Sure, it’s great to bounce ideas off your colleagues and industry friends. But wouldn’t it be nice to tap into the collective wisdom of a global community of event professionals, all eager to share their ideas and work together to solve business challenges?
That possibility became a reality at PCMA’s Convening Leaders 2021 conference Jan. 14, when German Convention Bureau announced Response Room, a new open innovation platform designed specifically for the business events community. The Frankfurt-based bureau collaborated on the idea with U.S.-based PCMA and U.K.-based IMEX Group.
The idea was to create what founders call a “global, interdisciplinary forum to innovative business events.” Meeting planners, suppliers and industry professionals of all types are invited to post their event-related problems, and crowdsource solutions from their peers around the world. In addition to getting feedback from a wide variety of planners, users get to flex their creative muscles, enhance their skills, make connections—and ultimately, help foster a sense of innovation industry-wide.
“There is a need for rapid, interconnected and, above all, customer-focused solutions—especially considering our ever-changing world,” explains Matthias Schultze, managing director of the German Convention Bureau. “These new solutions and innovations, however, cannot be found in closed silos, but through open, agile processes.”
The easy-to-use interface’s main feature is the Innovation Challenges area, where members can post a question or case study and ask for feedback or advice. Just like a social media platform, users can read each other’s ideas, like and comment; there are also areas where users vote on their favorite solutions, read expert evaluations, take surveys and more. Additional Response Room features include a blog with meeting-related resources, a section highlighting upcoming industry events, profile pages and even an innovation-focused book club; founders also plan to host live events and workshops once the pandemic subsides.
"With old models and old ways of doing being disrupted and challenged at every turn, the time is right for true innovation,” says IMEX Group CEO Carina Bauer. “The Response Room sets the tone for a new way of working together. It will motivate makers, creators, collaborators and the curious. We’re delighted to be a part of this new frontier, and can’t wait to see where the platform and its new tribe will take us.”
Response Room, which is free to use and powered by software partner Innosabi, can be found at responseroom.io.
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