TAKING PLACE ON STAND P48: MESA EDUCATIONAL CAMPFIRE PROGRAMME
Tuesday 18th November
1030-1050 What organisers forget: The attendee journey beyond the event days
There is a lot of effort that organisers will put into the day of the event. But with every year, attendee retention becomes harder, even when the events are better. What makes the attendee come back next year, spread the word to their peers? Join this campfire session to go over the weakest points in event planning that are dragging down your ROI.
Jelmer van Ast, Founder & CEO, Conference Compass
1050-1110 Emotional Intelligence for the Events Industry
This session will explore the vital role of Emotional Intelligence (EI) in our industry, how you can boost your own EI, and how you can use it to future-proof your career against the advances of Artificial Intelligence in events management.
Rob Davidson, Managing Director, MICE Knowledge
1110-1130 Capitalising on AI to Uncover New Business Potential and Maximise Value from Event Content
In this session, we’ll explore how AI can unlock valuable insights, enhance audience engagement, and create new business opportunities from event content.
Herson Engcoy, Lead Product Advocate, Europe, Snapsight
1130-1150 MESA Group Hosted Buyer Presentation (Closed Group Presentation): A Discovery Journey of Event Services and Technologies for Your Next Event (Part One)
1200-1220 Stop buying tools. Start buying outcomes
Event tech decisions too often lead to silos, spreadsheets, and unclear ROI. This campfire explores how agencies can shift from features to outcomes, design smarter ecosystems, and turn vendors into true partners—protecting margins, speeding delivery, and asking sharper questions that drive measurable impact.
Knut Amund Gulsvik, Chief Commerical Officer, Qondor
1230-1250 The All-in-One Illusion: Why Event Tech Shouldn’t Be One-Size-Fits-All
All-in-one event tech promises everything but often delivers complexity, low adoption, and poor attendee experiences. This session challenges the myth and shows planners how to cut through feature bloat, ask the right vendor questions, and build a tech stack that drives engagement, simplifies delivery, and maximises event ROI.
Nathan Meyer, Events, Community & Growth, Guidebook Inc
1250-1310 Driving Engagement at your Event
Engagement doesn’t just happen - it’s designed. This campfire explores practical ways to spark interaction before, during, and after your event. From personalised journeys and gamification to tech tools and creative networking formats, we’ll share strategies that keep attendees connected, inspired, and coming back.
Victoria Hallin, Chief Revenue Officer & Simon Roberts, Director, Solutions Engineering, InvitePeople
1430-1450 MESA Group Presentation (Closed Group Presentation): A Discovery Journey of Event Services and Technologies for Your Next Event (Part Two)
1500-1520 Managing visitor flows and capturing data
Explore how smart, scalable solutions can streamline check-ins, manage visitor flow, and capture meaningful data. Whether you’re running the show or manning a booth, discover practical ways to reduce stress, improve ROI, and create seamless, engaging experiences for attendees.
Pascal Lagadec, VP Sales and Business Development, fielddrive
1520-1540 ISO 20121: Balancing Cost and Commitment
ISO 20121 is often described as the sustainability gold standard for events—but is it worth the effort? For meeting planners and service providers, certification can prove a responsible commitment to the environment and society, but it also comes with cost, complexity, and culture shifts. Around the fire, let’s swap stories: How are companies weighing the benefits against the challenges? And what creative workarounds or unexpected wins have you seen in practice?
Jan Diesbach, Director Sales & Strategy, ESTENSIS
1540-1600 How Organisers Use Meeting Pods To Grow Revenue While Improving Sustainability
Discover how meeting pods can unlock new event revenue streams while supporting sustainability goals. In this campfire talk, we’ll explore ways to make space work harder for you, grow sponsor revenue, win new business, create attractive entry level offers, all while enhancing attendee wellbeing and improving your carbon footprint.
David O'Coimin, Founder/Director, Nook Event Pods
JOIN MESA FOR DRINKS ON P49 1700-1800 ON TUESDAY
Wednesday 19th November
1030-1050 Let’s Talk Marketing: AI, Influencers & Finding Your Edge
Marketing isn’t just for marketers anymore. Whether you’re promoting an event, building your personal brand, or automating your workload, this chat is for you. Led by a micro-influencer in the events space, we’ll explore AI tools, influencer marketing, and practical ways to stand out - without burning out. Bring your hacks, questions, and curiosity.
Johnny Martinez, Partnerships Manager, CrowdComms & Cat Kevern, Managing Director, Electric Cat
1050-1110 Everything, Everywhere, All at Once… Conference Edition!
Imagine attendees watching a livestream of a parallel session while sitting in another lecture hall. Is this the new way to experience a congress? Increasingly, the answer is yes. Today’s participants expect full digital support and content access alongside their in-person experience. This campfire session dives into the playful but serious question: how can planners embrace this trend, balance hybrid needs, and ensure that delegates truly get everything, everywhere, all at once?
Thomas Berghausen, Owner, meta-fusion
1110-1130 Chasing the Dream: How I’m Writing a Novel While Working Full-Time in Event Tech
Discover how I’m turning my dream of becoming a published writer into reality—while working full-time in event tech. I’ll share the mindset, habits, and surprising ways my sales career supports my creative journey, offering practical inspiration for anyone balancing ambition with a busy professional life.
