Supawan Teerarat, President, Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau – ITCMA 2026, Opening Keynote
I’d like to invite you to look beyond today and explore what lies ahead for our industry in 2027 and beyond. In a world where almost everything can happen online, why do people still travel thousands of miles and spend long hours on a plane? Why do they leave their families and offices to attend an event?
I believe the answer lies in something technology alone cannot provide: the power of face-to-face human connection. We meet to build trust, bring teams together and create opportunities. Meetings can generate business and spark ideas that might never emerge otherwise. Our industry is entering a new era. Customers’ expectations are changing, and the way we create value must change with them. Corporate buyers want clear business outcomes and information that supports their decisions. Individual delegates want meaningful, personal experiences.
I’d like to share five trends I believe will shape our future, followed by five areas where we must be ready to act. The first trend is a shift from attendance to outcomes. For years, we have celebrated the number of people attending an event. Today, buyers ask about the return on their investment, while delegates ask whether attending was worth their time. We need to consider what success looks like through their eyes. A researcher may hope to meet someone who believes in an idea. An employee attending an incentive programme may want to feel that their hard work has been recognised. Delegates ask: What did I gain? Who did I meet? What changed because I attended? We should design events around measurable outcomes and meaningful networking, then follow up afterwards. When we move from attendance to outcomes, we make every journey worth taking.
The second trend is a shift from digital convenience to intelligent experiences. AI is becoming a companion in events and travel. It can help connect participants with the right people, anticipate disruption and personalise their experience. But AI should make our events smarter while keeping human connection at its centre. Technology can help create the right connections; people make those connections matter.
The third trend is a shift from luxury to meaningful experiences. Personalisation is becoming a new measure of a premium experience. It can include authentic culture, wellness, recognition and a sense of belonging. A small, thoughtful moment may be more memorable than an expensive gesture. Maya Angelou famously said that people may forget what you said or did, but they will never forget how you made them feel. In this sense, an experience’s value comes from how deeply people feel connected and how long they remember it. Destinations should create distinctive, personal experiences that cannot simply be copied elsewhere.
The fourth trend is a shift from hospitality to holistic wellbeing. True hospitality means more than making people feel welcome. It means considering their wellbeing throughout the event. Wellness should be part of the programme design, with time for activity, recovery and reflection. Accessibility, inclusion and safety also matter. By 2027, I hope planners will move away from exhausting agendas and build space to breathe into the delegate experience. Consider psychological safety from the start.
The fifth trend is a shift from experience to lasting impact. An event should be judged by the positive change it creates after delegates return home. We talk about return on investment, return on experience and return on relationships. We should also consider return on impact. An event may last only a few days, but its impact can last for years.
The question is whether we are ready. Are we ready for customers who expect more than a successful event? Are we ready for technology that changes faster than ever? Are we ready to create experiences that make a difference in people’s lives? First, we must be clear about outcomes. Before planning the programme or gala dinner, ask what the event should achieve. Is the goal a new partnership, knowledge exchange, employee motivation or access to a new market? Start with the purpose, design around it and measure what happens afterwards.
Second, we must develop our ability to use AI and data. AI is no longer only something we discuss; it is something we must learn to use. It can help us understand customer behaviour, make decisions and anticipate travel disruption. AI can handle complexity so that people can focus on connection.
Third, we must design around people. Walk through the entire delegate journey yourself, from the first invitation to departure. Where are the frustrations? Where might people feel lost or excluded? Sometimes the smallest improvement makes the greatest impression.
The fourth is be trusted and resilient. We have been talking about trusted so many times. We cannot control global disruption. So prepare for the unexpected. Don’t wait for the crisis to discover whether your partners handle spot. But we can control how well we prepare and how we respond. This is very important. View a stronger partnership and also create contingency plan, communicate clearly and also be that customer.
And the last one is embrace sustainabilities by design and the new is generating mice. Don’t just aim to less to leave less time. Aim to leave something better behind for meeting public and corporate buyers the next step is move via simply organizing brilliant towards designing sustainabilities into every decision.
Measure your environment impact creative. Give opportunities for local business and make sure decimation benefit long after the event is ended. And importantly this is very important measure and report honesty establish a deadline, prep performance reports, actual result and verify achievement from future use, and this come to an end of my presentation.
I wish that you all have a meaningful connection, successful, producing and exciting about your new business that you will see in this great battery. And kids remember the basic of meetings is not in the moment we meet, but I believe is in the possibilities we create long after we part. Thank you and may the magic get you here today.
