As we continue to gather remotely, zooming around the globe to keep our networks fresh and honing our skills to be prepared for the inevitable recovery, the IMEX Group launched PlanetIMEX, including the massive EduMonday Live endeavor for a taste of what we all could have experienced at IMEX in Frankfurt. This is yet another example of industry leaders going above and beyond to ensure the community has access to current professional education.

There were nearly 6,000 registered attendees for EduMonday with more than 36,000 sessions scheduled, according to IMEX. PlanetIMEX events continue throughout this week.

“As part of our mission to deliver value and experience ‘beyond a tradeshow’ we’re increasingly focused on ensuring we meet the professional development needs of both buyers and exhibitors in creative and meaningful ways,” said Carina Bauer, CEO of the IMEX Group. “And they’re hungry for more learning and industry insight. This year’s EduMonday delivers this, with a free program of high-quality learning designed to inspire and give attendees an edge.”

To share a variety of EduMonday offerings, the MPI media team split up. Following is a sampling of what we encountered. Visit PlanetIMEX to watch recordings of these and all other EduMonday sessions—at no cost.

She Means Business

The keynote for EduMonday was She Means Business, which was created in partnership with the German meetings publication tw tagungswirtschaft and supported by MPI. The keynote attracted about 1,220 registered attendees.

This was the third year for She Means Business, which has delivered dynamic programming and thought leadership around raising awareness to the plight of women in the meeting industry.

Monday’s She Means Business focused on celebrating and guiding the role of women in the event industry. The panel included Bauer, Gabriela Suhoschi, director of World Water Week & Prizes at the Stockholm International Water Institute, whose 30th edition of World Water Week had to be canceled due to COVID-19, and Heike Mahmoud, COO of Congress Center Hamburg, a €230 million renovation project.

“It’s an international conference about diversity, quality, female empowerment, not just for women business and events, but also for our allies, our male counterparts,” moderator Jessie States, director, MPI Academy, told the attendees. “It’s really celebrating the role of women in business and events.”

The panel discussed the impact of COVID 19 on the meeting and event industry, and then was asked for tips for what young women leaders during this time.

“It depends where you are in your career,” Bauer said. “I would certainly say that anything that you can do to really upskill yourself, be really positive and future focused. Look at those skills that are going to be needed in the future and how you can position yourself to really take advantage of being the person that someone’s going to want to deliver those skills for their business. It’s a time of reflection.”

Hybrid Events – Event Design After COVID-19

In the first moments of this session, more than 400 participants were connected live from Trinidad, Argentina, Lebanon, the U.S., Italy, Canada, Greece, Switzerland, Chile, Turkey, Germany, Malaysia, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, Brazil, Croatia…and on and on.

Colja Dams, CEO of VOK DAMS, sought to explore a big question that many meeting professionals are asking: How will the digital sphere develop after COVID-19?

To that end, Dams shared lessons learned from working on hybrid events, including prognostications such as the logical idea that hybrid events will be a more regular part of the meeting and event landscape after this pandemic.

After going through some examples of virtual conferences currently in the works—from leveraging virtual conference centers around the world to greater immersion using augmented and virtual reality and totally virtual tradeshows with digitally mapped space to a version of chat roulette for breaks and networking to help bring people together.

By the end of the 30-minute session, more than 600 people were online for Dams’ six key learnings based on his experience working on virtual and hybrid events, as well as the complications of holding such events during this challenging time.

1.     Third parties that help focus on goals and hybrid strategy will be more important than ever.

2.     The long we all spend working from home, the greater the desire to be social/face to face.

3.     Virtual will consume some previously face-to-face events, but only for some specific formats.

4.     Having a digital Plan B is now a must-have contingency plan.

5.     Brands have learned the limits of virtual.

6.     After months of social distancing and digital experienced, live, face-to-face events will be more valuable than ever.

We’ll be moving from a totally virtual world to a hybrid world because people desire to meet face to face, Dams says at the closing, offering a realistic, optimistic outlook.

Face-to-face Events: An Antidote to the Age of Loneliness

In this session, Janet Sperstad counted down three ways to deepen social connections at events—whether they’re live or virtual—noting our social motivations as attendees: status (the feeling of importance), certainty and a sense of belonging.

“One of the problems we’re dealing with right now is uncertainty. That uncertainty is causing us a lot of pain,” said Sperstad, faculty director, event management business solutions for Madison College. “So in our pre-events, really give a detailed agenda. Highlight the times that will be participatory versus listening so people can take control over their time. Have a strong moderator and remind people where they are in the day and what you just did and what they’re going to go do. Remind them what’s coming up. Remind people of what they just heard, a recap. That will bring certainty. Facts bring clarity. Facts bring consistency. So use those elements, whether they’re live or virtual, in driving certainty.”

Robust Tools and Methods for Workflow and Productivity

Led by Tara Thomas of The Meeting Pool, this info-packed session was a quick-hit rundown of more than 25 applications and tools to help organize and optimize your professional life—from project management and automating tasks to shared password management and even options to incentive setting your devices down.

Visit this resource page on The Meeting Pool’s site to learn more about these and other productivity apps and tools.

Using Psychology to Inspire Creativity

During this session, Calum Di Lieto discussed a recent Prezi study that suggests, perhaps surprisingly, our attention spans aren’t decreasing, we’re just becoming more selective.

“Six out of 10 said they would give content their undivided attention now more than they would a year ago, and 49 percent of them are saying that they’re more selective about their content,” said Di Lieto, editor of C&IT Magazine. “The same study found that 55 percent said they want a great story, 41 percent said they want stimulating dialogue, 33 percent said visual stimulation and 79 percent said the use of animation is effective in keeping the audience engaged.”

There’s much more to come this week from PlanetIMEX, with Community Day Live (Tuesday, May 12) and Networking Island (Thursday, May 14). Visit PlanetIMEX for complete details and to register.

Rich Luna and Blair Potter also contributed to this report.