The AER Annual Conference 2023 marked a new beginning after two years of planning under pandemic conditions. Held in Amsterdam, this event for the Alliance of Independent Travel Agencies (AER) brought together 500 travel agencies and 400 specialized tour operators, with a large portion focused on sustainable travel.

About AER

AER is an alliance of 500 travel agencies and 400 specialized tour operators, many of whom focus on sustainable travel. The AER Cooperation AG manages all commercial offerings on behalf of AER e.V. (registered association). The annual conference plays a key role in AER’s broader strategy: strengthening its members, fostering ongoing education, and collectively developing innovative solutions for current and future challenges.

To bring this strategy to life, embedding the association’s member meeting within a creative and dynamic event format requires thoughtful planning. The event was able to strike the right balance between formal structure and an inspiring atmosphere—ensuring delegates leave both well-informed and highly engaged.

Event Goals & Planning Considerations

After planning under pandemic conditions for two years, the Annual Conference 2023 was designed to mark a fresh start. AER aimed to strengthen the industry and create an inspiring event for its members.

The focus was on addressing current tourism challenges and providing targeted training for participants. AER wanted to create a strong network and encourage exchange between members and partners, moving away from competitive thinking toward a community of learning and sharing.

The event was designed as flexibly as possible, enabling active participation and exchange. The varying needs of all participants were considered to create an atmosphere where everyone could develop and gain new impulses. The member meeting needed to be seamlessly and appealingly integrated into the conference.

Siemens Healthineers, a healthcare company, acquired Varian Medical Systems, a company with a mission to create a world without fear of cancer. The merger was completed in April 2021 and to launch their combination, the executives of both companies organised an event called The Combination of Siemens Healthineers and Varian – Day One Digital Event. The event aimed to achieve a feeling of unity among all colleagues, which was especially challenging given the different cultures and sizes of the two companies. 

The event team, made up of professionals from both Varian and Siemens Healthineers, faced several challenges, and despite these challenges, the team was able to come up with creative solutions to create an emotional and engaging event which was inspired with their combined potential of saving lives. This project was a sub-project of a larger workstream that spanned all internal and external communications channels and addressed all internal and external stakeholders from both companies. 

The Global Event Team at Siemens Healthineers is led by Eszter Mattiassich-Aszody, who brings a wealth of experience as Head of Global Events and is committed to elevating the team’s offerings to new heights. Her team is a dynamic group responsible for delivering end-to-end digital, hybrid, and onsite events for both internal and external audiences. Based in Erlangen, Germany, they are dedicated to developing events on a global scale, with a focus on innovation and excellence and are dedicated to creating impactful experiences for attendees.

When I was invited to be part of the jury at the International Corporate Events (ICE) Awards, I jumped at the opportunity. I was really excited to join this international jury, as it gave me a front row seat to see what some of the best corporate event planners are doing, but there was another reason. This year was the first time that the ICE Awards took place in Germany, after six successful editions in London. The awards ceremony took place in Munich, which is one of my favourite cities in Europe. It’s always a pleasure to visit Munich, and the awards were in June, which is mid-summer, so that was a bonus. 

I was blown away by the quality of the events and their execution. I judged two categories: Best Customer Experience – Live; and Best Transformational Change. I read through all the submissions, narrowed down my selections to three finalists in each category, and then got together with the other judges to choose the winner. There were so many excellent entries that it was hard to pick just one, but eventually we decided on SAP Sapphire 2022 in the Best Transformational Change category, and Siemens Energy Business Conference 2022 in Best Customer Experience – Live. 

SAP Sapphire 2022 event stood out for the way they ‘retired’ the old event format and designed a novel event concept to adapt to new times and changing customer needs. This is a prime example of what you can achieve if you have vision and are willing to make big changes to bring that vision to fruition.