7th Global Event Awards: Best Trade Show Finalists

In the following weeks, we will introduce you to the Eventex finalists - those extraordinary eventprofs who are competing for a Global Event Award. You will meet them in person come January at the special gala ceremony at Croke park but first, we would like to offer you a brief preview of their projects and products that transform events into cutting-edge experiences.

Best Trade Show Finalists

Cacao Barry World Chocolate Masters by New Balls Please

28 - 30 October, 2015 | Paris, France

Watch videoCacao Barry gathered 20 of the world’s most talented chocolatiers who created real showpieces in front of a live audience. The central theme of the event, chocolate, was presented as a product of nature - with natural flavours, ingredients, colours and materials, plants and trees. The art of chocolate creation was presented as taming of nature by men which was also the theme of the competition between the chocolatiers.The event had an extensive press coverage and online reach including live stream on the event website, the official YouTube channel; online compilations on social media etc. A glass house in the middle of the booth was used as a media space where the jury, consumers, chocolatiers and the press could make a statement about the event. The event also presented Cacao Café and the new Cacao Barry packagings with an exposition.The event provided six different zones for different target groups - Consumer Zone, B2B Zone, Competition Zone, Chef’s Gallery, Tribune and Or Noir Corner.Engagement was ensured through high consumer integration whereby participants had the possibility to vote for their favourite showpiece on social media and follow closely the competition at the consumer zone. There were also B2B networking possibilities at the Cacao Café networking zone for chocolate brands.The organisers had arranged for a variety of entertainment acts - percussions during the proclamation and a drum street act at the end of the second competition. As a fun touch, there were pralines on a conveyor-belt, actors commenting on the creations and finally, the jury was carried away on a sedan chair.The event gathered 90,000 live visitors, reached an additional 3 million people through social media and engaged 50,000 voters in the competition.Read full entry here

Connections Events by Connections

Connections Luxury, 3-6 April 2016 | Rocco Forte Verdura Resort, Sicily, Italy Connections Meetings, 29 May - 1 June 2016 | Malaga, Spain Connections Luxury, 19-22 June, 2016 | Phuket, Thailand Connections Luxury, 16-19 October, 2016 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Watch videoConnections is the global networking and event organiser exclusively serving senior leaders and experts in luxury, wellness and meetings. The main objective is to change the conventional and corporate mind-set of how business and meetings should be done. Connections Events is proposing a new format of experiencing something together whilst discussing business, attaching an emotion to each meeting. This helps build trust between the different parties involved and leads to longer-lasting business relationships.Every event is different, but the agenda includes a mix of interactive group experiences, targeted workshops and roundtable discussions of topical issues as well as one-to-one business meetings. Connections is brought to different locations around the globe, and the experiences are unique and typical of the region where each event is hosted in order to showcase not only the hotel but the destination itself.Some of the most popular experiences this year include samba classes, slacklining, beach volleyball, batik painting, Thai boxing, wine on canvas, donkey riding, chocolate making and flamenco dancing. Wellbeing is also an important element of the experience - yoga classes, bike rides, gym or runs around the local area as well as healthy snacks and refreshments for the coffee breaks.Each attendee receives a personal welcome and send off as well as a tailored booklet featuring their meetings agenda, useful information about the event and important details such as emergency numbers and wifi passwords. All our participants are fully-hosted and fully-managed – all they need to do is book their flights.Connections don't believe in ‘ten-minute business meetings where all you do is a quick sales pitch and a business card exchange.” Instead, they allow participants “to meet their counterparts for 45 minutes, encouraging them to get to know the person behind the business professional, so they will be more likely to pick up the phone and reach out to each other in the future and do business together.” By bringing the event to amazing places around the world, outside of crowded meeting halls, participants are inspired to be creative and to interact with each other.Read full entry here

