< PreviousThroughout the first week of August, Lisbon was transformed into a festive city, with cultural events, meetings with the local population and lots of emotions. The Youth Day wasn’t just about the big events attended by Pope Francis. There were more than 500 events spread across the municipalities of Lisbon, Loures and Cascais, which made up the “Youth Festival”, and which aimed to give stage to the talent and artistic expression of the participants. These were not only religious events, although they did have some connection with the theme of WYD. The Youth Festival programme included 290 concerts, 27 films and documentaries, 17 exhibitions, seven theatre shows, six dance performances, two sporting events, 80 religious meetings, 38 conferences in various languages on topics related to vocation, mission, the challenges of today’s society, citizenship, sustainability and the professional world, and 35 museums with free admission for participants and volunteers. More than 100 venues hosted these events, including Terreiro do Paço, Alameda D. Afonso Henriques, Largo do Martim Moniz, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Centro Cultural de Belém, Castelo de São Jorge, Cinemateca, Parque da Cidade © Europalco WWW.EVENTPOINTINTERNATIONAL.COM 20 FOCUS ON de Loures, Hipódromo de Cascais, among many others. There were three years of preparation and organisation for the 16th edition of WYD, to welcome 1.5 million pilgrims, and an 86-year-old Pope, physically weak, but who didn’t stop going where he wanted to go, didn’t stop saying what he wanted to say, and who, despite having an intense programme, approached those who wanted to see him and was showered with crowds. At the sending‑off Mass, he said: “Lisbon will remain in the memory of these young people as the home of fraternity and the city of dreams.” Vítor Hugo Event Point International’s columnist © Bárbara Vitória JMJ 2023 TIS: INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE TRANSFORMATION OF TOURISM The Tourism Innovation Summit (TIS) brought together 7,384 travel industry professionals in Seville to reflect on innovation and technology in the transformation of tourism. Held from 18 to 20 October at Fibes - Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones de Sevilla, and dedicated to the theme ‘Travel revolution takes off’, TIS saw the participation of 198 exhibitors, who showed various technology solutions with applications in the industry: digital signage, self check-in, management platforms for hotels and tourism, communication solutions, ticketing, virtual tours, among others. Also present at TIS were more than 95 national and international associations and 417 speakers, who contributed to reflecting on how tourism is changing and to defining growth strategies. Adapting to a changing world The world is changing, so are people, and since MICE is an industry that brings people together, it is no stranger to change. It was with this premise that the session ‘Empowering MICE Professionals: adapting and thriving in a transforming world’ began, with Rachel Kinlay (MPI Iberian Chapter) and Ander Bilbao (Beon Worldwide) taking part to analyse various issues related to the industry. For Ander Bilbao, the main areas of MICE interest are creativity, WWW.EVENTPOINTINTERNATIONAL.COM 22 EVENT technology and sustainability, while for Rachel Kinlay, the right answer is “technology, technology, technology”. And the audience was invited to take part in the session via the slido platform, responding to the challenges and asking questions. Sustainability is a hot topic and on this subject, Rachel Kinlay gives the example of catering, which can contribute to a more sustainable event: vegetarian should be the main course, eating locally is important, the way food is served can also be more environmentally friendly, she argues. For his part, Ander Bilbao prefers to talk about mindset. He explains that in northern Europe, agencies are responsible for sustainability, presenting clients with more sustainable events - although the events are not sustainable, he emphasises, “we can make them as sustainable as possible”. In southern Europe, on the other hand, this chapter depends on the client: more sustainable is more expensive, if the client pays. In terms of technology, Rachel Kinlay defends the use of technological tools such as slido, which can make the event more dynamic and involve the audience. Ander Bilbao looks to the future and points to artificial intelligence, which could bring major transformations. “It’s on its way and it’s going to be deeply installed in our industry,” he warns. For Ander Bilbao, security at events is not a “small issue”: things must be set up securely; personal data must be well protected; everything must be planned in terms of health... When it comes to security, everything must go according to plan, he emphasised. Rachel Kinslay emphasised the need to protect personal data. Both speakers believe that diversity and inclusion should be taken into account when organising an event, as people are all very different, and that technology can help with this. They also agree that in associations you can find networking, knowledge, training and inspiration. MICE in recovery Sustainability plays an important role in this transformation and was the subject of several sessions. On the first day of the event, in the session ‘Journey Within: the power of sustainable tourism’, Céline Cousteau (CauseCentric Productions) emphasised the need to create links between destinations and nature. In the ‘Adapting to climate change’ session, government and agency officials confirmed that there is greater concern about sustainability and emphasised the need to “take action” towards sustainable tourism. They also said it was necessary to educate and make local communities aware of climate change and the importance of sustainability, involving all stakeholders. In the session ‘Is business travel leading change? Is MICE recovering?’, the speakers pointed out that sustainability is not only environmental, but also financial, for example, and that there are various initiatives that can