Following the global trends in the development of the industry, the key topic of the Forum this year was formulated as “Code for sustainable development in the event industry. People. Planet. Profit". As a partner of the IX Eurasian Event Forum EFEA (St. Petersburg, PetroCongress Convention Center), the Russian Convention Bureau took an active part in various activities of the business program.

On the business day of the forum, the Russian Convention Bureau took part in the partnership business breakfast of the congress organizers "Trends", which discussed issues and examined practical cases of the influence of congress activities on the development of territories, as well as factors influencing the development of the event industry. Advisor on methodological support for the activities of the Roscongress Foundation Slava Khodko , specialist in territory marketing, congressional practices with many years of experience. The focus of the discussion was on the impact of congress events on the development of territories and industries. Representatives of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Sochi, and other cities and regions of Russia took part in the discussion. Participated in the event as speakers, experts and listeners and representatives of RCB member companies.

Director of the Russian Convention Bureau Alexey Kalachev in his speech emphasized the totality of criteria and factors necessary for the development of the event industry and attracting events, such as support for authorities, the work of the marketing organization of the destination and the active position of local members of international scientific and industry associations dedicated to the events involved.

On the first day of the forum, the RCB took part in an away meeting of the Committee on Exhibition, Fair and Congress Activities of the RF CCI, which addressed issues of international trends in the exhibition industry. The session was moderated by Sergey Bednov , Chairman of the RF CCI Committee for Exhibition, Fair and Congress Activities, General Director of Expocenter JSC (Moscow, Russia).

In the framework of the forum, the Russian Convention Bureau had its own events planned. On January 23, with the support of the RCB, a panel discussion “Bidding. Everything you wanted to know about participating in tenders for international congresses ”. The following people shared their experience on the example of practical cases with the forum participants: Sevda Aliyeva , director of the Congress Bureau of Azerbaijan, Vladimir Kumov , author of the idea, curator of the project Let's bike it !, Nikolay Fadeev , Deputy Head of the Administration of the city district of Ufa of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Sergey Chernyshevsky , General Director of STO Congress. The moderator of the discussion was Olga Mugatina, authoritative expert of the industry event.

The Russian Convention Bureau took part in the case session “Sustainable development of the destination as a competitive advantage in attracting business events and building the reputation of the territories” , where the director of the RCB Alexey Kalachev acted as a moderator. At the session, experts from Russia, Latvia and Mexico discussed strategies for creating the region's reputation and shared their experience in creating, conducting and promoting unique image-building events as part of the implementation of territorial marketing tasks and increasing the attractiveness of destinations for the external and internal markets.

Within the framework of the IX Eurasian Event Forum, the international annual award was held among the organizers of EFEA Awards events. The National Congress Bureau took part in the ceremony, presenting a prize in the special nomination “Perspective” for its contribution to the development of the destination in Russia. The winner in the nomination was the Ekaterinburg-Expo International Exhibition Center - one of the flagship venues not only in the Sverdlovsk Region, but also in Russia.