Post MIPIM Round-Up
In my pre MIPIM blog I wrote about a hope that I would feel as positive at the end of the week as I did at the beginning. I can confidently say that I return from Cannes in an even more enthusiastic frame of mind, with this feeling of positivity keeping me from feeling too jaded, even after such a busy time.
I made a conscious effort this year to not fill the diary with too many meetings to ensure I had time to attend various stand events and key note presentations throughout the week, and to have the kind of impromptu conversations that just aren’t possible when the diary is too hectic.
I thought there were some excellent presentations on several of the stands, and felt proud that so many projects on which we are working were used as showcase schemes. Amongst many others, these included Circle Square on the Manchester stand, The Keel, Liverpool & Wirral Waters, and Sensor City on the Liverpool stand, and Wellington Place on the Leeds City Region stand.
I was encouraged by the openness of the leaders of key cities and city regions which we sponsored, including Ged Fitzgerald and Mayor Joe Anderson from Liverpool, Sir Howard Bernstein from Manchester, and Tom Riordan and Martin Farrington from Leeds. I lost count of the number of times I saw these individuals talking to us and our fellow delegates, and we were able to help several of our existing and new clients in making introductions to them.
There were many highlights from the week, with lots of opportunities identified all over the UK for many of us to follow up. As always with MIPIM, the follow ups are just as important, if not more so, as the time spent away.
We held our renowned wine tasting event on the Wednesday evening, and after worrying all week about the weather, the unlikely happened in the South of France and it rained all day. Despite this, over 150 guests made the effort to attend and we managed to squeeze everyone in. It was a huge success and I would like to thank everyone who braved the elements to join us.
So the formalities of MIPIM 2016 are over, but now the hard work begins to make sure we maximise our success. I am excited about continuing the various conversations and discussions that have started this week.
And, of course, never any time to relax, the planning starts for 2017 already………..