The newest Meetings Star Award has acknowledged the best events organised in 2015

As part of the 2015 Meetings Star Awards, Kongres Magazine, in collaboration with Conventa trade, created a competition designed to truly celebrate the very best event experiences in the New European meetings industry.

An international Conventa Best Event Jury was established, composed of the following meetings industry professionals: Patrick Delaney (SoolNua, Ireland); Bo Kruger (Moving Minds, Denmark) and Johanna Fischer (tmf-dialogue marketing, Europe & India), who had to choose from among 12 finalists and evaluate each of their events based on Creativity, Innovation, Execution, Event Results, Event Communication and Sustainable Policies.

 

The Best Event Award went to “TEDxLjubljanaSalon v zraku”, organised by TEDxLjubljana.

The idea for an event on a plane came from a desire to achieve something that no TEDx team in the world has managed up to now. To this day the most original TEDx events have taken place at archaeological ruins, in a bowling centre, in the desert, on a train and even on Mount Everest, but the first one on a plane was ours – on the 24th of September, 2015. And for the very first time the world got to witness an event that happened literally up in the air. “The flight from Ljubljana to Maribor would normally have taken only 15 minutes, but was turned into an 80-minute flight, as the pilot took us back to Slovenia via Split, so we had more time to listen to four big ideas really worth spreading”, explained Katja Hamler.

TEDX

Date: 24. 9.2015
Location: Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport
Organizer: TEDxLjubljana
Client: TEDx
Event type: Educational

TED is a nonprofit event devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages. Meanwhile, independently run TEDx events help share ideas in communities around the world.

The first TEDxLjubljana event took place in the spring of 2009. To this day it has hosted more than 100 different speakers that gathered from 70 to 1500 visitors on different locations.

Idea about an event on a plane came from a desire to achieve something that no TEDx team in the world has managed. The most original TEDx events took place on the archeological ruins, in a bowling center, desert, train and Mont Everest, and the first one on a plane was ours- on 24th of September 2015.

For the first time, the world witnessed an event that happened literally in the air. Adria airways, the main sponsor, provided us an Airbus A319 plane and its crew. The flight from Jože Pučnik airport to Maribor that would take only 15 minutes was turned into an 80 minute flight. The pilot took the participants to Split and back to Slovenia, so they had more time to listen to four ideas worth spreading.

Creativity

This event was the first TEDx event on a plane in the world, so it’s pretty creative by itself. The creativity factor also included technical solutions for things, which are much easier on events happening on the ground. One of the main ones was sound and recording at the event, because the strict rules of the airline made it impossible to do it the usual way. The recording was creatively done with additional Go-pro recording systems.

The sound system posed a separate challenge. Rules dictate that in an emergency the pilot has to have an option to cancel out all the sources of the sound. The only option of speaking on a plane was through a flight attendant’s speaker, which turned out to be hard and nearly impossible because the speaker would have to hold the button for sound transmission throughout the flight. It was solved by using headset microphones, connected to a speaker that directed the sounds through the flight attendant’s speaker.

Innovation

Although we did’t find any new inventions, everything about the event was innovative. Everything from the airport check-in, all the way to installing the sound system, recording system and finding solutions that we’ve never seen before.

Execution

TEDx’s team consisted of 19 members, who first connected with Adria Airways and coordinated their wishes and possibilities, which led to a successful cooperation. First, they had to find sponsors to help with the transportation from Maribor back to Ljubljana, organize the catering after the event and promote the event. Next there was the searching and choosing the four speakers, with whom they practiced every week and helped them form the talks for the event. What was left was to promote the event and get the information to the participants on time before the event, looking at the terminal, where the official part of the event was held, and a plane, which they flew in.

Hey! I am first heading line feel free to change me

Measurable results:
The results proved that their organization and promotion made the event interesting and desirable to the public. On the Eventbrite web page the tickets were available at exactly 20:00 and were sold out in less than a second.

Event Communication:
The event was promoted on the TEDxljubljana social media accounts on Facebook and Twitter, their website tedxljubljana.com and mailing list.

After Event: Sustainable solution
This creative and unique setting of a TEDx event made TEDxljubljana known for organizing the first TEDx event on a plane. In addition, four incredible Slovenians got the opportunity to share their idea worth spreading with others.

4 different topics were presented, from a new way of car usage and ownership, to try and convince people, that gaining experiences abroad is priceless, but opportunities at home are also worth a try, continued with investigative journalism and concluded the event with a story about the obstacles Slovenians face when they want to adopt a child.

The talks from the event are available on the internet, for all of those that were unable to attend the event due to the limited capacities on the plane.

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