be carried out towards sustainability, but which require funding. With the pandemic, there has been a recourse to virtual meeting platforms, such as Zoom; but, despite the good quality, this is not the way to create relationships, to create trust - the participants emphasised. In the same session, Eloisa Urrutia (Amex) discussed the results of the American Express Global Business Travel Meetings & Events, which surveyed more than 500 events and meetings professionals, both associative and corporate, from 26 countries. In summary, the report indicates that the majority of respondents (67%) expect an increase in spending on meetings next year. In addition, 59% of respondents believe that most events in 2024 will be face-to-face; 21% said they will be virtual and 20% said they will be hybrid. With regard to challenges, the majority (53%) say that the sector’s main challenge will be costs. But there are more: budget cuts (44%), venue availability (43%), hotel staff (29%) and tracking carbon emissions (23%). “MICE is recovering exponentially,” says Eloisa Urrutia, who believes that professionals are tired of Zoom. She adds that in the industry there is not only an increase in the number of meetings and MICE events, but also higher spending and more participants. Jenny Southan (Globetrender) presented at TIS six tourism trends for the coming years: the opening of airports in more remote destinations; travel agencies based on artificial intelligence; clean air tourism, in destinations with better air quality; the alpha generation should be considered as travel decision-makers; self-sufficient hotels; and space tourism. Over the three days of the event, TIS presented an educational programme packed with conferences on five stages. Innovation and technology, the future of the tourism industry and trends for the coming years, talent retention, the recovery of the MICE sector, creating meaningful experiences, cybersecurity, digitalisation, fairness in the hospitality industry, smart and sustainable tourism, were some of the numerous topics under discussion. The Tourism Innovation Summit will return to Seville from 23 to 25 October 2024. Maria João Leite* *The journalist travelled at the invitation of the Tourism Innovation Summit 2023“I PREFER, AND HAVE ALWAYS PREFERRED, FACE-TO-FACE EVENTS” WWW.EVENTPOINTINTERNATIONAL.COM 24 INTERVIEW MIGUEL CARNEIRO “I’M VERY MOTIVATED BY THE BLANK CANVAS” Passionate about connecting people and solving problems, Miguel Carneiro, aka “software magician”, created ShakeIt to develop mobile apps and soon realised that events would be an interesting market. In this conversation, which took place at ShakeIt’s studios in Porto (Portugal), we talked about the pandemic, the state of events and the technologies that will revolutionise them. What does a “software magician” do? [laughs] I think I started putting that in the subtitle of my social networks and in my email signature because it represents that feeling of clients who aren’t so comfortable with technology when, after a requirement gathering conversation, programming makes them say “that was it!”. One of the things that attracts me most about programming is the impact it has on those who then use the software. Solving a problem is a passion of mine, professionally, and it’s one of those things that motivates me. What was ShakeIt’s purpose initially? The goal was just to make apps. I fell in love with Steve Jobs’ iPhone moment, that ‘slide to unlock’, and I thought: yes, this is something so intuitive that it can have a huge impact on the world. Having computers in everyone’s hands is something that has really changed the world. The first app we made happened to be in the field of medicine, which ended up being our first area at the events. This was clearly a milestone in ShakeIt’s history, what others can you identify? One of the biggest milestones was hiring another programmer. At the time I’m describing, it was just me, and hiring another programmer, Ricardo [Tavares], helped me to be freer to talk to clients and to think about things a little more strategically. Another of ShakeIt’s great milestones was winning the Cardiology Congress, because it has a different relevance, it happened in 2015 and it was important for several reasons. Firstly, because most of the congresses we ran didn’t have apps and we were selling something they didn’t have. The Cardiology Congress had an international app, the best established at the time, and so it was a replacement of an already established international app with ShakeIt. Of course, the fact that we were Portuguese and that we were right next door weighed heavily, so they could call us whenever they wanted and meet in person. That was one of the great moments of achievement, because after we held the Cardiology Congress in 2015, there was a cascade effect for other congresses in the field of cardiology, but not only. Was there much competition back then? No. All the ones that existed in the product logic were international solutions. With the first congresses we won, I realised that the market opportunity was not so much to do better than the international [apps], but to do it on the same principle, have a base and accompany people in a different way. In other words, these international solutions were the kind of solutions where you went to the website, put in your credit card and buying that software meant you had access to configuring all the information about the event. Our main strategy has never been to do things this way. In most of our events, we have the base ready and we configure and decide on the structure together with the client, although the client can also do the structuring. So, we were never trying to be these international solutions. In Portugal, there were companies that made customised apps, and from time to time they also made apps for a congress, but if you don’t think in terms of a product, you also become stagnant in time, without adding new things. A white board that changed the course of events Was flexibility important during the pandemic? Perhaps an even greater milestone, even in terms of the company’s