Unveiling the Chapters of 2023: My Year in Review

Today, on December 31st, it’s time for a summary. The past year, 2023, has brought me a plethora of experiences, both sweet and bitter. While I’m not complaining, I express gratitude for everything that has come my way in these past twelve months. Sometimes, negative events can overshadow many positive aspects of life. Hence, I am thankful for every experience this year, as each has brought forth diverse emotions and valuable lessons that I can apply in the future.

Education

I am immensely pleased to have completed my postgraduate studies at Kozminski University in Warsaw and defended my dissertation in July. From October 2022 to June 2023, I had the opportunity to delve into knowledge, explore significant subjects, and establish new connections – both with my peers and lecturers. I was fortunate that our ALKMI40 students group consisted of enthusiasts and passionate individuals, while our lecturers were top-notch experts in digital marketing. I can genuinely recommend these studies and the institution. More information can be found here: Postgraduate Studies – Internet Marketing at Kozminski University.

The year 2023 was particularly exciting in terms of educational development, especially considering the growing interest in artificial intelligence. It began with the emergence of Midjourney about DALL-E (in the summer of 2022), through tools for generating text content like ChatGPT OpenAI (from the beginning of 2023), to creating videos using platforms such as RunWay or Heygen (towards the end of the year).

 

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This year was abundant in inspiring educational events and acquiring new skills. Participating in the Thursday Social Media Meetings in Warsaw’s Praga district (Czwartki Social Media) provided engaging discussions, allowing me to stay updated with the dynamic changes in the field of internet marketing. Towards the year’s end, I also participated in the Sprawny Marketing – AI Training for Marketing.

Additionally, attending the New Trends in Tourism conference in Gdańsk was an interesting experience in my hometown.

Work

The year 2023 marked a full year of work for me at the Polish Tourist Organisation – Poland Convention Bureau. It was a new environment for me, my first job in a public institution, with new professional goals and the joy of collaborating with numerous individuals from different fields and foreign branches of the Polish Tourist Organisation. Over 60 people at the new PTO headquarters on 42 Młynarska Street in Warsaw, with whom we executed various tasks, projects, and initiatives, made this job unique and very intense.

IMEX in Frankfurt

In 2022 the greatest satisfaction for me was the ICCA Congress in Krakow. In 2023 among many projects, I had the pleasure of working on the organization of this year’s editions of the IBTM World in Barcelona and IMEX in Frankfurt.

ICCA Members

The Polish national stand received a record number of applications from participants interested in attending mentioned trade fairs, and the number of Polish partners participating in both events reached its highest level in years. The expansion of the previously established Musical Mornings and collaboration with musical ambassadors Brian Allan and Basia Giewont with DJ Korneliusz, as well as the creation of the song Let’s Talk Business were extremely satisfying experiences for me.

This year had an unforgettable highlight: the incredible international collaboration between DJ Fox and Basia Giewont at the Norwegian stand in Barcelona. It was an absolute blast and undoubtedly the highlight of the Happy Hour at the IBTM. Music has this amazing power to bring people together. A huge thanks to Arve Lindgren and Frode Aasheim for making this magical moment possible.

So much fun. Have a look and listen.

Additionally, with Basia Giewont, we created a new arrangement of the Let`s Talk Business song for the trade fair in Barcelona and a special playlist on Spotify. Find out more about Let`s Talk Business.

IBTM World in Barcelona

E-marketing at the Poland Convention Bureau was an extensive endeavour throughout the year 2023. Working on the communication plan and its implementation across social media and the website constituted over a thousand diverse activities, encompassing the creation and publication of various content on our channels (Facebook, Twitter – X, LinkedIn, YouTube, and others). At the year-end, I additionally generated annual reports using Brand24 and Sotrender, and I must say, the results are more than satisfactory.

Currently, we have 14 convention bureaus in Poland. In 2023, two new bureaus were established (Silesia and Swietokrzyskie), and two were reactivated (Mazovia and Lublin Region). Numerous hours of meetings, discussions, advice, and joint ventures brought much satisfaction and effectively contributed to common achievements. I am pleased that we were able to support both new and existing Polish convention bureaus.

