Location: Kaohsiung
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 08:15 CET
Session: The powerful future of events

Bob is responsible for the development, production and execution of global events and experiential marketing for Microsoft. He and his team are reimagining the corporate event space and have committed to digital only events for this fiscal year. In addition, he leads the Microsoft Production Studios delivering hundreds of hours of programming and training around the world on behalf of the company.

Live Broadcast
Date: 22 September 2020
Time: 14:20 CET
Session: Global economic trends to master recovery

Jean Pierre Lacombe is the Director of IFC’s Global Macro, Market and Portfolio Research Department in Washington DC, providing to IFC’s management, operational departments and external clients with applied macroeconomics research, sector/country risk evaluations and strategic asset allocation recommendations on emerging markets and global industries. His team also conducts empirical and fundamental economic research to gain insight on long term trends affecting investments. In addition, his team works hand in hand with the Corporate Portfolio Department to provide a risk based approach to understanding portfolio trends, to quantify the impact of current and projected country/market developments on the portfolio as well as to build an asset allocation framework. Previously at IFC, he worked at Corporate Portfolio Management Department, and Central Equity Department as well as the Corporate Strategy Department. Prior to joining IFC, Jean Pierre spent 15 years in the private sector, working for Johnson & Johnson, Lehman Brothers and Barclays Capital in New York, Hong Kong, Sao Paulo and London. During his investment banking career, he headed institutional and proprietary trading in foreign exchange, fixed income, equities and derivatives for Latin and Asian emerging markets. Jean Pierre has degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Operations Research from Cornell University and Finance from MIT.

Live Broadcast
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 11:00 CET
Session: Copenhagen-Denmark- Lecture

If you’ve ever felt confused about which direction you should choose for your future, then you have definitely found the right person. Anne is both a tornado that can lift you up and expand your horizon, as well as the calm eye of the storm that brings focus and peace of mind. Anne works with both small, local, and large multi-national organizations and is frequently active in the media. She has had her own science program om national television, and is a former member of The Ethical Council.
Anne is in high demand all over the world as a speaker and provocateur. But her heart lies with those who “can & will”: People who are passionate about what they do, and believe that dedicated work will make all the difference. “Smart has plans, stupid has stories, " is one of her favorite quotes. She is the co-founder of 2 companies: Universal Futurist and Future Navigator. Anne’s vision is to win the Nobel Peace Prize, and her crowning achievements will include transforming journalism, politics, and education.

Live Broadcast
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 11:00 CET
Session: Copenhagen-Denmark-Lecture

Lars Oskan-Henriksen is the chair of Copenhagen Pride since 2013 and an international leader on promoting inclusion and LGBTI+ rights and equality. Copenhagen Pride, with 450.000 participants in 2019 and 175.000 via online media in 2020, is Denmark’s largest annual human rights festival and a frontrunner on representation, diversity and inclusion in Denmark and abroad.
Copenhagen Pride will in August 2021 host WorldPride in Copenhagen and Malmö, the largest LGBTI+ event in the world that year and the largest to ever be held in the Greater Copenhagen Region. The event takes place under the hashtag: #youareincluded. Lars Oskan-Henriksen also chairs the Danish Event Producer’s Association.

Storytelling Topic Week
Date: 29 September 2020
Time: 14:00 CET
Session: What's in your DNA?

Colombian, married with three children. Publicist from the Jorge Tadeo Lozano University in Bogotá Colombia, with specialization in Marketing. He has 40 years of experience in marketing and communications starting in advertising agencies, such as Young and Rubicam, J.Walter Thompson and Sancho. He joined Colombia´s Country Brand in 2013 as Marketing Manager, from where he was promoted to Director of Country Brand in Procolombia, where he was until September 2015. He is Communications and marketing advisor for several national companies, international consultant in territorial branding. In October 2016 he was called again to assume the Country Brand Management in Procolombia. In 2017, he was recognized by Marketers by Adlatina magazine as one of the 10 most important leaders in Latam in Territorial Marketing. Speaker at TEDx Barranquilla 2018 with the talk “COLOMBIA IN SPITE OF PREJUDICES”. In May 2019 he retired from Procolombia and founded the “COLOMBIA POSITIVE REALISM” movement from where he dedicates himself to telling stories about the true face of COLOMBIA, in addition to his activities as speaker, consultant and university professor.

Location: Kaohsiung
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 15:00 CST
Session: Ground Breaking Digital Social Innovation

Audrey is known for revitalizing the computer languages Perl and Haskell, as well as building the online spreadsheet system EtherCalc in collaboration with Dan Bricklin. In the public sector, Audrey served on national development council’s open data committee and K-12 curriculum committee; and led the country’s first e-Rulemaking project. In the private sector, Audrey worked as a consultant with Apple on computational linguistics, with Oxford University Press on crowd lexicography, and with Socialtext on social interaction design. In the social sector, Audrey actively contributes to g0v (“gov zero”), a vibrant community focusing on creating tools for the civil society, with the call to “fork the government.”

Crowd-Sourced Topic Week
Date: 8 October 2020
Time: 14:00 CET
Session: Reinvent your business model

Steve Lerch is the president and founder of Story Arc Consulting, located just outside of Washington, DC. He serves as a keynote speaker on topics like innovation, consumer behavior, and marketing, while also consulting with various organizations on strategy and digital marketing.
Prior to the formation of Story Arc Consulting, Steve spent nearly a decade at Google helping to build digital strategies for cutting edge electronics companies like GoPro and Roku, federal government agencies like the Census, and non-profits like Save The Children and The YMCA. In addition to his capacity as a strategic marketing consultant to numerous clients, Steve also served as a “Noogler” Leader, tasked with educating large groups of new employees about the culture, philosophy, and history of one of Silicon Valley’s most innovative companies.
Steve is a passionate believer in the power of data, and believes there is a story and a strategy hidden in every pattern and trend.

Crowd-Sourced Topic Week
Date: 6 October 2020
Time: 14:00 CET
Session: Learning from Experience

Frank lives in Antwerp and Amsterdam and is a thought-leader in city making and city marketing, being associated with DestinationThink! as the next step in his extensive career and consulting work with places all over the world. Frank has detailed knowledge about the management of destinations worldwide and speaks fluent English, Flemish, German and French. He was a trusted advisor for the city of Antwerp in Belgium for five years on city marketing, cultural policy and tourism approaches. He personally led and transformed the international department of Visit Flanders, the DMO for the Flemish region of Belgium, where he co-wrote their marketing strategy and overall strategy.
He has a master’s degree in philosophy and linguistics from the University of Antwerp and complimentary postgraduates in marketing (Antwerp Management School) and management (University of Brussels). Frank publishes on www.destinationthink.com articles about place management and place branding.

Live Broadcast
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 11:00 CET
Session: Copenhagen-Denmark-Lecture

Yasmin is an award winning speaker, writer and youth advocate. She is currently Plan International's National Ambassador and frequently appears on prominent Australian media programs to discuss the role of diversity in social change. Yasmin is also the Non-Executive Board Director of OzHarvest, Australia’s leading food rescue charity.
In 2018, Yasmin represented over a million young Australians as the first ever Chair of the Victorian Government's Youth Congress. She has since gone on to represent Australian youth at APEC and the G20. In 2019, Yasmin was the youngest member of the Australian Financial Review 100 Women of Influence and Top 40 Under 40 Most Influential Asian Australians.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 17:10 CET
Session: Research Intelligence

Günther Hansen works a Solution Sales Manager Research Intelligence with Elsevier since 11 years, today serving the markets DACH and BeNeLux, responsible primarily for SciVal, Scopus and other publication based analytical platforms. Günther had worked for Elsevier in Oxford/England before 2004-2007, selling Translation Rights for Science & Technology Books, followed by a researcher position 2008-2009 within the Leibniz Society, Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education (DIPF) in the area of Open Access. Günther started his career in sales with the German Public Broadcasting Corporation SWR in Stuttgart/Germany, selling TV and radio content 2001-2003. Günther holds a Master Degree in German Literature and Education Sciences (University of Stuttgart) and a Master Degree in Library- and Media Management (HdM Stuttgart).

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 17:10 CET
Session: The Disruption Factor: Digitalization and Innovation Transformations

Pascal holds a master degree in “astrophysics” and, in parallel of having his first work experience as a software engineer, he graduated in “applied information technology”. In 2002 he joined the Luxembourg government, first at the “Task Force eLuxembourg” and afterwards at the Ministry of the Economy as advisor and project manager in the area of network and information security. From 2003 to 2014 he was a member of the management board of ENISA (the European Network and Information Security Agency).
Today, Pascal is CEO of SECURITYMADEIN.LU, the structure behind the main information security initiatives of the Luxembourg government: CASES, CIRCL, BEE SECURE and the Cybersecurity Competence Center (C3), launched in 2017 as a european-wide unique facility to empower the Luxembourg economy in the field of cybersecurity. He is a member of the Luxembourg Cyber Security Board, lecturer in information security at the University of Luxembourg, president of the CLUSIL (an association representing the information security landscape of Luxembourg) and member of the FIC advisory board.

Location: Cape Town
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 14:15 SAST
Session: The Prospect for Economic Growth and Development in Africa

Horman Chitonge is professor at the Centre for African Studies, University of Cape Town (UCT). His research interests include finding alternative strategies for economic growth in Africa, agrarian political economy, and poverty and Social welfare Policy. His most recent books include: Industrial Policy and the Transformation of the Colonial Economy in Africa (Routledge, 2020), Industrialising Africa: Unlocking the Economic Potential of the Continent ( Peter Lang, 2019); Social Welfare Policy in South Africa: From the Poor White Problem to a Digitised Social Contract (Peter Lang, 2018); Economic Growth and Development in Africa: Understanding Trends and Prospects (Routledge, 2015).

Location: Cape Town
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 17:00 SAST
Session: Opportunities for Africa

Professor PLO Lumumba is the Founder of the PLO Lumumba Foundation and a consultant with Lumumba and Lumumba Advocates, a member of the Africa Justice Group (AJG). He is an Advocate of the High Courts of Kenya and Tanganyika and a certified mediator. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Certified Public Secretaries of Kenya FCPS (K), a Fellow of the Kenya Institute of Management (FKIM) and Honorary Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences (FAAS). He is the Chairman of Farafina Investment Group in Monrovia, Liberia and Economic Strategic Growth and Development Initiative for Africa based in Nigeria.
He has authored several books on diverse subjects. With several speeches on diverse subjects delivered in and outside Africa, Lumumba is recognized as one of the leading public speakers in Africa and the African in Diaspora. He is the founder of several organizations including the PLO Lumumba Foundation, a charitable organization that has been in operation since 1990. He has also been twice recognized as one of the 100 most influential Africans.

Location: Malaga
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 16:15 CET
Session: Learning, Unlearning and Relearning Business Models

After working in several communication and advertising agencies, I started to work in events sector in 2012 specifically in events & sponsorship department in BMW Group Spain. More than 7 years leading projects like internal conventions, car product launch, motorshows, sport marketing events and BMW ambassadors strategy to increase the engagement with our target group and sales.
From last month of August, I changed to BMW Motorrad (motorbike`s brand of BMW Group) to lead all the events and activities carried out in that area including all the CRM activities and processes; these last role is an important key to measure all the activities developed and to implement the new ones to improve the ROI & ROE of each event carried out.

Location: Malaga
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 13:45 CET
Session: World Business Model is off - Reset: Keep it Simple & Flexible

Luis Garvía is an economist, lawyer, and electromechanical engineer (ICAI). He holds a Ph.D. in Finance from ICADE (Universidad Pontificia de Comillas) and an Executive MBA from IESE Business School. As an economist he is an adviser in investment plans, expansion, and optimization or rationalization of industrial, financial or property portfolios. In the buy-side he helps understanding of the investment profile, generation of “deal-flow” and transactions and in the analysis and advisory along the investment process – financing. In the sell-side he helps structuring and coordination of investment or divestment process via “off-market” transactions or “orderly process”. He also has experience in integral management of properties, projects and the investment vehicles. As a lawyer, he is a specialist in commercial law, particularly Spanish business bankruptcy law. As university professor he teaches Financial Markets, Valuation and Corporate Finance in ICADE (Universidad Pontificia Comillas). He also teaches finance at NYU (New York University) and Marketing at University at Albany (State University of New York).

Location: Malaga
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 14:15 CET
Session: Talent 3.0

Gloria Gubianas Blanes is a Co-Founder and Head of Social Impact and Sustainability at Hemper Handmade.
Prior to Hemper, she was a co-Founder and Marketing Director of Sheedo. Born entrepreneur. Creating her own businesses since she was 16. Passioned about design, sustainability, innovation and social entrepreneurship.

Location: Malaga
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 16:15 CET
Session: Learning, unlearning and relearning business models

Miguel Assis is an entrepreneur with an excellent track record spanning 19 years in business development for incentive travel and events in Portugal, Spain, Florida and Brazil. He has built VOQIN’s global sales teams and set the company’s commercial strategy since the day one as events by TLC. Miguel has a keen eye for creativity and strategy enabling him to empower live marketing projects in ways that connect product, communication and marketplace both in B2B and B2C environments. Having led the LATAM and Iberian teams of Business Developers and Accounts Growth, he is VOQIN’s Partner & Chief Marketing Officer. He is a passionate proponent of a H2H (Human-to-Human) mindset that truly puts people at the centre of business, now as the emotiontech positioning embrace by VOQIN’.

Location: Cape Town
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 17:15 SAST
Session: Flip your Thinking on Brand Africa

A committed Travel, Tourism & Development practitioner, Anita leads ANITA MENDIRATTA & Associates, a highly respected international consulting firm based in London, UK. With over three decades living across the globe including 20+ years in Africa, Anita’s global hands-on, cross-cultural, cross-industry experience enables her to feel the ‘heartbeat’ of nations – economic, social, political, cultural and environmental dynamics impacting and inspiring nations. Importantly, with proven acumen in mobilising impact across diplomatic, governmental and business spheres, her exceptional skills have earned her the trust needed to work directly with leadership teams, especially when facing crisis. Anita is also honoured to be SPECIAL ADVISOR to the Secretary General, UNWTO, and STRATEGIC ADVISOR to CNN INTERNATIONAL.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 16:45 CET
Session: Big and Small Pharma

Ludo Lauwers, M.D. was Senior Vice President , site management at Janssen Pharmaceutica NV.
He was vice chairman of the Management Board of Janssen Pharmaceutica NV and Chairman of the Board of Janssen-Cilag International NV. Dr. Lauwers lead the Janssen Campus Office for Strategy and Growth focusing on establishing innovation networks, precompetitive collaborations and open innovation. Dr Lauwers was founding member of the board and chairman of the CMI (Center for Medical Innovation: www.cmi-vzw.be/). He is a member of the "Commissie Wetenschapsbeleid" of VRWI (Flemish Council for Science and Innovation: www.vrwi.be/en ) and was foundig boardmember of BiR&D (Belgian Industry R&D: www.birdbelgium.com/ ). He also was a founding member of FISCH VZW (Flanders strategic Initiative for Sustainable Chemistry: www.fi-sch.be ).
He joined Janssen Pharmaceutica, Belgium as Medical Director in 1993, and later served as Director of Clinical Development, Internal Medicine; Senior Director, Internal Medicine, International Clinical R&D and Vice President Gastroenterology & Antifungals for the Janssen Research Foundation (JRF). Ludo was appointed Beerse Site Manager for J&J Pharmaceutical R&D in July 2000 and later in October 2001 Vice President, Global Head, Postmarketing Medical Evaluation. In 2004 he became Global Head of the drug safety and pharmacovigilance organization for J&J, Benefit Risk Management (BRM) and chair of the Safety Council.
His previous positions include Medical Director, Upjohn Benelux, and Associate Director of the Department of Anesthesiology (University of Antwerp) and Director of the ICU and Emergency Medical Services at Belgium's Stuivenberg General Hospital.
Dr. Lauwers earned his medical degree (MD) from the University of Leuven and specialized in Anaesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. He holds the European Diploma of Intensive Care Medicine (EDIC).
He is currently chairman of the board of the Thomas More University College and member of the board of KU-Leuven.

Live Broadcast
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 10:35 CET
Session: The Power of Advocacy

Following the legislative elections of 20 October 2013, Xavier Bettel was appointed Prime Minister, Minister of State, Minister for Communications and Media and Minister for Religious Affairs on 4 December 2013 in the coalition government formed by the Democratic Party (DP), the Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP) and the Green Party (déi gréng). Following the resignation of Maggy Nagel from the government, Xavier Bettel was appointed Minister of Culture on 18 December 2015.
After the legislative elections of 14 October 2018, Xavier Bettel was appointed Prime Minister, Minister of State, Minister for Communications and Media, Minister for Religious Affairs, Minister for Digitalisation and Minister for Administrative Reform on 5 December 2018 in the coalition government formed by the DP, the LSAP and déi gréng.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 17:10 CET
Session: The Disruption Factor: Digitalization and Innovation Transformations

Sasha Baillie heads the Luxembourg national innovation agency. As a former Luxembourg diplomat, she was previously seconded to the Ministry of Economy as deputy chief of staff and diplomatic adviser to the Minister.
She managed the reform of Luxembourg’s economic promotion structures which led to the creation of the Luxembourg Trade and Investment Board. Sasha chaired the country’s Trade and Investment Steering Committee.
Sasha initiated and chaired Luxembourg’s nation branding committee, an interministerial and inter-institutional group set up by the Government in 2014 to develop and promote the image of the country around the world.
As an aide to the Deputy Prime Minister with ministerial portfolios that included both economy and defense, Sasha was in charge of the project to create a joint venture between the Luxembourg Government and the global satellite operator SES to acquire, launch and operate a government and defense satellite. She serves as Chair of the Board of this company, LuxGovSat S.A. since its creation in February 2015.
Sasha Baillie joined the Foreign Ministry in 1997 and has served on foreign diplomatic postings in Moscow as deputy head of mission of the Luxembourg Embassy and in Brussels as deputy head of mission of the Luxembourg Representation to the EU Political and Security committee, which involved chairing EU meetings during the Luxembourg EU Presidency in 2005.
Native English and Luxembourgish, also fluent in French and German and speaks Russian, Spanish and Italian. Graduated from St Andrews University, Scotland with a Masters degree in international relations and mediaeval history in 1994, and went on to pursue doctoral studies at the European University Institute in Florence before joining the Luxembourg diplomatic service in 1997.

Location: Kuching
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 10:30MYT
Session: Sarawak Tribal Wisdom with Alena Murang

Drawing inspirations from her Kelabit heritage, Alena Murang brings you Tribal Wisdom through poignant oral traditions. The English-Kelabit talent became the first female to professionally perform and teach the sape’; a lute instrument of the Bornean highlands believing to heal physically, spiritually and emotionally. Her upbringing in a close-knit community led her to inherit the traditional songs of the Kelabit and Kenyah communities, where she sought guidance from elders to craft some of the best ethnic songs played on the global stage of Paris Fashion Week and Rainforest World Music Festival among others. Her musical presence was also featured on NatGeo People, Channel News Asia, BBC Radio 2 and Asian Nikkei Review to name a few. Her belief is simple: oral traditions will guide you further than any formal education. Oral traditions are more than just music; it passes down invaluable lessons of togetherness, humility and fighting the good fight and how we can apply these values in today’s contemporary issues. Alena will be sharing her story of self-discovery through the mystical sounds of the sape’ and oral traditions exclusively for 59th ICCA Congress Asia Pacific Regional Hub in Sarawak. 

Location: Kuching
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 11:00MYT
Session: Impacting Future Education: ICEdDE 2019

Dr Margaret Chan Kit Yok is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Plantation and Agrotechnology in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UiTM) Sarawak. She holds a Bachelor in Agricultural Science (with first class honours) and PhD (in Agriculture Microbiology) from Lincoln University, New Zealand. From collaboration with international fraternities on her areas of research on sustainable agriculture management, community and higher education programme development, she has brought a number of International Conferences being hosted in Sarawak since 2004. The Sarawak Convention Bureau has awarded her the State’s Outstanding Achievement Award in 2013 and Achievement Award in 2015 in the “Anak Sarawak” Appreciation Award. She is currently a Board Director of Sarawak Convention Bureau. She will be sharing the impact of the 1st International Conference on Education in the Digital Ecosystem 2019 on future Education in Sarawak drawing her experience as the organising chairperson.

Location: Koahsiung
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 11:10 CST
Session: Unpacking Success: The Driving Forces behind Human Motivation

Live Broadcast
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 18:00 CST
Session: President’s Choice Session

Yu-kai Chou is an Author and International Keynote Speaker on Gamification and Behavioral Design. He is the Original Creator of the Octalysis Framework, and the author of Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges, and Leaderboards. He is currently President of The Octalysis Group and the Founder of Octalysis Prime, a Gamified Mentorship Platform. Yu-kai has been a regular speaker/lecturer on gamification and motivation worldwide, including at organizations like Google, Stanford University, LEGO, Tesla, TEDx, Boston Consulting Group, Turkish Airline, Huawei, the governments of UK, Singapore, South Korea, Kingdom of Bahrain, and many more. His work has affected over 1 Billion users’ experiences across the world.
Yu-kai was one of the earliest pioneers in Gamification, starting his work in the industry in 2003. In 2015, Yu-kai was rated #1 among the “Gamification Gurus Power 100” by RISE, and was also awarded the “Gamification Guru of the Year” Award in 2014, 2015 and 2017 by the World Gamification Congress and the Gamification Europe Conference. He has helped a variety of companies, from seed stage startups to Fortune 500 companies such as LEGO, Uber, Volkswagen/Porsche, Sberbank, eBay, Fidelity Investments, AIG Japan, Verizon, and more. His work has been featured in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, The World Journal, PBS, NBC, and many more.
Previously, Yu-kai was the Chief Experience Officer of the Blockchain company Decentral, working with the Co-Founder of Ethereum Anthony Di Iorio to create delightful Blockchain experiences. Yu-kai sits as a Board Advisor for many organizations and companies throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, including HatchPad.co (crowdfunding site for young entrepreneurs), Capfields (IT Sourcing company based in Luxembourg), DreamsCloud (biggest company that gathers dreams), Ongo (gamified health platform), BALANCE Edutainment (creators of Pacha’s Pajamas), Loki Studios (creators of Geomon and sold to Yahoo), Clade (crowdfunding platform for the superclass), and many more.

Live Broadcast
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 8:15 CET
Session: The powerful future of events

Recognized for his incredible influence in the field of education, Sal Khan has been profiled by 60 Minutes, featured on the cover of Forbes, and named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. His passion project, the Khan Academy, started humbly when he began tutoring his cousins and a few family friends in math. Soon, word spread, demand grew, and the Khan Academy was born. Today, the platform has more than 62 million registered users across 190 countries, each able to access practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized dashboard to help students learn at their own pace. Boasting a state-of-the-art, adaptive technology, Khan Academy has partnered with world-class institutions such as NASA, New York’s Museum of Modern Art, and MIT. The technology has had a reported meaningful impact for students attending top schools such as Stanford, Princeton, and Yale, especially those who are first-generation college students.
In his book, The One World Schoolhouse, praised by both Bill Gates and Al Gore, Khan outlines his vision for the future of education: liberating teachers from mandated curriculums and encouraging human interaction in classrooms. The ideas in One World are the basis for Khan Lab School, an independent off-shoot of the Khan Academy, that offers a collaborative, project-based learning approach to a mixed-age student group.

