Conventa Trade Show and Conventa Crossover conference will be taking place in the same week, or as we like to call it Conventa Week.
For everyone attending the event in person, the following requirements apply:
Vaccination or confirmation of recovery from COVID-19 (EU Digital COVID certificate) or
Rapid antigen test upon arrival
Quarantine in the event of a positive test at the event
Strictly abiding by the rules provided by the organisers following the National Public Health Institution instructions.
Additional information about the border crossing, health & safety measures in Slovenia can be found on the following links:
We are aware that trust placed into the hands of a professional and adaptable organiser is of crucial importance. Therefore, we have decided to execute Conventa Crossover 2021 in hybrid form to ensure all partners and participants’ safety and inclusiveness in the event. We wish to see as many of you as possible in person, as personal contact is priceless. However, the reality will continue to be crafted by the pandemic. For this reason, we have prepared several measures, described in detail below:
1. Safety addition to the registration process
Alongside the usual and commonly-known registration, all attendees will fill out a form, specifically designed to ensure health and safety, a week before arrival. Moreover, they will have to show their European vaccination passport. By following such measures, we will prevent high-risk individuals from attending Conventa. We will also enable participant monitoring in line with the instructions from the National Institute of Public Health. All information will be included in the official app of the event. With the help of acquired information, we will enable contactless registration.
2. Rapid antigen tests at the venue
Participants, who will not be vaccinated at least 3 weeks before the event, will be tested with rapid antigen tests upon arrival. The testing will be conducted by a professional staff, who will, if necessary, also measure the temperature of participants according to the guidelines published by the National Institute of Public Health.
3. High-risk groups and self-isolation
The process of safe registration and quick antigen testing will enable us to prevent particularly vulnerable or infected individuals from attending the event. However, we will also ensure a designated area for self-isolation in cooperation with the medical staff
4. Restriction of group size
Due to the transport of participants, individual groups of attendees will be limited. We will ensure the safety distance during the transport according to the regulations requirred by the National Institute of Public Health. At the event itself, a smart layout will prevent large groups from forming.
5. Event logistics
The logistic part will be specially tailored by following the simple logic of making the space of Conventa Crossover 50% larger. Such a strategy will help us follow the 1,5 meters rule.
6. Ventilating and using outdoor spaces
We will place special attention on ventilation and ensuring quality air. The decision was made to constantly measure the quality of air and communicate it with attendees. Furthermore, we will demand special filters. If the weather will allow, we will execute the majority of social events outside.
7. Catering
Catering, known as a sort of Conventa trademark will be organised according to the regulations requested by the National Institute of Public Health. Every event, where conditions will be favourable, will be hosted outdoors. Hosting an event in August has its perks!
8. Personal protection and hygiene
A protective mask is by far the most effective measure one can take against the spread of the virus. Hence, masks will be used following the guidelines published by the National Institute of Public Health. Disinfectants, similarly to protective masks, have already become a household item of all events.
9. Attendee behaviour
This segment will be regulated by intelligible instructions, which will be highlighted at all points where attendees will be in touch with us. Moreover, all groups of attendees will be provided with infographics containing clear instructions. At the same time, our partners will make sure suitable information is provided at fam trips and accompanying activities.
10. SMART Conventa organisation
Conventa organisers have acquired the “Safe and healthy meetings and events” certificate. Our goal is to elevate the organisation a step higher and execute the pilot project as a good practice case. That includes intensively preparing all key stakeholders to safely execute the project.
We wish to adequately document the entire process of ensuring safety and set an example in the form of recommendations. In any case, we will continue to adapt to the situation and follow the instructions of the National Institute of Public Health.
Don’t let your groundbreaking events go unnoticed, apply for Conventa Best Event Award now!
CALL FOR ENTRIES: CONVENTA BEST EVENT AWARD 2021
Dear meeting planners!
After a successful online edition of Conventa Best Event Award 2020, we are calling for entries in 2021. We are once again looking for unicorns – the best events in the region of New Europe. You are invited to register your event for CONVENTA BEST EVENT AWARD 2021.
Registration for #CBEA21 is alreadyy open and the deadline for applying with your project is 15 JULY 2021. Projects that were carried out from 1 January 2020 until 15 July 2021 are eligible to register for the award.
How to apply?
First step: Registration
Please use the on-line registration form below and select the preferred way of payment. The fee for registering one entry to the competition includes participation at Conventa Crossover 2021 that will be held in HYBRID FORM on 27 August 2021 from 09.00 to 21.00.
When the registration is submitted, you can enter the details about your event and all materials. Deadline for submission of materials is 30 JULY 2021.
This year, the grand finale of the Conventa Best Event Award was held online, as part of the Conventa Trend Bar NEW EUROPE educational event. The winners were announced on Thursday, 21 January 2021. Although the meetings industry is among the most affected industries, it does not lack ingenuity and determination. The 21 finalists and winners of the competition have again proven how resilient the industry is.