In February this year, at the NYX Hotel, we awarded Polish Tourism Organisation recommendations to outstanding convention bureaux, professional congress organizers, and incentive travel organizers. Learn more – Poland Convention Bureau POT announces recommendations for 2023-2024.

I am delighted with the successful implementation of the concept for the Eventprofs Creators Lab (PL – Laboratorium Twórców) project, which I developed at the end of 2022. This project focused on education for the tourism industry, with a concentration on digital marketing. We conducted a total of 6 events for the Laboratorium Twórców, spanning Warsaw (Hotel NYX meeting with the industry, Meetings Week Poland conference), Zakopane (dedicated educational stand at the congress), and Wrocław (5th European Tourism Forum).

I was thrilled that we managed to invite experts to the project who could share practical knowledge with participants (Dagmara Plata-Alf, Rafał Szymański, Klaudia Chwastek). Together with Aneta Ksiazek, we conducted workshops in Zakopane and meetings with students at the PTO headquarters, while I presented solo in Wrocław. Additionally, for those interested, I conducted individual online consultations on Internet marketing topics.

The project even had its international premiere as a mobile photography workshop for eventprofs.

💡The #EventprofsLAB educational project premiered at the IMEX trade show in Frankfurt #IMEX23 @IMEX_Group 🌍

➡️ Find out more https://t.co/XqN7F8j7rR#eventprofs #PolandCVB #education #imexfrankfurt pic.twitter.com/FAWaEqLLdB

— Poland Convention Bureau 🇵🇱 (@PolandCvB) June 30, 2023

To cap off the year, there’s the cherry on top. I had the honour of being the lead for our flagship project in 2023, the “Poland. More than you expected” campaign, targeting the meetings and events industry in foreign markets. Despite some challenges at the project’s outset, the outcome was more than satisfactory. We targeted two specific MICE segments: organizers of events for international associations and organizers of corporate events. The achievement of the extensive Key Performance Indicators (KPI) was accomplished through:

1. Collaboration with editorial teams (BoardRoom Magazine, Kongres Magazine, AMI – Associations Meetings International, CMW – Conference & Meetings World, HQ – Headquarters Magazine, M&IT – Meetings and Incentive Travel, SKIFT Meetings) in the form of articles, sponsored articles, Destination Guides, newsletters, banners, and direct mailing
2. Social media and performance marketing
3. Influencer marketing with Key Opinion Leaders – Sina Bunte and Basia Giewont
4. The creation of a landing page meetings.poland.travel
5. Exhibition of campaign-specific content at industry events, including IBTM World in Barcelona (integrated with sensory marketing). This involved a specially recorded video featuring a MICE influencer and representatives from the Polish industry.

The number 12 played a significant role in this project. On September 12, we signed the contract with the marketing agency, and on December 12, we jointly received a commemorative diploma at the Copernicus Science Center in Warsaw. Our campaign was recognized as one of the best at the MP IMPACT Awards summit organized by MeetingPlanner.pl! This achievement brings us immense joy. Through the passion, creativity, perseverance, and determination of those involved in the project, we achieved more than we expected.

There were so many Poland Convention Bureau projects that it’s challenging to mention them all. However, in brief, I would like to mention:

• the Spotlight on Poland conference in Krakow,
• the Inauguration of the Silesia Convention Bureau in Chorzów,
• the Industry Report on Meetings and Events in Poland,
• and the Gala of Polish Congress Ambassadors in Gdynia…

Writing

I’m also pleased with the opportunity to write another eleven articles in my regular column for the THINK MICE magazine (both print and online versions). This year, I wrote about various topics including artificial intelligence, trade fairs, case studies of marketing campaigns, and social media. For the first time, an article was also published in the magazine’s international edition at the IMEX trade fair in Frankfurt.

This year has also been a time of changing priorities. Unfortunately, time is limited, so I had to bid farewell to some additional undertakings, most of which I highly valued. However, I understood the necessity of making choices.

I’m planning to expand my English blog, so feel invited. In meetings and training sessions, I frequently emphasize the importance of “writing blogs.” I make it a point to lead by example and follow the principle of “practice what you preach.” It’s feasible to compose at least one blog post per month.

Testing