EduMonday kicks off PlanetIMEX

PlanetIMEX launches with an invitation to everyone in the global meetings, events and incentive travel industry to register free of charge for EduMonday Live on 11 May. This also marks the unveiling of the first two islands on PlanetIMEX - Education Island and Community Island. These rich, engaging 3-D online experiences will be complemented by a third, Networking Island, due to launch 14 May with a focus on networking and business introductions.

EduMonday Live

EduMonday Live on Monday 11 May has been designed to give the business events industry the chance to engage in a range of carefully curated education sessions led by 40 expert speakers. In the usual spirit of IMEX, EduMonday Live is provided free of charge, as is access to the whole of PlanetIMEX. For those who can’t attend, IMEX will make all recordings available in an online library later in the month. The day will wrap up with a choice of four light-hearted ‘Social Soirees’ at 4.30pm. The education platform on PlanetIMEX has been generously supported by partners Cvent and Streamlined Communications. Each education session is also complemented by the CrowdCompass mobile event app to give attendees a more personal experience and the chance to interact with the speaker and other attendees. Human psychology, Nature, collaboration, contract negotiations and more

40 speakers

EduMonday Live kicks off at 10am UK time. The programme starts with a welcome by IMEX Group Chairman, Ray Bloom and CEO, Carina Bauer followed by a 10.30am keynote from Guy Bigwood, Managing Director of the Global Destination Sustainability Index, titled ‘The big pivot - Towards a regenerative events industry’. Among the 40 speakers are Glenn Schoen CEO, Boardroom@Crisis BV; Jonny Round, Managing Director, The Sound Agency; Horst Bayer, Sustainable Travel Consultant and freelancer creative consultant, Robert Dunsmore, plus a host of industry experts. Focusing on business recovery and longer-term strategies are consultant and business change expert, Michael Greenspan and, Global Futurist, Rohit Talwar. EduMonday Live has been crafted around a series of 20-minute sessions with a few longer workshops offering a deeper dive. Sessions will address hot topics including resilience, the future of work, creative event design for a new era, crisis communication, contract negotiations, technology, wellbeing and psychology.

She Means Business

Also taking place on EduMonday Live is She Means Business, a joint event by IMEX and TW Magazine supported by MPI. This will be a live panel discussion where women in the business events industry will share some of the toughest decisions they’ve had to make due to the COVID-19 pandemic and recent lockdown.

Island hopping with a purpose

On Tuesday 12 May PlanetIMEX will host a dedicated Community Day when more than a dozen industry partners and associations will offer a combination of live learning and recorded sessions, including panels, webinars, videos and forums. While all education and professional development will take place via Education Island, Community Island is the hub for light-hearted social activities as well as news and updates from IMEX’s global events industry partners and the wider community. These handpicked stories all come to life on the Island’s pop-up Community Notice Board.

Long time coming

Carina Bauer, CEO of the IMEX Group, explains, “I’d like to say today has been a long time coming but we’ve managed to pull off this exceptional project in just six weeks! We’re delighted to be giving back to the industry with this carefully designed online experience intended to give everyone, and all sectors, something of value, be that business introductions, new insights and learnings or simply the chance to socialise with each other in a fresh new way. This is just the start. There’s plenty more planned and we’re still evolving this concept and learning as we go. We can’t wait for people to sign up for EduMonday Live and also to dive in and explore PlanetIMEX.”