Speakers from Amazon, TikTok, and Canva have been confirmed for IBTM World 2024‘s Exceptional Experiences program, a new event exclusively for in-house event professionals and marketers at brands and corporations.

The program will examine the power of artificial intelligence (AI), the importance of audience collaboration, the value of brand-building, the merits of harnessing key data, and the benefits of developing a marketing strategy around face-to-face interaction.

Designed to showcase ways to create event experiences that fuel business growth, it will be split into two parts. The first, on day one of IBTM World, will be an exclusive, invitation-only workshop for senior executives, vice-presidents, and influential leaders from different sectors. On day two of the show, the Exceptional Experiences Forum will take place on the Main Stage, beginning with a session titled, “‘Cre-AI-tivity as the new events game-changer: feel the fear, but do it anyway (and see the results).”

This session will be hosted by Lesly Simmons, head of Community Innovation at Amazon, and Paula Medeiros, global media project manager at Palo Alto Networks. Together, they will explore how the application of artificial intelligence (AI) has been misunderstood. Drawing on their first-hand experience, Simmons and Medeiros will explain the difference AI can make to business success when adopted early and utilized properly.

Lizzie Dale, vice-president of Marketing at WPP Plc, will follow and join a discussion on the power of events to generate marketing spend. Titled, “Making the business case for face-to-face: how to get more investment for events,” Dale and others will delve into the latest IPA Bellwether report, examining the strong appetite for in-person engagement shown by businesses, and discovering how in-house event professionals have continued to make the case for face-to-face interaction as an outsized marketing opportunity.

Jimmy Knowles, global head of Experiential at Canva, and Madolyn Grove, head of Creator Community at TikTok, will close the Exceptional Experiences Forum by looking at brand-building. In a session titled, “Building and expanding a world-class event brand – what differentiates good from great?,” they will argue that brand equity is a business’ single most important intangible asset, and share their experiences of creating strong global brand propositions that have continued to build equity over time with all stakeholders.

Other Exceptional Experiences sessions include:

• “The short-term win & the long-term gain: deciphering what really matters when it comes to measurement,” which will see event leaders sharing their personal experiences of turning data into compelling stories which generate investment;
• “Audience first every time: attracting people to your events by listening to them all the time,” an examination of how marketing pros use insights to inform their experiential strategy, and advocate for the importance of listening closely to customers before doing anything else. Speakers will detail how this fundamental rule creates a conversation across all platforms and results in a flywheel effect of SEO, organic traffic, data-build and increased conversion of attendees to events.

“This may be Exceptional Experiences’ inaugural outing at IBTM World but, with our array of pioneering speakers and our dedication to alleviating the challenges faced by in-house event professionals and marketers, we know it’s one that delegates will love,” said Claudia Hall, exhibition director at IBTM World. “More than anything else, we strive tirelessly to ensure IBTM World provides true value for attendees. This is why we can’t wait for in-house event professionals and marketers to discover the tangible, take-home insights and solutions that will make a significant difference to their working lives, as well as elevate their experience of the show with a program devoted exclusively to addressing their needs.”

IBTM World 2024 will be held November 19-21, 2024, at Fira de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.