IBTM World 2025
People. Power. Potential. reloaded
IBTM World is the oldest international trade show for event professionals and will celebrate its 21st Barcelona edition in November. Photo: IBTM World
IBTM World is the oldest international trade show for event professionals and will celebrate its 21st Barcelona edition in November. Photo: IBTM World
After the 2024 anniversary edition marked IBTM World’s 20th Barcelona outing and delivered record numbers in meetings, hosted buyers and exhibitors, IBTM World 2025 is raising the bar again: more than 2,500 exhibitors and around 12,000 trade visitors are expected. Programmatically, the 2025 edition takes the guiding theme “People. Power. Potential.” into a new round, with new formats and revamped visitor models.
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When the international MICE community travels to Barcelona at the end of November, IBTM World once again becomes the heartbeat of the global events economy. From Tuesday 18 to Thursday 20 November 2025, the show will open its doors at Fira Barcelona Gran Via —as usual in Hall 3, accessible via Accés Sud. Event planners, destinations, agencies, hotel groups and technology providers come to do business, find inspiration and get a feel for where the world of business events is heading. True to the overarching theme, the future of the industry lies not only in technology and processes, but above all in the people who shape it.
„People. Power. Potential.“
At a time when artificial intelligence, sustainability pressures and skills shortages are reshaping the industry, IBTM World 2025 uses its motto to emphasize the transformative power of human relationships. It shines a light on the people behind events—on their creativity, adaptability and their need for purpose and connection. It also points to the potential that emerges when technological and social innovation are considered together.
IBTM World—originally founded as EIBTM (European Incentive, Business Travel & Meetings Exhibition) by Ray Bloom, Chairman of the IMEX Group, and sold to RX in 1996—was first held in 1988 in Geneva. After further stops in Brussels and Frankfurt, it has now been using Fira de Barcelona’s infrastructure—one of Europe’s largest exhibition organizations, situated between the city center and the airport—for 21 years. In recent times, as AI and automation set the pace and the need for what machines cannot replace—empathy, relationships, intuition—grows, the show’s focus has evolved along with the venue. New formats such as the Hotel Pavilion, the Advocacy Forum and the “Exceptional Experiences” program were piloted in 2024 and are now being continued, together with further innovations like start-up platforms and a refined visitor experience.
Targeted encounters instead of chance contacts: focused negotiations take place in the IBTM World Hosted Buyer Lounge. This year, “Visitor Buyers” will, for the first time, receive access to a curated show experience with their own lounge and flexible appointment management. Photo: IBTM World
Newly calibrated: The visitor experience for “Visitor Buyers”
The established pillars remain in place: the hosted buyer program, trade visitor registration, an extensive conference program and a dense network of opportunities on and off the show floor. A key difference between this year’s edition and previous ones lies in the reorientation of the visitor experience for so-called „Visitor Buyers“ i.e., those visitors who act as buyers but are not part of the hosted buyer program. For this group, RX has introduced a new ticket model that aims to combine more autonomy with exclusive add-on services.
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Must-sees and tips for 2025 For corporate planners and brand leads:
For Corporate Planner und Marketing:
The exceptional experiences-programm, marketing-tracks und sessions on experience design provide practical input for event strategies.
For Destinations and Convention Bureaus:
Advocacy Forum, IBTM Trends Report 2026 and the Future Stage offer insights into geopolitical and economic trends.
For Agencies und Service Providers:
IBTM Ignite, Tech-Tracks and the Workplace-Revolution-Stage show where tools and business models are heading.
For Next-Gen Talent:
Next-Gen-Sessions and ReFuel combine career development with self-care.
Visitor Buyers receive a paid accreditation that gives them, among other things, access to a dedicated lounge, daily lunch vouchers, and the full three-day conference and networking program. In return, appointment management also becomes more flexible: instead of a pre-curated meeting grid, Visitor Buyers use a self-scheduling system to arrange appointments directly with exhibitors and secure preferred time slots. By allowing their visit to be structured more closely around their own priorities, IBTM is taking a clear step toward greater visitor-side ownership.
For hosted buyers, the existing model remains: they continue to receive a personalized schedule with pre-matched meetings, plus the ability to request additional meetings directly. Travel support, transfers, hotel accommodation and access to VIP services such as lounge access and lunch vouchers are also included. Trade visitors, in turn, attend the show free of charge as usual. They have access to all stands, many sessions of the conference program and the general networking opportunities.
Start-up platform for the next generation of events
One of the most visible new elements at IBTM World is IBTM Ignite —a platform for start-ups that the organizers are launching together with the European transformation initiative BEFuture.
