“Our industry is creating help zones for both our customers and refugees. However, in order to be able to help, we must be on firm footing. After two years of the pandemic, meetings are needed more than ever, both for the mental health of us all, and to rebuild business relationships and allow knowledge transfer. They can now take on an additional dimension, related to aid,” explains Olga Krzemińska-Zasadzka, President of SOIT.

As a follow-up to their appeal, the TUgether Council is preparing a nation-wide campaign under the motto “MEETING to HELP”, with the following hashtags:

#strefaPOMOCY, #HELPzone, #PRACUJĘ=POMAGAM, #SPOTKANIAdlaUkrainy, #MusimyPracowaćByPomagać.

The members of the TUgether Council joining the integrated aid campaign declare they will issue donation certificates (so called "bricks") per each participant or square metre of the meeting and event space. The funds thus collected will be credited to the accounts of the selected relief foundations/NGOs helping Ukraine.

The goal of the campaign is to make business customers and event participants aware that corporate meetings, business trips, conferences, fairs as well as sports, cultural and entertainment events can play a major role in the chain of help for those fleeing Ukraine. Members of the Council stress that the current situation beyond Poland’s eastern border should not further exacerbate the situation of the meetings and events sector. On the contrary, it should become an impulse for more dynamic activity in the area of event marketing, which could be an additional source of assistance to those in need.

”Meetings are a way to demonstrate our support and solidarity, but also to integrate with refugees – let us not stigmatise them as war refugees, but instead ask them to take part in events that will enable them and us to regain their balance,” says Michał Drelich, President of the Association of Mass Sport Organisers.

Representatives of the TUgether member organisations that businesses active in the MICE market, such as agencies, carriers, hotels, caterers, tour operators, organisers of cultural and sporting events, concerts, trade shows venues, stage production companies and many others have since day been building a long list of

spontaneous activities providing support, using their own resources and financing them through day-to-day work with their customers.

Of the hundreds of initiatives undertaken, here are a few examples (*):

• tthe initiative of the Association of Mass Sport Organisers: 80 running events across Poland, known as “Zjednoczeni dla Ukrainy” (“United for Ukraine”);
• Translators for Ukraine (tlumaczedlaukrainy): a volunteer contact database set up by members of the Polish Association of Conference Interpreters;
• a reception point organised in the Poznań International Fair grounds where more than 3,500 refugees have so far been registered, with a central supply centre set up and two fair venues providing accommodation (Poznań International Fair - a hall for 700 beds, Arena Poznań - up to 1000 beds)
• fair venues in Kielce, Kraków and Gdańsk: collection drives for the most essential products, donation handling points and equipment for reception centres, transferring part of revenue from organised events to aid (LNE, Exactus), construction companies (Partner) involved in the transport of aid to Ukraine.
• more than 600 coaches belonging to carriers affiliated with the Polish Association of Coach Carriers were made available for transport of aid and refugees, in cooperation with SHELL Poland;
• the launch by the SAR Marketing Communications Association of the online platform www.AdAid.eu, which supports Ukrainian marketing communication specialists, as a joint initiative of EU industry organisations. The aim is to support people from Ukraine in finding opportunities for cooperation in EU countries and to facilitate contact with advertising and media agencies, manufacturing and event marketing companies, customers’ marketing, communication and PR departments and other creative industries in EU countries.
• cooperation between SBE members and the Mazowieckie Centrum Neuropsychiatrii (Mazowieckie Neuropsychiatry Centre): launch of a free psychological assistance point and a daycare for Ukrainian children. Co-creation of the #behuman project - “small acts, great gestures”, through building international relations in communication and raising donations abroad for Polish families and institutions who are taking care of Ukrainian refugees.
• continued support for a number of efforts within the Tourism for Ukraine initiative  www.turystykaukrainie.pl
  

*the full list of aid projects involving the TUgether member organisations will soon be available on the TUgether website at: #pomagajMĄDRZE"

"The event industry, which had only just resumed its activity after the pandemic and is still catching up, is once again facing a precarious situation. And once again, the world of events is showing its extraordinary reserves of creativity and flexibility and using its organisational skills, talents, time and abilities, this time in initiatives for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people coming to Poland. Event creators are great coordinators of fund raisers and help efforts, excellent initiative incubators and process organisers. That is why we are ready to help and wish to remind both the government and our customers of the potential of our industry. We believe that together we can work very effectively, support the recovery of the sector, while at the same time helping more people in a constructive way,” adds Rafał Krawczuk, member of KAE SAR management board.

”At the brink of a migration crisis, we have declared the willingness of the industry to support the coordination of aid efforts. We have competences built on 30 years of experience in meetings and events, which includes organising mass events, with festival and tent cities. We respond to all requests from public authorities and local government. At the same time, we are concerned that as an industry we are entering from a crisis into a new crisis. A strong economy is a strong state ready to support those who are in need and who defend their way of life. It is also our duty to hold tight in the face of market uncertainty. Poland is a zone of help. By carrying out events here, we support those in need and those who directly help them. The military conflict is taking place outside the borders of our country, which, may I remind you, is a NATO and EU member,” concludes Łukasz Adamowicz, President of TUgether.

The MEETING to HELP campaign will be carried out nationwide and is expected to go on for six months.
Details coming soon.

TUgether Meetings&vents Council TUgether – member organisations:

- Polskie Hotele Niezależne
- Izba Gospodarcza Hotelarstwa Polskiego IGHP
- Izba Gospodarcza Menedżerów Artystów Polskich IGMAP
- Polska Izba Przemysłu Targowego PIPT
- Polskie Stowarzyszenie Tłumaczy Konferencyjnych PSTK
- Polskie Stowarzyszenie Przewoźników Autokarowych PSPA
- Polskie Stowarzyszenie Rozwoju Infrastruktury Sportu i Rekreacji IAKS
- Stowarzyszenie Branży Eventowej SBE
- Stowarzyszenie Komunikacji Marketingowej / Klub Agencji Eventowych – KAE SAR
- Stowarzyszenie Konferencje i Kongresy w Polsce SKKP
- Stowarzyszenie Organizatorów Imprez Artystycznych i Rozrywkowych SOIAR
- Stowarzyszenie Organizatorów Incentive Travel SOIT
- Stowarzyszenie SITE Polska
- Zrzeszenie Agentów IATA w Polsce
- Związek Organizatorów Sportu Masowego ZOSM

Source and photos: TUgether Meetings&vents Council TUgether