Cvent, an industry-leading meetings, events, and hospitality technology provider, concluded its second edition of Cvent Accelerate in Dubai, where technology’s role in catapulting event growth was front and centre.
The 380+ attendees were challenged to explore the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) – based integrations in transforming the events and hospitality landscape. The expert-led sessions revealed the trends that will shape the future of events, data-driven analytics to develop strong strategies and increase return on investment from events and adoption of sustainable practices to strengthen the commitment to the planet.
The high interest of in-person attendees in the conference reflects the sentiment of the industry that in-person events are back, with 47 per cent of event planners expecting face to face event demand to increase.
Gokul Bajaj, Senior Director of Sales & General Manager, Cvent, emphasised, “Dubai’s events industry continues to thrive, gaining worldwide recognition for its international conferences, incentive events, venues, and exhibitions.
“Event professionals are progressively embracing cutting-edge technology to improve efficiencies throughout the event lifecycle, spanning from procurement to post-event stages. They are aware that this uptake will not only fuel growth in the event-driven revenue but also propel them towards their desired goals for future expansion.
“Cvent Accelerate offers a stage where our community connects to explore possibilities amidst challenges and conventionalities. The valuable interactions with professionals from events, hospitality, and marketing have provided us with profound insights, offering diverse perspectives that ignite fresh opportunities, not just for Cvent, but for the entire events industry,” said Gokul.
Industry experts discussed event retention, planning and management, technology and how access to data can further support sustainability goals. Leading innovators shared transformative ideas on using attendee foot traffic to generate power for events, and outcomes from experimenting with aeroponics and reducing food waste.
Cvent Accelerate Dubai significantly contributed to environmental conservation with 118 trees to be planted in a mangrove reforestation site in Mozambique, 18,000 Kgs of C02e to be reduced through investments in United Nations Certified Emission Reduction renewable energy projects and 400 invitees and employees of which approximately 99 per cent travelled locally.
Nico Nicholas, CEO, Trees4Events – Zeero – Trees4Travel, Cvent’s sustainability partner said: “With sustainability being more crucial than ever, there is an intensifying need for our leaders to inspire positive change, educate, reduce and mitigate the impact of events.
“Events are a perfect platform to walk the talk when it comes to showcasing and implementing the sustainability goals. The impact of events on environment is definite, and today we have advanced technology to understand the impression it leaves. We can easily track the data, analyse it and use it for implementing practices that reduces our carbon footprint,” said Nicholas.