When observing trends in meetings industry PR, the Clareville team who are the IMEX PR team are ideally placed to gain an inside and overall perspective. After working with the media for six months before the show and on-site throughout the week, the team have now reflected on their observations.
Here are our observations.

Meetings PR

1. Press attendance – significantly up

The number of editors and journalists from the meetings and incentive travel media worldwide who were at the show was up from over 200 to close to 300. This highlights not only how highly they regard the event but also what a great opportunity the show presents for meetings industry PR.

2. Press Conferences and meetings

The demand to book the Press Conference room at the show was greater than ever, resulting in the highest number of press conferences ever. The room was fully booked weeks ahead for events. Press attendance at conferences was as strong as ever, with conferences well attended when a meetings industry PR team made a very determined effort to sell it to the media in advance and on-site.

3. Sustainability

Looking for the most prominent news and content theme for meetings industry PR around the show this year, the competition is close between ‘experiences’ and ‘sustainability.’ ‘Sustainability’ was the increasingly hot topic. The Sustainability on Trial mock court case during Edu Monday was a superb innovative and engaging way to air the arguments about who is responsible – venues or clients.

4. Experiences

The spectacular experiences in Hall 9 at Messe Frankfurt attracted plenty of attention from buyers and from the media with extensive editorial coverage, especially film and images, and on social media. While meetings industry PR specialists know the value and importance of visual stories, this is confirmation.

With the number of media outlets for meetings industry PR still strong but evolving, the opportunities to generate valuable editorial for destinations, venues, events, event organisers and organisations remain high.