Location: Kaohsiung
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 11:10 CST
Session: Unpacking Success: The Driving Forces behind Human Motivation

Sascha Pallenberg (潘賞世), the Head of Digital Transformation, Daimler AG. He is a German Techblogger living in Taipei who’s constantly travelling between Asia, the US and Europe. In addition to this Sascha provides keynote addresses and is just Gung-ho about technology. Sascha was named as one of the The NEXT 100 Top Influencers of the European Digital Industry in 2013 and also as one of the 2013 Top 100 most important Germans online.
During four consecutive years in 2010-2013, Sascha won the „Top 20 Smart Mobile Device Pundit“ Award for the most influential bloggers and journalists in the area of Mobile Computing. Recently he won the "Golden Blogger" award 2015 for being the Blogger of the year in Germany.

Location: Kaohsiung
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 13:30 CST
Session: The Transformer: Rolling with the Punches

The creator of exclusive patented silk leather for luxury handbag, Ken, who is also the first whom implemented RFID (Radio Frequency Idenfication) chip into the handbag to prevent imitation.
From 2010 to 2012, the island, mostly Kaohsiung, accounted for one third of the global leather industry especially in Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) business. The OEM business at time had to deal with multiple challenges in a rapidly changing business landscape: globalization, technological disruption, green shortage of talent and intensifying competition.
Ken is the second generation of a leather company, Mellow Supply Co., Ltd. Ken realized that the strategies that have worked well in the past may not be sufficient to sustain their businesses in the future. Ken Huang returned to Kaohsiung after 6 years in USA and supported his family turnaround the hard yard to different possible. Sweetburden is a Made in Kaohsiung fashion brand that made it to international arena.
Ken graduated with a bachelor degree in Philosophy from Tunghai University and MBA in international marketing from CSULA.

Location: Kaohsiung
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 13:30 CST
Session: The Transformer: Rolling with the Punches

The Chief Operating Officer of Sheh Fung Screws Co., Ltd. He has devoted himself to screws industry over 15 years. His works focus on customer orientation service and intelligent manufacturing. He led Sheh Fung to overcome crises from losing the biggest customer to COVID-19 pandemic.

Location: Kaohsiung
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 13:30 CST
Session: The Transformer: Rolling with the Punches

Brogent Technologies Inc. is a diverse technology company, with rich experience in digital content creation focus in software and hardware R&D, manufacturing and system integration, theater design, planning and construction capabilities. Brogent set its headquarter in Kaohsiung and its recognized as the leader in simulation technology that make dreams into reality. The i-ride - flying cinema center provides a multi-sensory experience simulating the feeling of a real flight.
Andy Kiang, the Director of International Business Development has 20+ years of hardware design experience working in Silicon Valley. After 10 years of working for Intel on the hardware validation team, Andy returned to Taiwan to join Brogent in 2016.
Andy graduated with a BS in Electrical Engineering from National Sun Yet-Sen University.

Location: Kaohsiung
Date: 2 November Time: 13:30 CST
Session: The Transformer: Rolling with the Punches

Mrs. Vicky Yang, CEO of Cycling Lifestyle Foundation and spokesperson for YouBike, a bike-sharing system, has been promoting cycling in the islandsince 2008.
She has led government officials on expeditions to The Netherlands in 2009 and 2010, and Ehime and Hiroshima, Japan in 2016 to study successful urban and suburban cycling infrastructures, in order to broaden government officials’ views when developing such infrastructures in the island.
Mrs. Yang has also organized high-profile cycling events, including a Guinness World Record-breaking Parade of Bicycles in 2011, to help the public discover the joy of cycling, and encourage the use of bikes as a means of daily transportation. In recent years, Vicky designed and implemented the highly successful YouBike bike-sharing system that has garnered domestic and international praise. YouBike’s success was credited as a major factor in Taipei’s winning bid to become the first Asian city to host the premier cycling conference, Velo-City Global 2016.
By influencing infrastructure policy and promoting cycling lifestyles, Mrs. Yang hopes to encourage fresh perspectives to urban and suburban life, and invites us to find creativity, joy, and adventure within our daily lives.

Location: Kaohsiung
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 11:10 CST
Session: The Matching Game: Talents & Organization

Cheng is the founder and CEO of Choxue, a mission driven company that aims to make sports a part of education in Asia. The founding beliefs and mission came from his unique journey. At age 13, after Cheng’s father passed away and his mom was hospitalized due to schizophrenia, he and his sister were adopted by his aunt and uncle and moved from Taiwan to the United States without knowing a word of English, anyone, or the culture in 2000. However, in less than 5 years, he excelled in sports as a high school student in the state of Georgia, where the sport of American football is a sacrosanct, and earned an opportunity to play football at Harvard University. At Harvard, Ho was named All Ivy League Second Team with 1253 in career yards, 12 touchdowns and won the Ivy League Championship in 2008 and 2009.
After graduating in 2010 with a BA degree in Economics and minor in Psychology, he joined the National Football League’s Junior Rotational Program for two years and spent one year at the Beijing office (NFL China) to promote the sport. In 2013, he founded the company Choxue (CX) with the mission to make sports a part of education in Asia. He believes that sports is the catalyst to the development of strong values and leadership qualities in young people and the future training ground of our future leaders in Asia. In 2018, he started Choxue League (CXL) that consists of 27 high schools and is rapidly approaching 70+ schools and counting.

Location: Kaohsiung
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 11:10 CST
Session: The Matching Game: Talents & Organization

Joyce is a distinguished leader and with strong acumen of Healthcare industry.
Joyce has joined Amgen as General Manager since July 2018 to grow the business, strengthen organizational capabilities, and enhance external engagement in Taiwan. She has strong Asia experience and a wide spectrum of capabilities with different roles cross Sales, Marketing, Commercial Excellence, Regional Marketing and General management in BMS, Novartis, Pfizer, MSD and P&G. Her market experience includes Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, and the U.S; portfolio management covers Oncology, Hematology, Immunology, Cardiology, Diabetes.
Prior to Amgen, Joyce was General Manager for BMS in Taiwan and Singapore. Joyce is passionate to build and lead high-performance teams with diversity. Working for patients is the North Star for her to stay in Healthcare industry. She loves to develop talents and explore new knowledge.
She holds a BSC in Pharmacy from National Taiwan University, and an EMBA from National Cheng Chi University, Taiwan. She also completed General Management Program (GMP) from CEDEP, Fontainebleau France in 2017-2018, and received 2019 AmCham Taipei Excellence in Leadership Award for outstanding leadership as a Co-Chair of the Public Health Committee.

Location: Kaohsiung
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 13:30 CST
Session: The Future is Me

Hsuan-Wei (Wayne) Lee is an Assistant Research Fellow at the Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica in Taiwan. He is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science and Deparment of Sociology in National Taiwan University.
He received his Ph.D. in Mathematics from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2016. His research, as well as a considerable portion of my collaborative work, addresses complex systems, computational sociology, dynamics on networks, and evolutionary games. Often using computer simulations and knowledge in graph theory, differential equations, combinatorics, stochastic processes, applied statistics, and machine learning techniques, he investigates all kinds of networks, especially social systems, their characteristics, formation, evolution, and often predictions of system behavior.
He has publications in Physical Review E, Social Science Research, PloS ONE, Journal of Complex Systems, and Social Network.

Location: Cape Town
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 14:45 SAST
Session: Achieving the SDGs in Africa

I am passionate about transforming tourism in Africa to an accountable industry that takes accounts of its social, and environmental impacts and woks to enhance opportuni-ties for sustainable development while mitigating or minimising threats and risks.
I am founder and Lead Consultant at Sustainable Travel & Tourism Agenda- (STTA), a Pan African organisation that is working to shape a sustainable future for Africa’s tourism.
I have over 20 years experience in sustainable tourism design, implementation and man-agement, with a bias for community led tourism and progressive conservation. Through years of working with communities I have extensive knowledge of models of effective community engagement in tourism and conservation.
Having developed and managed a certification scheme and engaged in design of several sustainable tourism awards, I have particular competencies in sustainable tourism certi-fication and sustainability assessment. I have undertake sustainability assessor assign-ments for World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) Tourism for Tomorrow Awards, National Geographic Unique Lodges of the World and World legacy Awards, The Long Run Ecosphere Resorts as well as judge roles for Tourism Resilience Council IIPT Awards, Eco-Warrior Awards, and serve as co-chair of Africa Tourism Leadership Awards since 2018.
I have served in the boards The International Ecotourism Society and Global Sustaina-ble Tourism Council. I currently serve I boardsFair Trade Tourism, Africa Fund for Endangered Wildlife, and Mara North Conservancy Kenya and Basecamp Foundation Kenya among others. I have bee recently been appointed to a committee of Africa Tour-ism Board in charge of policy and research.
In 2019, I was awarded the Sustainable Citizen Award by Forbes Woman Africa in recognition of outstanding contribution to awareness and knowledge of sustainability in tourism in Africa and beyond. In 2020 I was awarded the Martha Honey Legacy in Re-sponsible Travel Award.
I am currently co-editing a book on Sustainable Tourism Dialogues in Africa, a project of STTA Kenya.

Location: Cape Town
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 17:15 SAST
Session: Flip your Thinking on Brand Africa

A marketing and communications specialist with a passion for growing tourism brands, Sarah-Jane currently heads up Flow Communications in Cape Town, a digital marketing agency with clients such as the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company, CapeNature and Wesgro (the investment promotion agency for tourism and business in the Western Cape). She focuses on digital and social media strategies as well as overseeing the team. Prior to this Sarah-Jane spent 8 years at Ogilvy working on brands from alcohol to insurance to retail.

Location: Malaga
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 14:45 CET
Session: Customer Centricity

Paddy Cosgrave is the co-founder and CEO of Web Summit, now the world's largest technology conference according to The Financial Times. Cosgrave has been coined “master connector” by WIRED and in just 10 years has gathered hundreds of thousands of founders, CEOs, political leaders, and cultural figureheads across Web Summit in Lisbon, Collision Conference in Toronto and RISE in Asia. Cosgrave has navigated through the global pandemic by moving his events online, building Web Summit’s proprietary conference software, enabling people from all over the world to connect with each other in a meaningful way. Collision from Home hosted 32,000 people from 140 countries online, and Web Summit will host 100,000 people in December.

Location: Malaga
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 13:45 CET
Session: World Business Model is off - Reset: Keep it Simple & Flexible

+ 35 Years Experience (Technology, Audit, Global Security, Privacy, Continuity and Resilience, Data Governance, Compliance and Conformity, etc.)
Functions and Responsabilities: GRC & PIC RSI Manager, 13 years old Global Committee Safety, Prevention, Risks, Fraud, Government, Compliance and CSS (Health and Safety Committee / Head of Emergency 15 years). Auditor 1991, CISO 1993, CRO 2000, CSO 2001, Global Continuity 2007 and CCO 2015, almost 32 years RSI Servicios Outsourcing Global, from 1988 to CC.RR. Investees and Third Parties.
Former: Computer Technician and Auditor CISA, Master Computer Audit 1991, Expert Privacy and Data Protection since 1992, Master Security Global University Europea 2006, Higher Course on Critical Infrastructures GET / UNED / Instituto Gutiérrez Mellado-Professor since 2014.
Professor, publications and activities collaborate: DINTEL, Foro Expansión, IFAES, ISMS Forum, IDG, IDC, Computerworld, Computing, Red Seguridad, Foundation Borredá, Seguritecnia, SIC, IKN, Elcano Royal Institute, UDIMA, ICCA, INCIBE, ...
Worked Fundación Laboral INI (SEPI), ENTEL (INDRA), CITIBANK, BANCO SANTANDER and RSI ICT functions (Audit, Security, Quality, Processes, Systems, Fraud, Government, Continuity, Privacy, Compliance, Protection, Infraestructures).
Committees, Forums and Groups: 15 years Security and Fraud Commission CCI 2004 Fraud Cybernetic Spain and Europe. CCI Continuity Commission 2015. Founding Member 2010 Inst. Cont. Business - "Continuam". CECON (Spanish Continuity Consortium Business) 2007, Co-leader of the ALASTRIA 2018 Resilience Blockchain Commission, SIGECO President (Observator of Integral Security and Safety, Emergency Management, Operative Continuity) 2015, Security and Continuity Group of Redsys, Group Cyber and Fraud Iberpay, Security CEIM Commission, Regulation and Compliance Group and Security and Cibersecurity Group AUTELSI, Member of the LEET Parties Committee and member of ISACA Madrid association.
Specialities: CISA Auditor, Privacy and Pioneer in Data Protection Services and DPO / DPD since 2002 with Legal and Technological vision, Evidence Electronic and Digital Signature and FMDA EIDAS. Electronic Evidence Forum 2001 (Garrigues), ICT Government 1st AENOR worldwide certification in ISO38500 (COBIT, RISK IT and VAL IT) 2010, first ICT AENOR Compliance ISO19600 UNE19601 (PRP) and ISO3700 2017 certification, Comprehensive Security (ISO 27001, ISO 27005, Physical Security and RPL), Quality (ISO9001), Risks (Coso and ISO31000), Fraud and Cybersecurity (CCI and AEB / CECA / UNACC since 2004 pioneers in Grupo Seguridad CCI, Audit (ITAF and ISAE3402 SOC1 / 2),Continuity of the first ICT certification and Tres Cantos City Council in ISO22320 Emergencies 2012 and 2015 respectively (ISO23301, ISO22320, ISO22317 and SO22318) since 2012 in RSI, Client Vision, Global Vision Society and Business, Negotiation, Normalization, Privacy 1992, Self-Protection Plans since 2004. Crisis Management, Supply Chain Supervision 2010 AENOR / UNE66183 Process Outsourcing.
Created TRC2 Methodology (Transparency, Resilience and Compliance and Conformity) since 2015, Proyects Data Government DMBOK and IBM since 2016.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 16:45 CET
Session: Big and Small Pharma

Siegfried Marynissen is founder and owner of Marynissen & Associates Communications. Companies reach out to him when they want to improve their internal and/or external communication activities. Company leaders ask him to get personal training when they want to optimize their communication or presentation skills.
Siegfried has a master’s degree in Corporate Communication form the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands and has more than 30 years of experience in the field of internal, external, crisis and corporate communication. At the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies from Johnson & Johnson he was responsible for communicating 0product launches, international issues management, internal and external corporate communications, press policies, global corporate restructuring and even the rebranding of companies. He has a broad experience at a national, European and global level.
Siegfried has a straightforward approach and provides new, creative solutions to complex problems. He has used storytelling several times in change processes and has therefore seen what the impact can be. Above all, storytelling is a very successful way to make impact. Or, as his customers say: 'Now we're talking'.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 15:55 CET
Session: Neuroscience

• PhD in Biochemistry from Univ Antwerp (1994). Postdoc at NIH (USA) and Univ Leuven (BE).
• Author on 20 scientific articles and 1 patent.
• Started at Janssen Pharmaceutica in 2001. Experience in Neuroscience Drug Discovery, Early Development, Clinical trials and Program Management.
• Since 2013 active in Medical Affairs in Janssen Benelux. Currently leading a team of 6 Medical Advisors and Medical Science Liaisons (MSLs), all active in the Psychiatry Therapeutic Area. Our current focus is on the treatment of schizophrenia and preparing the introduction of new treatments for severe depression.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 16:45 CET
Session: Big and small Pharma

Willem Dhooge is a Bioengineer Chemistry, graduated from the Ghent University in Belgium. He further obtained an engineering degree in environmental sciences and a PhD degree in Medical Sciences. Willem joined the small team of flanders.bio in 2006 in support of companies engaging in European research programs and looking for transnational biotech licensing opportunities. As the organisation grew rapidly from 50+ to 350+ members, his role in the organisation evolved. In 2009, he became responsible within flanders.bio for setting up and running the successful CINBIOS network on Industrial Biotechnology. In 2016, Willem returned to the medical field, developing support programmes for flanders.bio members crossing borders of technologies in the Health space. In those days Willem was actively involved in the development of the new six pillar based strategy of flanders.bio. In 2018, Willem was appointed co-General Manager of flanders.bio and now leads the organisation together with Pascale Engelen since mid 2018.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 15:55 CET
Session: Neuroscience

Yoon Hee Lamot is an art historian, graduated from the Ghent University in Belgium. She works since 2009 at the Dr. Guislain Museum in Ghent. She is a curator and has co-curated exhibitions on themes related to mental health, such as Anxiety, Dark Chambers. On Melancholy and Depression and War and Trauma. She’s currently working on an exhibition on fashion and psyche. She was and is involved in several international projects funded by the European Union and has just started a collaboration about tourism and people with a mental disorder, with partners from Latvia and Estonia. She co-ordinates the Dr. Guislain Award since 2014 in partnership with Janssen Research & Development, a 50,000 dollar prize for people, organizations or projects all over the world that have made an exceptional contribution in dealing with, or promoting the attention for, mental healthcare. Yoon Hee is also responsible for the communication at the Dr. Guislain Museum.

Location: Seoul
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 11:00 KST
Session: UNCONTACT and Digital Transformation Strategies in the Convention Industry

Kim Yong-sub, a director at Institute of Keen-eyed Imagination since 2006, dedicated his sharp analistic capability in reading the trend of today and develop it further to study and present ‘Trend Insight & Business Creativity’ to various enterprises and organizations in Korea. As an analyst and a consultant, he performed thousands of educational sessions and workshops and hundreds of consulting projects with major companies including Samsung, Hyundai, LG, GS, CJ, SK, Lotte and more large incorporations as well as central and regional government agencies. For more than twenty years, he has been sharing his productive insights and projections learned from thorough research in current trend, management strategy and business creativity to read the global and local society and utilize the knowledge to prepare the future business.

Location: Koahsiung
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 13:30 CST
Session: The Future is Me

Marvin is the Senior Public Policy and Communications Manager, Hong Kong and Taiwan at Airbnb. He oversees Airbnb's public policy and communications strategy in Hong Kong and Taiwan, driving the development of Airbnb's policy and communications agenda in the local markets.
Prior to Airbnb, he worked as Taiwan Country Manager for BSA | The Software Alliance, a global trade group comprising leading software companies. His duties included government relations, policy communications, intellectual property rights enforcement in the Taiwan market and support for regional projects. He was previously an market analyst of software and technology services at International Data Corporation and a tech reporter at Digitimes and ZDNet in Taiwan.
Marvin holds a Masters Degree from the Sloan School of Management, MIT and an MBA from the Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, South Korea. He received his BA degree at the Department of Mass Communications, Tamkang University in Taiwan.

Location: Koahsiung
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 13:30 CST
Session: The Future is Me

Craig Scott serves as chief technology officer of ViewSonic Corporation, a leading global provider of visual solutions. He is responsible for worldwide research and development, leading ViewSonic’s R&D team with a mission to bring the benefits of innovative display technology to new sectors, most recently the education sector. He also spearheaded the launch of the myViewBoard ecosystem, which integrates hardware, software, and services.
Scott joined ViewSonic in 2017 as senior director of the software and solutions integration (SSI) division. Under his leadership, ViewSonic successfully developed myViewBoard, a revolutionary software platform that complements the function of interactive displays and enables collaboration in classrooms as well as in the workplace. In 2019, Scott was promoted to chief technology officer of ViewSonic and president of ViewSonic EME/ANZ. In this role, Scott continues to lead the company in technology development, and also oversees ViewSonic’s European, Middle Eastern, and Australian markets, bringing together R&D, marketing, and sales teams to deliver cutting-edge products and solutions.

Location: Malaga
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 16:00 CET
Session: Out of the Box: Soho Theatre: Building Community: do's and don’ts

José Mª Arrabal studied Economics and Marketing. He began his professional career at the NBA office in Barcelona, and then took over as Marketing Manager for the basketball section of Real Madrid, and was later appointed Head of International Development. Today, he is the General Secretary for Sport at Junta de Andalucía.

Location: Malaga
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 12:45 CET
Session: Are you Ready to Rock?


Deputy Prime Minister of Portugal and Minister of Foreign Affairs (2011–2015). Advocate of economic diplomacy.

In 21st century international relations, who holds your debt is more important than where you could deploy your troops

Politically incorrect, ironic, pragmatic, charismatic and decisive, Paulo Portas has been a key figure in Portuguese politics since the 1990s and President of the democratic party that has been in office the longest (re-elected 8 times in 16 years). Under his leadership the minority CDS-PP (Social Democratic Center – People’s Party) formed part of the Portuguese government for two terms after obtaining some of its best ever election results.

He was a minister on two occasions, finishing his political career as Deputy Prime Minister (2013 – 2015), a position that was re-created for him. He was responsible for relations with the “troika” representatives in Portugal (the IMF, ECB and EC), who arrived following the financial rescue of the country.

As Minister of Foreign Affairs (2011-2013) he dealt with international relations, including economic diplomacy and geopolitical matters, such as geo-economics. He drove forward the internationalization of Portuguese companies, and worked to boost the percentage of GDP represented by exports from 29% to 43%.

In 2015 he resigned from his parliamentary position and the following year decided not to run for re-election as the head of his party, of which he had been President for two terms (1998 – 2005 and 2007 – 2016). Nevertheless, he has not wanted to withdraw from public life and has not left behind his vocation for public service and his faith in his country’s growth prospects as well as those of the European.

He has reinvented his new career path through various routes: as a strategic consultant in Africa, Latin America and the Persian Gulf; resuming his career as a journalist with a Sunday television program on international politics; taking an MBA in Geopolitics; running public policy training for young CDS leaders; as Vice-president of the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce, in charge of the chambers overseas; as Vice-president of the international strategic advisory board of the largest Portuguese company, and as a speaker who is an expert on the European Union, relations with Latin America, geopolitics, the global economy, internationalization, exports and accessing new markets. He currently contributes in a program on Tvi24 called "GLOBAL" at the Portuguese Television.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 16:45 CET
Session: Big and Small Pharma

Theodoros gained his experience in the healthcare sector by working in a European-wide cancer patient coalition, an organisation that represents national medical associations in Europe and, currently, at Porter Novelli. In the first two organisations, he participated in Horizon2020 and Innovative Medicines Initiative projects funded by the European Commission.
At Porter Novelli, he is part of the healthcare team and is heavily involved in accounts focusing on cancer in Europe.
Due to his strong interest in technology and computers, he has successfully hosted several digital events for various clients from all over the world. Finding innovative solutions for problems, bypassing software limitations to ensure that each event runs smoothly.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 12:00 CET
Session: Sustanability Infrastructure to Bring Back Green

Isabelle Schummers is an environmental advisor at Oekozenter Pafendall. The Oekozenter Pafendall is a consulting center that leads innovative projects in the field of environment, agriculture and green building. The NGO was founded 30 years ago at the initiative of the Mouvement Ecologique. In addition to its consulting services, the center also organizes trainings and conferences and has a library accessible to the public. Together with SuperDrecksKëscht, Oekozenter Pafendall coordinates the Green Events initiative in Luxembourg, a project initiated by the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development.

Location: Kaohsiung
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 10:00 CST
Session: Asia Pacific Chapter Meeting

Location: Malaga
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 16:00 CET
Session: Out of the Box: Pompidou Centre (Only by Registration)

Antonio Alcaraz is the manager partner of Avanza Comunicación, a 360º marketing agency, based in Malaga, Marbella and Madrid and with more than 15 years of experience.
At a technical level he is specialized in corporate branding and real estate marketing. As a manager, his goal is to lead the growth of the agency from excellence in providing services to the clients and satisfaction of the team.
These professional goals along with family conciliation and his personal growth are the pillars on which his life purpose is based.

