Gianluca Buongiorno, AIM Group: The meetings industry proved to be resilient”

AIM Group International presents its response to the pandemic crisis in the 2020 Corporate Annual Report. "The key is the ability to understand the change and don’t fear to evolve".

AIM Group International, a company specialised in conferences, events and communication with more than 60 years experience, published the 2020 Corporate Annual Report which focuses on the response and transformation following the extraordinary crisis caused by the pandemic.

“Just like a black swan event, Covid-19 suddenly spread out and took the world completely by storm. With gatherings promptly forbidden as well as international travel, the meetings industry became one of the most disrupted sectors. As a major gamer changer, the pandemic demanded event agencies to find new ways to stay relevant on the market. We had to ask ourselves several times, which space and role should we as event professionals play during the crisis?” says Gianluca Buongiorno, President AIM Group International. “The answer was in the ability to react, to rapidly adjust and transform, to forget the past and be focused on the new ways to achieve clients’ goals. Only the organisations and event professionals that were able to find the right solutions, providers and partners were in a position to review the procedures and work habits, to discover the best digital and technological tools that would help them provide an effective, added value”.

As stated in the Annual Report, given the importance of cash flow in uncertain times, an in-depth analysis of the impact of the crisis on the financial health of the Company was carried out and an immediate plan for cash management was put in place as part of the overall business risk and continuity plan. “We were fortunate because we were able to rely on a well-structured, financially solid company, which was defined by a long-term strategy pursued over the last few years. This meant we could survive and thrive through the unprecedented and unimaginable crisis” explains Gianluca Scavo, CEO AIM Group.

The Group’s approach proved to be successful, as testified by the number of international awards received in 2020 for innovative projects (see Eventex and Conventa Awards).

“We rapidly implemented major changes to our organisation, procedures and objectives and pivoted to new solutions that could deliver our client’s objectives to reach their target, interact, collaborate and meet” adds Gianluca Buongiorno. “But it is not enough: the market has changed forever, digital and hybrid are here to stay, clients and participant’s expectations are different, so events professionals must forget the past, avoid nostalgia and rethink their role with a creative, flexible, problem solving, imaginative attitude which is part and parcel of our profession. In our toolbox we have the capacity to re-imagin our future and contribute to social, economic and scientific development”.

AIM Group took some major steps in that sense and promoted a Digital Transformation. Thanks to dedicated investments AIM has developed a new, innovative and proprietary platform, to realise personalised digital events & communication platforms where people could interact, brands could communicate, scientific associations could educate, and the public could be engaged and informed. Another major milestone was the establishment in 2020 of a new specialised company, AIM Communication, an open innovation network which operates as a start-up incubator fostering innovation in communication and technology.

“At AIM Group we wanted to take this opportunity to rebuild our company in a more innovative and advanced way, rethinking our mission, our positioning and the value proposition that we offered the market. We enlarged our vision and looked ahead to design and build our future profile in the new landscape, marked by technology, digital communication and augmented experiences.  I think that only the brave and forward-thinking people and organisations can not only survive such a big storm but be re-born and project themselves to a better future” adds Gianluca Scavo, CEO AIM Group International.

The full Corporate Annual Report 2020 can be downloaded from the AIM Group website .