On 12-13 June 2023, the eleventh edition of the Meetings Week Poland conference was held in Warsaw, with a focus on innovative solutions and the role of cooperation in the meetings industry. Organised by the TUgether Meetings and Events Industry Council and the Polish Tourism Organisation, the conference was an educational and professional platform for experts from all over Poland, enabling the exchange of valuable experiences.

The conference was officially opened out by the President of the TUgether Meetings and Events Industry Council, Łukasz Adamowicz, and the Vice-President of the Polish Tourism Organisation, Anna Salamończyk-Mochel. The event Meetings Week is condensed into two days of exciting meetings, exchanging experiences as well as developing interesting professional connections.

The new formula of MWP 2023 – comprehensive discussions touching on the entire Meeting and Event Industry – has worked out well. The feedback from the participants was very positive. Taking responsibility for the organisation of the event by TUgether proves its maturity, but also builds a solid foundation on which we can grow our industry’s special day in the future. We opted for the in-person formula to emphasise networking, which is something we don’t have time for on a daily basis during the time of intensive reconstruction. The human dimension is extremely important to us because events and the MICE industry are created by people. Discussions about strategy and professionalisation clearly show the directions of MICE development, which, as research shows, has not yet returned to the levels from 2019, said Łukasz Adamowicz, President of the TUgether Meetings and Events Industry Council.

The aim of this year’s conference was to strengthen the development of the industry through innovative solutions and cluster approach, as well as education and professionalisation within the industry.

For the eleventh time, the Polish Tourism Organisation, within which the Poland Convention Bureau operates, is a substantive partner and co-organiser of the Meetings Week Poland conference, which for years has served the industry’s integration, cooperation and contributed to the transfer of knowledge on the latest developments and trends. The meetings industry sector is one of those that particularly appreciate the need to improve competences, including in the field of techniques of reaching the client, organising events or communication, said Anna Salamończyk-Mochel, Vice-President of the Polish Tourism Organisation.

The positioning of Poland as a tourist brand is influenced by all stakeholders of the tourism market, including the meetings industry, from central administration, local and economic self-government, to industry organisations and associations, entrepreneurs and local residents.

Together or separately - is cooperation profitable? On Monday, during the first discussion panel, the topic of cooperation in the industry, its unification in the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic and the benefits of cooperation were discussed.

The PTO expert workshop within the Eventprofs Creators Lab, dedicated to social selling on LinkedIn, was also very popular. The workshop covered, among others, such topics as the key role of e-marketing in promoting and building the image of event companies, and the importance of LinkedIn as a particularly crucial platform for professionals and businesses, offering a wide range of opportunities in the area of image building and social selling activities. Rafał Szymański, an expert in social selling and B2B sales on LinkedIn explained during the session of the Creators Lab at Meetings Week Poland 2023 just how to reach them using LinkedIn so that it is social selling rather than social spamming.

There are already over 24,000 Polish companies on LinkedIn that employ ten employees or more, so they can be MICE customers. At the same time, 37,000 people in HR departments work in decision-making positions in these companies. I am glad there were questions from the audience, because it shows that the event and hotel industry is aware of the importance of social media in the process of acquiring and maintaining relations with a business client”, added Szymański.

While at this subject, we would like to encourage you to follow Poland Convention Bureau on LinkedIn.

Another panel that proved popular was entitled: “Interpreters’ services no longer required, or Chat GPT and other content generating technologies – benefits and challenges for MICE industry providers”, in which conference interpreters revealed the secrets of their profession in an expressive way. The interpreters, associated in the Polish Association of Conference Interpreters (PSTK, a member organisation of TUgether), who usually can’t be seen working away in their conference booths, shared many interesting facts related to their work and to the possibilities offered by new technologies while translating simultaneously into many languages of meetings, events, conferences, congresses and other events, reaching thousands of recipients from all over the world without generating additional costs.