Location: Cape Town
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 17:15 SAST
Session: Flip your Thinking on Brand Africa

Brendon has been narrating cultural developments from the African continent through words, images, books and events for more than 20 years – and his publications, projects and creativity has reached all seven continents. Brendon is an award-winning designer, creative director, publisher and editor.
His publication ART AFRICA, launched in 2002, has been credited as an important catalyst in spearheading the rapidly growing profile of contemporary art from Africa globally. ART AFRICA is a crucial junction for many in the arts and cultural sectors throughout Africa, and in the diaspora, partnering with more than 20 global Africa-focussed events, as a preferred African media partner.
He is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of ART AFRICA magazine; Creative Director of the AFRICAN POWER STATION (Communications Consultancy); and Founder and Creative Director of the AFRICA SOUTH BIENNALE, which deliver ground-breaking magazines, exhibitions, books, campaigns, conferences, fairs, events, and market insights.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 12:00 CET
Session: Sustainability Infrastructure to Bring Back Green

For more than 30 years, Greg Bogue has been dedicated to creating messages and experiences that move people. As Chief Experience Architect for Maritz Global Events, Bogue focuses on improving the guest journey and overall experience in meetings, events and incentive travel programs to create greater impact for both organizations and their guests. The recipient of numerous awards, Bogue most recently was awarded PCMA’s Visionary Awards as Supplier of the Year 2019.

Aileen is Head of Conventions at the award-winning Glasgow Convention Bureau, responsible for the successful positioning of Glasgow as a conference destination for national and international association meetings. As a keen supporter of the meetings industry, Aileen has served as a board member for a number of meetings industry associations. Currently, Aileen is the lead for the Business Tourism Workstream within Glasgow’s Tourism & Visitor Plan to 2023 and ICCA Destination Sector Co-Chair. For Aileen, collaboration is key, it’s all about Glasgow’s team approach, where working together, building alliances and successful partnerships benefits the client and ultimately this enhances the delegate experience.

Miha Kovačič is working in the meetings industry for more than 20 years. He has experiences in all fields of the business. For the last 14 years Miha is in cooperation with his partners promoting and developing Slovenian meetings industry on the international market. @SloveniaMeetings is becoming more and more interesting destination for meetings, incentives, congresses and events. If you are interested in organising an event in his country please contact him under miha.kovacic@slovenia-convention.com. You will get an expert advice that will not cost you a penny. Miha Kovačič is also co-founder of Conventa experience, boutique show. The very best opportunity to learn what the region of New Europe has to offer in terms of MICE. The 12th edition is taking place from 22-23 January 2020 in Ljubljana. Want to learn more? Please check www.conventa.si.

Paul is the Partner, President of MMGY NextFactor a privately-held company he established in 2015. He also serves as Managing Director of DestinationNEXT, in a partnership with Destinations International. He was one of three founding partners of InterVISTAS Consulting Inc. in 1997. For 20 years, he played a major role in building it into a multinational company with offices in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Specializing in aviation, transportation and tourism, InterVISTAS has completed projects in over 75 countries. Paul has successfully delivered strategic plans and tourism master plans for several destination marketing organizations, governments, non-profit organizations, hotels and airports around the world. He has completed organization reviews and developed start-up plans and business plans for new ventures. He has also facilitated over 300 planning retreats and led major several community consultation and engagement processes. During the past 6 years, Paul has led the team which developed and delivered DestinationNEXT, an important Destinations International initiative on the future of DMOs. He has spoken around the world on this new strategic roadmap for the DMO industry. He and his team have now completed over 230 detailed assessments of destinations around the world.

Andrew Price is the Head of Global Baggage Operations Management at IATA. His role encompasses airside activities from baggage handling to airport safety, as well as the management of several working groups and committees in IATA. He is also a subject matter expert consulting on the development of products and services offered by IATA including airport consulting services. Andrew has a B.Eng (hons) in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, a Pg.Dip in Information Systems Engineering and in 2014 an MBA (Open).

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 17:45 CET
Session: Closing

Gregg founded TMG in 1987 with his father after prior experience in association and event management along with destination marketing experience. For the past 33 years TMG has provided association management services and consulting to national and international associations. In addition, TMG provides major event and citywide convention planning for clients across the US and around the globe working as a core PCO. In 2016, Gregg helped launch the African Society of Association Executives as a Management Advisor and provides training and education across the continent to African association leaders on a pro bono basis. In 2018, Gregg launched association management company joint ventures in Africa, based in Nairobi, Kenya and India, based in Delhi. He is a frequent traveler to Kenya where he has family. Gregg also consults with destinations globally at the city and national level on business event strategy and national association development to align with strategic growth sectors. Gregg serves on many destination and national advisory boards and is active in speaking and writing about industry issues. He is a past National Chair of the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) and is currently Treasurer on the Board of the International Convention and Congress Association (ICCA).

Maribel Rodríguez joined WTTC in 2014. She has built an extensive network within the Travel and Tourism industry public and private sector, accumulating over 20 years of sales, marketing, communication and commercial experience in Europe and Latin America in airline and hospitality industry. She was an Executive Commercial Director and Board Member for Travelodge Hotels Spain from 2008 to 2014. Prior she spent 11 years in the aviation industry, gaining extensive experience in all aspects of commercial aviation managing among others the introduction of low cost airline operations into the Southern European market for: Virgin Express, Go-Fly, EasyJet and Ryanair. She also worked for British Airways for Spain, Portugal and France. Maribel has an Executive MBA at ICADE Business School, Degree in Industrial Psychology from University of Salamanca and holds a Senior Executive Program for Travel & Tourism at IESE & JSF. She speaks fluent English, Portuguese and good level of French and Dutch.

Patrizia has been the Managing Director of the Congress Division at AIM Group International for more 15 years and is currently Vice-President of AIM Group International. As President of IAPCO, she has been actively involved in the evolution of the organisation and the development of the IAPCO Education seminars. She is speaker at major international Meeting Industry events and she teaches tourism management and marketing at several University Master’s Programmes (Rome, Milan, Glion). She serves also co-Chair of INCON (Global Partnership also in Conferences and Events). The medical-scientific world has always been the focal point of Patrizia, nevertheless the Group diversification into other market segments has reached new heights. The full management of congresses, meetings and events on behalf of associations, corporations and institutions is the Group’s core business which employs more than 350 permanent staff in 17 cities worldwide. Moreover, as a volunteer leader Patrizia is Secretary General of FIMAC, the International Foundation Doctors for Central Africa, which is a non-profit organization that aims to improve the health conditions of people in Central Africa through cooperative humanitarian projects.

Laetitia Delzenne joined UITP in 2010. She was recently appointed Head of Event Management, after acting as Senior Project Manager of the UITP Global Public Transport Summit, UITP’s flagship event and other major events and publications. Prior to UITP, Laetitia worked for several temporary art projects and Biennales worldwide. She graduated from France and Australia. She lives in Brussels since 2009. UITP The International Association of Public Transport (UITP) is a passionate champion of sustainable urban mobility and is the only worldwide network to bring together all public transport stakeholders and all sustainable transport modes. UITP has 1,800 member companies from 100 countries and 16 offices around the world. Its members are public transport authorities and operators, policy decision-makers, research institutes and the public transport supply and service industry. As a passionate champion of sustainable urban mobility, UITP is internationally recognised for its work in advancing the development of this critical policy agenda. UITP is working to enhance quality of life and economic well-being by supporting and promoting sustainable transport in urban areas worldwide.

Christopher Imbsen is the Director of Destination Stewardship at the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), responsible for ensuring that WTTC and its members have a positive impact in destinations facing opportunities and challenges related to tourism growth. From 2012-2019, Chris was the Deputy Regional Director for Europe at the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), handling relations with the organization’s European Member States. Prior to joining UNWTO, Chris worked as a consultant for international, public and private sector clients on tourism master plans, strategies, marketing and business operations. Chris has extensive experience of engagement of government and industry leaders on tourism policy and strategy issues, as well as on-the-ground project management experience from initial planning, development and funding stages through implementation and monitoring.

Robert Mercure has been the CEO of the Palais des congrès de Montréal since September 2018. He is the recipient of multiple honours, including an honorary degree from the Institut de tourisme et d’hôtellerie du Québec. While General Manager of the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, he also earned the Accor chain’s Fairmont hotel of the year award, and the Pinnacle Award as Canada’s hotelier of the year. He won the hotel the title of best tourism enterprise in Canada, and was named tourism personality of Québec City. Under his stewardship, the Château Frontenac became Fairmont’s top hotel in the world. His many achievements include successfully shepherding major renovation and rebranding projects, especially while at the helm of numerous hotels, such as the Fairmont Monte-Carlo, the Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth, the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto, the InterContinental, and US Sheraton Group hotels in Washington, DC, Savannah and Boston.

David L. Williams has a broad range of experience from several perspectives and over 30+ years within the association/conference management industry. Prior to founding Williams Management Services and subsequently Administrative Management Services (AMS), Williams worked as Director of Meetings and Events for the National Association for Business Economists. Williams is currently involved in the full-service management of three association clients (Executive Director of the International Association for Energy Economics; Executive Director of the United States Association for Energy Economics and Secretary-Treasurer of the Conference of Business Economists) with a rich history of stand-alone conference management agreements. Throughout his career, Williams has been involved in a number of different industries including: energy, communications, economics and information technology. He is a member of the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA), the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), Meeting Professionals International (MPI) and the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA). He has and continues to serve on Convention and Visitor Bureau’s Customer Advisory Boards providing expert advice on how to improve their product brand and customer base.

Manish Chandak is the fearless leader and visionary of Ungerboeck. His official title is President and CEO, a role he took over in May 2016. Prior to then, Manish served as Ungerboeck's CTO. In his pre-Ungerboeck days, Manish held executive leadership roles at a global software company and a national systems integrator. He led the latter to growth and the eventual acquisition of the company. Manish has an MS in electrical engineering and an MBA from Washington University. This led to his passion for Tesla and the growing world of the Internet of Things. Well recognized for his technology vision and leadership, Manish has spoken at various conferences on customer relationship and customer interaction strategies including Microsoft convergence and Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference. Manish also serves on various boards including several local technology companies.

Dr Aaron Tham is the immediate past Vice President and Conference Chair of the Travel and Tourism Research Association (TTRA) Asia Pacific Chapter. He is regularly invited to speak at a range of academic and industry forums, which includes the recently concluded Incentive Travel & Conventions, Meetings China virtual event. Outside of association engagements, Aaron is the Program Coordinator of the Tourism, Leisure and Events Management major within the USC Business School at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia. He continues to pursue ongoing research interests in two primary areas of emerging technologies and event legacies, leveraging on the nexus between his roles in academia and industry engagement. During the COVID-19 outbreak, Aaron partnered with some of these stakeholders to deliver a suite of digital resources that he calls the 'floating classroom', which has created a sharing economy of contemporary insights to support among others, a post pandemic landscape for the business events sector.

Amy has been in the hotel and meetings management industry for thirty-two years. She started out her career in the resort and hotel industry and then moved to association and corporate meeting management. Both arenas have provided hands on knowledge of meeting, exposition and special event design, development, and implementation. Amy works with staff team members, partners and industry co-creators to continually innovate ASAE’s meetings and deliver valuable content at ASAE’s events. Amy tout’s ASAE’s newest event, the Xperience Design Project (XDP), as one of her greatest career endeavors. The opportunity to co-create an experience that would deliver more than “Better Sameness”, brought together association and industry thought leaders to provide a new lens in which associations and event partners can design and deliver exceptional learning experiences for their organizations.

Location: Kuching
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 13:30MYT
Session: Business UnUsual – Recovering from COVID-19 with Conventions

Leonie was a founding member of the Tourism New Zealand, Business Events team set up in 2011. This role gives her the opportunity to work with people who are passionate about what they do and eager to share their experience and expertise with others around the world.
In 2020 a key focus for her team is on conferences which have a long-lasting, positive impact on both their attendees and the host community. This team are committed to demonstrating how meetings help improve the social, cultural, economic, and environmental wellbeing of New Zealanders. Leonie’s experience, and the respect she has from the New Zealand conference & events industry, has enabled her to provide support and advice as we navigate the challenges of 2020, the evolving heath guidelines, and focus on delivery to the highest professional standards.
With a strong background in customer service and loyalty, Leonie is focused on building relationships, growing new partnerships and ensuring the sustainable growth of this industry both within New Zealand and around the world.

Bettina Reventlow-Mourier is Deputy Convention Director in Copenhagen Convention Bureau. With more than 20 years’ experience in the meetings industry, Bettina has extensive knowledge on working with association congresses and in creating close collaboration between associations, academia, organisations, companies and government. With a mission to continuously pursue and contribute to the development of innovative, sustainable solutions in the meetings industry, she has been the co-creator of Copenhagen Legacy Lab and of the ECM Mentor Programme. Bettina is actively involved in several national and international organisations and alliances including MeetDenmark, Wonderful Goodwill Ambassador Corps, ICCA Scandinavian Chapter, ECM Meetings Industry Steering- and knowledge groups. Bettina received the ICCA Inspirational Woman Award in 2018.

Location: Cape Town
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 15:30 SAST
Session: Africa Baraza Part 2 - The Future of Associations

Mr. Jeffers Miruka is a business events and associations expert from Kenya. He has a 12 years’ experience in the MICE and Associations industry. He is a founder and president of the African Society of Association Executives (AfSAE), a pan-African professional community of association executives that serves as the professional community of association executives and voice for those within the industry in Africa. He is also the CEO of the African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE. Jeffers serves as a co-founder and director of the Africa Association Management Company (AFAMCO), a premier Association Management Company (AMC) in Africa. He is a board member at the Association for Kenya Business Events (AKBE. He is internationally recognized in his numerous speaking roles in association forums, and as a contributor to various MICE and association webinars. Mr. Miruka is a 2019-2021 scholarship recipient of the Diversity Executive Leadership Program (DELP) at the Center for Association Leadership (ASAE) in Washington DC.

Chantal Sturk-Nadeau arrived at Destination Canada in 2017 with an intrepid spirit and an open mind. For nearly 18 years before joining DC, Chantal fostered deep relationships across Canada, and around the world, in her role as Senior Vice-President of Tourism Winnipeg – a division of Economic Development Winnipeg. As a leader, Chantal has a proven track record for consistency, authenticity, and unabashed Canadian pride. Chantal brings these qualities to her role as Executive Director of Business Events at Destination Canada, where she and her team leverage Canada’s leading economic sector strengths to attract global business events to Canada. Working within their global sector framework, Chantal and her business development team educate and inspire international organizations as to the inherent value of leveraging Canadian intellectual capital to host business events in Canada. By promoting Canada’s sector strengths, values and stories of innovation, Chantal and her team support destination marketing and industry partners, communities, and Canada’s economic resilience by encouraging the world to meet in Canada. Some defining moments in Chantal’s career include the creation of a Master Tourism Plan for the City of Winnipeg, an integrated tourism development model that has since been adopted globally as a best practice in destination management. In 2014, Chantal completed the Certified Destination Management Executive Designation from Purdue University. Chantal’s glowing hearts moment includes attending a conference in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, taking part in a sunset reception. As she tells it, “we sailed through The Narrows, watching the city’s colourful houses blend with the horizon. As our hosts entertained us with stories and songs, a pod of humpback whales unexpectedly emerged from the depths of the Atlantic to swim alongside our boat — watching us as closely as we were watching them. It felt as though they were answering the call of the music; coming from the Prairies, I was completely captivated.”

Edward Hollo is the Director of Sales at the SkyTeam Global Airline Alliance. With overall responsibility for the development, innovation and distribution of SkyTeam’s commercial proposition, Edward leads a team of industry specialists who work with the 19 SkyTeam member airlines to facilitate and support a wide range of commercial products and programs. In addition, his team leads a worldwide, country-level organization to ensure the overall promotion of SkyTeam and its members to the travel industry. A native of Cleveland, Ohio (U.S.A.), Edward has held various positions in the airline industry in France, the United States and The Netherlands, where he has been based at SkyTeam’s global headquarters at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport since 2010.

Sarah’s father founded ICMS in the dark ages of the professional conference organising industry and emerged into the light of ICMS in 1993 after spending some time gaining related industry experience. Sarah is driven by a passion for events and is a firm believer in the power of face-to-face interactions to build communities, inspire and promote change. Value for clients has been, and always will be, the core of her business thinking. Thanks to her client relationships and creative spirit, Sarah is a driving force in today’s meetings and events industry and holds influential positions in many industry organisations. She regularly speaks at international events and often sits on industry panels, offering insights into building world class meetings. To date, Sarah has been Chair of the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), Australian National Committee and has also held positions on the ICCA Meetings Advisory Group. She has been a board member of the Business Events Council of Australia (BECA), a current Council Member of the International Association of Professional Congress Organisers (IAPCO) and past president of the Meeting Events Australia (MEA) Victorian chapter.

Wendy began her career in conference organising in 1996 as a PCO working extensively with and managing key operational areas of association events to include, registration, housing, programmes, technology and on-site logistics. Discovering a passion for the association market, Wendy transitioned from the PCO world in 2006 working with the dotMobi Advisory Group as Operations Director. Since 2008 she has worked at ISUOG and leads a team of seven to deliver ISUOG’s annual World Congress and International Symposium. As a member of ISUOG’s Senior Management Team Wendy is responsible for the development of strategy for the Society’s Congress and Symposia.

Ana Isabel Pérez-Neira is a professor at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in the Signal Theory and Communication department since 2006 and was Vice rector for Research (2010-14). She is a fellow researcher at Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya, where she is Scientific Coordinator. Her research is in signal processing for communications, focused on satellite communications. She has more than 60 journal papers and 300 conference papers. She is co-author of 7 books, has lead more than 20 projects and holds 8 patents. She is the coordinator of the Network of Excellence on satellite communications, financed by the European Space Agency: SatnexIV-V. She has been an associate editor of the IEEE TSP and EURASIP SP and ASP. Currently she is senior area editor of OJSP. She is member of the BoG of the IEEE SPS. She is IEEE Fellow and member of the Real Academy of Science and Arts of Barcelona (RACAB). She is recipient for the 2018 EURASIP Society Award and she has been the general chair of IEEE ICASSP’20.

Vincent Docherty has organised literary-based Science Fiction (SF) conventions for over 40 years. Originally from Glasgow, Scotland, he attended his first SF convention there in 1978 and has had many different organiser roles since, including chairing the annual World Science Fiction Convention, ’Worldcon’, in 1995 and 2005, both in Glasgow. Worldcon has run annually since 1939, and typically attracts 5-8000 attendees. All organiser roles at these conventions are voluntary: the Worldcon organisation comprises several hundred volunteers and senior roles can take almost all discretionary personal time in the two preceding years. Vincent has had senior roles in Worldcon organising committees for over 25 years, most recently as senior adviser to the chairs of the 2020 New Zealand Worldcon ‘CoNZealand’, with a focus early in 2020, on how to convert the face-to-face event to an all-virtual format, which was achieved successfully. Vincent currently lives and works in The Hague.

Angeline van den Broecke is the Director of Global Business Development and Marketing at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.
Her key areas of expertise are in global business development and acquisition, strategic marketing and organisational growth initiatives.
She represents the Centre at several global industry forums and professional development programmes, and is actively involved in driving the formation of strategic alliances and partnership programmes having worked extensively in both the public and private sector, and providing specialist input on business events to the Malaysian Government.
She heads up the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre Business Events Alliance (KLCCBEA) and is an appointed Board Member of the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) Regional Advisory Board for the APAC region.
Angeline is an awarded winner of the 2019 3SMedia Group Meetings Magazine Top Women in MICE Award which was established to recognise and acknowledge remarkable woman making an exceptional difference to or industry on daily basis.
She is passionate about the provision of professional industry development and support to build future industry leaders and driving recognition of the importance of the business events industry.

Jelmer van Ast is the CEO & Founder of Conference Compass, a pioneer of event apps since 2009. Their apps have been used at 250 conferences last year, including 10 of the 25 world's largest association conferences. With the Society App, Conference Compass enables associations and meeting planners to unite their communities around conferences, whether they join the event virtually or in-person.
Jelmer holds a PhD in Artificial Intelligence and knows first-hand what it takes to publish scientific research and deliver engaging presentations. With his roots in academia together with over 10 years of experience building an event tech company, he and his team stand by their customers to manage the virtual experience.

Matt Raos is Senior Vice President Global Sales at Qatar Airways, a role he has held since January 2020. Matt and his team oversee the airline’s corporate sales efforts, including MICE travel solutions, leisure travel offerings, ancillary product development and distribution strategy. Matt has more than twenty years’ experience in international commercial aviation, gained at Singapore Airlines and Emirates. Matt has lived and worked in Australia, Asia and the Middle East, as well as travelling extensively in other regions for both professionally and for leisure.

Eduardo Sanovicz is the President of ABEAR, the Brazilian Airlines Association. He holds a degree in History, a PHD in Communication Sciences and he is a professor at the School of Arts, Sciences and Humanities at the University of São Paulo (USP). He has been the director of Reed Exhibitions Alcantara Machado, Vice President of the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), President of the Brazilian Tourist Board, Embratur. Moreover Eduardo was President of Anhembi Tourism and Events of the City of São Paulo and Operations Director of Pavillion and Convention Center. Eduardo also had been director of the São Paulo Convention and Visitors Bureau and Tourism Director at the Municipality of Santos.

Carola van der Hoeff currently holding the position of Chief Operating Officer and Congress Director at International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) which is the global federation gathering 146 national associations of pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists. Carola van der Hoeff is responsible for overseeing the organization's daily operations and enhancing internal processes to help the nonprofit grow and fulfill its mission. Carola van der Hoeff has graduated from the Higher School of Economics in Amsterdam, the Netherlands majoring in International Business. Before joining FIP, she had been working for over 16 years as a Professional Congress Organizer.

Since October of 2016, he has served as Managing Director of the Los Cabos Tourism Board. He coordinates the efforts to increase and maintain visitors to Los Cabos and develop air connectivity from key outbound cities in U.S.A, Canada, Mexico and other emerging markets, including the first flight from Europe obtained in November 2019. In addition, he is responsible of designing and implementing the strategy to position Los Cabos as a world-class tourism destination. He manages and coordinates all the marketing, advertising, promotion and communication efforts on behalf of the destination.
In 2019, Los Cabos welcomed more than 3 million national and international visitors; this represents a 7% increase in tourism arrivals versus 2018 maintaining the occupancy rate, increasing the average daily rate and RevPar consistently despite a 25% upsurge in room inventory. Prior to joining the Los Cabos Tourism Board, Rodrigo was the Regional Director for North America of the Mexico Tourism Board (MTB), New York, U.S.A. /Toronto, Canada from Apr 2014 to Sep 2016 and Director for Canada of the Mexico Tourism Board (MTB), Toronto, Canada from Oct 2011 to Apr 2014; Director, U.S.A. Midwest Region of the Mexico Tourism Board (MTB), Chicago, IL, USA from Feb 2008 to Oct 2011; Deputy Director, Northeast Region of the Mexico Tourism Board (MTB), New York, NY, USA from Aug 2000 to Feb 2008.
Rodrigo is a graduate of Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), New York, NY with a Master’s degree in Public Administration (MPA), International Economic and Policy Analysis and has a Bachelor degree in Architecture (B. Arch) Honorary Mention for Research Skills at the National University of Mexico (UNAM), School of Architecture, Mexico City, Mexico. He currently serves as a member of the tourism diplomacy council – an initiative to advise the Mexican government on tourism promotion strategies. Rodrigo contributes regularly to Mexican newspapers with open ed articles.

