IMEX BuzzHub, the IMEX Group’s new digital platform focused on connecting the business events community, will launch on May 12. It is scheduled to run for more than four months from May to September.

This new concept, its content, and its format are built on lessons learned from two editions of PlanetIMEX in 2020, extensive customer research and consultation with IMEX’s agencies, partners and other experts.

Powered by Swapcard and managed by award-winning creative agency, Smyle, visitors can choose from a variety of activities and sessions—all free of charge—and pick options that best fit their business or personal growth ambitions. Monthly “Buzz Days” will take their lead from IMEX’s 12 Commitments for 2021, starting with a day of programming centered on collaborations, connections and community on May 12.

The first Buzz Day will start at 15:00hrs London time (10:00 a.m. EST) with an introduction and welcome by IMEX Group Chairman, Ray Bloom, and CEO, Carina Bauer. It will be followed by 20-minute keynotes, intimate campfires with speakers and topic-focused roundtable discussions. The day will close with a heavyweight panel focusing on the role that events play in building and maintaining communities, facilitated by Julius Solaris, head of Engagement, Swapcard.

The monthly Buzz Days will be interspaced with networking, specialist education, community get-togethers as well as some fun-filled surprises. IMEX staples, such as the famous IMEXrun, will also feature.

“The IMEX BuzzHub is designed to give tangible value to our buyers and suppliers and, ultimately, to set them up for success at IMEX America,” explains Carina Bauer. “Our team has worked hard, collaborating with our partners Smyle and Swapcard, to create a collection of exciting engagement opportunities for the whole of the business events sector. With so much of our industry still in flux, and expectations and attention levels changing so fast, we’ve intentionally added plenty of time and space for networking, for meeting new people with shared interests and for business conversations. We’ve combined the formal with the informal, all the time remembering that people want to get a fix on the current state of the industry and, most importantly, the ‘who’s who’ of its community.

“Now’s the perfect time to launch the IMEX BuzzHub—not only does it bring together everyone on the ‘Road to Mandalay Bay’ in the run-up to IMEX America, but it’s also a timely nod to Nature, our Talking Point. Spring is the busiest time of year for bees and those who know our face-to-face shows will remember the famous IMEX buzz that hits when you first walk into the hall.”

The full program and speaker line-up for the inaugural Buzz Day on May 12 will be announced shortly. Registration for the new platform is free of charge and will open very soon. Visit www.imexexhibitions.com for more information.