financial stability and growth, was the pandemic. In March 2020, we had 20 mobile apps, which was the only thing we were doing at the time, for events happening that month. They were cancelled and we went from 20 to zero. We took the decision that we weren’t even going to insist, we weren’t going to be part of the problem: we’re going to say that they’re on stand-by and, if they organise the event again, we’ll adapt what we need to in the new phase. We had a moment when we said: we don’t know if the apps will come back, what are we going to do? The biggest point of luck was that, a year and a half earlier, we had done some work, because of a project, to move most of the things from our mobile app to a web version, in other words, our app could be used in a browser. And that work, now looking back, was what saved us, because it was putting the app alongside streaming. The virtual events were broadcast, we had 70 per cent of the screen allocated to streaming and it was as if people were watching the streaming with the app next to them. This was an idea that seemed incredibly basic at the time, but the truth is that with some of the functionalities we had developed by then we realised: this might make sense for an online event. And the first sales we made were of a very basic version. What was the first event you did? It was a corporate event in May [2020]. Medical congresses are very important for the financial stability of associations, so they have to happen or there’s no sponsorship. Very quickly, and I think this is also important to say because it justifies ShakeIt’s growth, we had a solution that did exactly what people needed. Between September and December 2020, we did more projects than our team could handle. And after this complicated but growing period, what was it like returning to face-to-face events? I prefer, and have always preferred, face-to-face events because of what virtual events lack in terms of the satisfaction of those who organise them. I don’t organise events, but I feel involved with what underpins the organisation of events, the technological base, and it’s very different to see people using our technology. Returning to face-to-face events also meant a drop in what we had been earning over the last two years. It was a transition that, I’m not going to say it was very difficult, but it was a transition that we had to adapt to. It was a new training process, we had to take some solutions off the shelf that were very strategic in 2019, but which were then completely abandoned in 2020: activations for exhibitors, for example. And how do you see the market now? Are there any trends that you see very clearly, like the last minute, for example? We only see a small part of what an event organising agency sees, and I’ve heard from several agencies that things are being decided more on the fly. Clients are more demanding when it comes to timing. On the technological side, that’s not so important. Of course, we prefer to work with more time, but at the same time we also prefer to work at a time when the process is more defined. It’s a bit confusing for us when we’re asked to build an app almost a year before the event takes place and nothing is defined. The app is supposed to fit into existing processes, the virtual platform is supposed to fit into existing processes. If we go in too early, I think it’s confusing too. But it’s not unusual for them to tell us in the same week, or to tell us on a Wednesday that they need it for Monday. It’s not unusual, and it’s not really a point of discomfort for us. WWW.EVENTPOINTINTERNATIONAL.COM 26 INTERVIEW Artificial intelligence and internet speed What technologies are going to revolutionise the industry in the near future? Artificial intelligence is going to have an impact not on events, but on society in general. And I think that the leap forward, from the point of view of organising events, is going to be in content first and foremost. We’ve already seen demonstrations, in a very short space of time, since the GPTs of this life arrived, of image creation, script creation, video creation and video editing. From logistics to technology to audiovisuals, I don’t think any of these are exempt from the impact of artificial intelligence. I think another thing, not so much in my area, but which will probably have a big impact, is the differences in speed. We’ve had an exponential leap in internet speed here and, if this is translated into the device that everyone has in their hands - and maybe in a few years it won’t even be a smartphone, it could be something else, a smartwatch, an Apple Vision Pro, whatever - I think it could have an impact on events like Netflix had, for example. We didn’t even think a few years ago that we’d be able to open our smartphone and inside we’d have Netflix and we’d be able to watch a streaming video without any delay. The biggest example they give is holograms, but I think what’s behind it isn’t the fact that they’re holograms or not, it’s the fact that you can almost instantly transmit so much information to a small device. There really is great potential for creating very different experiences at events. But it’s also a little early to say exactly what those experiences will be. What are your plans in terms of growing abroad? My belief, and my hope, is that in the same way that the Cardiology Congress had a cascading effect, that our conquest of the Kenes Group, which has hired 30 apps in one year alone, will have the same effect in terms of validating ShakeIt as a player for, at least, medical congresses, which is the Kenes Group’s area of activity. In the immediate future, I think we’re going to continue to internationalise in the same way that we’ve grown in Portugal, which is organically, in a logic of passing the word and sometimes making a few approaches to what makes sense. Now it’s much more difficult to conquer the market, because the first time round the Portuguese market was a blue ocean, nobody had apps, the events didn’t have apps. Now there’s no-one you approach in the events world who you’re not asking to leave their current supplier. So, it’s hard for me