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Business People Meeting Conference Seminar Sharing Strategy Concept

Exclusive: How Global Events Drive Cross-Border Progress

July 27, 2026

Business People Meeting Conference Seminar Sharing Strategy Concept

BCD Meetings & Events’ Emily Nichols on why in-person global events are the key business infrastructure for solving problems no single organization or country can tackle alone

No single company, government or industry can solve today’s biggest challenges alone — from geopolitical instability to global supply chain shifts to the push for more resilient business practices. Increasingly, the connective tissues for that collective problem-solving are meetings and events.

Emily Nichols, Senior Director SMM, BCD Meetings & Events

Prevue recently caught up with Emily Nichols, Senior Director SMM of BCD Meetings & Events, to learn why face-to-face gatherings continue to excel as tools for cross-border collaboration, what’s driving demand for international programs in 2026, and what the industry must do to remain a catalyst for progress rather than just a line item on a budget.

Prevue: What role do meetings and events play in helping industries tackle global challenges that can’t be solved by a single organization or country?

Nichols: From a strategic meetings management (SMM) perspective, meetings are one of the few business tools that can bring the right people together across regions, functions and sectors in a way that drives real alignment. Global challenges are rarely solved by information alone; they are solved through discussion, shared accountability and coordinated action.

That is where meetings create value. They turn strategy into collaboration and collaboration into progress. BCD Meetings & Events positions meetings as purposeful tools that influence decisions, shape direction and drive alignment across organizations. When looking at the meeting data, you can also directly tie ROI in the value of those interactions back to the bottom line — whether that’s in actual sales, or an area that can be more obscure, like employee growth and retention. Being able to leverage the data to showcase that an organization is, or sometimes is not, effectively holding events is powerful.

Prevue: How important is face-to-face interaction when building international partnerships and business relationships?

Nichols: It remains incredibly important. Technology has expanded access, but face-to-face interaction still plays a unique role in building trust, strengthening relationships and creating the kind of engagement that moves business forward faster. BCD Meetings & Events has consistently emphasized the value of human connection, and in its own thought leadership has noted continued demand for in-person meetings, leadership events, tradeshows and incentives because organizations see the value of bringing people together. Virtual meetings, to be sure, have their place, however the whiplash that the industry experienced in 2020 from solely virtual meetings back to in-person events showcased the value that we all crave in shared human experiences.

Prevue: What are you seeing in terms of demand for international meetings and incentive travel programs?

Nichols: What we are seeing is not a simple return to volume for volume’s sake. Demand is there, but clients are operating with much more discipline around cost, governance and ROI. BCD Meetings & Events’ 2026 Global Client Survey found that most organizations expect budgets, event volume and event size to remain stable, while cost pressure and return on investment are shaping decisions more strongly. At the same time, clients continue to value face-to-face connection and are increasingly looking for international meeting and incentive programs that are purposeful, well-justified and aligned with broader business goals.

Prevue: Can you share examples where a meeting or event helped advance collaboration across regions, industries or sectors?

Nichols: One strong example is BCD Meetings & Events’ work on The Royal Society Commonwealth Science Conference. That program brought together participants from 32 Commonwealth countries, included 87 speakers, and was specifically designed to strengthen collaboration and engagement between scientists across borders through networking tools, one-to-one meetings and extended post-event connection. Another example is BCD M&E’s implementation of meetings technology for a life sciences client across 12 countries in Latin America in under three months, which created a more unified regional process, stronger visibility and consistent compliance. From an SMM standpoint, both examples show how meetings infrastructure can enable cross-border collaboration at scale and how data and reporting can be utilized to showcase this.

Prevue: How are geopolitical uncertainty, economic shifts and changing travel patterns affecting global meetings today?

Nichols: They are making global meetings more strategic and more complex. On the meetings side, BCD M&E’s 2026 Global Client Survey shows strong cost pressure and rising expectations around measurable value. On the travel side, BCD Travel’s 2026 outlook highlights risks such as geopolitical instability, border-policy shifts and transport disruption. My view is that this environment pushes organizations to plan earlier, build more flexibility into programs and evaluate destinations through a wider lens that includes access, resilience, policy and attendee experience — not just price.

Prevue: What destinations are emerging as important hubs for international business events, and why?

Nichols: We are seeing growing interest in destinations that combine strong connectivity, reliable infrastructure, regional business relevance and a compelling attendee experience. Singapore is a clear example because of its global accessibility, strong venue and technology infrastructure, and its position as a gateway into Southeast Asia. At the same time, BCD M&E is seeing more opportunities in secondary cities, where planners can often gain better value, greater agility and fresh experiences. Recent BCD M&E examples include Chengdu, Lyon, Guadalajara and Adelaide as cities gaining relevance because they align with regional industry strength, improving infrastructure and smarter spending priorities.

Prevue: As organizations become increasingly global, how will the role of meetings and events evolve?

Nichols: I believe meetings will continue to move away from being seen as isolated events and toward being managed as strategic business assets. That is very consistent with how BCD M&E describes meetings strategy: aligning meeting objectives with broader business goals and creating long-term impact, not just successful execution. We are also seeing a return to longer-term thinking in SMM, with more focus on governance, program maturity, optimization and business alignment.

Prevue: What does the industry need to do to remain a driver of international collaboration and progress in the years ahead?

Nichols: We need to keep strengthening the strategic side of the industry. That means better data, clearer measurement, increased standardization on key data points, stronger governance, more consistent global processes and enough flexibility to respond to local market realities. It also means protecting the human side of meetings — because connection is still the foundation — while using technology and structured planning to make global programs more resilient, efficient and accountable. BCD M&E’s position on meetings management and strategy reflects exactly that balance between control, visibility and meaningful outcomes.

Prevue: If you were making the case to a CEO or policymaker, what would you say is the single most important contribution meetings make to global progress?

Nichols: I would say meetings turn intent into aligned action. A lot of organizations can share information across borders, but meetings create the environment for people to debate, decide, commit and move forward together. That is why they matter so much. Their value is not just in gathering people; it is in accelerating decisions, building trust and creating the alignment that progress depends on. Meetings serve as a valuable part of an organization’s overall communications strategy. BCD M&E’s own language around meetings influencing decisions and driving alignment captures that well.

Prevue: When people think about meetings and events, they often focus on logistics or travel. What’s the bigger story about the industry’s impact on business growth, innovation, communities and global progress that you think deserves more attention?

Nichols: The bigger story is that meetings and events are not just operational activity — they are business infrastructure. They help organizations connect strategy to execution, people to purpose and ideas to action. They support growth by accelerating decisions, innovation by bringing diverse expertise together, and global progress by making collaboration real across industries and geographies. Logistics matter, of course, but only because they enable something much bigger: momentum. From a BCD Meetings & Events perspective, that is the part of the story that deserves far more attention.