Mice Insights

By Viviane Vaz

FRANKFURT, MAY 23, 2025 (MICE INSIGHTS) 

IMEXausted. The word play game is not mine. I heard it from one of the 13,335 attendees of IMEX –one of the major trade shows where the global MICE industry comes together every year in Frankfurt, Germany.

Most of us feel exhausted after intensive days at Messe Frankfurt from May 20 to 22… But we are also happy to have made it! IMEXausted, I know, but I should also add, IMEXpanding contacts, IMEXcelling in business and human relations, and… IMEXhilarating! 😉

This 21st edition counted on participants from 97 countries. Any imaginable service related to the events industry was there, from traditional hospitality venues to technology companies. In total, 67,000 meetings were held as one-to-one, group appointments and presentations.

Besides, we could take part in several cultural and gastronomic activities such as wine, caipirinha, coffee and tea tastings; create our own French macarons; paint a collective frame in watercolor; get our name written in Japanese and Chinese calligraphy; prepare a Thai flower perfume sachet… and dance!

Norway and Sweden: the party souls

Among IMEX highlights, every year we find DJ Fox to wrap the penultimate day of the fair And every year, the dancing crowd gets bigger and bigger. A Business Event organiser from Amsterdam told the DJ that he must have had 200 IMEX atendees for the party. “From the stage it actually looked more like 500-700 people,” revealed DJ Fox.

DJ Fox is from Norway. The smiley Dance Queen is from Sweden. I am not sure if I can reveal their identities or if you should attend the next IMEX in order to discover them. Then, I will only give you a hint: the Swedish queen is a bright MICE director from Strawberry Hotels and the wild DJ Fox is actually a serious professional from Visit Berger.

“The Norwegians know how to throw a party,” one of the Nordic organisers told me. Other Destination and Convention bureaus are trying to get inspired and offer a DJ set at IMEX as well, but the bar is currently too high. Not easy to beat a country powered by nature!