From June 21-24, Duo hosted the IFES World Summit in La Grande-Motte and Montpellier, the largest international gathering of service providers from the exhibition and event services industry.
The IFES (International Federation of Exhibition and Event Services), of which Duo is a member, is an international organization based in Brussels which brings together the most important service providers in the exhibition and events service industry from all over the world.
Its objective is to increase international cooperation, share expertise and promote the exhibition, conference and events industries, referred to with the acronym MICE: Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events.
Following past conferences held in Cape Town, New Delhi, Vienna and Istanbul, Duo was entrusted with planning the 2017 Conference. The reason behind this choice? The perspective of gathering participants together for 3 days in the same place under a mini-university “Global Campus” theme!
With 220 participants, this year’s conference was one of the most attended in the event’s history.
On the agenda: prestigious speakers such as Matthieu Rosy, General Manager of UNIMEV and Pablo Nakhlé Cerruti, Delegate Director at VIPARIS; networking and collaborative intelligence workshops led by Jeremy Stubbs, and a Pecha Kucha workshop on the theme of design and commitment.
The event also featured tours and evenings out in La Grande-Motte.
Very important focus was given to Sustainable Development with the commitments that were made. For example, this included choosing local suppliers and products, replacing water bottles with drinking fountains and giving a free water bottle to each participant, and implementing an environmental calculator.
Béatrice Eastham, Director of Green-Evenements, a sustainable development strategy consulting company, hosted a brainstorming session that featured the testimonial of two ISO20121-certified booth and design agencies, Galis and StandPub, and a presentation by Hélène de la Moureyre from Bilum, who transforms advertising awnings into bags and accessories.
All participants then took a tour of Duo with a conference led by Duo CEO Philippe Beille on the theme of wellness at the workplace. This tour concluded with sampling wines from local producers and a gala evening at the Domaine de l’Enclos de La Croix.
Organizing this event provided an unprecedented opportunity to promote the French subsidiary and highlight the attractiveness of Montpellier and La Grande-Motte as a location for events, trade shows and business tourism in general.
Duo would like to thank IFES for its trust, all of its staff who made every effort to welcome participants under remarkable conditions, as well as all the partners who helped make this project a success, including the Tourism Bureau of La Grande-Motte, and the Belambra for its hospitality.
To learn more, please visit the IFES website
