Powered by EIBTM Technology Talks and in co-operation with the Slovenia Convention Bureau and Conventa, the INSIDE conference has gathered 100 participants, mainly the representatives of PCO and DMC agencies, tourist organizations, and hotels from the Region.

Serbia Convention Bureau (www.serbia.travel) has been progressively applying the IT and mobile communication trends in promotion of Serbia as a congress destination. Its mobile application (Serbia Destination) and recently published two Facebook games (Tour de Serbia and Make an Event in Serbia) speak in favor of this fact.  It is no wonder that the SCB bureau hosted this one- of- a- kind interactive meeting industry and technology conference. The conference served as a place where meeting industry suppliers and agencies had the opportunity to meet innovative startups and digital entrepreneurs.

The conference was opened by Miloš Milovanović, Serbia Convention Bureau CEO. Miha Kovačič, the Slovenia Convention Bureau CEO and David Benitez, from EIBTM also greeted the participants.

INSIDE Gurus session featured presentations of Shuli Golovinski (Newtonstrand Limited) regarding major trends influencing event industry, Adi Ben-Nesher, global expert in management and implementation of social learning, knowledge communities and collaboration platforms focused on creating and enhancing the attendee journey experience in events, Ewan MacLeod (Mobile Industry Review) effectively presented the mobile revolution happening right now. Stojan Vatreš from Digital ST talked about synergy between digital and destination marketing, while Momir Gajic from Max My Play draw the parallel between the sports and events industry presenting the social medium intended for athletes.

The EIBTM Technology Talks panelists (David Benitez from EIBTM, Gorazd Cad from Go Mice and Milos Dosen from Balkan Venture Forum) focused on digital future of the event industry.

The last session of the INSIDE 2012 was reserved for practical cases: Igor Kovačević from Serbia Convention Bureau presented Facebook gaming tools in promotion of Serbia destination, Miloš Milosavljevic presented Mini Strawberry mobile device solar charger, Peter Kese video lecturing from Viidea, Siniša Kresojević from Tehnicom Computers presented the Belgrade mobile application, while Igor Panjan focused on optimizing hospitality industry.

Lunch break and welcome reception were sponsored by Srpska Magaza, a company which provides authentic Serbian products. The concept of Srpska Magaza itself represents an interactive medium and mobile platform.

The next INSIDE conference has been scheduled for the last week of August 2013, the venue to be confirmed.

Testimonials

“As a PCO with long tradition, I can say, first of all, that INSIDE 2012 event was organized superbly – from the moment I received the invitation to participate, communication before the actual event, until the event itself which ran smoothly and in an organized manner.

I had a chance to network with my colleagues from the Region, and exchange experience. As a passionate user of mobile devices, I was very much interested in the novelties and possibilities that I was not even aware of. The new ideas that can be applied to meeting organization industry were presented in a very attractive way and what I know for sure is that I need to keep pace, because that’s the future of the events.”

Olivera Kovačević

Congrexpo, PCO

Director

“I was pleasantly surprised by the INSIDE conference 2012 in Belgrade. When we were invited to participate as speakers, to be honest, I wasn’t sure if we were missing a subject, or not.

It’s My Play is a social network exclusively designed for people and organizations involved in sports. Where there is a sport, there’s an event, and at the INSIDE 2012 we had the opportunity to meet people from the meeting industry as well as some of top leaders in digital marketing.  Networking with them was a wonderful experience for us as it also brought new ideas which we will incorporate in It’s My Play.”

Momir Gajić

Max My Play, Inc

Founder