Marlen P. Chason, Senior Sales Executive, Conference Compass
1130-1150 MESA Group Hosted Buyer Presentation (Closed Group Presentation): A Discovery Journey of Event Services and Technologies for Your Next Event (Part One)
1230-1250 Capturing Attention: The Art of Engaging Your Audience
How can you capture attention? How can you truly engage your audience? Vincent Bruneau, Founder & CEO of Sparkup, spent over 10 years captivating audiences on stage and on television as a professional magician. In this campfire session, he reveals how the psychology of engagement and techniques inspired by magic can turn a simple message into a memorable experience - one that grabs attention, creates emotion, and inspires action. Join him for a special campfire session to discover how magic, neuroscience and technology can spark engagement, capture attention, and transform your events -turning passive attendees into active, fully involved participants. A dynamic session for anyone looking to rethink event formats, create impactful experiences, and build lasting audience engagement.
Vincent Bruneau, Founder & CEO, Sparkup
1250-1310 Lessons from the Exhibition or Conference Stage – The Emotional Hook
As a visitor, your time is your greatest investment. What makes an exhibition or conference feel truly worthwhile for you to know whether it is worth attending again? This campfire explores the “return on time” for delegates - from first impressions to lasting memories - and uncovers how staging, energy, and connection turn attendance into real value.
Jakob Dyrbye, Founder, The Trade Show Academy
1430-1450 MESA Group Presentation (Closed Group Presentation): A Discovery Journey of Event Services and Technologies for Your Next Event (Part Two)
1500-1520 Boost event attendance, engagement and revenue with languages
Want bigger audiences, deeper engagement and richer conversations that truly connect? Learn practical steps to use language, including sign language, to transform your event, opening the door to more voices, greater diversity and lasting impact.
Julia Danmeri, Founder, TranslateAble
1520-1540 Ultimate fusion of elevated team building & practical learning & development
Discover how music can build trust, boost motivation, and strengthen team dynamics. This interactive session helps meeting professionals create unified teams by exploring individual strengths, improving communication, and fostering collaboration. Walk away with practical tools to support thriving teams—whether within your organisation or for your clients.
Sam McNeill, General Mgr (UK/Europe), SongDivision
1540-1600 Using AI photo distribution to explore an untapped revenue stream for organisers
In this session, we’ll explore how organisers can unlock new revenue streams through their sponsors with just one simple tool. Once built for attendee experience and UGC (User Generated Content), AI-powered photo distribution has now become a powerful driver of sponsor visibility and an untapped revenue model for organisers.
Anup Mohan, CEO & Co-Founder, Premagic
JOIN US ON WEDNESDAY EVENING FOR THE MESA RE-FRESH DINNER
SPONSORED BY ARC INTERNATIONAL EVENT INSURANCE
Thursday 20th November
1030-1050 Biohack your way through events
This relaxing session is presented by Silent Seminars! It is targeted at events professionals but anyone can benefit. A journey in how to use your body to help you remain calm in stressful situations - both at events, and in the office. Join us for a breathing exercise, a few stretches, and a thoroughly magical visualisation - all through Silent Seminars headsets featuring ambient sounds and the voice of your guide. Suitable for all ages and abilities. No prior experience required. The session will be seated. If you have any accessibility requirements, please let us know before. We just ask that you relax, breath, and have a wonderful time with us! You will leave clear-minded, energised, and refreshed, with a new lease of life for all those old, and new, connections at IBTM.
Chet Olafsson, Sales Director, Silent Seminars
1050-1110 How to boost learning at events - the informal approach :-)
Events are hotbeds of learning. However the most impactful learning is often not in the speaker sessions, but in the conversations we have with others between sessions. How can you boost and promote this valuable informal learning at your events? Join our informal learning session to find out!
Tamsin Treasure-Jones & Raymond Elferink, Co-Founders, Kubify
1110-1130 The Event Portfolio Matrix
Tired of wasted resources and conflicting stakeholder goals? Join this exclusive Campfire to learn the Portfolio Matrix. We'll teach you how to plot every event by Resources vs. Success. You will learn to find and scale your "Unicorn" events, eliminate "Vanity Projects," and gain the data needed to prove your team’s value and align your entire organisation.
Richard Morris, Director, Active Media Events
1130-1150 MESA Group Hosted Buyer Presentation (Closed Group Presentation): A Discovery Journey of Event Services and Technologies for Your Next Event (Part One)
1200-1220 Smaller. Smarter. Stronger: How Digital Posters Revolutionize Engagement and Conquer Network Costs
Tired of paper waste and empty poster halls? How can you guarantee 100% meaningful author engagement, eliminate no-shows, and structure interactions? I’ll expose how digital posters enhance the poster session experience, deliver sustainability, inclusion for people with limited mobility, and overcome the high cost of network infrastructure.
Joel Chetzroni, CEO, Multilearning
1230-1250 Why insurance is so important and who is responsible when things go wrong?
Are you prepared if something goes wrong at your event? Join this session to learn how event insurance can protect you from unexpected risks—from cancellations to accidents. We'll break down who’s responsible when things go sideways and share must-have tips for building a solid risk management checklist. Don’t leave your event to chance—get the insights you need to stay protected and stress-free!
Terry Waller, Managing Director, Arc International Event Insurance
1250-1310 Buy Back Time: Smarter Event Management in 3 Steps
Event teams lose countless hours to repetitive admin and misaligned processes. In this campfire, discover three practical ways to ‘buy back time’: automating routine tasks, aligning sales and marketing, and integrating CRM data. Walk away with actionable strategies to save hours and focus on increasing event ROI.
Bart Declerck, Strategic & Key Account Management & Elia Assaf, Sales Manager, InviteDesk
1430-1450 MESA Group Presentation (Closed Group Presentation): A Discovery Journey of Event Services and Technologies for Your Next Event (Part Two)
Our audio visual screens are sponsored and provided by ACS audiovisual solutions 
Our campfire seating is sponsored and provided by FestivalChairs 
MESA campfires will take place using MESA Member Silent Seminars headsets. 