Article from BTNews 6 MARCH 2017
Security in view at Confex
John Burke returned to Olympia last week (see last week’s issue for his previous visit), this time for the conferences and exhibitions showcase Confex.
Mash Media’s International Confex is not a rival to the Business Travel Show, but some firms exhibited at both. “This time we are wooing personal assistants who book outside travel management”, said Florent Dupriez from City Airport, while Tristan Lochman of the boutique Corporate Traveller added: “Here, we meet smaller companies whose spend is below £1m.”
A dozen provincial resorts, from Brighton to Blackpool, exhibited, while venues included Cliveden (celebrated for the Profumo Affair). Groups like Macdonald, Melia and Jurys Inn – Galway to Prague – were there mainly for the MICE market.
Jersey, Cracow and Club Med Events as well as Spanish and Italian golfing centres were in the European contingent that also included Malta, Reykjavik and Norwegian Cruise Line. Airlines were absent – unlike caterers.
Event/travel security firms loomed large, but no way hush-hush was Spy Games from Milton Keynes, which runs team-bonding sessions for blue chip companies as far afield as Florida, Nevada and California. Richard Branson is a client, and there was one course for 1,000 Russians in Turkey – but, according to Spy Games, never again!
The most important lecture was Use It Or Lose It by Paul Colston of Mash, who explained the British government’s Trailblazer scheme for event apprenticeships.
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