INDIA – International Association of Professional Conference Organisers’ (IAPCO) president, Philippe Fournier, says social communication means the new meetings formats are becoming hybrid, but is sure that it is face-to-face meetings that power the economy.
This was his keynote message delivered in India’s Silicon Valley, location of the India Convention Promotion Bureau’s (ICPB) Conventions India Conclave – 2010.
The Conclave took place at the LaLit Ashok, Bangalore, 27-28 August, and was opened by the Minister of Tourism for Karnataka ,G. Janardhana Reddy.
The conference attracted 250 delegates representing both international and national buyers as well as ICPB members.
“Meetings have been a solution over the centuries,” said Fournier, “and today’s globalisation can only enhance the need to meet. When people meet, things happen, things change, things improve and economy rises. Face to face meetings power the economy.”
Fournier underlined that, without knowledge, the financial economy cannot improve.
“But do not be mistaken. Social communication is an essential asset to the new type of meetings that are developing today. On-line activities can feed the meeting before, during and after the event, fuelling the ever-increasing knowledge economy. The new meeting formats are live, they are virtual, they are hybrid!”
