ICOM Group designs its “Business Review Conference” in a Completely New Format +125 Employees enjoy their 1st Internal Hybrid Experience!

After living a year of hardship during 2020, our annual “Business Review Conference” this year was extremely different. In a truly Hybrid Format, our conference was livestreamed for 4 days to all our employees inside and outside of Egypt aiming to combine the in-presence event with virtual sessions.
The team who was supervising the organization of the conference worked hard to add extra desks & space to the venue meeting rooms to maintain a safe & healthy atmosphere to all participants.

“Employees are the assets of the company, and their health & safety are always first and foremost in our minds, there is truly nothing more important. We wanted our employees to be comfortable in order to live this new experience of the Hybrid Conference”

Walid Menessi

Chief Operating Officer – COO

“In ICOM Group, we believe that our employees are our number one customer. And because we truly care about their health, safety & comfort, we changed the format of our “Annual Review Meeting” to be a Hybrid conference to be able to integrate a rich agenda with several topics to guarantee the full concentration and interaction of all virtual & in-person employees along the 4 days”

Iman Ragheb

Executive Board Office Manager

The Business Review Conference was an incredibly powerful time for all parties involved, we utilized this gathering to celebrate our collective accomplishments and, more importantly, have employees from different offices around the world meet face-to-face and get the most benefit out of it. The main focus of the Management Team was to help the employees live a Hybrid Conference of their own interest, to see with their own eyes and feel with their hearts what our attendees are experiencing during Hybrid Event.

“Our cutting-edge software was the lifesaver behind this exciting experience. We were able to promote an engaging atmosphere that succeeded to develop an augmented experience for all employees in various destinations around the world. We are sure that applying our 1st Hybrid Conference will elevate the business productivity and employees’ sense of ownership during 2021”

Marwa Emam

Marketing & PR Manager

We tailored the conference agenda based on some guidelines to assure that it will engender pride, loyalty, and future business opportunities:

1. Bring Together Live & Virtual Attendees: Networking was very important during our Business Conference. We brought together all employees through simulate sessions, live polling and Q&A, and breakout sessions similar to any physical event. It was important to make some room for networking sessions in the event itinerary and it was a great opportunity for our teams to connect with each other specially when they are located in various destinations.

2. Diversified Topics: Our agenda was full of virtual & in-person sessions covering many tracks that generated a lot of valuable discussions & insights about the future of the business:
a. Case Studies & Product Awareness.
b. Best practices sessions, where the employees were requested to submit their projects through a ‘Jot Form’ prior to the event in order to be evaluated properly from the Management Team. The top 5 winners received their awards the last day of the conference.
c. Crises management in Events Industry.
d. Reviewing the business plan 2021.
e. Demonstrating 2020 successes nationally & regionally.
f. Clients data protection sessions.
g. Industry knowledge sessions.
h. Digitalization in the Events Industry.
i. Safety & Health Sessions.
j. Motivation sessions.

3. Offering Take Home Messages: Each speaker identified some takeaway messages of his or her presentation. The takeaway message was the one thing we wanted our employees to remember after finishing the conference days and start working on 2021 Business Plan.

Conference Outcomes

“ICOM Group Management Team intended to do the annual meeting differently this year for the employees, especially after a long time of isolation. They needed to meet, network and brainstorm, it is the human nature after all. So, it was our role to help our employees enjoy this new engaging experience with certain safety constrains”

Salma Darwiche

Chief Business Development Officer

We consider this annual gathering a unique opportunity to cement the relationship between the Top Management and the employees. It creates a stage so that our staff can shine, it is a once-in-a-year team-building exercise that supercharge the whole company. And, is a very honest way to do business.

When our employees know that every year they’ll have to stand in front of their management & colleagues to acknowledge everything they did right as well as the mistakes made, it is humbling yet an important step in making our company a better place. We were delighted to see how engaged our employees were during the conference days.

“We work with passion and commitment, we strive for the highest level of professionalism, alignment and employee engagement by organizing these business meetings. And so, the conference program was customized to cover all the business aspects that are of interest to the employees”

Hossam Mady

Chief Commercial & Partnership Officer (CCO)

Transforming the annual business meeting into an engaging hybrid conference was not an easy mission. It involved creativity, in-depth planning, foresight, tech streaming capabilities using our software that’s flexible & customizable, a competent team of digital executives and much more. Thanks to all the technical team members who have worked tirelessly during these 4 days to help us make the meeting a successful and engaging experience to all of us.

“Employees who are aligned & engaged in their work and committed to their organizations give companies crucial competitive advantages – including higher productivity and lower employee turnover. Thus, it is not surprising to invest substantially in team building events & best practices that foster engagement and commitment into our workplace”

Belal El Chal

ICOM Group CEO

Special Thanks to Mr. Martin Boyle – IAPCO CEO & Mr. Senthil Gopinath – ICCA CEO for their participation in the opening ceremony of the Business Conference. Their motivational & encouraging speeches made a huge difference to the employees’ spirits.

And finally, thanks to all our employees for bringing their expertise and experience around the tables and engaging in such fruitful, constructive and open exchanges throughout the 4 days of the Business Week.

Have a prosperous 2021!