Focusing on the power of connected meeting professionals to bring solutions for the big issues challenging the planet and individual communities
When you run the largest trade show for the business events industry, impact is a given. But for Carina Bauer, CEO of IMEX Group, who took over the role from her father, IMEX founder Ray Bloom, “impact” is also intentional and the theme for this year’s event in Las Vegas.
By calling impact out as the talking point for the next two years, Bauer is helping to focus the content and the storytelling IMEX does and normalizes exhibitors embracing solutions for the big issues challenging the planet and individual communities. “It gives exhibitors a chance to shine a light on what they’re doing in their destinations or in their venues around sustainability, women’s leadership, equity diversity and inclusion,” she said.
The lens that will be highlighted at 2024 IMEX America is impactful leadership. A new program facilitated by Emergent Leadership Development CEO Holly Ransom allows developing leaders to explore the impact they can have at any stage of their career. “Leadership is a mindset and a skill that you can learn throughout a career. It’s not just for the person sitting in a hierarchical top seat,” said Bauer.
“For the new generation coming into the industry after a career change or fresh out of school, we want to give them the skills to think of themselves as leaders in their organizations and in their lives as well,” said Bauer.
That is also true at IMEX Group headquarters in Brighton, England. The company Bloom started with a European show in 2001 now employs more than 80 people and was recently named the a Best Places to Work Award by The Sunday Times.
Listen to Carina Bauer: What One Thing? Building a Better IMEX for 2024 with Carina Bauer
A Green Commitment
IMEX also walks its talk in the convention center. Every year, they produce a sustainability report sharing data about its greenhouse gas emissions and waste management. That way everyone has visibility into how they are improving over time. IMEX has been a waste-neutral show for five years. Now Bauer is focused on eliminating or reducing carbon towards a net-zero future.
One of the initiatives launching this year is a partnership with Cloverly, a platform for scaling climate action by giving people the opportunity to manage their impact around travel to and from the show. The choices go beyond offsetting carbon to actually removing carbon from the atmosphere along with reforestation and restoration projects. “That portfolio approach allows us to invest in nature in a very positive way. We’re very focused on how we get to that next step of carbon of net zero,” said Bauer.
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Another focus is building an environmental, social and governance strategy. In addition to education sessions from the journey IMEX is currently going through to build that strategy, Bauer is bringing one of her consultants to the show to share strategies.
Bauer believes so strongly in the concept that IMEX Global established a new impact team to help other organizations integrate corporate social responsibility in every part of their organizations. “Complex programs for environmental and social good don’t happen overnight. It’s about layering that into every team. It’s not one team’s responsibility,” said Bauer. Instead, the values are built into the thinking and planning of what each person is doing. “That’s how you design a broad program across every aspect of the show,” she concluded.
More Accessible in Every Way
The journey to Mandalay Bay should be easier this year as the infrastructure for Formula 1 is now in place and attendees should encounter less road construction.
Once inside, accessibility continues to be a priority in all areas. “Like sustainability, we’ve seen that throughout the planning for the show, rather than isolating the efforts to one area or team to manage,” Bauer explained.
Accessibility could look like accessing learning sessions through AI transcripts or audio, aisles, information and food counters that are convenient for wheelchair users. A resilience room sponsored by Google is back again this year for anyone who might be experiencing sensory overload and needs a quiet space.
Because having options available and not letting people know about them is not much better than not having them at all, communication is front-and-center. What resources are available, where to expect different scents and menus with full ingredient lists will be published in advance. “Thinking about all of those little details just takes a little bit of thought for people with different needs, rather than assuming everybody has the same need,” said Bauer. “We build with baby steps at each show and that helps it not seem overwhelming.”
The Business of Iteration
Bauer understands that IMEX is about relationships first. “People come to a show like IMEX, not just to do their business, but to learn and to network and find their tribe,” she said. To satisfy an increased appetite for networking opportunities, the connections are starting before the show, including webinars for first-time attendees to ask questions and introduce themselves, their company and the solutions they offer.
Once on-site, these IMEX debutantes will be afforded dedicated time slots at the beginning of the show and icebreaker tours so they can meet each other in person and help each other through that experience. “Some of the connection is from us and some of it is organic,” said Bauer.
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“Ultimately, part of our role is to be a platform and to help people learn. We do that by sharing our mistakes and where we are on that journey.” Bauer’s end game is to offer ideas about what is possible, what isn’t currently possible, what might be coming down the line from a supplier and what questions to ask. “We just want to help people take their first steps or build upon the programs that they already have,” she said.
IMEX America runs six months after its older sister conference in Frankfurt, Germany, and Bauer is constantly trying things at one show and then refining for the next.
Look for a new CMO Summit for corporate executives who are marketers, first and foremost. These decision-makers are influential in creating events that enhance and improve their brand marketing.
This article appears in the September 2024 issue’s IMEX supplement. You can subscribe to the magazine here.
