Spain brings you Food for Thought was the online event on June 17th 2021. Spain came to help you to generate new ideas for your associations whilst making new connections!
The Spain brings you Food for Thought event was brought to you by the Spain Convention Bureau and the Tourist Office of Spain in Brussels in partnership with: TastingSpain, Air Europa and #Roadmap2030 community for association professionals, by Boardroom Magazine and Bond – Digital Innovators & Community Builders with the support of the Cocoa Team.
The goal of the event was associations generate new ideas with, one-to-one consultative meetings, collective group brainstorming over tapas of course, and brain picking & challenging Association experts.
About the event #SPAINbyfft
For one full day, the participants had the opportunity to hang out with people from the places where they are likely to have their next live event and brainstorm together for new ideas for an association. Why would you choose a Spanish destination?
Once live events are possible again, of course, people working for the associations want their members to go somewhere beautiful and fun. Well, that is exactly what people from Spain are known for. It is what they do naturally, helped by the pastime the country has become famous for all over the world: Tapas!
During the day, associaions` representtives had many opportunities to meet the representatives of first and second Spanish tier destinations. Not through standard 15-minute sales talks, but in a formatted 30-minute idea generating format that will help you with association’s needs.
In addition, the programme had two content slots focused entirely on issues that keep many an association executive awake at night:
- member engagement
- technology and innovations
- and financial resilience.
And of course, we had Spanish Tapas!
Who could register for the event from associations?
- Association Executives
- Association Operations Managers
- Association Senior Staff
- Any decision Maker in an Association
Spanish destinations and convention bureaux
Building trusted long relationships, getting new fresh ideas with their experience and also getting support for next planned events in Spain from convention bureaux professionals:
- Alicante
- Barcelona
- Bilbao
- Gijón
- Girona
- Madrid
- Málaga
- Salamanca
- San Sebastian
- Sevilla
- Sitges
- Tenerife
- València
- Zaragoza
The experts
We invited leading MICE exprest and associations specialists:
- Cécile Koch – Boardroom Founder & Managing Partner
- Mike van Der Vijver – MindMeeting Co-founder and Meeting Designer
- Nadia Rubtsova – Business & Events Academy Founder and Associations’ Specialist
- Marc Mekki – Bond Founder
- Ivo J. Franschitz – Owner & Managing Director ENITED Business Events GmbH
- Ksenija Polla – CMP, ICCA Regional Director North America
- Angela Guillemet – Executive Director INCON & Association Expert
- David Benitez – CoCoA Content Cocktails Founder
What did experts say during the event?
„How should associations rethink their way of communicating with destinations? Associations have to become SMART associations if they want to evolve and grow and be sustainable.” Cécile Koch
„Wondering if there is a future for international associations? Let’s join forces in two sessions packed with content and find out what it could be!” Mike van Der Vijder
„Having multiple revenue streams for the associations is a must-have. Having a sustainable business model does not mean being able to survive, but being able to grow. Events are just one of those streams and very often the biggest one. How can destinations help the associations to expand their portfolio of revenue generating activities?” Nadia Rubtsova
“The key to digital engagement is relevance and proper segmentation is the key to relevance. Successful events are the result of thriving associations` members communities, and communities are active year round. What if you could accomplish twice the number of tasks in half the time? New, smart technology can help you get there. “ Marc Mekki
“How can associations evolve their meetings? Associations need to look at their long-lasting legacies in a destination and consider how their meetings will help in furthering their field of expertise as well as help in the sustainable growth of local communities”. Ksenija Polla
“What’s the future role of business events in an association”world”`? For SMART associations, business events become unique stages & platforms of live communication, because it’s all about people. Ivo J. Franschitz
How to keep associations financially healthy? What is the importance of the nexus between associations, conferences, and meetings? Angela Guillemet
“Why is it so hard to feel humanly connected with other colleagues in Associations? Human 2 Human interactions between colleagues in associations happen with proper content and networking designs in meeting programmes.” David Benitez
Partners
Find out more about the event partners:
- Spain Convention Bureau
- Tourist Office of Spain in Brussels
- Tasting Spain
- Air Europa
- Roadmap2030 community for association professionals
- Boardroom Magazine
- Bond – Digital Innovators & Community Builders
Cocoa Team involved in the event and their roles:
- Mike – facilitation and meeting design
- David – facilitation and organizatio
- Jaroslaw Marciuk – content creation, social media and digital marketing
- Sina Bünte – technical online event support
Thank you All for joining the SPAIN brings you Food for Thought event. Thank you for supporting our event by attending and contributing. We hope you enjoyed the experience and Tapas. #SPAINbyfft
Please let us know if you have any questions. We hope the best for you and success in your future.