Felicia Asiedu, senior marketing manager, Cvent, tells Conference News how Cvent’s BIG Community Conversation came about and what its primary mission is.
Technology conference, Cvent CONNECT, came back a little differently this year. The 2022 agenda introduced many new elements, including Cvent’s BIG Community Conversation. Conference News sat down with Cvent’s senior marketing manager, Felicia Asiedu, to understand what the Community Conversation entails and the impact it hopes to have on the industry.
“Recently, I was talking with my network about D&I (Diversity and Inclusion) and noticed that it was primarily Black women around the table. We had a great chat, but someone pointed out that we are the same people, talking about the same problems to ourselves,” says Asiedu.
This ultimately raised the question of: how are we going to change this and ensure everyone is not only talking about D&I, but also making positive change themselves? This prompted Asiedu to reach out to associations and the wider industry and ask them to join a bigger, community conversation at Cvent CONNECT.
“We always have these conversation type sessions at Cvent CONNECT, so why not have a community conversation about these issues that are important to us? We wanted to start with D&I because we have already had lots of conversations about sustainability.
“The room was very mixed – we had a lovely big group of men and women from many different races across Europe, as well as individuals from LGBTQ+ community,” she explains.
Asiedu says the panel had representatives from: The Association of British Professional Conference Organisers (ABPCO), Association of Event Organisers (AEO), Event & Visual Communication Association (EVCOM), UFI, Meeting Professionals International (MPI), Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE) and New Intent – a new D&I and environmental action advocacy organisation. “All showed a real desire to make a conscious change, and some have also contributed to the Black in the Boardroom Report,” she adds.
“We discussed practical things like how to get into the industry, how to reach board level, and how to avoid tackling D&I from a ‘quota’ perspective. “One interesting point made was that D&I is a bit too broad. Yes, there can be some intersectionality within this (e.g. a Black woman who is also neurodiverse) – but sometimes, we need to think about how to tackle the individual elements in it – rather than always lumping it into one conversation,” reveals Asiedu.
Keeping together
Post-discussion, Asiedu wanted to keep the momentum going, as well as the community together. “I suggested we meet up digitally in spring to see if any progress had been made,” she reveals.
“EVCOM said it has shadow board that informs D&I – so I pointed out, why don’t all of your associations have one shadow board to talk about these issues, like D&I, that’s a joint a collected one?
“That way, you’re informing your boards about the same thing and it’s easier to create and reach goals – because with D&I I think it’s a bit siloed, everyone is trying something, which is a great, but if we don’t have a shared route, it will make it difficult to make any progress.”