“The business events industry is entering a new era of transformation and innovation,” says Claudia Hall, IBTM World Director, “and start-ups are leading the way. It’s up to us as an industry to ensure they have the platform and resources to develop their ideas, and to connect them with investors and advisors who can support them on their journey.” The IBTM Ignite program is designed to amplify underrepresented voices, spark new opportunities and connections, and thus drive business growth.
Over 100 young companies are expected, many focusing on event technology, sustainability, inclusive talent models or new agency concepts. Ignite is designed less as a classic show floor and more as a three-dimensional stage for ideas: on the Future Stage, one of the show’s central stages, start-ups present their concepts in short lightning talks. Afterwards, investors and industry experts give direct feedback. On day two, the Ignite Lounge provides an informal setting for one-on-one conversations with investors, offering expert advice on marketing, financial planning, fundraising and sales.
The BEFuture Pavilion also offers 30 start-ups their own area at the show to present their products and services to investors. Sonia Serracarbassa of BEFuture and Director of the Catalunya Convention Bureau explains: “At BEFuture, we are working to future-proof the business events sector by promoting sustainability, inclusivity, resilience and competitiveness through research, innovation and cross-ecosystem collaboration.” BEFuture’s accelerator program has so far supported 81 SMEs and start-ups driving this transformation.
According to Sonia Serracarbassa, Director of BEFuture and Head of the Catalunya Convention Bureau, the collaboration with IBTM Ignite “amplifies efforts to offer start-ups visibility, mentoring and strategic connections to increase their impact and shape the future of business events.” Photo: Catalunya Convention Bureau
“The partnership with IBTM Ignite further strengthens these efforts and provides these initiatives with the visibility, mentoring and strategic connections they need to increase their impact and help shape the future of business events,” Serracarbassa continues. For destinations, venues and agencies looking to sharpen their innovation strategy or partner with young tech providers, Ignite is an area worth a focused visit. At the same time, the show positions itself more strongly as an interface between established players and new entrants, reflecting the innovation dynamics currently shaping many parts of the MICE industry.
The 2025 conference program: #peoplepowered “
This year’s conference program is one of our strongest yet,” announces Show Director Hall. It is divided into seven tracks that demonstrate that business events no longer stand alone, but are part of larger social systems—from workplace culture to innovation to climate policy:
Event Tech and Innovation covers everything under the headings of AI, automation, data analytics and new digital products. In Barcelona, experts will discuss how AI can be used in program planning, personalization and on-site experience, which tools have already proven themselves and where experimentation is still needed. Example: on Tuesday, Julius Solaris will talk with the robot Ameca about whether AI is ready to take event planning over from humans.
Foto: IBTM World
„Insights and Trends“ looks at global market analyses, geopolitical developments, budgets, demand clusters and the role of business events in the economy and society. This is also where presentations of the IBTM Trends Report and the Global Meetings and Events Forecast fit in.
„Experience Design & Engagement“ focuses on storytelling, multisensory formats, new facilitation and spatial concepts, gamification and personalized event journeys—in other words, very concretely on dramaturgy, on the connection between in-person and digital elements, and on how to keep live experiences extraordinary in the face of digital competition.
„Sustainable Impact And Advocacy“ features sessions on climate-neutral event planning, supply chains and the measurability of CO2 footprints, and addresses social responsibility and long-term legacy projects—often in connection with the Advocacy Forum and initiatives around Net Zero Carbon Events, which RX itself has joined as an organizer.
In „People, Purpose & Wellbeing“ People, Purpose & Wellbeing shifts the focus from the events themselves to the people who create them. Burnout, mental health, diversity, equity & inclusion, and leadership models in agencies, associations and corporations—topics gaining urgency in a fast-paced industry—are on the agenda.
Claudia Hall, Direktorin der IBTM World, beim IBTM Forum for Advocacy 2024. Foto: IBTM World
„Brand And Marketing“examines campaigns, content strategies, community building, and proving ROI and ROX (Return on Experience) in times of fragmented channels and shrinking attention spans.
The seventh track, Next Gen Talent & Careers, includes sessions on the last day of the show specifically for young professionals and HR leaders, outlining new career paths, Gen Z expectations, qualification profiles for future event professionals and strategies for retaining talent. “When creating the conference program, our goal was to motivate and inspire with compelling stories, highly topical conversations and challenging ideas,” says Lucy Dyer, Conference Content Manager at IBTM World.
Stages with clear roles
“Our speakers share a common goal: to equip event professionals with knowledge, new ways of thinking and practical skills they can apply in their daily work,” adds Hall. The various content streams are structured across different stage formats, each with its own function within the show ecosystem. The Main Stage acts as the major keynote forum. It features international speakers from inside and outside the MICE industry who provide a “view from above”: societal trends, leadership, new worlds of work, the philosophy of technology, and the future of cities and destinations.