to believe that I can compete in terms of marketing with companies that receive investments of, we’re talking tens of millions of euros, just because we believe we’re going to grow by 20%. I believe that the space for us in the market is a space to be different from this. It’s a logic of reference. I often tell the team that our biggest business, which gives 20% to anything else, is the apps we make. I see the metrics for this, I see the visits to the site and that the visits to the site are from the link that was in the app we developed. We’ve always grown steadily and, looking back over the next 10 years, I couldn’t see it happening any other way. I think growth has to be faithful to what ShakeIt has been over the last 10 years, as long as the market thinks it makes sense for us to do things the way we do today. Cláudia Coutinho de SousaWILL APPLE VISION PRO CHANGE THE EVENTS MARKET? Yet another revolution in the way humans interact with technology. Intelligent and assertive corporate strategy has always fascinated me! And among the existing technologies, I prefer AR - Augmented Reality to VR - Virtual Reality. Why is that? With AR, you can see digital objects being added to the real world. You see through and not into the product! This breaks down the barriers between the real and virtual worlds. But MR - Mixed Reality is my favourite. Some call it “a much more immersive type of augmented reality”, which offers a rich three-dimensional experience by anchoring and interacting with 3D digital elements in the real world. Watching the product launch videos reminded me of that iconic scene of Tom Cruise in the film Minority Report where he interacts WWW.EVENTPOINTINTERNATIONAL.COM 28 OPINION with the images that are projected in front of him. This revolution has been named by Apple as the Age of Spatial Computing. Vision Pro, Apple’s revolutionary AR platform, was launched on 5 June 2023, promising to deliver incredibly immersive, personalised experiences with unprecedented 3D image and sound quality. In other words, it blends and integrates the real world with the digital world in a simple and personal way, without losing touch with what’s happening around you and with easy access and control over what you want to see and the size of the image/video you want to visualise. But what is Vision Pro? Here are some of its features: . It has 12 cameras, 5 sensors and 6 microphones. . It offers 23 million pixels, more than a 4K TV for each eye, plus sophisticated audio with sensors that sound like it’s coming from the environment we’re in. . It integrates easily and simply with the iPhone, iMac and other Apple devices and products. . It projects digital content around you in extremely high resolution. . Eye navigation. . Voice commands or hand gestures. . Allows multiple screens to be opened. Anywhere. . Breaks down display or projection size limits. . No more isolation, you can see the real world around you while interacting with the virtual world. . Numerous user safety features. In addition to integration with all other Apple devices, Vision Pro allows all your files and content to be viewed and worked on only through it. What does the event industry have to do with it? Will launches like this change the way we communicate, collaborate, work and entertain ourselves? The answer is not IF, but WHEN. The entire event is a representative photo of the historical moment when it takes place. In this way, they are impacted by everything that happens, including technology. And every digital tool created to facilitate activities such as increasing productivity, reducing costs, strengthening relationships between people and offering intense and creative experiences inevitably becomes an object of desire. In the case of Vision Pro, the focus is on lovers and owners of the brand’s devices, as well as consumers with high purchasing power, given its high cost. Despite being aimed at the top of the consumption pyramid and, consequently, a product still available to few, its launch marks a significant movement and very representative of today’s consumer desires. It strongly affects emotions and offers practicality and wide application, not to mention simplicity of use and great comfort. By delivering such a disruptive and engaging product to the market, Apple provides the tool that makes the user part of the action and takes the interaction to another level of experience. The user has the strong sensation and deep experience of being inside the game or event location, even being inside their own home. This is “priceless”. In other words, there WILL be an impact on the events market. If one of the strongest trends in events was the participant’s engagement with the event and brands, Vision Pro provides relevance and a lot of fuel to the fire on this topic for in- person, virtual and hybrid events, through the production of high-quality digital content (Apple calls it “spatial content and sound”) or any engaging activities that stir emotions. No existing technology, not even Vision Pro, can surpass what an in-person event and on-site interaction with real human beings can offer. And this became even stronger post-pandemic. But technology in events (event tech) is also here to stay and to make them more efficient, more modern, more profitable and much more interactive and engaging. Taking advantage and integrating the best of both worlds, virtual and real, is the wisest decision you can make. And the prospect of having an “invisible technology” that removes the screens between the participant and access to the virtual world, created from the application of AI – Artificial Intelligence, is already a reality. And so, we will need to reimagine the human-technology relationship as we know it now and, also, how we will design our events based on this scenario. Working with events nowadays is increasingly becoming a profession that requires a high level of dedication, efficiency, focus on results, resilience and constant learning and an open mind to even reinvent the way we work now. Are you prepared for this new world? Vanessa Martin VM Consultoria e Pesquisas em Eventos CEONext >