If you missed the live stream of the award ceremony or want to see the winners again, you can watch the full recording below.
Although the meetings industry is among the most affected industries, it does not lack ingenuity and determination. The 21 finalists and winners of the competition for the best events in the New Europe region have again proven how resilient the industry is. Conventa Best Event Award is one of the oldest and most renowned competitions in the meetings industry. The competition took place under the watchful eye of the esteemed international Expert Jury. From 32 projects, the Jury selected 21 finalists in five main categories.
This year the awards were awarded for the tenth year in a row. Evaluation of registered works took place throughout three phases according to the unique 80:20 model (80% votes came from the expert jury, while 20% of votes came from the audience at Conventa Crossover). In contrast with previous years, the audience voted for the best of the best at Conventa Trend Bar New Europe on 20th January 2021. The expert jury evaluated each project according to the following criteria: creativity, relevance, innovation, execution, event results, event communication, sustainable policies, legacy and overall final impression.
“THE WINNERS CONTINUE TO INSPIRE US ALL”
“Recognising, evaluating and awarding the best events is of utmost importance for our industry. The recipients of the award pave the way to the future and continue to inspire us all,” said Gorazd Čad, the founding father of the competition.
The winners were announced at the online ceremony, which took place at GR STUDIO 20.20 in Ljubljana.
Date: 9.3.2020 Location: Mondsee, Austria Organizer: Salzburg University of Applied Sciences Event Type: Physical immersive educational experiential event
EVENT CATEGORY: CROSSOVER EVENT
Event description and key objectives
The Experience Design Summit Year Zero pioneers a brand-new immersive event format, designed as an immersive transformational experience. Its originality is that it offers its participants learning about experience design through living a first-hand transformative experience. The theme of the event Year Zero could not have been chosen more timely for an event taking place in early 2020. The event opened a platform to ask big questions around the four themes status quo reset, mindset transformation, global consciousness and futurism, just in time in March 2020 before the pandemic turned the world as we knew it upside down. The event idea was founded by two leading event experience professors, Dr Barbara Neuhofer and Dr Krzysztof Celuch, who bridged the worlds of experience design and events to create a new format where experiences are not just a buzzword but at the core of the value proposition. The event was co-designed and co-facilitated with students from Salzburg University of Applied Sciences. The one-day Summit was designed as a series of unique experiences, including inspirational EXD talks, live performances and guided immersive experiences. Experiences included ice swimming in the lake and sunrise yoga, guided emotional drawing, design thinking as well as immersive art and music performances, to offer glimpses of transformation that challenge traditional thinking patterns of what it means to create experience and what it means to be human in the 21st century.
Key challenges
The main challenges around the event organisation was the lead-up time to the event. Hosting a physical event in 2020 right before COVID-19 hit Europe, the event had to deal with and overcome the uncertainty of the times in February and March 2020 to run an event with international participants and speakers in a safe manner. A second unique characteristic of the event was that the event was involved master students from the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences in the organisation of the event as an educational learning experience. 30 international students were invited to co-design and co-create the event – from idea generation to event design to the facilitation on the day. All students learn Experience Design as part of their curriculum, and they were able to participate in this real-life project as a learning opportunity to become future professional event experience designers. As an immersive guided experience, in which theming, guiding and transforming were at the centre of the Summit, this experience could only be facilitated through the unique collaboration of individuals who guided the participants on the day, with a highly personal 1:2 ratio between experience designers and participants.
Creativity
The Experience Design Summit Year Zero initiates a call for human inner transformation through hands-on learning and immersive experiences. Starting from the beginning of the day, a total of 70 participants coming from all around Europe were welcomed and guided by transformation guides throughout the day. Themed Masters of the Maze with a mystical look, wearing hats and painted faces, in an old castle and monastery of Mondsee guided all participants. All experiences throughout the day were designed to give glimpses of aha-moments that could trigger personal transformation long-term – from the ice swimming to emotional drawing, to food chromotherapy to art installations and performances. This focus on transformation on a personal level is what sets this event apart from conventional summits. The core creativity of this event is that participants do not learn about experience design and transformation through talks and theory, but through their own personal experience. By remembering the impact of these experiences, experiences of that kind can be designed by participants for their future events. And this is exactly what the Experience Design Summit Year Zero set out to achieve: to revolutionise how traditional conventions and conferences are held around the globe, and enable all event stakeholders to plan events that lead to transformation.
