From Wednesday, November 7th to Saturday, November 10th, our Digital Director, Simon Beer, and Operations Director, Tom Gozna, headed to the bustling city of Marrakesh for Bigwave Marketing’s 11th SIBEC conference.
After a harrowing start to their trip – a result of long airport lines made worse by the end of daylight savings in Morocco just two days earlier – the duo arrived at rather prestigious Mövenpick Hotel Mansour Eddahbi Marrakech, where the event was held.
And it’s safe to say, their rocky journey was soon forgotten. Much like the events which have preceded it, SIBEC 2018 proved to be a hugely successful event.
A global business forum for leisure, SIBEC aims to pair major leisure operators and suppliers from across Europe together ‘speed-dating’ style.
Over the course of two days, Bigwave managed to conduct a whopping 21 meetings of 20 minutes each. Thankfully for the buyers (no offence Tom and Si) flirting was at a minimum. Instead, they discussed business, ideas, trends and, of course, terrible Moroccan airport infrastructure.
The evening entertainment, which included fire performers, acrobats and even a celebrity-style red carpet, allowed attendees to network further in a more informal manner.
Simon said:
“SIBEC was a great event for us. We caught up with a number of existing clients and conversed with operators that we haven’t had the fortune of previously meeting.
“This conference always proves hugely rewarding, which is why we return year on year. SIBEC is incredibly well-run. It’s one of the few points in the year that all the key players are brought together under one roof so we always leave armed with plenty of information on the leisure industry along with new contacts.”
Tom concurred:
“As always, SIBEC proved to be a cracking trip. There was a particularly good vibe about the event this year. It attracted a really fantastic audience and was even livelier than previous SIBECs I’ve attended.”