Conference & Meetings World Issue 101 — July / August | Page 21
MPI challenge
The event architects of the future
STUART WOOD DELVES INSIDE THE DREAM EVENT PITCHES
OF MPI’S UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE
he MPI Future Leaders
Forum held the finals of its
2019 University Challenge
scheme at IMEX
Frankfurt, where six students pitched
their dream event for a chance to win a
scholarship and a trip to MPI’s World
Education Congress in June.
The winning pitch came from South
Africa’s Emile Coetzee, who picked up
her award at the IMEX Gala Dinner and
Awards ceremony on 22 May. Coetzee is
a student at North-West University in
South Africa.
The theme for the finalists’ was ‘Food
of the future’, and each of the six students
had to create a 10-minute pitch for a new
event based around the theme. Judges
then asked questions, before deciding on
a winner.
Coetzee’s pitch was for an event taking
place on a cruise ship from South Africa
to Portugal, aiming to break down
stigma surrounding insects as a future
food source in a variety of ways. The ship
was to feature edible insects decorating
the walls, and a gameshow with ‘dare’
cards for attendees to try some
experimental insect meals. Cockroach
kebab, anyone?
The event was to be aimed at food
bloggers, vloggers, journalists and
critics, and would feature an app that
helped them to identify plants and food
sources. Attendees would be encouraged
to blog about this information
throughout the course of a number of
planned activities and events.
Coetzee also outlined a legacy project
which would ensure the event had a
lasting, positive impact on the
communities around it - the leftover food
would all be donated to small towns and
villages in the region, and delegates
would be invited to workshops in these
areas, where they could also take part in
tree-planting groups.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Among the other finalists were
Margaret Houts of the USA, who pitched
a ‘Foodtasia in Malaysia’ event. The
event was described as an interactive
conference that would allow attendees to
construct their own menus in
collaboration with chefs at the Kuala
Lumpur Convention Centre, as well as
taking on street food tours throughout
the city in groups.
Houts’ pitch put an emphasis on
wellbeing and featured a session of ‘goat
yoga’ (let your imagination fill in the
gaps on that one).
Pratumthip Dejkuntod of Thailand
pitched an event with a focus on
molecular gastronomy, which also looked
at insects as a future food source. It
aimed to use the science of molecular
gastronomy to create cutting-edge meals
containing insects, and had a heavy focus
on post-event engagement.
Jasmine Bennett of Winchester
University, UK, pitched ‘The Sundkost
Foodie Creative Conference’ in
Copenhagen, which would feature ‘FED
talks’ rather than TED talks, and
crowdsource ideas for conference content.
It also featured a social media campaign
where attendees would take a photo with
someone new they met at the show, and
organisers would then pick two people
from this pool to attend next year’s event
for free.
Taya from Poland pitched ‘WOW
event 2020’ taking place in Paris, the
highest destination in the world on the
food sustainability index.
And Li Tang Si Yuan from China
pitched the Food Industry Innovation
Conference, which would invite delegates
to Tokyo, with features such as a creative
food market and a digital ‘passport’
which users would collect stamps for
when sampling worldwide foods. The
more stamps delegates received, the
more would be donated to food banks by
the event organisers.
ISSUE 101
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LEGACY
The six
presentations
provided a snapshot
of the creative skills
on show from event
students all around
the world, but were
also fascinating for
showcasing the
recurring themes
and ideas which are
being taught in
their degrees.
Legacy projects
and sustainability
were high on the
agenda for all
presentations, a
clear sign that event
degrees are placing
great importance in
this area.
The event
planners of the
future, if the six
finalists of the
MPI-MCI-IMEX
University
Challenge scheme
are anything to go
by, will help to
drive the industry
towards a more
sustainable future
with their creative
ideas and
enthusiasm.
CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD
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