The Meetings Industry Association (mia) and the Alliance of Independent Event Agencies (AIEA) will be further extending their collaboration to aid the recovery of the sector.
During the pandemic, the two industry associations have worked in partnership compiling sector insight to forecast when the business meetings and events industry can expect to return to pre-Covid levels. This further collaboration aims to see the mia and AIEA deliver a series of informative back to business events.
Starting on 7 April, the first event will see panelists from the boards of each organisation discussing both the challenges and opportunities presented to the sector from the latest findings, which were presented to government. Members of both business networks will be given the chance to get involved with the debate while also discussing industry-wide solutions around issues such as booker confidence.
Recognising the influence and role of hybrid in future business meetings and events, the second event will take place on 21 April. The event aims to provide event agencies the chance to discover some of the advancements and creative solutions technology can now provide, giving them the knowledge they need to support their clients. At this event, several mia member venues will also have the opportunity to individually present and showcase their evolved event offerings.
Concluding the series on 5 May, the mia board will continue its best practice guidance work collaborating with AIEA members. Together they will discuss the existing models and whether they are still both fit for purpose and fair for all parties in key areas such as cancellation terms and rate strategies.
Jane Longhurst, chief executive, mia, said: “We are delighted to be further collaborating with the AIEA to jointly provide much-needed support to all members at this crucial time. There is a huge amount of synergy between both of our business networks, so it is essential that we continue to work in partnership. We hope that these initial sessions will further promote an even greater understanding of each party’s needs, which will ultimately enable us as industry to grow back even stronger.”
Kerry Walsh, chairman, AIEA, added: “The partnership with the mia makes perfect sense, collaboration is key in today’s new world so joining forces to support our members is crucial. Whether that is in planning and executing events, learning from each other’s organisations, or just simply in bouncing ideas around, our members have a wealth of knowledge that can help each other overcome obstacles and these joint sessions will be vital for leading that charge.”
