The saying, sharing is caring, takes centrestage at ICCA Congress 2023, as the event kicks off its first Sharing Hubs sessions on Monday morning. Designed as a platform for open dialogue, knowledge exchange, and collaborative brainstorming, Sharing Hubs aims to foster organic conversations on a wide range of topics, bringing together diverse perspectives and expertise.
Some 80 Topic Champions, who are experts in specific areas, are selected to lead these open conversations built on eight topics that are critical at the moment – People, Talent, Resources; Communication and Success; Sustainability (and Legacy); Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; Changing Business Relations and Negotiations; Partnerships, Business and Commerce; Event and Participant Experience; and Technology and Tools.
Congress delegates are invited ahead of the event to select the topics that matter most to them. Through a rotation format, delegates can explore their selected topic with many industry peers. Each discussion takes about 30 minutes before groups are shuffled.
The same eight topics will be discussed again on Tuesday, and Topic Champions will provide a round-up of their conversations, actions and outcomes for a final presentation on Wednesday. These takeaways will be converted into action items for ICCA and the industry in the months and years to come.
Dahlia El Gazzar, tech evangelist with DAHLIA+ Agency, who is one of the Topic Champions for the Technology conversation, told TTG Show Daily that Sharing Hubs is a “great idea”.
“It fosters closer relationships between the attendees, whether they are first-timers or 10-timers. The number one reason most people come to an event is for connections; to connect, people seek out a common thread,” said El Gazzar.
She believes that the Sharing Hubs exercise brings people with the same interests together, and encourages the exchange of different perspectives.
For the Technology topic on Monday, participants were mostly keen on AI development and its impact on their area of business. Uses of AI in meetings, events and content creation were shared along with concerns about privacy, authenticity, costs, and reluctance of adoption by team members and/or clients.
Under the topic, Changing Business Relations and Negotiations, a wide range of challenges were discussed, including risk sharing, rising operational costs, inflation-driven product contraction to maintain prices, optimising information sharing, and negotiation transparency.
