Face-to-face meetings and proving your value as a planner were among the hot topics at the first ‘Exclusively Corporate @IMEX’ event, which kicked off the trade show yesterday (Monday).

As part of the new one-day education event in Frankfurt, a panel discussed important issues faced by corporate buyers and the first session of the event was broadcast live online and sponsored by London & Partners.

The panel was made up of Meredith Smith, director of travel and meetings, Asia Pacific and Japan for Merck; Alise Long, manager, corporate events and meetings for DSM, and Des Duggan, manager for education and staffing at IBM Inside Sales Europe. The event was moderated by Terri Breining, president of the Breining Group and Patrick Delaney, managing director of Ovation Global DMC.

Looking at current industry trends, the panel said Strategic Meeting Management (SMM) and technology were playing a major part in organising events. DSM’s Long said: “With the company I work for we are working hard on Strategic Meeting Management (SMM) and working with procurement and leadership departments, it’s not only about executing. SMM is still up and coming in Europe compared to the US where there are already a lot of tools in place. That’s definitely something I have noticed.”

Read more: http://www.meetpie.com