Innovation Expo by Obsession Evenementen & Communicatie

4 April, 2016 | Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Watch videoInnovation Expo offers a stage to innovative projects that contribute to smart and sustainable cities.The project was commissioned by three cooperating ministries: Ministry of Infrastructure and the Envirionment, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations with the ultimate goal to showcase innovations, call for cooperation and connect to inspiring initiatives. The client invited five event agencies to pitch their ideas for this project. Instead of losing energy to win the pitch, the agencies proposed to start working together in a one-time “Event Consortium”, an innovative approach to event planning.The event was designed in close cooperation with the participants. Several co-creation sessions were organized prior to the event. Thus, the event network was created in the early beginning of the process through the co-creation sessions. Because the event was accessible for involved stakeholders as well for interested citizens, the second circle of the exhibitors and Social Media also attracted new people. #IE2016 was trending topic on Twitter for the two days during the event.The location was a combination of indoor and outdoor venues on a development site where the innovations could be demonstrated in their natural habitat with natural elements like water, with the sun shining and the wind blowing. The exhibition stands were in fact reused shipping containers, and every exhibitor had their own container to expose their innovations and sustainable solutions. Interactive presentations were held by 110 national and international speakers in a variety of settings. Here are some of the projects presented at the expo:

• City Kit to easily transform empty real estate into flexible housing units.
• Bio-based house equipped with smart and green energy, water and waste solutions.
• The iGreen plant backpack to produce clean air while walking around through active filtration by plant roots, substrate and Hepa filter.

Innovation Expo 2016 was sold out, and there were 61% more visitors than the previous years representing the target groups that were set during the planning stages. The event attracted 70% more exhibitors than the target goal and facilitated 44% more informal connections than the previous editions.The Innovation Expo took place during the Dutch presidency of the EU. With 38 international ministers attending the event, the organisers demonstrated practical and sustainable solutions to complex urban issues on high levels as well. Five green deals were signed during the event which continued the engagement even after the Innovation Expo.The theme ‘Sustainable Urban Delta’ was literally intertwined in the event because the venue was actually transformed into a temporary sustainable urban city.Read full entry here

Microsoft Future Decoded 2016 by Momentum Worldwide

1st – 2nd November 2016 | London, UK

Microsoft Future Decoded returned for its third successful year better than ever, inviting business & tech guests to unlock the future of their businesses & further reinforce Microsoft’s position as thought-leaders in digital transformation.The main objective of the event was to grow understanding, uptake & sales of the brand’s ‘One Microsoft’ ecosystem of products. The paperless event used APIs to integrate registration, delegate tracking (using Beacons and scanning), the live event delegate app, post-event reporting, and a direct feed to Microsoft’s sales team. For Microsoft, this allowed all user engagement to be measured and analysed in real-time using their tech. Guests’ scores were instantly sent to the sales team to follow up in the best way for that customer. Partnered with a sponsorship model that helped cost-neutralise the expo & deliver Microsoft sales through event partners, these led to a massive return on investment for Microsoft, growing year on year.The event was unified across two days and 196 sessions to 18,600 registered delegates, 29 total keynotes and 196 breakout sessions.A buzz was ensured with big-name presenters (Phillip Hammond, Martine Wright), tailored breakouts, preference-based guest invitations, plus a closing keynote from Bill Bryson. Microsoft’s digital transformation vision was brought to life with customer case studies such as Rolls Royce (a giant jet engine) and Bloodhound (supersonic Rocket car). Guests could get hands-on with the latest Microsoft technology, including Hololens & HTC Vive demos to outline the AR vs VR future vision. Liquid nitrogen displays showcased cloud data recovery systems in a highly engaging way. Products were showcased with real-life examples, not just a presentation on a screen.Future Decoded unified across the network and channels, ensuring that guests had an intimate experience customised to them from start to finish - socially interactive through the in-device app, synchronised with the Microsoft CRM platform and sales team. Information and stats were updated live for guests at the event on digital screens. The result was a true case study of digital transformation in action, from the customer registering to the event, until they headed home and viewed the trip report waiting in their inbox.2016 was Future Decoded’s most successful year yet, 60% bigger than ever before and with sponsorship sales of $1.6m. 5000+ leads were scored and sent through to Microsoft sales for personalised follow-up. The media coverage of the event was also excellent with coverage from Sky News, BBC and ITV and 107 press stories from 69 media attendees. The social reach was estimated at 63.7m - 27% more than 2015.Read full entry hereThe winners and runners-up will be revealed at the gala ceremony at Croke Park, 24 January 2017. Register now and join the league of extraordinary event professionals!