Palais des congrès de Montréal launches program aimed at shepherding organizers through the process of transforming their events

The Palais des congrès de Montréal is proud to announce the rollout of a new program curated by the firm Yulism, intended to help event organizers to reinvent themselves. The program will guide participants as they shift to new business models they will need to adopt to reverse the recent upending of their industry.

Adapting events won’t suffice – they must undergo a transformation

COVID-19 and the health and safety measures designed to keep everyone safe have had serious repercussions on the events community. While numerous gatherings suffered cancellations, many pivoted to 100% digital or hybrid formats. The level of readiness and response has been admirable. But now, organizers need to take a step back, refocus on their objectives and seize this moment to reinvent events by making systemic – not merely technological – changes to how they are organized and hosted.

The program will enable planners to go beyond simply adapting their events for a post-COVID-19 world, and instead empower them to totally transform them. The 10 hours of one-on-one coaching plus 10 hours of training over the course of a six-week period will be dynamic, interactive, and cover various topics:

• The event’s premise and strategies for optimizing its impact
• Business models and trending funding solutions
• Focusing the experience factor on the human factor
• Planning and delivering the event

Seeking applicants for the first cohort

This initiative is primarily intended for professionals, managers and coordinators who handle the planning and organization of association or corporate events. The program may also be helpful for people working in marketing, communications or human resources and who are in charge of organizing events.

The application period for the first cohort of 10 participants runs until March 19, 2021.

Those interested may fill the brief application form available online, in French only, at: https://congresmtl.com/transformation-evenementielle/

The training will be held virtually, in French and a Palais des congrès selection committee will be tasked with choosing the participants from the pool of applicants.

The expertise of Yulism to help the industry reinvent itself

The rigorous training program was designed and will be facilitated by Yulism, which specializes in initiatives capable of sparking meaningful human collisions. Founded in 2011, Yulism has since helped foster the cocreation and emergence of new ideas at major gatherings such as C2 Montréal, StartupFest, Expo Entrepreneurs and Cooperathon.

The events industry is grappling with challenges that require it to seek innovative solutions like never before. The Palais des congrès de Montréal will be able to count on Yulism’s vast experience to help planners and organizers navigate the process of transforming their events.

By launching this innovative program, the Palais des congrès de Montréal is providing an events industry that is being forced to reinvent itself with tangible support. The Palais is more than a convention centre; it is also a solutions centre, and the personalized training being offered here speaks firmly to our commitment to innovation.

We are delighted to be working alongside the Palais de congrès de Montréal on rendering events more resilient for the future. Clearly, this is no longer strictly a technological exercise, but increasingly more about strategy, business models and the participant experience. By combining our strengths, the Palais and Yulism are looking to stimulate the process of having event organizers pool together their experiences and using the outcomes to tangibly help restart business events.