We talked about the current trends of conferences and congresses with Aneta Zímová, managing partner at Blue Events. She told us how Blue Event solves networking, what they use social networks for and what plans they have for 2017.
The event industry in 2016 succeeded in terms of the number of events and news. How was 2016 for Blue Events?
Very intense - besides the 13 successful conferences where we welcomed 4,000 participants, we celebrated 25 years on the market, while realigning and strengthening our management team. We launched a new website and mobile application in order to further strengthen the experience at our conferences and combine the personal and the online worlds.
Blue Events focus mainly on conferences. Do you see some trends in this area?
I believe in networking both online and off-line. Personal meetings are irreplaceable in the digital age. However, are still finding ways of using new technologies to make our conferences even stronger. As the economy is thriving again, people in companies are considering where to invest their time and attention, which is why we appreciate our partners, speakers and participants at our events.
Do you deal with networking somehow?
Yes. We have developed a mobile application in cooperation AV MEDIA, in which participants have useful information with the possibility of linking and networking. Or they can contact the organizers with two clicks - whether you are looking for your room, or need to immediately solve something with us. If I’m not mistaken, no other conference in the Czech Republic offers a similar service.
How do you use social networks for your events? And how would you like to use them in the future?
We mainly use social networks directly at conferences for “live coverage” and for involving the audience (an opportunity to ask questions etc.). We would also like to offer space for specialized communities in the online world. We have already expanded the Retail in Detail Community and Effective Communication networks on LinkedIn, a regular newsletter, and we are planning more.
