As the landscape of global business events continues to evolve, the upcoming Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Event (AIME) stands out as the premier business event in the Asia Pacific region.

In Melbourne from 10-12 February, AIME 2025 is once again poised to set the stage for discussions, innovations, and insights into the future of business events—as it has for over three decades.

Some of the brightest brains of the Asia Pacific meetings and events industry help to guide the curation of the AIME Knowledge Program, working to produce a program that sparks interest, stirs debate and engages all areas of the events industry.

With their diverse insights and expertise, these Knowledge Program Advisory Committee members provide valuable analysis and recommendations on how the business events sector is adapting to emerging trends and challenges.

AIME 2025 will catalyze these discussions, offering a platform for industry leaders to collaborate, ideate, and envision the next chapter in the evolution of business events.

What do the AIME Knowledge Program Advisory Committee members see as some of the key challenges – and opportunities – the industry faces?

Attracting and retaining talent remains a high priority.

Knowledge Program Advisory Committee member Sarah Markey-Hamm is CEO of ICMS and President of the International Association of Professional Congress Organisers (IAPCO).

The events professional with more than three decades of experience says the industry is still rebuilding from the shock of the pandemic, a crucial challenge both locally and globally.

“We lost a lot of really capable people and clever people from the industry during COVID, who have now gone into industries with more attractive conditions, such as the government and corporate sectors,” she says.

“If we don’t do something as an industry, we’re going to have real trouble.”

She says little is known about business events outside the industry, their economic contribution, and the global opportunities the sector offers to forge a rewarding career.

“A lot of people don’t realise how big this sector is globally in terms of what we contribute to the local economy and what is discussed and what is learned at these events and what impact that has around the world,” she says.

“Everyone thinks doctor, lawyer, engineer, digital marketer etc, but no one actually knows we’re here … we need to be communicating at the school level, to tell students that the industry exists.”

Charter Hall Events Manager Ashleigh Cooper agrees and says attracting the next generation of talent is one of the industry’s most pressing issues.

“With competition from other ‘stable’ sectors, it’s crucial to market the events industry as an appealing career choice for young professionals,” she says.

She says this exposure and education should start at the grassroots level, where initiatives like AIME’s Accelerate Program and the AIME Next Steps Program come into play.

According to the Australian Business Events Association, 229,000 people in Australia are directly employed by the events industry, and gaining industry experience is vital at the early stages of a career in events.

The AIME Accelerate Program invites junior industry members —called “Rockets”—to shadow their Hosted Buyer managers at AIME, providing unparalleled learning and networking opportunities throughout the event.

The inaugural AIME Next Steps Program was launched at AIME 2024. Three event undergraduates gained on-the-job experience in AIME operations, sales, marketing, and PR.

These students worked with the AIME team in the lead-up to the event and across the week of AIME 2024, gaining valuable insights and experience into how a highly complex event is organised.

Cooper says the industry also faces a lack of mid-career professionals, a hangover from the pandemic years.

“As we have recovered and continue a growth trajectory post pandemic, there’s a noticeable absence of mid-weight professionals. With no new talent entering the industry during the pandemic and recovery period, we find ourselves with an unbalanced workforce of top-heavy leadership combined with entering talent,” she says.

However, the fact that a career as an events professional is now possible is a crucial change Knowledge Program Advisory Committee member Paul Boustani has seen in his more than two decades working in events. Now Head of Events & Connections, Workplace Experience at Atlassian, Boustani has worked in all facets of the industry.

“A lifelong career in events isn’t unusual anymore,” he says.

“When you zoom out, and if I think back to what the events industry was like 25 years ago, it’s definitely a bigger, better, more colourful, more exciting, more creative, more international, more welcoming, more open place than it was when I first started.”

Despite the challenges, the Knowledge Program Advisory Committee members remain upbeat and optimistic about the industry’s future – and the growth of individual roles and careers within it.

As Paul Boustani says: “A great events person is a great events person. And I think great events people are capable of doing anything.”

AIME 2025 will run from 10 to 12 February 2025 at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre. The AIME 2025 Knowledge Program is open to Hosted Buyers, Hosted Media, Exhibitors, and Visitor Buyers who upgrade their tickets. 

For more information, visit aime.com.au.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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