A representative of one of the most significant congress centres in Poland, the Targi Kielce Congress Centre, offered interesting insights into the so-called festivalisation of fairs, the enrichment of fairs with many events, and about moving fairs also to the online realm.

Experts discussed the value of meetings and events, analysing the results of the report: “Event marketing 2022 / 2023. The challenges of the meetings and events industry in uncertain times.” The first day of the conference concluded with a lively discussion on the need to apply and interpret the Act on tourist events and related tourist services during the panel entitled “Legal pitfalls in the work of event organisers, not only in tourism”, and the scope of activities of the Tourism Market Monitoring Centre established this year.

We are pleased that during the 11th edition of Meetings Week Poland, we were able to take part in numerous discussion panels and discuss important challenges facing the meetings industry. During the second day in the discussion session called “POLAND: attractive and safe destination. How to convince others that this is the case”, we analysed events such as the ICCA Congress in Kraków, the WUF World Urban Forum in Katowice or Routes Europe in Łódź, which prove the cooperation of many entities involved in acquiring international events for Poland. Just as importantly, we are very satisfied that we could meet again and talk among specialists and practitioners who make up our dynamic industry, said Aneta Książek, Head of the Poland Convention Bureau.

The second day of the Meetings Week Poland conference was again full of discussions and presentations concerning the Polish meetings and events industry.

During the first session, examples of successes in attracting large events to Poland were discussed, such as the ICCA CONGRESS in Kraków, the WUF World Urban Forum in Katowice and ROUTES EUROPE in Łódź. Experts presented case studies and shared their experiences in organising these events, which gave everyone an opportunity to learn something new.

🌟 Drugi dzień Meetings Week Poland 2023 rozpoczyna BLOK 1: Jak pozyskaliśmy MEGA WYDARZENIA dla POLSKI?
💚 Na początku case study KONGRES ICCA w KRAKOWIE, czyli jak udało się pozyskać to wydarzenie dla Krakowa i Polski. #PolandCVB #meetingsweek23 #iccaworld #eventprofs #Kraków pic.twitter.com/rmhLtFTKHu

— Poland Convention Bureau 🇵🇱 (@PolandCvB) June 13, 2023

During the second session, the speakers focused on the impact of events on the promotion of Poland and the growth of the meetings industry. The cooperation between various entities was discussed, such as hotels, event agencies, artists, interpreters, congresses, trade fairs, carriers and service providers. The speakers emphasised the importance of cooperation in achieving success in the meetings industry.

A key element here is the CSRD directive, which introduces requirements for reporting on sustainable business activities. The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive was adopted by the European Commission in April 2021 and aims to increase the transparency and quality of reporting on corporate sustainability activities. Speakers analysed the extent to which this directive will apply to the meetings and events industry sector. This is already changing our industry and in the upcoming years it will bring a revolution in the field of ESG. Those who do not adapt will be left behind.

The third session concerned the market situation as well as the potential and growth of the meetings and events industry. The changes that are taking place in the industry at both global and regional level were looked at, as well as the challenges and opportunities of growth. The speakers stressed the need to adapt to changing conditions and look for new opportunities for growth.

The success of this edition of Meetings Week Poland lies in cooperation.

A comprehensive approach to the topics discussed during all panels of this year’s event was provided by the representatives of the Polish Tourism Organisation, representatives of industry organisations and representatives of employers’ organisations. The analysis of the current condition of the meetings and events industry was complemented by the input from the decision-makers invited to the event and 48 MICE industry experts leading numerous discussion panels.

CLICK BELOW TO SEE THE GALLERY OF 250 PHOTOS FROM TWO DAYS OF THE CONFERENCE. Photo credits: Katarzyna Cegłowska.

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Meetings Week Poland 2023 was organised by the TUgether Council of Meetings and Events Industry in cooperation with the Polish Tourism Organisation. The conference took place on 12-13 June in the conference rooms of the Airport Hotel Okęcie in Warsaw.