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ELX Forum at IMEX Frankfurt 2025: Strategic Leadership, Trusted Community
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Frankfurt, Germany, May 20, 2025 - Held under the Chatham House Rule, the ELX Forum fostered a trusted space for members to reflect and share hard-earned knowledge. brought together cross-industry expertise to address shared challenges head-on. In particular, this year’s event focused on the importance of resilient leadership, exploring how leaders can adapt to unlock their teams’ full potential. As technology changes and teams become increasingly remote, the need for clear, strategic direction to transform challenges into opportunities is now more critical than ever.
Connection and Community: A Cornerstone of Leadership
“This was my first ELX Forum and I found it incredibly valuable. The ELX team created a really engaging and relevant agenda which had a good balance of learning sessions and networking/knowledge sharing elements. It was great to meet some of the members in person and the day had a real community feel.”
— ELX Member
In the agenda this year, Keynote speaker Toby Bassford, Founder & Managing Director of Tillon Group, delivered a compelling session on resilience in the digital age. He emphasized to the audience that mutual support and shared strength are essential for teams to thrive and deliver high quality results. His authentic and experience-driven tone set the theme for the following sessions, and made its way to the IMEX show floor.
“ELX Forum was a day filled with connection, community and commerce. Toby brought incredible insights and thought leadership. Overall, this was my favorite day of my IMEX experience.”
— Renee Cavan, ELX Member
Turning Insight Into Action Across the IMEX Ecosystem
ELX continued the momentum at IMEX’s Inspiration Hub, where a group of ELX members joined Chloe Richardson, Head of Content at ELX, to unpack the content from Bassford’s session, extending ELX’s dialogue into the broader industry audience. Members that joined the stage included:
- Kate Scully, Head of Business Travel Operations & Providers for Howden Group Holdings
- Lisa Seibert, Lead Global Congress Operations for Merck KGaA
- Renee Cavan, Event Experience Executive and ELX Member
Reinforcing ELX’s footprint across the IMEX ecosystem, ELX CEO Nicola Kastner moderated an energizing panel on the collaborative potential in the events space. Nicola was joined by several members and partners of the community, including:
- Martin Butler, Senior Director of Enterprise Events at T‑Mobile
- Barry Muldowney, Chief Operating Officer at Verve
- Alexandra Howar, Director, Growth & Client Success at InVision
- Monique Rochard-Marine, Head of Global Commercial Services at Cordis
“If you were in any doubt that events is a skilled profession - join an ELX session. Inspiring, engaging and rewarding.”
— Jonathan Dewe, Global Head of Events, Moody’s Ratings (ELX Member)
Driving Collective Growth
Beyond the Forum, ELX contributed their perspectives in other ways across IMEX Frankfurt this year. Hannah Elston, ELX’s Manager, Marketing & Communications, represented the organization on a panel that delved into how mentorship can elevate careers, bridge generational gaps, and strengthen the future of the events industry. The session underscored the dual impact of powerful mentor-mentee relationships in shaping both personal growth and professional advancement.
Insight Today, Impact Tomorrow
The 2025 ELX Forum in Frankfurt, Germany reaffirmed the importance of a trusted and respected community for top event leaders who are often expected to operate with unwavering pace, in isolation. The Forum sparked insights that attendees will not only carry into their work, but also the future of the Event Industry.
The impact of the ELX Forum does not end in Frankfurt. With new challenges ahead and more conversations to come, ELX invites the world’s top senior event leaders for the next Forum at IMEX America.