Belgian Born Anja Stas has travelled the world, lived and worked in countries from Corporate America (Coca-Cola) to Europe (J&J animal Health). With a Law Degree and Marketing MBA, she carved out a career as an award winning, innovative marketer and transformation agent. Driven by a passion for the possible, she pioneered amidst scientists to establish strategic value-added marketing, putting the customer centre stage and merging science & experience into a new craft.
She created a legendary campaign that turned the country in a frenzy around the birth of an elephant which was livestreamed from Antwerp Zoo to 2 million viewers in 2009 - at the beginning of digital media, way ahead of the curve. With her signature style and no nonsense approach, she inspires and instructs into a better way, closer to what matters. She believes that nature nurtures and as her beloved ZOO opened a new Convention Centre, she named it : A Room with a ZOO, a promise to close encounters of our own kind. With this campaign she won the ICCA's Best Marketing Award (the top award in the meeting industry) and MIMA's silver Award for the Best Print Advertising Campaign and the Bronze Award for the Best Brand Marketing Campaign. Anja is an accomplished public speaker, published author and storyteller.

Jurriaen Sleijster is President & COO at MCI, an independently owned agency headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland and globally present in 31 countries. For several decades, MCI has empowered associations, companies and brands to activate their employees, channel partners, customers and members. They accomplish this by creating face-to-face, hybrid and digital experiences. Jurriaen is jointly responsible for overall management and strategic direction, meeting with clients, leading operational teams, working with the leadership to ensure the smooth running of the company, and overseeing the integration of new MCI offices. And so much more. When he’s not working you’ll find him jogging or working out in the gym. And that’s necessary because he also loves cooking, good food and excellent wines. Plenty of opportunity for that in this wonderful industry.

Thomas Wasshuber is Managing Director, Partner of STEINERLIVE.COM Since 2017. He is also a board member of the Austrian Convention Bureau. STEINERLIVE has around 500 assignments a year and over 35 years of industry experience, STEINERLIVE is considered the leading Austrian company in the field of professional event technology. Due to the constant investment in modern equipment and the training and further education of the team, we open ourselves to all concerns of our customers and can therefore offer a high degree of creative freedom.
Digital media technology is also a catalyst for innovation in the way we communicate event content. In addition to the multimedia presentation on site, we are opening up new possibilities for presentation, especially with LIVE communication in the digital and online area.

Hildur Björg Baeringsdottir is the Director of Research and Lead Generation at Meet in Reykjavík - Iceland Convention Bureau. She also holds the role of the CVB's sustainability manager. Hildur oversees search and communication with potential international association meetings as well as establishing contact with local associations. Hildur has over seven years of experience in destination marketing. During that time, she has been an active ICCA member and participated in numerous congresses and association workshops.
Meet in Reykjavík has recently joined forces with Promote Iceland and is in the process of creating a new long-term strategy for Iceland as a destination for association events. Iceland intends to continue to be a leader in environmental and social sustainability; something Hildur has been working towards her whole career.

As a member of the Roche Pharma Healthcare Compliance Office, Martin is heading up the Global Functions Support team, a group providing support and advice to all Roche’s Global Functions across the globe, including Medical Affairs, Product Strategy, Research and Development, etc. Areas of Healthcare Compliance include - amongst many others - all aspects of lawful communication and the avoidance of the provision of improper advantages to a variety of external stakeholders. Martin joined Roche in 2008. As a Senior Global Event Manager, he assisted a number of Roche’s Disease Areas in positioning the organization strategically and implementing event and congress related deliverables. In addition, Martin supported the integration of a group wide congress accommodation management platform and led the implementation of a global event management software thereafter, before moving into Healthcare Compliance in 2014. He is an active member of IPCAA and still represents Roche on the IPCAA council.

Nelly Mukazayire is the Chief Executive Officer of Rwanda Convention Bureau, a private company established to market Rwanda as preferred destination for MICE tourism (Meeting, Incentives, Conference and Events) and to ensure coordination and efficient execution of all international events happening in Rwanda.
Nelly is a motivational speaker who believes that Africans have a duty to transform their nations, change the narrative about their continent and lead it to prosperity. She speaks in different high level forums especially youth conferences where she shares her journey of surmounting overwhelming personal circumstances, as well as her unique experience as a young leader in a new Rwanda, with the aim of motivating a new generation of Africans to be active leaders today. She was invited by the UNSG to speak at the UN headquarters about her journey as a young leader in the new Rwanda Nelly and her husband, Gapita Martin Fabrice are the proud parents of two children.

Sven joined AIPC as CEO in May 2020. Together with the Board, the Members and the Business Partners he is spearheading a transformation programme which will result into an entirely new value proposal to Convention and Exhibition Centres across the globe based on the changing needs of the members and the challenges they are facing.
Before joining AIPC, Sven worked as managing director at ESTRO (European Society for Radiation Oncology). He successfully led the branding, marketing and digital transformation of ESTRO – a massive project which was finalized in April 2020. It included a full re-branding, implementation of a new CMS and CRM system, the creation and implementation of a marketing strategy and a complete re-vamp of the annual congress.

A native of Vienna, Austria, Thomas (Tom) Reiser has been serving as the Executive Director of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) since May 2011. In this role as the chief staff person for ISTH, he is responsible for working closely with the ISTH Council to set the Society’s strategy, organizational development, professional execution of ISTH’s program and initiatives and corporate relations.
With business and hospitality management degrees as background and throughout his 20+ year career in Austria, Belgium and the USA, Tom has led over 10 international scientific-medical professional organizations with ultimate responsibility for strategy, fundraising, programs and meetings around the world. The medical/scientific specialties of the organizations led by Tom include nephrology, osteoporosis, hematology, liver cancer, psychiatry, orthopedics, prosthetics and orthotics and psychiatry.
Tom is a long-time member of and contributor to the leading US, European and international organizations in the field of association and not-for-profit management and writes and speaks regularly on topics related to professional association and conference management.

Graduated from the Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) with a specialty in Finance, he has more than 30 years of professional experience. He attracts new business and takes risks to achieve the best results.
He has held senior management positions in the private sector, banking and telecommunications, nationally and internationally.
Alejandro is a partner of PriceTravel Holding, leading the MICE division, with one of the most successful companies in México: Btc.
From 2015 to 2017 he was president of the Mexican association that brings together the most important companies for the congress industry in the country: Professional Congress Organizers (PCO).
Currently Alejandro is the elected president of COMIR, which is the council of 11 associations for the meeting industry in Mexico.
He is also part of the Council of the Association International Professional Congress Organizers (IAPCO).

Mahir Julfar is the Vice Executive Vice President of Venue Services Management for Dubai World Trade Centre after having served as the Senior Vice President of VSM for over 3 years.
Since taking over the reins of one of DWTC’s core business lines, Mahir has managed the department’s commercial and operational arms, including the hospitality Division working to increase targeted commercial activities and provide excellent end-to-end services for all DWTC’ s external organisers, exhibitors and visitors. His focus is on promoting DWTC as a world-leading destination for business tourism and as a commercial hub for international conferences, exhibitions and meetings.
Mahir joined DWTC in 2005 and has since held commercial and leadership positions within the organisation, focused on client liaison, exhibitor and supplier relationships, and business development.

General Assembly
Date: 19 October 2020
Time: 14:00 CET

Live Broadcast
Date: 1 November 2020
Time: 18:30 CST
Sessions: Welcome and Opening Live from Kaohsiung

Live Broadcast
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 15:00 CST
Session: Global ICCA Welcome

Live Broadcast
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 16:00 CST
Session: Kaohsiung Protocol - Official Signing Ceremony

Live Broadcast
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 18:30 CST
Session: Closing & Next Destination Presentation

James has 25 years’ experience in event organisation and major venue management. He began as a conference organiser for UK-based Water Research Centre organising national and international events then made a move into venue management, joining Wembley Stadium Ltd as an event manager across Wembley’s Stadium, Arena and Conference & Exhibition Centre venues, managing international conferences and exhibitions, concerts for artists such as Madonna and Michael Jackson and also the FA Cup. After 3 years he moved into a commercial role, focusing on the exhibition and conference side of the business.
Subsequent roles included London Arena as Sales & Marketing Director then Hilton International as Director of Hilton Direct.
He is now responsible for the Sales & Marketing Strategy for the Conference & Events Division of ExCeL London which has become globally recognised in the congress and convention industry As a venue owned by Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company (ADNEC), he is also responsible for helping to promote ADNEC to international event planners to host their events in the Middle East region.

General Assembly
Date: 19 October 2020
Time: 14:00 CET

Location: Riyadh
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 9:00 AST
Session: Opening and Welcome

Live Broadcast
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 15:00 CST
Session: Global ICCA Welcome

Live Broadcast
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 16:00 CST
Session: Kaohsiung Protocol - Official Signing Ceremony

Live Broadcast
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 18:30 CST
Session: Closing & Next Destination Presentation

Senthil has over 20 years’ experience in the meetings, association and leisure industry. He has held wide spectrum of positions in the meetings industry. Such as CEO of Convention Bureau of Sri Lanka, Vice President of Kuoni. He moved to Dubai in 2006 and has been working for Congress Solutions International, the Professional Congress Organizer (PCO) arm of Emirates Group, eventually holding responsibility for wide ranging business development, sales and operations functions for some of the largest international meetings held in the UAE, including World Diabetes Congress, UITP, and World Economic Forum. He has been involved in winning many Congress bids for Dubai, UAE and the Region. Academically he holds a European Bachelor of Business Administration and a Master’s in Business Administration. Currently reading for PHD. Senthil has been working with the global association fraternity for more than two decades and has in depth knowledge on global association segment development. He was the Regional Director Middle East for the last three years of International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) headquartered in Netherlands. Presently he is the Chief Executive Officer of ICCA.
A passionate strategist. Being creative and adaptable to the constantly changing environment are his key strengths. Always aims at professionalism and focuses on achieving the organizational objectives and financial goals. Winner of Global Business Events Strategist of the year awarded by PCMA - USA.
ICCA -the International Congress and Convention Association- is the global community and knowledge hub for the international association meetings industry.
ICCA represents the main specialists in organizing, transporting, and accommodating international meetings and events, and comprises over 1,150-member companies and organizations in over 100 countries worldwide. ICCA specializes in the international association meetings sector, offering unrivalled data, communication channels, and business development opportunities.

Live Broadcast
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 16:45 CST
Session: Kaohsiung Protocol - Final Presentation

Greg Oates works with the public and private sectors to align tourism, community and economic development strategy. He also produces Destination International’s Futures Study that defines macro trends driving the global visitor economy.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 13:50 CET
Session: What will be the Future of Events?

Ben helps lead Maritz’ global efforts, the Maritz Global Meetings Network and Industry Presence efforts. He represents Maritz Global Events with specific responsibility for Europe, the Middle East and Africa and the overall global coordination. He provides counsel and supports global strategic solutions for clients, and contributes to the company’s business development, industry presence and thought leadership efforts. His long-standing career has been in international association management, meeting planning and conference management, industry professionalization and skills development as well as convention center management (in the UK).

Location: Riyadh
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 15:00 AST
Session: How will the MICE Sector Reverberate?

Khalid Al Zadjali holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration. He has been associated with the tourism industry before the establishment of the Ministry of Tourism, handling promotion of domestic tourism in the Marketing Department of the Directorate General of Tourism in Ministry of Commerce and Industries, After the formation of the MOT, Mr. Al Zadjali has overseen planning and execution of initiatives and events to promote tourism in Oman, in the region and internationally. He also supervises the promotion of the country as a destination for Cruise Tourism. His efforts have been very instrumental in the initiation of the development of the Cruise and MICE industries in Oman. He is also representing the Ministry of Tourism as an active member in several government committees that handle important economic and social issues. Khalid's efforts continue to contribute to establishing the Oman Convention Bureau (OCB) to be independent department under the umbrella of Ministry of Tourism in March 2016 headed by him. Today he is a member of different international associations related to MICE sector and he became Middle East Chapter Chair of the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA).

Location: Riyadh
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 15:00 AST
Session: How will the MICE sector Reverberate?

Jeff is a recognised aviation industry leader with strong interpersonal and management skills and a highly successful track record of delivering results. Jeff’s strengths are strategic thinking and implementation; negotiation, analysis and influencing; diplomacy; advocacy and communications; change management; understanding of governments and regulatory environments; public affairs; good governance; business development; commercial, contractual and procurement; and team management, coaching, mentoring and motivation. A global traveller with many years of international business experience, Jeff is very comfortable and capable in discussions at the highest levels of governments, industry, academia, media, and the public, all with strong cultural sensitivity and awareness. He is an experienced public speaker used to high media exposure. Jeff has wide experience of serving as Board member or non-executive Director for several organisations as well as serving on high-level government, institution and industry groups and committees.

Location: Riyadh
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 15:00 AST
Session: How will the MICE sector Reverberate?

Kaan Yıldızgöz is based in Brussels and has the global responsibility of UITP membership, events, exhibitions, marketing, training, and other business services. Kaan Yıldızgöz worked as Training Director of UITP in Brussels, Senior Manager of UITP Middle East and North Africa Centre for Transport Excellence in Dubai, Loyalty & CRM Director of Turkish Airlines, Quality & Corporate Development Director and Advisor to General Manager in Metro Istanbul. Kaan Yıldızgöz was member of Star Alliance Loyalty Strategy Committee, Advisory Board Member of International Association of Transport Regulators (IATR) and Training Advisory Board of International Road Union (IRU). Kaan Yıldızgöz lectured as part time teaching staff at Istanbul and Bahcesehir Universities and he was guest lecturer at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. Kaan Yıldızgöz is the first student of Istanbul Technical University who graduated in 2.5 years from 4 years long Management Engineering Programme. He also holds a master’s degree from Marmara University in the area of International Business Administration and completed “Infrastructure in a Market Economy: Public Private Partnerships” Executive Education Programme of Harvard University. Mr Yildizgoz has his Phd studies on New Mobility Services. Mr Yıldızgöz is also author of the books ‘Taxis in the Era of Digitalization’ (2018) and ‘Taxis in the Era of Coronavirus’ (2020).

Location: Riyadh
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 15:00 AST
Session: How will the MICE sector Reverberate?

He is an external Advisor at The Executive Office for Organizational Transformation, Dubai Health Authority with responsibility for Health strategy development, implementation, execution and Transformation. Prior to that, Dr Mazin Gadir led Healthcare Strategy Transformation and Digital Health Innovation at PricewaterhouseCoopers PwC Middle East, Abu Dhabi Healthcare Services Co. SEHA, Cerner UK and ME accumulating 19+ years of experience in the field of Healthcare, innovation and transformation. As a management consultant, he accumulated a depth of experience covering many global organizations in the UK, France, UAE, KSA, GCC, Australia, India and the USA. Dr Mazin Gadir received his PhD in Quantum Electronics and Nanotechnology Innovation from The University of Leeds in the UK from 2000 to 2005. He also obtained an MSc in Management and Business Administration and BEng in Electronics and Electrical Engineering.

Location: Riyadh
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 09:05 AST
Session: How to Market & Sell Venue Space for Conferences

Kadri is one of the founding board members of Estonian Convention Bureau in 2008 and has served as its Managing Director since 2011. In addition to her daily job of promoting Estonia as a meetings destination, Kadri works as a lecturer for Tartu University Pärnu College where she teaches destination marketing and conference organising. Her 24 years' activity in the meetings industry includes 13 years of work as a professional conference organiser responsible for arranging hundreds of international congresses and events. She holds a MA degree in public administration and an MBA in management and marketing.

Location: Riyadh
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 15:00 AST
Session: Trends in the MICE Segment

Mubarak Al Shamisi has over 15 years of experience in the travel and meetings industry. Since joining the Abu Dhabi Convention Bureau as Director in 2014, he has strengthened the Bureau’s presence in Abu Dhabi, and facilitated growth in the congress and conferences sector. In his role he is responsible for the overall Business Events strategy and market positioning for the emirate of Abu Dhabi. Mubarak was elected Chairperson of the International Congress and Conventions Association (ICCA) Middle East Chapter from 2018 to 2019. He is also elected as the ICCA Board Member since October 2019 to date. Recently he has been elected as a board member of International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE) MENA Chapter.

Location: Cape Town
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 15:30 SAST
Session: Africa Baraza Part 2 - The Future of Associations

Naledi K. Khabo is a corporate strategy leader with over 25 years’ experience within Operations, Marketing & Technology. Naledi currently serves as Chief Executive at the Africa Tourism Association (ATA), a global trade association promoting travel and tourism to Africa and strengthening intra-Africa partnerships. ATA serves both the public and private sectors of the international travel and tourism industry. During her tenure at ATA, Naledi has led the organization through significant operational changes including a complete re-branding of the organization and launching several new digital platforms to serve the hospitality and tourism industry, including 'thexchange.africa' which was recently launched in response to the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the hospitality, tourism, and meetings industry.

Location: Cape Town
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 15:00 SAST
Session: Race for Relevance

Employed by GainingEdge, Lesley took up the post of Managing Director for the BestCities Global Alliance account in January 2020, having worked as Director, Market Development since July 2017. Before joining GainingEdge and BestCities Lesley was Head of Business Tourism for Marketing Edinburgh where her key focus has been sourcing and bidding for international and national conferences and events for the city. She led the development of the Convention Bureau - the result of which saw Edinburgh record its highest economic impact of £94.3M in 2015-16 attracting 206 future conferences to the city.
Lesley participates fully in the wider tourism arena, is a past Chair of ICCA UK and Ireland Chapter and a huge advocate for legacy and the beyond tourism benefits generated by business events. Previous experience includes business development for international hotel chains and prestigious caterers and 8 years as Director of Sales at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) playing a key role in taking EICC into operational profit in 2003 through the development of key international and national association and corporate business.

Location: Malaga
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 16:15-17:00 CET
Session: Learning, Unlearning and Relearning Business Models

Alessandro Jacques Cortese is since 2009 the Chief Executive Officer of ESTRO, the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology and the Chairman of the ESTRO Cancer Foundation, and was, until June 2015, President of ESAE, the European Society of Association Executives. Founded in 1980, ESTRO is a scientific association that fosters the role of Radiation Oncology to improve patients’ care.
Alessandro has gained significant experience as Director of the Association Management practice at the MCI Group, working with international associations, such as the Project Management Institute (PMI), IAEE (International Association of Exhibitions and Events), DMAI (Destination Marketing Association International), CIC (Convention Industry Council) and APICS (The Association for Operations Management).
Alessandro Cortese, MBA, is also a PhD candidate in Management Sciences at the University of Antwerp, and, in 2014, co-founded the Executive Master in International Association Management at the Solvay Business School in Brussels, where he also serves as a Lecturer in Strategy and as a Co-Academic Director.
Alessandro is regularly invited to give talks to industry events and congresses, focusing on strategy for International Associations.

Ms. Rowena Cai is the Director of Strategy Department at Xiamen ITG MICE Group. She is responsible for the company’s strategy planning and management, investment cooperation, MICE destination promotion, the coordination and operation work of several national and international exhibition and conferences held in Xiamen, international meeting bidding, as well as networking with high-end resources from China and abroad. ITG MICE Group is the largest MICE company locally and has rich experiences in hosting grand events in Xiamen. It is also the owner and operator of Xiamen New Exhibition and Convention Center, the giant MICE and business complex, which will be established by 2022.
Over the past 20 years, Ms. Cai assumed the roles in the public sector. Most recently Ms. Cai served as Director of Development and Planning Division at Xiamen Municipal Bureau of Convention and Exhibition Affairs from 2012 to 2019. Since 2002, she served as Director of Liaison Division at China (Xiamen) International Investment Promotion Center from 2001 to 2012. The aforementioned roles have helped Ms. Cai not only to establish the clear vision on promoting Xiamen with X-factors of infinity as one of the top MICE destinations in China, but also to cultivate an effective network from national level and international community.
Ms. Cai won Chevening Scholarship of the UK and studied MSc Management at University of Leicester from 2016 to 2017.

Jonas has an international background in the hospitality industry and joined the world of meetings over 20 years ago. He is currently responsible for the activities of the 3 venue brands of MCH Group in Switzerland: Messe Zurich, Messe Basel and Congress Center Basel. He is an active member of many industry organisations and served on the board of directors of AIPC from 2009-2013 as treasurer, as well as on the board of EVVC from 2010-2014 as BOD member for international affairs. He is a founding member of Swiss Convention Centres and a keen networker throughout the industry.

Steen Jakobsen is assistant vice president at Dubai Tourism where he oversees Dubai Business Events and City Operations – the official convention bureau of Dubai. Prior to joining Dubai Tourism in 2013, Steen held a role as director of Copenhagen Convention Bureau for 8 years.
Steen served on the Board of Directors of International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) from 2008 - 2014. He also served on the Board of Directors of Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC). From 2003 – 2007, Steen was chair of BestCities Global Alliance and today he serves on the Board of Directors of BestCities Global Alliance.
Steen sits on the Executive Committee of Dubai Association Centre which is an initiative between the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Dubai World Trade Centre supporting international associations establish themselves in Dubai.
Steen holds a Master degree in Commerce and Commercial Law from Copenhagen Business School and the University of Sheffield.

Location: Kuching
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 13:30MYT
Session: Business UnUsual – Recovering from COVID-19 with Conventions

Location: Riyadh
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 15:00 AST
Session: Trends in the MICE Segment

Mike is a destination and convention and visitor bureau specialist with 30 years’ experience in the tourism and business events industry. Since joining Gaining Edge in 2007 he has been a lead consultant on destination and convention bureau development for clients in Australia, Africa, China, Japan, Macao, Malaysia, Qatar, Rwanda, South Africa, South Korea, Thailand, United Kingdom & USA. Mike was the lead consultant for establishment and capability strengthening for the Malaysia Convention and Exhibition Bureau. This project included the collaboration with a university and research company to undertake an economic impact study and exhibition industry opportunity study. Mike was also deeply involved in bureau development programmes in Japan, Macao and Thailand. He has also been providing consultancy support for convention centre developments around the globe, including a number within the Asia Pacific region. In addition, Mike oversees GainingEdge's in-market sales representation.
Mike served as General Manager Sales and Marketing for the Melbourne Convention & Visitors Bureau. During his tenure, he was involved in the National Business Events economic impact study and Melbourne Delegate Expenditure survey in collaboration with a university and research company. He also worked in senior marketing roles with Tourism Australia helping establish their presence in the Asia market and overseeing travel trade development in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Mike was instrumental in the development of AIME, the largest MICE tradeshow in the Asia Pacific and the world’s first BestCities Global Alliance which includes Singapore as a partner. Mike is also a past Victorian State Chair and National President of Meetings and Events of Australia (MEA).

Location: Riyadh
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 09:05 AST
Session: How to Market & Sell Venue Space for Conferences

Rich rounded 15 years’ experience in biggest multinational companies, carrying out world class Strategic & Marketing management, and achieving remarkable successes for global brands.
As SCEGA Acting CEO, he oversees establishing the new Government Authority and setting its strategic direction & mandate that aims to transform the convention & exhibition sector in KSA to an international level and activating the partnership between the private sector and government agencies.
Role Model in Leadership & attitude, excellent communication & influential.