Innovation
To design memorable and extraordinary experiences, the event organisers and facilitators were trained and equipped with a completely new mindset (why) and toolset (how). The Experience Design Summit Year Zero positions itself at the intersection of science and art. The originality of the Summit lies in the fact that it serves as the first example, connecting the interdisciplinary fields of events and experience design, to evoke human flourishing and potential transformation. The Summit is innovative in that the programme and content were designed outside any box, by having a new way and perspective of looking at things. From how to create transformation for social impact, to applying design thinking to business and personal life, breaking free from limiting assumptions, going on sensory tasting experiences, doing deep personal reflections, and finding out how to maximise the potential of humanity – the participants were constantly pushed to experience aha-moments and fresh perspectives in unique and novel content formats. The energy was kept high through the day with regional vegetarian food and an Amazonian tea drinking ritual, all meant to propel the enthusiasm of the participants towards the end of the day. Finally, the participants were invited to a final immersive acoustic environment which literally launched them on a journey to the sun and back to earth. They could then walk out and be inspired to be the change-makers in their personal and professional life.
Execution
The programme of the Summit was designed as a journey within the Maze of Transformation, through which participants were guided throughout the day by Masters of the Maze using the newly developed Experience Design Summit Compass Methodology. To create the basis for a future experience design mindset, four supporting theme pillars were identified to help the participants arrive to that destination: status quo reset, mindset transformation, global consciousness and futurism. By connecting the science of awe and a-ha moments to the experience design tools, the Summit was set to have an impact on an individual, organisational, and social level. Altogether, experience designers, event planners, destination organisations, social entrepreneurs, scientists, artists and educators with diverse socio-backgrounds came together to experience a journey of transformation in the new decade for their personal life, business and society. The participants benefited directly from applicable experience design toolboxes and a network of people who would like to create new things, collaborate, and help each other. Once the individual experiences some glimpses of transformation and values, they are able to bring change, innovation, and transformation to their organisations. The Summit equipped participants with a new mindset (why), toolset (how) and topic themes (what) in order to reset the status quo and implement experiences that that make a positive transformative impact in their surroundings.
Measurable results
The Experience Design Summit Year Zero in 2020 was the first organisation of its kind. Its main purpose was to experiment and answer the question, how can an event experience be designed in a way that it triggers glimpses and long-lasting transformation for its participants. The goal of experimentation, innovation and transformation was at the core of the organisation. Having said that, financially, the Summit could secure a series of strategic sponsorships of companies standing for innovation and an experience mindset. Even though financial gains were not a priority, the event did break even with a small profit and thus proofed that the event can be run financially sustainably, even with a high staff:participant ratio by involving students as guides on the day. What is most the upmost priority for the Summit is the ROI – not in financial but value terms, and the impact it makes on the individual, organisational, and social level. The value it creates is a ripple-effect, by inviting participants to transform themselves on an individual level, they can then bring transformation to their work, organisation and the societal level. Events and experiences are changing dramatically. As we move to a new era of physical, hybrid and virtual events, value sets and consumer behaviours are changing. The long-term value of the Summit is that serves as a platform to connect likeminded individuals to bring and guide more experiences with this mindset in the world.
Communication
The Experience Design Summit Year Zero is about those moments in time when people transformed their worldviews and societies. The Summit highlights the underlying value of design tools, by shifting from ‘how’ to do an experience to the ‘why’ behind it. As such, with a real transformational mindset, each of the Summit graduate became an experience designer who can take the Summit Compass Methodology in their own work settings. When applying this unique concept into practice, the Summit delivered a message that designing transformative experiences is not just a one-person job in any organisation. Instead, every employee has their unique value in the design process because it is about co-creating a magic moments in every customer interaction. The Summit provides the experience design platform for the participants to explore the state of Year Zero mindset, not only on the day but through a communication strategy pre-event and post-event. Before the event, the online communication strategy included the website, Linkedin, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram as interactive social media channels. Founder interviews were shared and a trailer teaser movie was created to inspire participants to join. After the Summit, a highlight movie and visual drawings of the day were created by an artist to capture the unique moments and emotions as a memorabilia of the day. All memorabilia were shared via email to all participants, who are being sent information and invitations to future editions.
The use of sustainable practices
The Summit positioned itself around core values that are status quo reset, mindset transformation, global consciousness and futurism. This value foundation was not only communicated but implemented at the core of the event. The event was conducted with a focus on global planetary consciousness. From sponsorship to food and beverage, a strong local and sustainable focus was followed. In line with a global movement towards sustainable food sourcing, the Summit’s philosophy was to serve only locally and hyper-locally sourced food from around the Lake Mondsee venue location, which was an ambition shared by the venue itself known for its local food cuisine. In addition to a local and sustainable approach, the Summit went one step beyond and offered a vegetarian and vegan diet throughout the whole day. This was a statement to reset food experiences at events, create a mindset shift and align the event values with the culinary experience, which is often not aligned in many conventional events around the world. Furthermore, sponsors and partners were primarily local with a strong connection to the region to bring local authenticity into the experiences of the event. To name only one example, instead of having plastic conference name badges as seen at most events, at the Summit a unique Compass carved out of local wood was created, that not only combined the participant name but also the Summit’s methodology Year Zero Compass in a sustainable memorabilia to take away.
