Coinciding with the celebration in Malaga Spain the annual meeting of the Convention Bureau, the Trade Fair and Congress of the Andalusian city hosted the 14th and 15th September, the second edition of the MICE Forum, at which the Spain Convention Bureau decides to open up and provide a meeting dedicated to not only its members but also to the entire sector, with the collaboration of Turespaña and FEMP.

Several roundtables were held, covering issues such as the associations market (PUT LINK), creativity in events, special venues, the contribution of industry associations, or the importance of logistics in meetings.

20,000 events, 100 interesting ones?

The association market has been a star during the recession, noted for its stability compared with a very fragile corporate market. Will it last this? Maybe not. A panel discussion held during the MICE Forum explored the situation of this market. Participants were Daniel Araiz (Valencia Tourism), Sandrine Castres (MCI Spain), Inmaculada Moya (Trade Fair and Congress Center of Malaga) and Jose Antonio López Trigo (Spanish Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology). Here come the main learnings.

Does size matter?

Daniel Araiz launched the session with a reminder of figures. 20,000 events take place each year in Spain, totaling 3 million people. Of these, most are very short or small events and only 3,000 are congresses. Of these, according to Daniel, only have 100 large national conferences, which are the main target of professionals in the sector, especially cities.

Almost 100 major congress centres and nearly 100 congresses... a small problem of oversupply? What will destinations for domestic supply or logistics, are not eligible for international conferences? Inmaculada Moya explained that the Malaga area already has four conference centers with two more under construction. "We should do further studies before deciding to build palaces," he said. It seems clear ...

While there is oversupply, Sandrine Castres nuance and remembered that we must not neglect the medium conferences. As said, a conference of 500 people, well managed, can be very profitable, but a large congress.

How do associations select cities?

According to José Antonio López Trigo, time pressure obviously affects the choice of destination: a distant destination or improperly connected will have a disadvantage when their members are increasingly short of time. He also recalled that the PCO does not select the city, as the society has strict rules on how to choose it. Their main criteria: good communication, and that the palace has many rooms (more than 15 in general).

The star doesn´t sell any more

It seems that delegates require interactivity and work sessions. Jose Antonio Lopez said the changes in demand for the partners: the great speaker does not sell much, having many small workshops can get more assistance than the speaker brings the star speaker. Some time ago we see the importance of changing formats, and to have more small meetings is the future. Is confirmed.

This roundtable was held under the MICE Forum in Malaga, September 14.