International venue association AIPC’s third intake of Future Shapers have graduated, following a competitive on stage pitch to solve convention centre industry challenges, at the AIPC Annual Conference in San Jose, Costa Rica.
In the grand finale of their nine-month accelerated leadership and entrepreneurial skills programme, two teams competed to convince the industry’s CEOs and senior leaders to invest in and choose their solutions to challenges currently faced by the industry.
AIPC chairman Greg O’Dell said: “The AIPC Future Shapers are not only building their own net worth and skillset they are contributing to a more productive and effective convention centre management industry…We now have six white papers for concepts that are in a range of phases of implementation, further research or viability testing, including the Optimum Yield management platform which has been built and phase one has been implemented at Marina Bay Sands.”
The Future Shapers presented their ideas, and the top two led to the formation of Team Future Force and Team Dreamflow, who were judged by the conference audience on innovation, presentation and their ability to outline their analysis of the product, market and financial viability.
AIPC CEO, Sven Bossu said: “Every Future Shaper provided valuable input throughout the course and the annual conference and it’s a delight to see them grown in their skills and their confidence over the nine month programme…Today, I am delighted to announce Team Future Force, and their concept to build the brand of the business events industry while solving resourcing constraints with an industry talent development, attraction and retention platform, as the winner of the 2024 AIPC Future Shapers Annual Challeng. Their goal was to develop a central hub that will offer connectivity and a unified voice to increase the talent pool for convention centres globally, connecting students and freelancers, educational institutions, venues, and business events associations around the world. I would also like to acknowledge Team Dreamflow and their solution to streamline and clarify communications amongst team members operating events and their clients through a centralised platform designed for convention centres.
“The AIPC Future Shapers Taskforce and I have witnessed the growth of each of the programme participants. They have all engaged with the course and one another to collaborate on two exemplary solutions to challenges faced by our industry today that we anticipate will now also be practicably applied”
Congratulations to all nine graduates of the 2024 AIPC Future Shapers programme:
Future Force:
- Team Leader – Gabriella Alberici, senior manager, Business Development Corp, government & events, ICC Sydney, Australia
- Chao Wang, international business development manager, Viparis, France
- Ciara Davidson, head of governance and stakeholder engagement, company secretary, ICC Belfast, Northern Ireland
- Kwok Wai Kay, deputy director of operations, KLCC, Malaysia
- Tiffany Chung, deputy director of sales, KLCC, Malaysia
DreamFlow:
- Team Leader – Rózsa Szilágyi, project manager, Hungexpo, Hungary
- Ali Toorani, event manager, Exhibition World Bahrain, Bahrain
- Arwa Ali Al Rasbi, senior events operations, Oman Convention Centre, Oman
- Manon Jongejan, building manager, World Forum the Hague, The Netherlands