Location: Malaga
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 14:15 CET
Session: Scenario planning 2025

Ori Lahav joined Kenes in 2013 as VP Marketing, bringing more than 15 years of marketing experience to the management team. Ori’s expertise includes implementing marketing strategies, ATL/BTL and leading digital campaigns in online/social media channels. He began his career in the communications industry, where he held marketing positions at Internet, voice and mobile telecom providers. This was followed by a senior role in the automotive sector with a start-up that raised US$ 900M to manufacture electric cars.
After 4 years in Kenes Group, Ori moved to manage the Client Accounts and Operations business unit.
At the beginning of 2017, Ori also became an IAPCO Council Member (IAPCO – the International Association of Professional Congress Organisers), currently, serves as the association's President.
In addition, Ori speaks at different industry events: IPACO EDGE Seminars, PCMA Convening Leaders, ICCA, Fresh, Event Innovation summit, IMEX and more. Ori holds a BA in Statistics from the University of Haifa and an MBA from the University of Derby, UK.

Location: Riyadh
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 09:05 AST
Session: How to Market & Sell Venue Space for Conferences

Rochelle Uechtritz has achieved global recognition for not only companies and venues she has been involved with, but is internationally renowned for her expertise in the global convention and meetings industry.
Rochelle is a globally recognised specialist in the positioning and market development in the pre-opening and transition phases of international standard purpose-built convention centres, especially in green-field convention destinations. This niche expertise has now become one of her greatest passions.
An innovative and creative thinker, Rochelle’s core strengths include creation of dynamic marketing and communication strategies, brand + market development, global awareness, innovative research initiatives, development of new and emerging markets, review and reboot of existing venues, as well as creation of effective sales systems and procedures to monitor their success.
Sited as one of her most satisfying achievements, the successful collaborative "AEG Advantage" campaign to provide a united community for AEG's Convention Centre network www.aegadvantage.com was developed, produced and implemented by Rochelle, together with creative agency, Propella.
Specialties: Strategic, creative, innovative, out of the box' research initiatives, solution-finder, with a passion for education and training of the next generation of the global meetings industry, and ultimately, devotee of building long-term client relationships to achieve the goals of all entities involved.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 13:50 CET
Session: What will be the Future of Events?

James Debos
Married, 2 children
Born June 6th, 1970 - France

Since May 2018, James DEBOS is the CEO of Eventime (PCO) and PG Organisation (PEX). More broadly, James Debos is directing the Event Pole of nehs Groupe (www.nehs.com) a French Mutual life insurance with a staff of 6 000 and a Turnover of 1,3 billion €. 2014 – CEO & Co-founder of Eventime
2009 – 2014 - PCO Director - GL events
2006 – 2009 – Marketing & development Director – Colloquium (PCO)
1998 – 2006 – CEO & Founder of EVIC (PCO & Travel agency)

Major congress references: SOFCOT, EAO, EOS, Autism Europe, SFD, JFHOD
Major exhibition references: SANTEXPO, HOPITAL EXPO, GERONT EXPO, HIT, AMIF.
Education: Master’s degree (DESS) in Marketing
University of Nice - Sophia Antipolis (1993)

Location: Cape Town
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 15:30 SAST
Session: Africa Baraza Part 2 - The Future of Associations

Alushca is in her 2nd term as the elected President of the World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations (WFTGA) which is a not for profit organisation based in Vienna, Austria with members in over 100 countries.
She is herself a Tourist Guide specialising in Culinary and Wine Tourism. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Cape Town Tourism and a member of the Board for Women in Tourism, Western Cape.
She currently holds a position as Board member for the International Cultural and Creative Industries Regulatory Authority (ICCIRA), based in Brussels, Belgium.
The WFTGA are Affiliate members of the UNWTO, members of ICCA and have close relations with UNESCO. The WFTGA is involved in various projects and several initiatives across the globe, including WFTGA conventions, conferences and International Training. The Federation aims to bring professional Tourist Guides together and promotes the profession of qualified accredited Tourist Guides across the globe.

Location: North America
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 12:00 EST
Session: Welcome by Regional Director – introduction into the Virtual Hub

Location: North America
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 16:00 EST
Session: Chapter Meeting

Joanne Joham, CMP, CMM is the Regional Director North America for ICCA and responsible for the exclusive network of ICCA members in Canada, the United States and Mexico. Joanne has proudly represented ICCA since 2004 and through this network, Joanne has had the opportunity to interface with over 1000 leading global suppliers and leading Association Executives in approximately 100 countries. She values the relationships with all ICCA Members and enjoys the synergy in working for ICCA, promoting the CMP Designation and working in a truly global arena.
Joanne has a multi-faceted background in the travel industry having worked for both Royal Jordanian Airlines and Austrian Airlines, international DMC/PCO’s as well as the EIC promoting the CMP program on a global basis. Joanne has served as president of the NJ MPI Chapter for two terms. In 2015 Joanne served as Chair of the CMP Governance Commission and presently is incoming Chair of the ASAE International Association Advisory Council.
Joanne is regarded as an engaging speaker on global topics and incorporates her passion for sharing information, co-creating solutions and offering educational insight into her presentations.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 15:55 CET
Session: Boardroom Expert Session: Bridge over Troubled Water

Marc Mekki is the co-founder of Bond: a digital innovation agency and creators of the Bond community platform. Bond was created to foster relationships and engagement between real people in a virtual world. Marc previously built a successful tourism & event business in China where he lived for 14 years. He is a frequent advisor to organizations and companies in need of a future-oriented audit of their technological capabilities and needs. Marc has been a keynote speaker for brands like Amadeus, The Dorchester Collection, Barcelona Tourism Board and Jacobs Media Group.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 13:30 CET
Session: Monetization

Robin Lokerman is Group President at MCI the global leader in engaging and activating audiences. MCI boasts a global presence with 2,500+ professionals in 61 offices and 31 countries. Robin leads the development of MCI outside Europe and relocated to Singapore in September 2007, New York in May 2015, Dubai in September 2016 and Barcelona in September 2017.
Robin is also responsible for strategic & business development of MCI’s services to association and government markets.
Robin frequently consults associations on their strategic planning, board assessment and international development strategies and is a frequent speaker at business events around the world He was the first non-US member of the Board of Directors of the ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership and was the 2010-2011 Chairman of the ASAE Foundation. Robin is a proud Fellows of ASAE.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 13:30 CET
Session: Monetization

Thorben is a seasoned event planner and marketer with more than a decade of experience. He joined EventMobi in 2012 and heads up the company’s European office. As General Manager, Thorben built a multi-disciplinary team of passionate marketers, sales and support staff and grew EventMobi into one of Europe’s leading event technology brands. A film-enthusiast from his early days, he's worked at numerous film festivals across Europe and founded the Clipstar Short Film festival and the Sura Open Air Cinema. He holds a BAHons in event management and has co-authored a series of publications on event management and marketing. Passionate about education, he champions EventMobi’s educational efforts and lectures at HWTK University of Applied Sciences in Berlin.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 17:45 CET
Session: Closing

Since 1995, Xavier has been working in the Event Industry for several companies including Disneyland Paris and Viparis (10 exhibition & congress centers in Paris). When he joined Accor in 2010, Xavier was handling the loyalty offer dedicated to Meeting Planners. For the last 2 years, he is in charge of the Sales & Marketing strategy for the Meetings & Events worldwide market, working closely with the 40 National Accor Sales offices around the globe.

Location: Kuching
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 11:00MYT
Session: Convention Legacies: More Important Now than Ever

Location: Seoul
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 13:30 KST
Session: New Normal Convention Case Study

Gary has over 30 years’ experience in the convention industry. In 2004, he founded GainingEdge, a global consulting company that offers advisory services in relation to destinations, convention bureaus and convention & exhibition centres. Gary has consulted at the local and national level on over 100 projects in all parts of the world.
Previously Gary was the CEO of convention and visitor bureaus in Melbourne (Australia), Albuquerque (New Mexico, USA) and Portland (Oregon, USA). He has also served as Vice President for the Boston (Massachusetts, USA) bureau. His convention centre consulting experience includes market feasibility, demand analysis, facility scoping, design review, site review, and operational consultation for convention centre developments. He also served on the London International Convention Centre Commission. Gary was one of the lead consultants on DestinationNEXT, a global study for Destinations International (formerly DMAI) which defined the future of destination marketing. He is a former Chairman of the Board of DMAI and was one of the first six inductees into the inaugural DMAI Hall of Fame in 2014. He also received the Asia Pacific IMEX Academy Award in 2007.

Location: Kuching
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 11:30MYT
Session: The Soft Power of Conventions

Amelia is one of the outstanding pioneers of Business Events Sarawak (BESarawak), Malaysia’s first convention bureau. She has over 13 years of experience in branding, marketing & PR and has contributed towards a total win of 15 awards for Sarawak in creative marketing campaigns. She has also assisted the destination in securing national and international Business Events (BE) over the last 10 years; which have translated to both economic and social impacts that cover significant ground beyond the general Tourism umbrella of Sarawak. Her efforts on Legacy Impact have been recognised as the first of its kind within the Asian Region; in alignment with various other global case studies that seek to measure intrinsic values and impacts beyond Tourism. Sarawak has since been touted as the one of the destination trailblazers who not only champion legacies from conventions but also make this happen by collaborating with its stakeholders.
As the current Acting Chief Executive Officer of SCB, she is responsible for the development of the Bureau's strategies, high level government liaison, ensuring execution of operational policies, fostering employee alignment with organisational goals, whilst functioning as the main representative of SCB. With her prolific talents and jet-setting work values, she has spearheaded various organizations in refining their branding, marketing, and PR efforts.
To date she has won 5 internationally acclaimed professional awards and was recently selected as 1 out of 2 recipients globally for the European School of Management and Technology Berlin (ESMT Berlin) Women’s Scholarship for Executive Transition Programme.

Location: Kuching
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 13:50MYT
Session: ICCA Congress Kuching 2016 – Four Years On, and Beyond

Eric emphasizes on engaging Human Capital and building strong teams. He builds and grows companies from the inside and is particularly determined to formulate and implement strategies to maximize the appropriate business model. Over the past 30+ years Eric has held Senior and Executive positions in various hotel/ casino resorts, five-star hotels, a world-renowned sports and recreation club, IT company and Convention Centre’s on three different continents. He is currently the CEO of the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching, Malaysia. BCCK is a National and International award-winning facility. Its business model is based on a vertical keiretsu whereby new related revenue streams are constantly pursued.

Location: Kuching
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 13:30MYT
Session: Reaching out: Influencing Tangents and Outcomes from Legacies

Søren Birkelund has a long career within international relations, project management and business development behind him.
Serving as a Chief Project Manager for the South Denmark European Office in Brussels, Søren developed and managed a number of large scale international projects around the world, and within a variety of sectors. All with particular relevance to Danish strongholds, such as energy/welfare technology, environment and local business development.
Having the “world as his playground”, Søren moved to Suzhou, China, to take up a position as Director of Asian Affairs for the Region of Southern Denmark, where he set up a large number of Public/Private partnerships between Chinese, Asian and Danish companies, clusters and knowledge institutions working with knowledge sharing and project development within such diverse areas as farming, harbour security, public utility development, pollution and welfare technology.
With a specific focus on the danish creative sector and the unique danish tradition for design and intersectoral innovation, Søren moved back to Denmark in 2011 in order to take up a position as Special Advisor to the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he worked intensively on setting up international partnerships, develop innovative cooperation and secure the setting up of international companies in Denmark.
After a continuous professional focus on danish strongholds and with a superb network among danish clusters, knowledge institutions and companies, Søren moved into the international business tourism sector, and now focuses on using his well established experiences in setting up partnerships networks and value chains to Danish and international conferences.

Location: Kuching
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 11:20 MYT
Session: Legacy Stories from Around The World

Location: Cape Town
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 15:00 SAST
Session: Race for Relevance

Passionate promotor of South Africa, Corné commenced her formal career at the South African Chamber of Commerce as Manager Corporate Affairs. She then entered the destination marketing sector in 2003 as the Gauteng Tourism Authority’s Business Tourism Manager. Pursuing her other passion, that of strategic communication, she took the role as Communications Manager at the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa before her desire for tourism marketing enticed her back to Gauteng Tourism Authority in 2010. She then had another three-year stint as Trade Development and Partnership Manager. In 2014 she moved to Cape Town and joined Wesgro, (the official destination marketing organization for the Western Cape) in her current role as Head of the Cape Town & Western Cape Convention Bureau. Corne currently serve as Chairperson of the Board of the BestCities Global Alliance as well on the Board of the Cape Castle Control Board.

Location: Kuching
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 11:55 MYT
Session: Our Incredible Impact: Clean Water for Rural Communities

Dr. Saradha Narayanan has been a Soroptimist for the past 12 years and has served in various capacities in the organisation. She is currently the National Representative of Malaysia at the Federation of the South West Pacific (SISWP). In 2018, she spearheaded the Soroptimist International Region of Malaysia (SIROM) Project “Clean Water for Rural Communities” to address the lack of potable water in two rural villages in Sarawak and Sabah. This project was one of the recipients of the Soroptimist International (SI) President’s Appeal in 2018 and is still ongoing. She is a passionate advocate for educating, training and enabling women and girls to achieve their full potential. She has also led the projects, ”Human Trafficking” (2017) where funds raised were used to build a classroom for rural children in Cambodia; and “Cycling for Cycles” (2016) to raise funds to buy bicycles for Village Malaria Workers in Cambodia. Dr Narayanan is a physician and cardiologist by training, receiving her MBBS from the University of Malaya, Malaysia; and her MRCP from the United Kingdom.

Location: Kuching
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 13:30MYT
Session: Business UnUsual – Recovering from COVID-19 with Conventions

Dr Edward Koh leads the Conventions, Meetings & Incentive Travel division of the Singapore Exhibition and Convention Bureau, a group under the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), since 2019. He provides strategic counsel to attract quality association congresses and corporate-driven events to Singapore, maintaining its position as a leading International Convention and Meetings destination. Edward also oversees local industry growth to further entrench Singapore as a business events destination. In his previous appointment, Edward assumed the position of Executive Director, Southeast Asia since January 2015. Edward led the overall operations of STB in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia, Philippines and Brunei. He also oversaw all strategic planning and execution of marketing activities within these markets to champion Singapore as a compelling tourist destination. Prior to that, Edward served as Executive Director for Southeast Asia I and International Group Planning in March 2014 where he led the Division in providing critical policy and planning support for the Regional Offices and working with in-market industry partners to drive tourism growth. He was the Executive Director for Strategy & Planning and Research & Incentives in November 2011, responsible for the provision of economic analysis, consumer insights and market trends to the tourism sector.
Edward brings with him a wealth of experience and knowledge of the China market. He previously served as Deputy Regional Director for STB Greater China (2006-2008), where he was responsible for strategic planning and channel development to drive BTMICE traffic from China to Singapore. He subsequently assumed the role as Regional Director for STB Greater China (2008-2011), where he managed and oversaw five Regional Offices: Eastern China, Northern China, Southern China, Western China, and Hong Kong & Macau and provided strategic direction for his team to effectively promote Singapore as a compelling destination and hub for business and travel.
Before joining the STB, Edward spent 13 years at the Ministry of Manpower, where he held various positions in its Prosecution Unit, Manpower Policy Department, International Manpower Division and Contact Singapore. His last position was as the Regional Director (Greater China) for Contact Singapore and concurrently the Deputy Director (International Operations), International Manpower Division. He was also the Alternate Lead Negotiator (Movement of Natural Persons), China-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (CSFTA) for the period of 2004-2005. Updated as at 27 May 2019.
Edward graduated from the National University of Singapore in 1993 with a Bachelor of Science, and Beijing University in 2003 with a second Bachelor's degree (Chinese Language & Literature). He also holds a Master degree in Public Policy & Management (2007) from Tsinghua University, and a doctorate in Hotel & Tourism Management from Hong Kong Polytechnic University, School of Hotel & Tourism Management.

Live Broadcast
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 9:45CET
Session: Kaohsiung Protocol - Final Presentation

Having started DRPG over 40 years ago as a video production company, Dale has overseen its growth throughout the years to one of the UK’s leading creative communications groups. He is actively involved with key corporate clients and works at a senior level assisting in the development of communication strategies and creating presentation vehicles.
Dale is passionate about nurturing new talent and putting his people first. DRPG appears in the Sunday Times Best 100 Companies to Work For list at number 16 and has been awarded the Investors in People Gold standard for the past decade, achieving Platinum accreditation in 2020. This year, Dale received the Pioneer Award at the CN Agency Awards and recognised by Eventex in its 100 Most Influential People in the Event Industry annual list. Dale is also a board member of leading events association EVCOM.

Location: Kuching
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 11:20 MYT
Session: Legacy Stories from Around The World

Marshall Dallas joined the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) at the end of 2014 spearheading a new direction for Scotland’s leading conference venue and hitting record profit, ahead of schedule, in 2016. During this period, Marshall led the EICC into winning a series of UK and international industry awards and generating over £50 million for the local economy.
The EICC’s newly developed mission is “to create an environment which inspires ideas that change the world”.  The venue is also on target to becoming one of the most sustainable and accessible conference centres on the international scene.
Marshall and the team have welcomed some of the UK’s and world’s largest associations to the EICC, whilst hosting leading world figures like former President of the United States, Barack Obama, who made his first major public speaking appearance since leaving the White House at the EICC in May of 2017. During 2017, with delegate numbers up against the previous year – 94,000 delegates attended around 200 events at the venue – while operating profits rose to £1.2 million and economic impact for the city was up at a record £55 million.
 With a background in hotels, events and hospitality and as an award-winning Director, Marshall has consistently demonstrated success in financial management, achieving strategic objectives and developing a wide range of businesses with turnovers ranging from £500k to over £30m per annum.
In 2018, Marshall was awarded the Institute of Director Scotland’s (IoD) public sector ‘Director of the Year’ Award. More recently, in September 2020, he received IoD Scotland’s  Director of the Year SME Award.
 When not at work, Marshall is a keen open-water swimmer and can be seen swimming all year round in all weather conditions in some of Scotland’s most beautiful Lochs and coastlines.

Location: Kuching
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 11:20 MYT
Session: Legacy Stories from Around The World

Amanda Wrathall has over 25 years’ experience in the events industry and is the Sales and Marketing Director at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.
Amanda joined the EICC in March 2015 where she heads up a team of 13 who are not only responsible for revenue generation but also play a key role in delivering economic impact to the wider city through attracting international business events.
Part of the EICC Leadership team, Amanda also chairs the Edinburgh Tourism Action Group’s (ETAG) Business Events Group and is a former board member of Women In Tourism.  In 2016 Amanda completed the Destination Leaders Programme which is delivered by Edinburgh Napier University in conjunction with Scottish Enterprise, and is a passionate member of Edinburgh’s destination community.

Location: Kuching
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 13:30MYT
Session: Business UnUsual – Recovering from COVID-19 with Conventions

As Asia Pacific Managing Director, Karen supports PCMA’s APAC growth through her track record of business events industry leadership success and her ability to introduce new strategic initiatives in the face of industry and marketplace challenges.
Karen is based in Melbourne and leads PCMA’s Asia Pacific operations team through its office in Singapore. Her focus will be on new initiatives to extend and strengthen PCMA’s presence in the region, which includes region-specific events, thought leadership, curated content and education, as well as enhanced stakeholder engagement and identifying new business partners.
As a former CEO of the Melbourne Convention Bureau, Karen Bolinger has made significant business event contributions to the visitor economies of Australia. This includes the ability to successfully bring industry, government policy makers, business partners and service organizations together to focus on new opportunities.
Named as “one of the most dynamic leaders in destination management over a decade,” Karen is well known for her strategic business acumen as she is for business development and marketing and as a destination innovator.

Location: Kuching
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 13:30MYT
Session: Business UnUsual – Recovering from COVID-19 with Conventions

One of the longest serving personalities in Thailand’s MICE or Business Events sector, Sumate began his career in the hospitality industry in 1972 at leading hotels in Bangkok, starting at the Dusit Thani, with a brief spell at Asian Tours Centre as a guide, plus short stints at Bangkok Palace and Mandarin hotels. In 1982 he joined Diethelm Travel as Incentive and Convention Manager and has since been deep -rooted in the destination, meeting management and other business-related travel business. He has been on the TICA – Thailand Incentive and Convention Association board of directors since its early years and became President of the association, being the first from the private sector of the joint public-private organisation, for multiple terms. He had been the principal contact for the dissolved SITE Thailand Chapter for over 12 years and is now an Honourary Member after 30 years of membership.
As president of TICA, Sumate is also a member of the board of TCEB – Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (public organisation) by position.
In 1993 he was awarded World Incentive Travel Personality for Asia by the organisers of IT&ME and EIBTM, and in 1995 was named SITE Member of the Year, subsequent to chairing SITE University 1995 in Pattaya.
The company he founded in 1988, CDM-Creative Destination Management remains a family business serving an upscale clientele from worldwide sources. CDM was later rebranded to Conference & Destination Management to more accurately reflect the company’s evolved business portfolio. The company is recognised as creators of several ‘firsts’ for travel programme deliveries with a difference.

Live Broadcast
Date: 22 October 2020
Time: 15:15CET
Session: Emerging trends in the exhibition industry

Monica Lee-Müller has been the Managing Director of Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (Management) Limited (HML) since 2012, the professional private company responsible for the management and operation of the 306,000 square-meter Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC). Ms Lee-Müller is a proven veteran in the hospitality industry for over 30 years. She joined HML since 1994 and held several managerial positions in marketing and sales. An active facilitator of the MICE industry, Ms Lee-Müller has been elected as the Incoming President of UFI – The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry for 2021/22 and an Executive Committee member of Hong Kong Exhibition & Convention Industry Association (HKECIA). Ms Lee-Müller holds a Master degree in Management from Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, and a Professional Certificate in Event Management & Marketing from the School of Business and Public Management of George Washington University, USA. She has graduated from the International Association of Venue Managers (IAVM)’s Senior Executive Symposium in 2012.

Live Broadcast
Date: 22 October 2020
Time: 14:15CET
Session: Put a stamp on it!

Dianna Steinbach is the Vice President of International Services for ISSA, the worldwide cleaning industry association, a 98-year-old, global organisation.
For the last 19 years, Steinbach has focused on helping ISSA and related industry associations and exhibition providers identify new trends, strategically plan, develop business alliances, connect with customers and position themselves for the greatest success. Prior to that, she was the owner of ClarityPoint consulting firm, as well as former editor of the U.S. cleaning industry publications Contracting Profits, Facility Cleaning Decisions and Sanitary Maintenance magazines.
Six years ago, ISSA’s international operations included two people overseeing European activities and one European exhibition alliance. Since taking over, Steinbach has expanded ISSA’s operations in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Oceania, including new offices in Germany and Australia, as well as joint ventures in China, Italy and Korea. ISSA’s portfolio of exhibitions now include the US, Australia, Canada, Italy, Mexico, Spain, and Russia, with symposiums in China, India and Thailand.
Steinbach worked on the team that first enabled ISSA’s US show to enter the Trade Show Executives Gold 100, has presented at the Lippman Connects Large Show Roundtable, been a member of exhibition committees for RAI Amsterdam, is an advisory group member for the IBTM World Association Leaders Forum, participated in customer-based strategy sessions for the Las Vegas Convention Center and has presented for UFI – the global association of the exhibition industry, and the European Society of Association Executives.

