Before you read on, ask yourself: How am I feeling right now? Here and now. Everything else can wait. Even this comment. Perhaps you won't pursue it any further because other thoughts are more pressing. That's fine. After all, events are unfolding rapidly and demand our full attention. That's exhausting. How am I doing right now? This seemingly simple question isn't from me. It's from Sven Kretzschmar. In the interview, the Head of Brand Management Germany and Austria at Hipp talks about mental health and his experience with burnout. His openness is moving. "There is never one single event that leads to a breakdown. In burnout research, we talk about an accumulation of unpleasant emotions, the so-called 'quantitative burden', which weigh down on the soul like boulders over months, sometimes years, affecting individuals deeply.

He will tell us more at the Nextlive.festival 2024.

Mental health is a hot topic that hardly any specialist event can do without. "The era of great exhaustion" is the title of the opening discussion at the ZP Europe HR trade fair. On stage, AXA Head of HR Nina Weigel says: "We see a lot of exhaustion among our employees." The McKinsey Health Institute quantifies her observation, as 37 per cent of all employees in Germany complain of physical and mental exhaustion. As a result, days of incapacity to work due to mental illness have increased by almost 47 percent in the last ten years. In its Fehlzeiten-Report 2024, the AOK assumes that the cause is a combination of various factors; from the increase in mental stress caused by global crises to changes in the world of work such as the intensification and blurring of boundaries at work due to constant availability. This is not a German phenomenon. The World Health Organisation is dedicating World Mental Health Day to Mental Health at Work. Every year, an estimated twelve billion working days are lost due to depression and anxiety, resulting in productivity losses of one trillion US dollars. This makes it a topic for the World Economic Forum. Its Sustainable Development Impact Meetings warn that the economic burden of poor mental health is expected to cost six trillion US dollars worldwide by 2030 - more than the costs of cancer, diabetes and respiratory diseases combined. The session Mind Matters: Addressing Mental Well-Being is about prioritising mental health because workplaces can protect mental health by creating stability, routine and an inclusive community. Industries and their business events are nothing other than communities. The IMEX Group has long anchored the topic of mental health in its shows in Frankfurt am Main and Las Vegas. At IMEX America, the IMEXrun, a pickleball court and 50 sessions on well-being create the foundation for business performance: rest and relaxation. “So, take a moment now and then to sit down and look within: How am I doing right now? Is everything okay? And if not: What would I need right now to feel better?” I share these questions from Sven Kretzschmar with you as you head to the IBTM World trade fair. In Barcelona, I’ll ask you: How are you doing right now?