Over the last week, the Festival of Aviation and Corporate Travel Summits (FACTS) has also locked in its 100th speaker and 100th exhibitor.
FACTS, to be held at ICC Sydney on November 25 and 26, is made up of four intertwined summits – on aviation, corporate travel, business events and travel payments.
The event began last year as a corporate travel summit.
“Hitting 100 speakers, 100 exhibitors and 1,000 delegates milestones in the past week shows there’s a big appetite for fresh thinking and practical dialogue across our business travel and events community,” said FACTS co-founder Derek Sadubin.
“It’s proof that travel, events and aviation are not just bouncing back – they’re reinventing themselves. We can’t wait to welcome our industry to what’s become Australia’s largest business travel and events expo and summits in just four weeks’ time.”
From a business events standpoint, FACTS has gathered a diverse collection of industry leaders to present their perspectives at business events sessions.
Marissa Fernandez from DMS Destination Marketing Services, Michelle Sargent from Events Beyond, Fernando Lonergan from BCD Meetings & Events and Leon Burman from Tribe will discuss what’s next for business events as part of a business events strategy panel.
Lonergan will also contribute to the sustainable business events panel, along with Stewart Moore from EarthCheck and Ricarda Schneider, who is the sustainability director for Marriott for Asia Pacific, excluding China.
There will be a couple of procurement sessions for business events, looking at aligning corporate travel and business events and the integration of corporate meetings and corporate travel for strategic meetings management. These sessions will feature Katie Fraser from FCM Meetings & Events, micenet contributor Matt Crouch from Matt Crouch Legal, Susette van der Linden from ConferenceDirect, Trina Butler from HelmsBriscoe and Jack Ukil from Cvent.
There will also be a number of sessions looking at AI across the summits, with topics including AI and the workforce, AI and journey mapping – focussing on how to draw on human experience before involving artificial intelligence – and how AI is set to reshape customer journeys in travel as an “invisible interface” that will totally change how travel is planned and booked.
Meanwhile two event tech sessions will see the likes of Ali Lord from Headbox, Rob Vass from Joi, Shellia Chang from infor, Renee Elliott from EventsAir and Harris Meitanis from the acta platform contribute to the business events summit.
Other sessions that may be of interest to event planners include sustainable aviation, a fireside chat with Qantas International CEO Cam Wallace and a chat with the CEO of the soon-to-open Western Sydney International airport, Simon Hickey.
There will also be several sessions taking an overall perspective on corporate travel, business events and aviation, including predictions going forward, a big picture economic and trade outlook and a closing debate tackling topics across corporate travel, business events, aviation and travel payments.