Location: Riyadh
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 09:05 AST
Session: How to Market & Sell Venue Space for Conferences

Nizar Wadih Zaitoun, Founder and Managing Partner, Vice Chairperson – MENA Chapter: IAEE (International Association for Exhibitions & Events), President of Conference Committee: AUIEC (Arab Union for International Exhibitions & Conferences), Managing Partner: ARWADEX ACADEMY (Arab Water Desalination Academy). Nizar has finished his Business Administration degree from American University of Beirut in 1983 & MBA degree in Middle Eastern Studies from American University of Beirut in1986. He speaks fluent Arabic – English and French. He has published many articles on MICE industry and participated in many conferences and workshops as Speaker and Instructor since 2003. He is a member of ICCA – MPI – IAEE – AUIEC.
ExiCon International Group (International Business Unit for The Specialist Group): Founded in 1990 and with offices in Riyadh, Jeddah, Beirut, Dubai, London & Cairo, the Specialist – ExiCon International Group is one of the leading Events Management companies specialized in scientific conferences in the MENA area with over 270 Conferences in its portfolio in 16 different countries.

Location: Riyadh
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 15:00 AST
Session: Trends in the MICE Segment

Dr. Zohair Al Sarraj is the CEO of the Specialist – ExiCon International Group, a member of the Supervisory Committee of the Saudi Exhibition & Convention Bureau, CEO of the Saudi Events Management Academy and a board-member in the IAEE MENA Chapter. He holds a PhD in Operations & Maintenance Engineering from the University of Manchester. He is also member of several local and regional bodies and organizations in the fields of projects and maintenance such as being the chairman of the International Maintenance Association (IMA) and Vice Chairman of the Arab Council for Operations & Maintenance.

Location: Riyadh
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 16:15 AST
Session: Competitive Bidding – Understanding the Framework

Marketing has always been my passion, starting from socializing with different kinds of Consumers & business experts up to creation of ideas, products, & campaigns. Persuing my marketing career in FMCG industry have empowered me with an In-depth consumer knowledge, innovation leadership, & practical experience of core Marketing & Business management.

Location: Cape Town
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 15:00 SAST
Session: Race for Relevance

Chloé Menhinick leads GainingEdge's Association Consulting practice which specializes in the strategic development of national, regional and international associations.
Chloé is a specialist in network development and membership and in her 15 years experience in the Associations Industry, she has also provided strategic and operational leadership across all areas of Association management & operations, including sponsorship & partnership, communications, marketing as well as legacy planning, implementation & measurement.
Chloé is a regular speaker on issues pertaining to Membership, Communications and Digitalisation at many industry events and also regularly contributes to industry publications on issues ranging from Communicating Brand Value to Association Impact & Legacy.
She is an Active Member of the Union of International Associations (UIA) and a Board Member of the European Society of Association Executives (ESAE) where she is also Co-Chair of the ESAE Communications & Membership committee.

Location: Cape Town
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 15:00 SAST
Session: Race for Relevance

Jane loves meetings and the magic that is created when we connect. Jane is an experienced meetings industry professional with a passion for facilitating and moderating engagement between associations and destination stakeholders.
Based in Stockholm, Jane has been working for BestCities Global Alliance since 2010 as Director, Community Engagement. This involves long term collaboration, support and guidance between our partners cities and the International association community to help advance the mission of the association while creating meeting legacy that lasts. Jane is delighted to be a global ambassador of the Joint Meetings Industry Council promoting the positive impact of business events. Before joining BestCities Jane gained a lot of industry experience from working for Congrex UK, the EICC in Edinburgh, and London and Partners.

Location: Cape Town
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 15:30 SAST
Session: Africa Baraza Part 2 - The Future of Associations

As the Global Chief Marketing Officer and President of SEMI Taiwan, Terry Tsao leads global marketing activities at SEMI, including strategic, operational, product, and communications marketing. Tsao also oversees the association’s programs, products, and services in Taiwan, and is responsible for relationships with SEMI members as well as with representatives of local industry, government, and academia. Additionally, he supports SEMI international programs and serves members worldwide.
Prior to joining SEMI, Tsao was Managing Director of International Data Corporation in Taiwan. He has also served as APAC Marketing Director for Trend Micro, Inc., and held various marketing positions with Leo Burnett Taiwan, Far Eastone Telecommunications Company, Ltd., and Ogilvy Advertising. Tsao holds an MBA from Baruch College City University, New York, and an Executive MBA from National Taiwan University.

Live Broadcast
Date: 22 October
Time: 16:15 CET
Session: Kaohsiung Protocol

Diana is General Manager at the Cartagena de India’s Convention Center in Colombia, holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from American University and a Masters in Communications from John Hopkins University in Washington D.C. Prior to joining the convention center team in 2011, she was Marketing Director at Sofitel Cartagena Santa Clara. She’s also a Certified Meeting Professional, member of Cartagena de Indias Local Host Committee and proud host for the ICCA Congress in 2021.

Location: Malaga
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 14:45 CET
Session: Customer Centricity

André Vietor, a native German, started his career in the hotel industry where he held sales positions for Intercontinental Hotels and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company between 1984 and 1995.
In 1995, he entered the PCO business and is currently leading BCO Congresos, the congress division of Grupo Barceló dedicated to meetings management, association management and business events consulting and positioned the brand as one of the top references in congress management worldwide.
André is an expert and professional consultant in business plan development, planning of bid strategies and management of bid presentations, destination marketing as well as association development. He served IAPCO (International Association of Professional Congress Organisers) as a council member for 18 years where he held the position of President as well as Chair of the Training Academy among others.
He is a firm believer of sharing knowledge, experience and best practices with all stakeholders involved in the business events industry and to grow the quality standards for our industry.

Location: Malaga
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 14:45 CET
Session: Customer Centricity

Nata Nambatingué joined the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in 2000, as a project leader, organising Education & Training Programmes from 50 to 300 participants, both in the premises of the European Heart House, the ESC’s headquarter, and abroad, mainly in Eastern European countries.
In 2005, he integrated the Congress Division, contributing to organise annual sub-specialty congresses, from 1 000 to 5 000 participants rotating in different European countries.
In 2007, he took over as Project Manager, in charge of finances and logistics for the ESC Congress, the largest medical congress in Europe and biggest cardiovascular disease congress in the world with over 30 000 participants annually. And in 2010, he was promoted ESC Congress Manager, becoming the primary person in charge of this congress.
Between 2014 and 2018, Nata Nambatingué served as a Board Member of the AC Forum (Associations Conference Forum). In late 2018, he obtained a Global Executive MBA from SKEMA Business School.
Since 2019, he has been leading the Congress & Event Operations Division at ESC, as Associate Director, organising 12 congresses a year, as well as educational courses, certification exams and committee meetings. In 2020, due to travel restrictions, the ESC pivoted its ESC Congress to a digital event, attracting 125 000 registered participants from 213 countries.

Location: Malaga
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 14:15 CET
Session: Scenario planning 2025

Shane has more than 20 years’ experience of working in the global travel industry. After a period in financial conference sales straight after university, Shane joined the international sales team at Reed Exhibitions, where he worked across multiple events and industries.
In 2006, he got his first taste of the business events industry when he moved to Reed Travel Exhibitions as Sales Manager for Europe and the Middle East. With this strong commercial grounding and knowledge of both international and domestic markets.
Shane then progressed through various key roles, including Sales Director at Reed Exhibitions, a role which included the creation and roll out of the Global Key Account Management Programme at Reed Travel Exhibitions. Shane held this position for four years before taking on his current role of Portfolio Director at IBTM in June 2018.
Shane has been instrumental in the success of IBTM World 2019 and the launch of IBTM Asia Pacific. He has an extensive network through the meetings and incentive industry and recently hosted the IBTM Meets Series, interviewing key professionals. Shane and the IBTM team constantly look to innovate, deliver new facets, events and extend brand reach across media including digital and online opportunities as well as delivering return on investment for all participants.
To that end, IBTM Connect, an online library of resources, was created to share great insights from key industry professionals, to keep our community ahead of the curve, find ways to virtually network with everyone in the industry, and provide a wealth of news and updates to prepare for the post-COVID-19 world and a return in person business connections.
Shane is married, with two young children. He is a very keen cyclist, junior football coach and enjoys cooking, travel and gastronomy.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 14:55 CET
Session: How Covid will Shape Future Actions in Business Events

43 years old, graduated in Political Science at the University of Florence (Italy).
After an exciting career in the event organization as marketing director of an important Italian DMC and in the hospitality industry, Carlotta Ferrari became the director of Firenze Convention Bureau in 2010. In a short time she started a new destination marketing strategy and transformed a mainly public company with few private members - as Firenze Convention Bureau was- into a private consortium with about 300 private members, prestigious local sponsors and the strong economic and political support of public institutions.
In 2015 Carlotta launched a new division at the CB, totally dedicate to the Destination Wedding Industry:Tuscany for Wedding, which is still the most important Italian case history in this sector. In 2017 finally she launched Destination Florence, the project dedicated to leisure, transforming the CB in a CVB with the rebranding of the company : destination Florence convention & visitors bureau.
From March 2013 to March 2017 Carlotta was Vice president of Federcongressi & Eventi, the Italian association of public and private companies and professionals working in the meeting industry, proposed to represent the Italian MICE sector on international level and create stable relationships with public institutions and European and International associations.
In this context, Carlotta, together with other national tourist associations, gave life to the Italia Convention Bureau in the form of a private network of companies, responsible for coordinating and promoting Italian meetings and events offer. Now she is the President of the Italia Convention Bureau, the company officially recognized by the Italian tourism board with over 120 members representing 3500 Italian mice suppliers.
Above all she enjoys Yoga, reading and travelling and most of all spending time with her family , including her teenager boy!

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 17:10 CET
Session: The Disruption Factor: Digitalization and Innovation Transformations

After a successful completion of Hotel University in 1989, Eric started off his career in the hotel industry, soon to be followed by the meetings & events industry when he continued at RAI Amsterdam Exhibition and Convention Centre.
Destination Marketing for business events in the Netherlands at the Netherlands Convention Bureau was the start of his career within the national DMO.
Eric is now director at the Meetings & Congress department within the Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions. Eric has and is holding several board positions witin the (inter) national community for marketing business events for a destination. He is a past boardmember of ICCA, co-founder of the Strategic Alliance of the National Convention Bureaux of Europe and board member of the Dutch Pre-Finance and Guarantee Congress Fund.
Eric has supported numerous national and international associations over the past years and plays a key role in the Dutch and international Destination Marketing Sector for business events. Eric is married and father of three children. He lives in a small town near Amsterdam. In his spare time, Eric is an avid sailor.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 13:50 CET
Session: What will be the Future of Events?

Julia holds a master degree in international tourism management with a focus on event management that included studies and work experience in Germany, Malta, Australia and Portugal. In 2017, Julia started at the GCB as project assistant and assistant to the managing director and moved into an event management role in 2018 to follow her true passion. As Marketing and Events Manager she leads the GCB’s new initiatives and events related to future-focussed projects such as BOCOM – experience borderless communication.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 14:55 CET
Session: European Network Cluster - Cooperation & Multiplex

Marta has nearly 20 years of experience in the events industry, and manages a team in charge of sales and business development for the 9 convention and exhibition centres which form the Viparis group.
She is also 1st Vice President of ICCA, and represents the European Region on the ICCA Board for the last 4 years, having previously served as Chapter Chair for the France-Benelux Region. She is active in many international groups and alliances, and has been a regular attendee and speaker at international industry events.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 13:50 CET
Session: What will be the Future of Events?

Matthias is passionate about driving change and innovation, focusing on future proofing meetings and events as vital platforms for knowledge exchange. With a degree in business administration, he started out in hotel and congress management at Hilton International in Germany and has now almost 20 years of management experience, including as CEO of the World Conference Center in Bonn, which is part of the United Nations Campus. In 2010, he took up his current role as managing director of the GCB German Convention Bureau that represents and markets the German meetings and conference sector on a national and international level, with offices in Frankfurt, New York and Beijing. Together with industry partners, Matthias has initiated various projects, such as the “Future Meetings Space” innovation alliance, that focus on the opportunities and challenges brought about by the digital transformation.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 14:55 CET
Session: How Covid will Shape Future Actions in Business Events

Nick is the Regional Manager for Europe at UFI, the global association of the exhibition industry. He is responsible for UFI’s more than 300 members in Europe, organising the annual UFI European Conference and promoting and representing the European exhibition industry internationally.
He joined UFI in 2010 as head of Business Development, looking after sponsorship and commercial partnerships for all of UFI's global portfolio of events and activities. A fluent speaker of Spanish and Portuguese, he set up UFI’s Latin American Chapter in 2014.
Nick joined the exhibition industry working for Reed Exhibitions’ ISG unit in 2006, and has been head of the UK Footvolley Association since 2004.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 17:10 CET
Session: The Role of Social Impact and Legacy in Hybrid/Virtual Events

With a background of 30 years between hotel/hospitality Industry and Non-Profit environment, Patricia is currently the Director of Congress & Events at the European Respiratory Society in Lausanne HQ, Switzerland. She oversees the operations, infrastructure, procurement and performs due diligence of Venue/Cities for the annual ERS International Congress of more than 23,000 delegates with additional 40-50 events simultaneously. The role also includes providing recommendations to Stakeholders/Board on future venues while participating in Strategy process and implementations.
Prior to joining ERS, she started her career in a 5-star luxury resort in Malaysia as part of the pre-opening team, then moved to join the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group to manage the MICE industry for the ASEAN market. Based in Singapore Regional office reporting to HQ in Hongkong, she was involved with the Sales & Marketing strategy and helped to execute marketing activities within these markets for 19 hotels globally.
Due to the CoVID situation, ERS had transformed its’ Annual Congress 2020 to a virtual format attracting more than 33,000 paid registrants from more than 85 countries with nine LIVE channels of (4 LIVE studios with Speakers & 5 LIVE Virtual channels).

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 14:55 CET
Session: European Network Cluster - Cooperation & Multiplex

Passionate about People, Hospitality, Events & Entertainment, I am fortunate to have been able to convert my passion into a vocation 35 years ago when I started to work for the hotel industry in an event department. I have been lucky to develop it in various countries (France, Morocco, Monaco, Netherlands and Switzerland) for different International Resorts and Hotel Chains (Accor, Intercontinental, Hyatt and Center Parcs), for different Convention Centers (Disneyland Paris, Grimaldi Forum and 2m2c) and for a DMC (LSO International, the largest one in France at that time). Since 2005, I am running the Montreux Music and Convention Centre in Switzerland where we host corporate events, associations events, cultural events and entertainment shows. I have always been involved in numerous professional associations from MPI as the founder of the France-Switzerland Chapter and ECM or ANAé where I was elected at the board, to PCMA, AIPC, ICCA and more recently Coesio. I am convinced that more involved you are in professional associations more you can develop yourself by learning, sharing and connecting. I strongly believe it is an essential and valuable investment for a successful career.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 13:50 CET
Session: What will be the Future of Events?

Sarah has a passion for continuous learning and connecting people. With a strong interest in event design and innovation management, she is responsible for the Future Meeting Space initiative exploring developments and changes in the meetings and events industry. Previously, she worked on the educational programme at IMEX and led the IMEX-MPI-MCI Future Leaders Forum, an initiative to enpower the next generation of event professionals.

Location: Riyadh
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 16:00 AST
Session: Wrap up Day 1

Location: Riyadh
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 16:15 AST
Session: Competitive Bidding - Understanding the Framework

Anju has been based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates since 1996 and has spent a significant portion of her career working in senior positions across both the association and MICE industry, specializing in local and international stakeholder relations. She has extensive association management experience, strong professional history of association development work in the Middle East, and processes strategic knowledge. Gomes is a skilled communicator and strategist with in-depth knowledge of International & regional market conditions and local business culture.

Location: Riyadh
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 16:15 AST
Session: Competitive Bidding – Understanding the Framework

Let's try more...Let's do better...These are my everyday words! With 20 years of involvement in event industry and international bidding and procurement processes, I have forged new territory and solidified my niche within the events ant travel industry.
To serve clients, we use various skills to execute successful events. In this daily mix of planning and execution, we discovered that we must adopt to changes more than ever. World is a fast growing machine which will never stop!
In my private life i like to hang out with my friends and family. We don't have three lives and we should use every opportunity to make yourself full of satisfaction.

Christian-Claus Roth has been employed at Novartis Pharma since 2001, in different roles of increasing responsibility. After his studies in Business Administration he started his career with the International Pharmaceutical wholesaler GEHE Pharma Handel GmbH and later Celesio AG, in Germany.
From there he moved to the Novartis Pharma affiliate in Bern, Switzerland, where he set up the congress and event department for the Swiss market, shortly later being promoted to the Global Headquarter in Basel with responsibility for the Pain and Urology Areas as International Congress Manager, with additional responsibility later for the Bone area.
Christian now oversees the Scientific Engagement Governance focusing on the impact of external regulatory requirements on global medical event management – one of several key areas for which the team is responsible. Additionally, he regularly participates as a panel member and speaker at conferences. In July 2017 Christian was honored by 'Successful Meetings' as one of the most influential strategists in the meetings industry worldwide.

Location: Seoul
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 13:30 KST
Session: New Normal Convention Case Study

Being in the tourism industry for 30 years, Jihyun Kim was able to gain background knowledge and experience to bring practical improvement to Seoul Tourism Organization since 2008. With these understanding and knowledge, she revised the MICE support program and initiated branding marketing for it by giving it a title, PLUS SEOUL support program when appointed as a director at Seoul Convention Bureau in 2019. She has dedicated her work towards bringing innovative working environment in MICE industry and strengthening SCB’s capabilities in digital world, especially in response to challenging climate due to pandemic, based on the past working experience in Tourism Marketing and Information department as well as Smart Tourism department.

Location: Seoul
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 13:30 KST
Session: New Normal Convention Case Study

After graduating from Seoul National University in 1987, he joined KDB Life in 1988 and retired as an executive for 30 years, through the finance, management, risk management, human resources and sales departments of the company. Based on his experience with an insurance company, he has been serving the Secretary-General of the Institute of Actuaries of Korea since July 2019 in order to contribute to the development of the insurance industry in anticipation of the change in IFRS17 scheduled to take effect in 2023.

Location: Seoul
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 13:30 KST
Session: New Normal Convention Case Study

Korea University’s global research director, Yong Sik Ok, director of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) Sustainable Waste Management programme, is chairing a conference series on engineering sustainable development, organized by The American Institute of Chemical Engineers, together with William Mitch (the programme co-director), a professor at Stanford University. Academic researchers, industrial practitioners, and government departments, will gather to discuss the development of integrated solutions to realize the UN’s 17 SDGs.

Live Broadcast
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 16:00 CST
Session: Kaohsiung Protocol - Official Signing Ceremony

Robert (Bob) McLean, CPA, CAE, CEM is the executive vice president of the Promotional Products Association International, a not-for-profit trade association serving over 15,000 member companies. He was hired in June 2008 as its chief financial officer responsible for the finance and information technology departments as well as the Promotional Products Education Foundation. He was promoted to EVP in October 2011 and is now also responsible for the association’s membership and regional relations departments. Prior to joining the association, Bob worked in the for-profit world, with small start-up companies and large global enterprises, including both private and public companies.
Bob has a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Drexel University in Philadelphia and a Master’s in Business Administration degree in Finance from the University of Miami, Florida. He is a member of the American Institute of CPA’s, the Texas Society of CPAs, the American Society of Association Executives and the International Association of Exhibitions and Events, of which Bob now serves as the chairperson of its board of directors.

Date: 28 October 2020
Time: 14:00 CET
Session: Healthcare Meetings Conversations

Location: Malaga
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 14:45 CET
Session: Customer Centricity

Through more than 20 years, Martin has worked in the international hospitality industry covering hotels, meetings, events and congress. From a supplier in hotels and PCO, Martin has since 2007 worked for H. Lundbeck Pharmaceuticals as responsible for global meeting, event and congress activities within Global Marketing. Since 2017 Martin has been Head of Global Customer Engagement Operations at Lundbeck, responsible for delivering Multichannel strategy across markets. Martin holds a MSc in Int. Hospitality Management and a BA(Hons) in Hotel Management. IPCAA: Since 2007, Martin has represented H. Lundbeck on the council of IPCAA (International Pharmaceutical Congress Advisory Association) Between January 2011 and January 2013, Martin was Vice President and since 2013 to January 2019 served as Co-President of IPCAA with special focus on strategic alliances and partnerships. Following his co-presidency, Martin now acts as Past President with similar responsibilities.

Location: Malaga
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 14:15 CET
Session: Scenario planning 2025

María Gómez is the current President of the EMA (Event Managers Association Spain) where she is leading the new strategy and growth of the Association, and the Head of EMEA Events in Amadeus IT Group where being part of the Corporate Marketing function, she is heading the strategy of unifying processes and improving the measurement of events in the EMEA region.
She has a broad international experience in the Tourism Industry, especially in the MICE sector, having worked in Sales and Marketing all her career. Before joining Amadeus, María worked for companies like Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, Amex GBT and TUI. Maria holds a Diploma in Tourism and an Executive MBA of the EAE Business School. She has worked and lived in 7 different countries and speaks 4 languages.

Location: Riyadh
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 16:15 AST
Session: Competitive Bidding – Understanding the Framework

Location: Kuching
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 11:55 MYT
Session: Our Incredible Impact: Clean Water for Rural Communities

Noor has been the ICCA Regional Director for Asia Pacific since 2009.
Under his leadership, he has strengthened ICCA’s footprint as one of the most successful international association within the region. He has played an important role in making ICCA Asia Pacific to the largest Chapter, with more than 270-member organisations spanning across 100 cities. It is also notable that he has expanded the Kuala Lumpur-based research team to a Global Research Centre status which allows for more comprehensive research projects to be achieved.
He is the face of ICCA in Asia-Pacific and has spoken in numerous events. In addition, he leads faculty in educational seminars and training workshops. He is one of the Founding Advisory Board & Ambassador for the ASAE’s initiative in Asia Pacific. With his immense works in China, he has been inducted to the China Meetings Industry Convention Hall of Fame in 2018. He has also been recognised by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) as one of the key thought leaders for the China’s convention industry.
Despite all these achievements, he preserves his humble aim to help the region grow and expand ICCA’s advocacy to the community.

Location: Kuching
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 11:55 MYT
Session: Our Incredible Impact: Clean Water for Rural Communities

Noor has been the ICCA Regional Director for Asia Pacific since 2009.
Under his leadership, he has strengthened ICCA’s footprint as one of the most successful international association within the region. He has played an important role in making ICCA Asia Pacific to the largest Chapter, with more than 270-member organisations spanning across 100 cities. It is also notable that he has expanded the Kuala Lumpur-based research team to a Global Research Centre status which allows for more comprehensive research projects to be achieved.
He is the face of ICCA in Asia-Pacific and has spoken in numerous events. In addition, he leads faculty in educational seminars and training workshops. He is one of the Founding Advisory Board & Ambassador for the ASAE’s initiative in Asia Pacific. With his immense works in China, he has been inducted to the China Meetings Industry Convention Hall of Fame in 2018. He has also been recognised by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) as one of the key thought leaders for the China’s convention industry.
Despite all these achievements, he preserves his humble aim to help the region grow and expand ICCA’s advocacy to the community.

Location: North and Latin America
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 10:30 EST
Session: Global Partnership in the Covid-19 Era

Thomas F. (Tommy) Goodwin leads government relations for the Project Management Institute (PMI), the world’s leading not-for-profit professional membership association for the project management profession. In this role, he directs legislative and regulatory efforts to help prepare governments around the world for The Project Economy: the coming economy in which work, and individuals, are organized around projects.
Prior to joining PMI, he spent more than 15 years leading a wide range of government relations, public affairs, and advocacy efforts for several globally-recognized associations and corporations, including AARP and Oracle. Additionally, he was a research fellow at Harvard Business School focused on the international political and legal environment in which business operates.
He has a B.B.A. from The George Washington University, an M.B.A. from Auburn University, and a Postgraduate Diploma in European Union Law from King’s College London. He also holds a Certified Association Executive designation from the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and is a member of ASAE’s International Associations Advisory Council.