As opening keynote, IBTM has secured Nathalie Nahai, behavioral scientist, bestselling author and a “rare polymath with expertise in technology, marketing and psychology.” Her keynote explores the impact of AI on work, relationships and the future, and asks how, in today’s world, we can distinguish fact from fiction and separate AI hype from reality—what it means to use AI without losing our humanity from a psychological perspective.
Foto: IBTM World
The Future Stage is set up to be much more practical and innovation-driving. It features destinations, venues and tech companies piloting new formats, technologies or spatial concepts. With the Workplace Revolution, IBTM World creates a space where the audience becomes more of a co-creator: dialogue-oriented formats, fishbowl discussions and collaborative sessions in which participants contribute their own challenges and solutions.
Brand and in-house pros among themselves
Brand and in-house pros among themselves Launched last year, the Exceptional Experiencesprogram returns to Barcelona in 2025 with high expectations. The program is aimed specifically at in-house event leaders and marketing teams in companies and brands. It centers on questions such as: How can events be positioned as a strategic component in the marketing mix? What role do data, personalization and community building play? How do you measure not just leads but true business impact and brand effect? “At its core, Exceptional Experiences is about unleashing the collective creativity of our industry,” says Hall.
“Together we are building a future in which events not only deliver impact, but create magic.”
Claudia Hall, Direktorin der IBTM World.
“It’s a space for bold ideas, for learning from the brightest minds, and for discovering new ways to design experiences that inspire transformation and growth.” This year, the program is split: on day one, an Invite-Only-Workshopfor senior executives; on day two, an „Exceptional Experiences Forum“ opens the content to the wider professional audience. Industry heavyweights such as WeTransfer, Canva, Shutterstock, Amazon and UTA will share their knowledge in open sessions to help in-house event pros and marketers create event experiences that drive business growth.
Foto: IBTM World
Für unabhängige und kleinere Hotelgruppen
For independent and smaller hotel groups Also returning this year is the Hotel Pavilion, which made its IBTM World debut in 2024. The area is designed as its own “hotel world,” showcasing especially independent properties and smaller groups that might otherwise be less visible alongside the big global brands. The pavilion is staged like a compressed “boutique district”—with lounge-like character and atmospheres that feel more like hotel lobbies than classic stands. For buyers specifically looking for distinctive properties, new brands or specific locations beyond the well-known chains, a focused tour of the Hotel Pavilion should be more efficient than a diffuse search across the entire Floorplan. For exhibitors, the format offers the advantage of benefiting from an environment tuned to a “hospitality mindset,” which positively influences the tone of conversations.
Policy, standards and associations
Policy, standards and associations A sign of how far the business events industry is moving beyond a “pure service niche” is the presence of formats such as the Forum for Advocacy and the Association Leaders Forum, which will again be on the agenda in 2025. At the Advocacy Forum, top representatives from associations, destinations, politics and academia meet to make the economic and societal significance of business events more visible: topics include overtourism vs. business tourism, climate policy, funding, location competition and talent development.
The Association Leaders Forum, in parallel, addresses the specific logic of associations and non-profits: business models, member retention, international congress strategies, governance and cooperation. For cities and convention bureaus, this framework is a good opportunity to better understand the needs of associations behind the scenes. An additional professional touchpoint is the presence of IAPCO, the International Association of Professional Congress Organisers. Under the motto “Unlocking Excellence – with Purpose,” IAPCO, will accompany the show with pop-up education sessions, advocacy activities and community formats within the Events Industry Council Pavilion.
Mindfulness amid the trade show bustle
Another element IBTM World 2025 brings more to the fore is wellbeing. Under the ReFuel label, the show bundles programs and offerings around mindfulness, stress management and self-care. ReFuel is not just a program item in the conference calendar but also a physical space: an area where participants can consciously step away from the show floor to catch their breath, join short sessions or simply close the laptop for a moment. Combined with sessions on mental health, new work and leadership culture, this creates the narrative bracket that once again puts the people behind events at the center. For as analytical and business-focused as IBTM World may be, it remains at the same time a big class reunion of the MICE community.
When business turns into connection: during Networking Hour at IBTM World, the boundaries between work, exchange—and party—blur. Photo: IBTM World
That’s also why the tried-and-tested trio of official networking formats cannot be missed. The Welcome Reception on the first evening, co-created with the Barcelona Convention Bureau, traditionally plays strongly with local culture. The Networking Hour on Wednesday evening offers a deliberately more relaxed atmosphere in the midst of the show day and is aimed at everyone who wants to nurture relationships beyond formal meetings. And later, Club Night moves the networking to Opium in the heart of Barcelona—with all the informal conversations that are easier to spark in this setting than between two business appointments.