Latest innovations and technology to help planners showcased throughout IMEX in Frankfurt

“It’s always great to receive recognition, but to have this level of endorsement from an industry leading event is really special,” explains Jan Hoffman-Keining, co-founder of Spacebase, and winner of this year’s #IMEXpitch at IMEX in Frankfurt.

Spacebase, an online portal for meeting room hire, was crowned the winner by an expert judging panel, following a live pitch to a packed audience.

Each year the #IMEXpitch gives visitors the chance to discover the rising starts of the technology sector as exciting new start-ups compete for audience attention and votes. This year’s finalists showcased technologies dedicated to business networking, streamlining travel, audience interaction, crowdsourcing of content and the use of data through AI. Many of these captured the attention of visitors, as Kate Cioch, CEO of the Polish Society for Vascular Surgery, and visitor to the show explains: “This was a great way to showcase a wide range of interesting start ups. I frequently use technology in my job and can already see how at least two of these start us could be useful for my organization.”

Visitors can explore the show’s largest technology area to date with new EventTech Tours. Participants meet a variety of exhibitors during the hour-long tours, which run throughout the show and are in both English and German. Technology enabling app creation, the latest badging developments and even holograms are summarised, giving planners a valuable steer on just some of the technological highlights across the show floor.

Technology has also been explored at IMEX through a packed programme of education sessions. Tim Bull from etouches detailed Five ways technology can improve the attendee experience in real time. He explained how to use technology to boost team collaboration and delegate engagement in order to create personalised and memorable event experiences. The importance of choosing technology to fit the objectives of the event was highlighted: “Consider this: what’s my mission statement?” he said.

This session is part of a wider programme of free education that runs across the three days of the show. Participants can choose from 10 tracks including technology, business skills, diversity and marketing in order to create their own bespoke schedule.

Carina Bauer, CEO of the IMEX Group, explains: “IMEX is a show that’s crafted around business – meeting new or well-known suppliers and partners and doing deals. But we also value innovation and inspiration, and we want to help event planners to see and understand what technology can do for them.”

eTN is a media partner for IMEX.