Location: North and Latin America
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 10:30 EST
Session: Global Partnership in the Covid-19 Era

Magdalena Nowicka Mook brings experience in fundraising, coaching, and consulting and association management. She is the CEO and Executive Director of the International Coaching Federation (ICF), where she acts as a partner to the ICF's Global Board of Directors. Magda is a trained professional coach and systems’ facilitator.

Location: North and Latin America
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 10:30 EST
Session: Global Partnership in the Covid-19 Era

Congrex Americas Vice President & Managing Director – 2006 to date
Co-founder of the Congrex Association Management Services Business Division - 2000
+20 years of experience in AMS in Latin America - 2000
+31 years of experience in the Association Events organizing sector – 1989 (Involved in the organization of over 300 events in Latin America & The Caribbean)
Former Vice-Chair of the Tourism Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce of Panama 2013 – 2017
Former Vice President of the Panamanian Association of PCO's from 2016 – 2019
Member of the Organising Committee of the ICCA Lat Am & Caribbean Chapter Meeting - Panama 2018
Vice President of the 2019 COCAL Latin American Congress & Co-Chair of the Technical Programme Committee
Congrex Americas representative at:
ICCA Lat Am & Caribbean Chapter & ICCA World – 1994 to date.
Maritz Global Events Network – 2016 to date
Member of the Panama DMO International MICE Sales Strategic Committee with emphasis in the Associations Industry.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 15:45 CET
Session: MPI Belgium Chapter – Our experience in Online & Hybrid Education and Networking

Katinka Estrade is an independent Event Consultant specialized in organising events (online, hybrid and live) and advising event organiser companies on diplomatic protocol and etiquette. She has been organising events since 2011. She has a Bachelor diploma in Political Science from Université Libre de Bruxelles and several certifications and Executive Diplomas on Diplomatic Protocol from the International School of Protocol and Diplomacy. She is the President of MPI Belgium Chapter, the local body if MPI, an international organisation representing the events industry worldwide. She is member of Junior Chamber International, The Heart of Europe, the local Belgian English-speaking chapter of JCI, an international organisation working to make a positive impact on the society.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 12:00 CET
Session: HQ Association Expert Meeting - Online or Turned on?

Vivian Xu, managing director and co-owner of Meeting Media Company, publisher of Headquarters (HQ) Magazine and HQ Passport. Located in the centre of European Union, Brussels, the hub of European associations, offered her opportunities to listen and understand associations’ trends and needs. With 5 years professional experience in the MICE industry, she has been working closely with tourism boards and convention bureaus around the globe, promoting and connecting them to international associations for hosting association events.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 14:55 CET
Session: European Network Cluster - Cooperation & Multiplex

Clara is a skilled mediator with a training in understanding-based approach to conflict. As an independent consultor, she supports academic and professional publishing houses, organizations and academic institutions in diverse areas of company strategy, publishing, marketing and in international relations development.
Clara joined the Union of International Associations as External Relations Manager in 2011. In her role as Publisher, Managing Director and Member of the Management Board with various international publishing and media companies such as K. G. Saur in Germany, Gale in the U.S., Thomson Learning in U.K. and De Gruyter in Germany, from 1988 to 2011 she was the Publisher of UIA’s "Yearbook of International Organizations".
Since 1998, Clara is a Lecturer in Media Sciences at the LudwigMaximilians-Universität in Munich, Germany and since 2017 Member of the Executive Board of the International Youth Library Foundation.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 13:30 CET
Session: Monetization

Gwladys has been working for Alzheimer Europe ASBL for over 13 years, as Events and Conference Coordinator. Her role is to identify destinations, venues and suppliers in various European countries, in accordance with the specific needs of a conference welcoming people with dementia. She also prepares preliminary budgets, and coordinates the pre, onsite and post events. Gwladys has a background in IT and worked as a consultant for various IT companies for 6 years prior to joining Alzheimer Europe. She also has also a background in accounting, HR and hospitality, which helps her in her other roles at Alzheimer Europe.

Live Broadcast
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 16:45 CST
Session: Kaohsiung Protocol - Final Presentation

Jim McCaul is Senior Vice President of Destination Stewardship at MMGY NextFactor. He helps cities worldwide curate more immersive destination experiences, manage sustainable visitor growth, promote equitable economic development and elevate quality of life and quality of place.
Jim leads the development and evolution of MMGY NextFactor’s destination master planning team and consulting practices. Jim has successfully delivered destination master plans for iconic cities such as a Los Angeles, burgeoning ‘second cities’ and emerging destinations. Prior to joining MMGY NextFactor, Jim held senior positions with Destinations International, the global trade association for destination marketing organizations. Along with a Masters in Tourism with a focus on Sustainable Destination Management from George Washington University, Jim also holds a certificate in Placemaking and Community-Based Urbanism from New York University.

Live Broadcast
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 16:45 CST
Session: Kaohsiung Protocol – Official Signing Ceremony

Stuart Ruff-Lyon, CMP, DES is the Vice President of Events and Exhibitions at RIMS, the risk management society. He has worked in the events and travel industries since 1998, and is passionate about business events and all they bring to communities. Stuart is the 2020 Chairman of the Board for PCMA, and he also serves on industry advisory boards for Marriott International and the Events Industry Council, as well as for the cities of Miami, Denver, Chicago and San Francisco.

Live Broadcast
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 16:45 CST
Session: Kaohsiung Protocol – Official Signing Ceremony

Steve O’Malley is the Enterprise Vice President & COO of Maritz Global Events. He is the 2019 and now again the 2020 Chair of the MPI International Board of Directors, helping to drive the future of the association and the industry in this role. He is a past president of the Site International Foundation and was awarded the Richard Ross Past Presidents award by Site Global in recognition of outstanding service to the incentive travel industry in 2019. And he tells us that most people like him!

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 17:10 CET
Session: The Role of Social Impact and Legacy in Hybrid/Virtual Events

Marketing & Sales Manager @Roma & Lazio Convention Bureau. I Started working into the Meeting Industry 12 years ago. I’ve been on the three sides of this moon: PCO (ega worldwide congresses and events + OIC Group), Hotels (NH Hotels – Deputy General Manager @NH Leonardo da Vinci in Rome + NH Sales Manager for Meetings & Events) and CVB (Roma & Lazio CB). Actual Chairman of ICCA Med Chapter (Ad Interim), I’m also a DJ, great cook and ski lover.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 15:55 CET
Session: Neuroscience

° 1942-06-07 Neuro-psychiatrist.
Former professor in Psychiatry University Gent
Former Head of Psychiatric Department University Clinic Gent
Vice President for Europe World Federation Mental Health. Co-founder Mental Health Europe
President Society for Psychosomatic Medicine (Dutch-Belgian Association)

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 12:00 CET
Session: Sustainability Infrastructure to Bring Back Green

Kit Lykketoft is since 2017 the Director of the Copenhagen Convention Bureau. Here she works to attract international association conferences, meetings and events. Kit is focused on legacy and added value of congresses and events, and on proactively using knowledge about the future to form the steps being taken present.
Kit has a background from working both nationally and internationally with government administrations and international organisations applying design and user-focused processes to drive innovation and change.
Sustainability is high on Kit´s agenda and a long-time Copenhagen stronghold.
Kit is member of the BestCities board and Executive Committee and is an active member of the Strategic Alliance of National European CVBs.
Kit holds an MA from the University of Copenhagen and an Exe Specialised Master in change from HEC Paris/Said Business School Oxford.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 12:00 CET
Session: HQ Association Expert Meeting - Online or Turned on?

Enjoying very much his professional career in associations, education and tourism, Jan Lichota currently takes care of business tourism communications at visit.brussels. Between autumn 2016 and summer 2020 he has been the Manager of the Association Bureau at visit.brussels, taking care of international associations community in Brussels by developing information tools, organising the European Association Summit and other events in the city and abroad. Previously he was also active in European associations at The Brewers of Europe and within the European Beer Consumers Union in different policy and events management roles. Thanks to his continuously ongoing media, academic and research activities he is also closely involved with various scientific and professional societies at national and international level.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 12:00 CET
Session: HQ Association Expert Meeting - Online or Turned on?

A passionate design thinker and non-profit innovator, Benita has dedicated her professional career to helping non-profits make an impact. She started her international association career at the European Science Foundation (ESF), where she led the ESF Conference Scheme as the youngest-ever Head of Unit and launched long-impact series such as Graphene Week and the European Gender Summit. As a board member of the European Society of Association Executives (ESAE), Benita created the ESAE peer-learning education track, providing European association leaders with a platform to share their ideas, concerns and experiences in an engaging format. As Head of Interel Association Management, Benita has been updating the outdated AMC model to offer agile support, smart solutions and strategy design to international alliances, societies and associations. Her unique blend of strategic innovation and deep sector knowledge helped launch and grow associations such as ELSA Alumni, the Cloud Signature Consortium and ENRIO. A passionate speaker and trainer, Benita believes in the innovative power of diversity and inclusion, the importance of smart strategic management and the power of associations to advance our society.

Andrea Torrance is Senior Vice President, Guest Experience, North and Central America. As part of Accor Operations Leadership Team, Andrea is responsible for optimizing the guest experience and driving operational and financial performance in the region through leadership of the following NCA Region Operational teams: Rooms, Housekeeping, Engineering, Spa/Wellness, Recreation/ Fitness, Voice of the Guest, Openings and Integrations, Information Technology, Corporate Social Responsibility and Security/Preparedness.
Andrea’s hospitality experience comes from both hotels and corporate office and is drawn from a variety of disciplines and positions. Prior to joining Accor, previously with Fairmont Hotels & Resorts as a Global Corporate Vice President, she held various positions with Hilton International, The Rafael Group, Independent Hotels and Forte Hotels in Europe, North America, Caribbean, and South America. These roles included: Director of Food & Beverage, Director of Revenue Development, Rooms Operations, Human Resources, Sales Management and General Manager. Over her career, Andrea has opened and transitioned over 100 hotels and resorts around the world. She is an honorary member of Les Clefs d’Or, an active member of the Women in Lodging Executive Council with AH&LA and the Accor RiiSE program, helping to promote women’s leadership within the lodging industry.

Mattia Gasparini holds a master’s degree in Environmental Chemistry and a post-gratuated specialization in Occupational Health & Safety Sciences and Technologies.
Mattia is a HSE Coordinator at the Italian Exhibition Group and worked for several venues like the Vicenza Exhibition Center, Rimini Exhibition Center, Rimini Congress Center, Milano Offices and Arezzo Offices.

Schiwsager Kukrija has been with Deutsche Bahn since 2017. Prior to his current position, he was working as a Business Analyst in the organization’s biggest IT program to modernize its sales platform. Today he is working as a project manager for the company’s sales unit, focused on the MICE market. “My goal is to develop strategies and products that meet our customers’ requirements and at the same time contribute to a more sustainable mobility sector.

Julian Graham, born and raised in Germany while my father was serving the in the US Army. He started his career in Food Service washing dishes at 15 years while going to school. Julian completed an apprenticeship for Kempinski Hotels & Resorts supporting their Convention Center line of business at Congress Center in Hamburg, Germany. After completing his secondary education Julian moved to Orlando, first working in Guest Relations at the Magic Kingdom, before being part of the opening team of Cinderella Castle Suite. Then he joined the Catering Operations Team for Walt Disney World as Guest Service manager.
Julian always believed in the importance of formal education and was humbled to be accepted to the International Fast Track program at the Hotelschool The Hague in the Netherlands. After graduating he joined the team at the Orange County Convention Center where he oversaw the regulatory compliance and food safety for 108 licensed outlets. He plays an active role within the International Association of Food Protection hosting round table discussions for their Annual Meetings and serves as a co-chair for the Conference for Food Protection Food Recovery Committee. He is an active member with the National Environmental Health Association, he is also an instructor delivering Serve Safe Content.

Michael Blackman is the Managing Director of Integrated Systems Events, the organiser and owner of Integrated Systems Europe. An avid tech fan, he has been involved in technology publishing and events for more than 38 years and is now celebrating 17 years focused on the AV sector with ISE. Working with a team of three, he launched ISE in a single exhibition hall in Geneva in 2004. Since then, Mike has consistently grown the event: floor space has increased thirty-fold, attendee numbers twenty-fold and exhibitor numbers eleven-fold. Today, Integrated Systems Europe is the world’s largest exhibition and conference for professional commercial and residential audiovisual and electronic systems integration.
ISE has outgrown its previous home for the past 15 years in Amsterdam and now prepares for a new chapter in Barcelona from next year.
Under his stewardship, ISE has created more events and conferences focused on AV Systems Integration and solutions making it Europes’ leading organizer for the sector.

Location: Riyadh
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 15:00 AST
Session: Trends in the MICE Segment

Rob Davidson’s main areas of expertise are conferences and business travel, and over the last fifteen years he has written widely on these themes. In addition to writing books, he regularly writes articles for the professional business travel and tourism press, including Conference News.
He is regularly invited to speak at international conferences on themes linked to business tourism. Since 2002, Rob has been employed on a consultancy basis as Industry Analyst by Reed Travel Exhibitions, for whom he carries out ongoing research. At IBTM World in Barcelona each year, he launches his annual report, Trends Watch, on trends in the meetings and business travel industry worldwide.
For the past 5 years, he has been included in Conference and Incentive Travel magazine’s ‘Power 50’ – the 50 most influential people in the UK conference industry.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 14:55 CET
Session: European Network Cluster - Cooperation & Multiplex

2015-2020 CEO Miharu :
• Exploitation de sites évènementiels dans le Sud-ouest de la France.
• Airbus Event centre
• Parc des expositions de Narbonne
• Centre des congrès d’Agen
• 4 lieux évènementiels à Toulouse

2009-2014, Fondateur et CEO So* Toulouse :
• Convention bureau Toulouse

2000-2009 CEO Diagora Toulouse :
• Centre de congrès et d’expositions

Divers :
• Président Events31, association des professionnels de l’évènementiel toulousain
• Président CIRT, Club d’entreprises Toulouse

Location: Kuching
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 11:20 MYT
Session: Legacy Stories from Around The World

Sumathi Ramanathan is the Director of Market Strategy & Sales at Expo 2020 Dubai. She leads a team responsible for promoting the most inclusive global event ever held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region, focusing on key visitor markets and leading travel verticals. With 12 years’ experience at VisitBritain (British Tourist Authority), including as a Director, Su brings to Expo 2020 a wealth of destination development and marketing experience. She was responsible for driving visitation through business promotional strategy, partnership and marketing campaigns. Su has worked in various international locations, including London, Dubai, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, where she developed partnerships with key airlines and travel entities and pioneered destination development programmes in more than 15 key markets. Su has a Bachelor of Economics (Honours) and a Masters in Information Management. She was recognised as one of the top 50 most outstanding public sector staff members in the UK BAME Public Sector List 2017, alongside the Mayor of London, ministers, academics and other public sector leaders. She is also a recipient of the EU-ASEAN (Asia-Europe Institute) scholarship.

Location: Riyadh
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 15:00 AST
Session: How will the MICE sector Reverberate?

Emad Monshi is an expert in event and tourism management. His expertise is based on his academic qualifications including; PhD in entrepreneurship event management, master degree in tourism and hospitality (event management), master of business (international travel and tourism management), executive certificate in event management, graduate diploma in economics and bachelor of business administration (financial management). He is also involved in the Saudi tourism industry as he gave over 50 consultations in the last five years to event organisations, tourism operators, destinations and institutions, and government agencies.

Location: Malaga
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 14:15 CET
Session: Scenario planning 2025

Eric Mottard studied business administration in HEC (Paris), before working as a management consultant with Deloitte, Roland Berger, and Oliver Wyman. He then co-created eventoplus in 2000, company which connects, informs, inspires and professionalises the meetings industry through various activities (portal, magazine, venue catalogue, trade show, conference, awards... all directed at meeting professionals). They also edit and manage the ibtm world Show Daily.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 14:55 CET
Session: How COVID will shape Future Actions in Business Events

Rémy Merckx is the Senior Vice-President Global Digital & Marketing for Radisson Hotel Group.
He is in charge of leading, developing and delivering the global digital transformation strategy and operations by optimising all hotel sales and revenues through the group digital and online channels, driving incremental business and demand to the branded hotels by increasing significantly the traffic and the conversion of the branded digital platforms.
He is also building strategic partnerships with global online intermediaries being Meta-Search Engines, Affiliate Platforms and key travel partners like Google to always get access to more customers and generate more traffic to the group branded websites.
In 2019, Rémy and his team re-built from scratch the entire RHG digital infrastructure by launching the new Radissonhotels.com website, mobile first driven and the new Radisson Hotels App embedding also the new Radisson Rewards digital customer experience. Since then he’s leading the digital transformation transversally for the group.
On top of his global digital responsibilities, Rémy is also leading the Marketing team both for all B2C and B2B go-to-market plans which includes campaign management, media buying, creatives, omnichannel messaging, social media, CRM and other topics.
Rémy joined the Radisson Hotel Group in July 2013 as a Senior Director e-Business Development after holding a VP e-Commerce Sales & Distribution position for the Accor Group in Paris. Prior to his Accor tenure, Remy gained a strong 10 years’ experience with Expedia, Inc. the leading and largest travel company in the world.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 14:55 CET
Session: European Network Cluster - Cooperation & Multiplex

With 30 years of experience in the meetings industry, I am today managing the Airbus Event Centre based in Toulouse, one of the 5 event centres and venues operated by Miharu – located South west of France.
I have been working formerly at the Toulouse Convention Bureau, promoting the destination and its 150 partners, ranging from congress centres, venues, hotels, agencies, technical providers, caterers on the British, Spanish and French Markets.
Throughout my career, I had the opportunity to network with the event industry during international and national workshops, exhibitions… focusing on two goals: delivering the best services to our customers and sharing my knowledge and learn from my peers.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 13:50 CET
Session: What will be the Future of Events?

Joining Luxembourg’s largest event organiser amidst the coronavirus-crisis, Tara Cullen will never forget her first day at Luxexpo The Box, where she was greeted with a rather unusual starter pack including anti-bacterial wipes, gloves, a mask, hand sanitiser and not to forget her laptop. With her background in Marketing & Communications, she quickly adapted to her new role as Communications Officer, promoting Luxexpo The Box’s ambitions to resume business as quickly as possible right from the start. Having previously worked for other major corporations in Luxembourg, she now brings her creative input on strategic marketing campaigns to Luxexpo The Box. Of Scottish and German origins, Tara’s positive attitude, diligence and open-mindedness make her a valuable asset for any company. She considers herself a dog-loving corporate storyteller, her favourite dog being her loyal lockdown colleague Sparky.

Date: 28 October 2020
Time: 14:00 CET
Session: Healthcare Meetings Conversations

Andrew has worked within the events industry for over 20 years. Over this period of time he has worked across multiple sectors ranging from engineering, media & culture through to healthcare. Andrew has worked now in the healthcare events sector for 15 years. His career started in logistical event management, progressed to account management before moving to operational finance and performance roles with a strong focus on HCP engagement, strategic meetings management and healthcare compliance.
Andrew’s knowledge and enthusiasm in these fields has seen him become a thought leader within the business and provide consultancy to our clients. Andrew has driven Ashfield’s industry-leading research, publishing a series of whitepapers that demonstrated the role scientific meetings play in a HCPs medical education, identifying the value of meetings and how these key activities should evolve to accommodate a changing demographic.
Andrew’s research has seen him perform a number of global speaking engagements, design and deliver educational workshops to leading healthcare clients. The Ashfield team continue to deliver consultancy projects across our clients, such as developing congress strategies, technology implementation programmes and a global logistical excellence strategy and roll out.
Andrew’s most recent role as Client Partnership Director sees him working directly with a leading international pharmaceutical business where he has successfully lead the implementation of new technologies, both from an enhanced reporting and delegate engagement perspective.

Location: Koahsiung
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 11:10 CST
Session: The Matching Game: Talents & Organization

Michael is the Founder, MyTaiwanTour and he holds a few positions in MICE related associations namely, the Co-Chairman of Tourism Committee, Euro Chamber of Commerce Chairman of Dream Taiwan Travel Association and Board of director, Taiwan Convention and Exhibition association.
Michael thinks that travel is about discovering a new world through meaningful interaction, therefore he focus in experience-oriented tours.

Location: Malaga
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 16:45 CET
Session: Out of the Box: Soho Theater: Tech on the Rocks

Daniel is a Telecom Engineer from the University of Malaga. He started his career as a strategy and business consultant at Arthur Andersen. Later, he led the deployment of a city-wide Powerline Communications network for Spanish utility Iberdrola, before moving on to manage the regional knowledge coordinator Andalusian Technology Network. At present, he is director general of the Spain-based Smart City Cluster, where he helps make cities better all around the world. He is also a project evaluator for the European Commission H2020 programme.

Location: North and Latin America
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 10:30 EST
Session: Global Partnership in the Covid-19 Era

Şirin Köprücü is the owner of her Maryland-US based international business firm StrategicStraits, a certified Global Mindset® and Quantum Negotiation™ coach, trainer, and facilitator, and an international educator in the Executive Education program of Thunderbird School of Global Management. Şirin founded her business after an international career in the pharmaceutical industry. She works with Fortune 500, entrepreneur clients, government, associations and nonprofit sector clients. She serves as a listed career resource for the members of the Association of Corporate Counsel and has been serving on the International Associations Advisory Council of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) since 2018.

Location: North and Latin America
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 10:30 EST
Session: Global Partnership in the Covid-19 Era

Steven Basart serves Kellen’s international associations through strategic planning and by identifying global market opportunities for their industry or profession. He has guided clients on the implementation of their strategy for Asia by successfully establishing their government relations, communications, membership development programs, as well as overseeing their local Chinese website launches.
Steven has served as the former director China for the Drug Information Association during which time he actively built strategic alliances with local counterpart organizations and government agencies including the Commissioner of the SFDA, key players at the Ministry of Health, and leading pharmaceutical and healthcare industry media. He has also supported international questions on Chinese food laws and delegations at the Codex Committee meetings on food additives.
Steven represents Kellen and their clients at the Beijing-based European, American, and Benelux Chambers of Commerce. He holds a Masters in Chinese Studies and Bachelors in Law with cum laude distinction from Leiden University.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 13:50 CET
Session: What will be the Future of Events?

Laurent Chrétien, General Manager of Laval Virtual Immersed for 8 years in the european ecosystem of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality (VR-AR), Laurent is a specialist in the new uses of these technologies. He is in charge of the Laval cluster dedicated to VR and AR and actively participates in the economic development of the territory. He is leading the Laval Virtual Center dedicated to VR and AR uses innovation and the international Laval Virtual exhibition and conference, world leader in its specialty for 22 years with more than 300 exhibitors and 20,000 visitors in 2019. In 2020, Laval Virtual organized its first virtual event online in 3D with conferences about VR and AR: 6600 avatars created. Laurent has alternated "classical" experiences in major groups such as Vinci and Unibail Rodamco, with entrepreneurial experiences in particular in the field of cultural tourism and in the field of digital memory transmission. Laurent is engineer from Polytechnique Paris, Ponts & Chaussées and Escuela de Caminos Canales y Puertos, Madrid.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 15:45 CET
Session: MPI Belgium Chapter – Our experience in Online & Hybrid Education and Networking

Philip is founder and Managing Director of RoomTrust Events and RoomTrust Systems, and is VP of Technology for MPI Belgium chapter which feed his two professional passions - Events and Technology.
RoomTrust Events provides event planning, management and consultancy services for in-person, hybrid and virtual events to corporations and professional associations. RoomTrust Systems provides and develops an application for the management of event accommodation which is licenced to event planners worldwide for events in all sectors.
Philip took the role as VP Technology for MPI Belgium in July 2020 at a pivotal time in the events industry and has been excited to become fully immersed in event tech. Following on from the MPI masterclasses running since March 2020, Philip has planned a series of new educational sessions to get MPI members up to speed on the available platforms and best practices for virtual and hybrid events.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 13:30 CET
Session: Monetization

Peter is a serial entrepreneur who created, amongst other endeavors, SponsorMyEvent in 2014. SponsorMyEvent became over the years one of the leading marketplaces for event-sponsorship with over 60,000 signed-up event-organizers, mostly in the USA. At the same time, Peter became proficient in arranging sponsorship-deals, coaching organizers and sponsors alike; and especially to make sponsorship more engaging and to become an added value not only for organizers and sponsors, but as well for attendees. In 2020 Peter and his co-founder launched Boothted.com which is the modular platform for virtual-events. Boothted had a stellar start right from day one and is set to become an international success.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 17:10 CET
Session: The Role of Social Impact and Legacy in Hybrid/Virtual Events

Geneviève has 25 years of experience in congress management and consultancy for associations, having worked for a PCO, for international associations and as an independent consultant.
Geneviève is currently the Managing Director of an international scientific society and a social entrepreneur, having founded two organizations supporting the business events industry, #Meet4Impact and Caravelle Strategies. Her current focus is developing an evidence-based practice of social impact in our sector and accelerating the business events sector’s commitment to sustainability and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Founded in 2019, #MEET4IMPACT builds on the synergies of her broad experience in meeting planning, association strategy, social impact and sustainability. #Meet4impact is a global non-profit organization with the mission of elevating actors involved in business events in their understanding and proficiency in implementing and measuring the societal impacts of business events and the UN SDGs. It does this by offering an impact framework that offers a comprehensive process for generating, managing and measuring the positive societal impacts of conferences, and by working alongside organisations to build their own impact capacity.
Geneviève is involved in several projects that apply social innovation principles and generate social impact. In recent years, she has founded a network of international associations in Montreal and is very active on the social innovation scene in her home city.

Live Broadcast
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 14:45 CST
Session: Studio Chat

Live Broadcast
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 16:15 CST
Session: Monday Break I + Studio Chat

Live Broadcast
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 15:00 CST
Session: Global ICCA Welcome

Live Broadcast
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 14:45 CST
Session: Studio Chat

Live Broadcast
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 18:30 CST
Session: Closing & Next Destination Presentation

Robert Coren is a journalist and presenter working across television, corporate communications and online. He has fronted event-connected TV coverage in many industry sectors all around the world. Robert has also been a contributor to International Meetings Review and Intellectual Capitals, and since 2017 has been curator of The Iceberg, a platform dedicated to covering the legacies of business events.

Theresa Breining, CMP, CMM, CED is the president of Breining Group Inc., whose mission is Connecting People to Opportunities through coaching, training and professional facilitation in the meeting industry. Terri has been involved in the industry for several decades, and was responsible for producing meetings around the globe. Considered by many to be a thought leader, Terri is an activist working tirelessly on the continuous advancement of the level of professionalism in the meeting industry, and has served as adjunct faculty for meeting management programs for universities for many years. She is a sought after speaker, presenting educational workshops for a variety of business entities.

Location: Topic week
Date: 14 October 2020
Time: 14:00 CET
Session: Kaohsiung Protocol Strategy Week for Venues

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 13:30 CET
Session: Monetization

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 14:55 CET
Session: European Network Cluster - Cooperation & Multiplex

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 17:45 CET
Session: Closing

Eric Abramson, Director of Major Accounts for GL events Venues, has been involved in the MICE Industry for the past 10 years. With more than 30 years of international sales and marketing management in Asia, North America, Latin America, and Europe, Eric has traveled to 92 countries and has lived abroad for 22 years (Japan, U.S., Mexico). Binational (French American), fluent in French, English, Spanish and Japanese, Eric holds a Master’s and a Bachelor’s, summa cum laude, in hospitality management from Florida International University, Miami; and a business degree from the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, Paris. Involved with ICCA since 2011 in Europe and Asia, Eric currently serves ICCA as its Deputy Chair for the Asia Pacific Chapter (2020-2022).

Location: Cape Town
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 16:00 SAST
Session: Africa Baraza Part 1 - Roadmap to the Future

Location: Cape Town
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 15:30 SAST
Session: Africa Baraza Part 2 - The Future of Associations

Dirk Elzinga (1949) is Managing Director of Convention Industry Consultants in Cape Town, South Africa. This specialized consultancy assists since 2010 mainly governments and private organisations with feasibility studies and pre-opening marketing and management support for new convention centre initiatives and repositioning projects of existing venues and other organisations in the field of business events.
Dirk Elzinga was born and raised in the Netherlands; he studied tourism and business administration. Dirk has an almost 50 year career in corporate communication, tourism and business events. From 1980 till 2010 he was employed by Amsterdam RAI amongst others as Managing Director of the MECC Congress Centre in Maastricht, the Amsterdam RAI Congress Centre and the Cape Town International Congress Centre.
Dirk Elzinga has served as a board member and chair person in a number of institutes like the Netherlands Convention Bureau, the Amsterdam Convention Bureau and the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA). Dirk has been vice president of ICCA and chairman of their Category Congress Centres. In 2004 he accommodated the annual ICCA congress in Cape Town and served as the chairperson of the local host committee. During its 2017 congress in Prague the board of ICCA awarded him the honorary member status.
After the management contract between Amsterdam RAI and the CTICC came to an end in 2010 Dirk Elzinga stepped down from his position as Managing Director of the CTICC. He stays both in South Africa as well as in the Netherlands and continues to be involved with many projects in the global meeting industry.

Location: Malaga
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 12:15 CET
Session: The Business Model Cocktail

Location: Malaga
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 17:30 CET
Session: Closing

Oscar Cerezales, born in Barcelona and based in Singapore, has more than 25 years of experience in this industry. Oscar currently works at MCI Group as Global Executive Vice President.
MCI Group is dedicated to empower corporations, associations and governments to activate their employees, channel partners, customers and members. Creating face-to-face, hybrid and digital experiences. With 61 offices, different brands (Dorier being one of them) in 31 countries and 2,500 talents, MCI organizes more than 7,000 events per year.
Also, Oscar is chair of the Professional Convention Management Association Advisory Board, Board member of Saceos, founder of MPI Chapters (Meetings Professional International), ex Latam Board member at SITE.
Oscar has been a professor at universities in Barcelona, London, and Milan. In addition to collaborating with various industry publications and curates several industry conferences.

Live Broadcast
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 17:00 CST
Session: Best Marketing Award - Special Edition in Transformation & Leadership

With his business partner Pádraic Gilligan, Patrick Delaney is Managing Partner at SoolNua, a specialist MICE agency helping destinations, hotels and venues with strategy, marketing and training based on 6 decades of expertise as global leaders in the industry.
Previously, both Delaney and Gilligan worked for MCI, a global association, communications and event management company.
Patrick holds a BA degree in Hospitality Management from Dublin Institute of Technology. Patrick worked in hotels in Ireland, Canada as well Bord Failte’s Hotel Advisory Service. He worked for 11 years in the US, leading the sales and marketing efforts for the Irish Tourist Board. Patrick returned to Ireland in the early 90s and worked as Sales and Marketing Director for a five-star luxury hotel brand and launched the very successful Adare Manor Festival.
Following this, he started Delaney Marketing Consultants in 1994 with Pádraic Gilligan. In 2002 Delaney Marketing acquired Ovation and re-branded as Ovation Group. In June 2007 Ovation was acquired by MCI Group and commenced a robust global expansion programme, which saw the establishment of Ovation offices at over 100 European, Asia, Latin American and Middle Eastern destinations under the Ovation Global DMC brand. Delaney was the first non-US international president of Site (Society of Incentive and Travel Executives). He was the only Irish person to be recognised by Conference and Incentive Travel (UK) for inclusion in their Power 50 list; a directory of the most inspirational people in the UK and Ireland.
Patrick has been honoured with various awards at the meeting and events industry’s premier shows including the IMEX Academy Award in 2009, the EIBTM 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award and was inducted into the Events Industry Council’s Hall of Leaders in 2016 for his outstanding contribution to the industry over a 35-year period. He has spoken at a numerous of industry events, contributing to Site, The Global Meetings Shows, IBTM World and IMEX, The Meetings Show in the UK and ICCA to name a few and continues to give regular seminars and lectures across all five continents of the world. Delaney also serves on the advisory board for IBTM World and the Board of Directors of the Washington DC Visitors and Convention Bureau.
Patrick is married to Mary Delaney and together they have 4 grown up children. He is passionate about the meeting and events industry, travel, networking, reading (particularly historical literature and crime), art and hiking - wherever his walking boots will take him. He is also an avid tennis player and is never happier than when he gets his shorts on, in any weather, and plays game of tennis in his local club with friends and colleagues.

Live Broadcast
22 October 15:15
Session: Emerging Trends in the exhibition industry

Having graduated from Oxford University, UK, in Politics, Philosophy and Economics in 1998, Carina began her career in retail and catering, in the newly established GoodBean Coffee – a family owned chain of coffee shops located throughout the South of England. As Managing Director, Carina was in charge of the running of the business which grew to 13 stores in three years and was sold to a publicly listed company in December 2001.
An avid skier, Carina enjoyed a short break working in a ski resort in Italy, before entering the meetings industry in 2002 as the Marketing and Operations Director for IMEX in Frankfurt as part of the original launch team for the exhibition.
Following the expansion of the IMEX brand into America in 2009, Carina was appointed CEO of the IMEX Group. In this role, Carina is responsible for all aspects of the business.
Throughout her career, Carina has been an active member of the meetings industry. She was Chair of the Marketing Committee for MPI’s European Meetings & Events Conference, London (2008), has served on the Board of the MPI UK Chapter, the MPI International Multicultural Committee and on PCMA’s Global and Advocacy Taskforces. She is currently President of the SITE Foundation and serves on the AEO Council.

Location: Cape Town
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 08:45 SAST
Session: Local Welcome - ICCA Africa Hub

Location: Cape Town
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 08:45 SAST
Session: Local Welcome - ICCA Africa Hub

Miller Matola has more than 10 years of management experience within global travel, tourism, hospitality, investment, trade and marketing and communications environments. His experience ranges across the spectrum of leadership, teaching, consulting, project management, marketing and communications, reputation management, to strategic planning and management. Uniquely, he possesses unprecedented knowledge and networks amongst global decision makers in tourism, trade, Investment and development, both in business and government. Miller has served as: Portfolio Manager: Americas & UK for South African Tourism, CEO of Tourism KwaZulu Natal, CEO of the International Convention Centre Durban and until 2015, as CEO of Brand South Africa.

Location: Kaohsiung
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 11:10 CST
Session: Unpacking Success: The Driving Forces behind Human Motivation

As the Global Chief Marketing Officer and President of SEMI Taiwan, Terry Tsao leads global marketing activities at SEMI, including strategic, operational, product, and communications marketing. Tsao also oversees the association’s programs, products, and services in Taiwan, and is responsible for relationships with SEMI members as well as with representatives of local industry, government, and academia. Additionally, he supports SEMI international programs and serves members worldwide.
Prior to joining SEMI, Tsao was Managing Director of International Data Corporation in Taiwan. He has also served as APAC Marketing Director for Trend Micro, Inc., and held various marketing positions with Leo Burnett Taiwan, Far Eastone Telecommunications Company, Ltd., and Ogilvy Advertising. Tsao holds an MBA from Baruch College City University, New York, and an Executive MBA from National Taiwan University.

Location: Kaohsiung
Date: 3 November
Time: 11:10 CST
Session: The Matching Game: Talents & Organization

Gavin is the founder of Worldview Academy, an institute dedicated to reinventing education by “Big History” perspectives and developing “Habits of Mind for the future.” As a graduate student of Minerva school and a visiting scholar at Harvard, he always looks for the cutting-edge pedagogy to deal with the era of VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity).
Gavin believes Big History provides the best cross-disciplinary database to tackle complex issues in the New Normal State of uncertainty. He is an international history writer of three books that have been collected by worldwide research institutes such as Stanford, Harvard, Berkeley, and Kyoto University.
Gavin is also a lawyer with 10+ years of cross-sector experiences, who once served as a chief legal officer at a public listed solar company and worked at Taiwan’s highest government level to coordinate national startup policy.

Location: Malaga
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 15:30 CET
Session: Out of the Box: SOHO Theatre Welcome

David Ordinas (Mallorca, 1979) Actor, singer, musician, presenter... Almost 20 years on stages. Studied acting in the prestigious Circle in the Square Theater School in NYC.
He has done numerous leading roles in Musical Theater (Beaty and The Beast, Cats, Cabaret, Les Miserables, etc) He has appeared in many TV series and currently he is the host of a Gameshow on TV called "Jo en se més que tu".
As a presenter he has hosted events for companies such as BMW, Ford, Best Drive, Festival de Malaga, Smarties, Bloody Night Con in Brussels and Barcelona, etc.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 17:10 CET
Session: The Role of Social Impact and Legacy in Hybrid/Virtual events

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 12:00 CET
Session: Sustanability Infrastructure to Bring Back Green

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 15:45 CET
Session: Events Industry Council

A MICE industry veteran, Didier Scaillet recently assumed the role of CEO for SITE and the SITE Foundation for the last three years. During his tenure, the Society adopted a new Vision/Mission and Strategic Architecture, experienced record revenue, membership and retention, sealed new industry partnerships and developed new progams globally. For 18 years he held various roles with Meeting Professionals International (MPI) and was vice-president business development for Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA). He has engaged and served on various industry forums and organisations: Joint Meetings Industry Council, Events Industry Council, Canadian Tourism Commission and United Nations World Tourism Organisation. He was also instrumental in the development of the Meetings & Business Events Competency Standards, which was the backbone for the development of SITE’s competency-based education model for incentive professionals. Scaillet was named one of the most influential people in Incentive Travel in 2018.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 14:55 CET
Session: How COVID will Shape Future Actions in Business Events

Based in Paris, Bruce Redor is an anglo-american who has seen his international career develop over a 25-year period in a variety of sectors within the services, hospitality and meetings industries.
Bruce began his management career working for a group of hospitals in the San Francisco Bay Area, after having received his Master’s in Hospital Management from U.C. Berkeley.
After a five-year consulting stint with the CEGOS group in Paris, Bruce joined the management team that built and operated Disneyland Paris, where he set up and ran the successful business unit (representing over 60m€ of annual sales) for meetings and incentives: Disneyland Paris Business Solutions.
From there, he was recruited away by the city of Lyon, France to take on the job of Chief Executive at the Convention and Visitors Bureau, where he was instrumental in turning the city into one of Europe’s leading business-travel and leisure destinations. During his stay in Lyon, the number of international meetings held in the city increased by over 50%.
Over the last few years, Bruce has developed a consulting and executive search practice. He has worked with some key players in the travel industry including Hilton International, Accor, Expedia, Inc. and Lufthansa Airlines.
As a partner at GainingEdge, Bruce has consulted with a number of leading destinations in Europe and in Africa.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 17:10 CET
Session: The Disruption Factor: Digitalization and Innovation Transformations

Brice is a Consulting Partner with EY Luxembourg and is in particular specialized in Growth Advisory, Performance Improvement and related Digital Transformation as well as in Innovation solutions. He also leads EY Luxembourg external Digital initiative as well as EYnovation startup support program. Brice particularly serves clients in the Technology, Telecommunications, Automotive, Metals&Mining, Consumer Product Industries, SMEs, Startups and Public Sectors.
After graduating MBA at Boston College Carroll Graduate Business School in 1997, Brice joined Ernst & Young in 1999 (formerly Arthur Andersen) and is in charge of the Consulting department at EY Luxembourg for all Commercial, Manufacturing, Technology, Startups and Public Sector companies since 2012.
Brice has four area of personal focus: - Supporting organizations in their Digital transformation assessment, strategy and implementation especially with regards to using Analytics, Data Mining, Robotics, Intelligent Automation solutions in their Customer Experience, Business and Operating Model transformation;
- Advising organizations in developing their Open Innovation strategies and supporting startups or mature business with Growth Advisory and Strategic Business Planning;
- Advising in particular CFOs with regards to support function transformation, business process modelling and supporting Technologies enablement;
- Supporting organizations with internal audit cosourcing, governance assessment and definition (Risk Committee, set up of the internal audit and compliance function) and risk management activities.

Location: Koahsiung
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 13:30 CST
Session: The Transformer : Rolling with the Punches

Leo Seewald, president of AmCham Taipei since August 2020, is a senior financial services industry thought leader with over 20 years of experience in Asia.
From 2016 to 2019, Leo was Chairman and Country Head of BlackRock Investment Management (Taiwan) Co., Limited. During his chairmanship, he grew BlackRock’s Taiwan sources assets from USD20 billion to over USD30 billion and transformed the company from what was primarily a mutual fund distribution operation to a fully integrated asset management.
Leo served as the Chairperson of AmCham Taipei in 2019 and Standing Vice Chairperson in 2018.
Originally from Canada, Leo is qualified as a solicitor in Hong Kong and as a barrister and solicitor in British Columbia, Canada.

Location: Koahsiung
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 11:10 CST
Session: The Matching Game: Talents & Organization

Grace is a MICE industry professional well-versed in global communication and cross-cultural exchange.
With her wealth of experience in meeting facilitation, event emceeing, and conference interpreting, Grace has worked with head of states, corporate leaders as well as renowned global organizations at home and abroad. Grace is also an accredited Paterson Process facilitator with experienced in guiding multinational organizations in strategic planning and business communication.
She was awarded the First Prize in the 2009 Cross-Strait Interpreting Competition and received extensive media coverage both in China and Taiwan. Many of Grace’s interviews and articles on cross-cultural communication and meeting facilitation can be seen in the Taiwanese media.
Grace loves reading, sports, and people. She is a proud parent and an expectant mother of a second child.

Location: Malaga
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 17:30 CET
Session: Closing

Chema Gómez has 20 years of experience in the Meeting and Events industry as Professional Conference Organizer (PCO) as well as in the travel culture & technology resources management. Frequent author speaker and seminar presenter on MICE segment related topics.
Specialized in team management. Spirit of innovation applied to daily continuous improvement and overcoming of new challenges. His motto: to keep learning and to think outside the box!

Location: Malaga
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 16:15 CET
Session: Learning, unlearning and relearning business models

Location: Malaga
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 17:00 CET
Session: MICE: a Different Future Watch

Personal Love to go out with friends and family and enjoy every moment: dinning out, drinks, walks, beach, trekking… Read books and watch TV series, are two of my favorite hobbies at home. Sports: love running and I train to run half marathons.

Experience More than 32 years working and enjoying in the Meetings Industry. 10 years learning and working in a top Spanish DMC: Europa Tours having the opportunity to work with top leader Incentive Houses from the USA.
Another 10 years within the Sales & Marketing Management in emblematic Hotels like Marbella Club, Puente Romano, Don Carlos, in Marbella-Costa del Sol and opening new & challenging hotels like the Auditorium Madrid and the luxury Hotel Hacienda La Boticaria Resort, in Sevilla.
Since 2006 until now, Director of the Málaga Convention Bureau, managing the City strategy to become a top destination within the MICE sector in Spain and Europe.

MICE Association World Since 2006, totally engaged within the Top MICE world Associations like ICCA, SITE and MPI, bringing to Málaga the European events from SITE (ESNEP) in 2008, from ICCA (RSMP 2009) and from MPI (EMEC 2010). Also volunteering in the Board of Directors of the Spanish/Iberian Chapters from SITE, ICCA and MPI, becoming ICCA Iberian Chapter President from 2015-17 and MPI Iberian Chapter President from 2011-2013. In 2014 I co-founded the Foro MICE, Forum of Spanish Associations from the Meetings & Events Industry: ICCA, SITE, MPI, PCOSpain, SpainDMC’s, EMA (Events Managers) and AEVEA (Events Agencies) and, at present, member of the board. Nowadays, member of the Board of the ICCA Iberian Chapter 2019 – 2021.

Professor & Speaker I enjoy teaching in private schools and in public and private Universities like the Madrid European University, and the Málaga University, Professor in several Masters all related with the Meetings Industry world. Speaker in numerous national & international congresses, events and trade shows like the ICCA Congress, IBTM, IMEX, Efapco, EMEC, GMID, Eventodays…

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 15:55 CET
Session: Neuroscience

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 16:45 CET
Session: Big and Small Pharma

Frederik Wittock has worked 9 years for several Belgian ministers as chief advisor, science policy and public health.
Afterwards he worked 5 years in the vaccine world. He coordinated interactions with journalists and policy makers in Scandinavia and Benelux. He went to Johnson and Johnson where he did 15 years as European sr director in communications around scientific projects. Frederik supported a multitude of teams, pharmaceutical development, discovery, Infectious diseases, Jansen diagnostics and a broad campus support.
Frederik worked closely with the Esof team to give wide support to science communication. He is now acting as an independent consultant.

Live Broadcast
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 14:45 CST
Session: Studio Chat

Live Broadcast
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 16:15 CST
Session: Monday Break I + Studio Chat

Live Broadcast
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 14:45 CST
Session: Studio Chat

A veteran media and events producer, James was awarded the 2015 JMIC Power & Profile Award for giving voice to the meetings industry. He remains dedicated to communicating the value of business events, their legacies, and outcomes. In 2017 he founded The Iceberg presented by the Joint Meetings Industry Council, a non-profit and crowd-funded industry platform curated and distributed by the industry`s leading industry brands, practitioners, and ambassadors.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 3 November 2020
Time: 15:45 CET
Session: MPI Belgium Chapter – Our experience in online & hybrid education and networking

Since 2008: Sales Manager Leisure, Corporate & MICE – MONDORF Parc Hotel****Superior - MONDORF Domaine Thermal Luxembourg. Responsibilities cover: - Implementation of sales strategies insuring regular turnover growth
- Establishing appropriate sales relationships with travel agency networks and final client
- Market communication development (mailing campaigns)
- Establishing partnership projects with major suppliers of the destination
- Planning and co-ordination of educational tours configured specifically for the “Conference and Incentive” market segment
- Representation at major European tradeshows and various workshops
Since 2019: VP Membership Luxembourg - MPI Belgium Chapter.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 15:55 CET
Session: Boardroom Expert Session: Bridge over Troubled Water

Cécile has over 25 years of experience in the meetings industry, always in the publishing sector. She managed a publishing company for about 20 years, where she, among other activities, developed a new association magazine. In 2017 she launched her own company, KODE Publishing, together with business partner Remi Deve. Next to the globally-distributed, content-driven Boardroom magazine, the company is focusing on new developments for the association communtiy, among which Boardroom Minicourses.

Location: Luxembourg
Date: 2 November 2020
Time: 15:55 CET
Session: Boardroom Expert Session: Bridge over Troubled Water

A specialized journalist in the association management field, Remi has been working for more than ten years in the meetings industry. In 2017, together with Cecile Koch, he launched Boardroom, which has become the global reference point for the world of associations. Targeting associations based the world over, Boardroom doesn’t deal with the meetings industry per se but, instead, covers a wide spectrum of issues of interest to the associations. It also gives voice to destinations, venues, industry organisations, etc. who can help and partner with these associations.