On the last day of Experiential Planner Expo, we caught up with Ajay Bhojwani, Regional Managing Director at MCI Group Middle East. We discussed the vibes at EPEX 2025, MCI Group projects, and how the event management space is evolving in terms of AI.
So, could you introduce yourself?
My name is Ajay Bhojwani. I’m the regional managing director at MCI Group. Looking after Middle East and Africa territory for MCI.
How was your experience at EPEX 2025?
Well, I’ve been coming to EPEX 2025 for a number of years now and it’s glad to see a show like this in its 10th edition, which is more than doubled from the last two years and it’s always a great industry event held locally.
You meet your existing partners and stakeholders from government and private sectors and you also get an opportunity to network, collaborate, and meet some new planners that are coming from outside the region. There are some new venues, as well as suppliers, that are exhibiting at the event.
How do you think MCI Group is playing a role in the event management space amidst EPEX 2025?
So, at NCI, our big focus is organizing and hosting large scale international conventions and congresses. In the region, one of our big workflows is where we work with the government in multiple cities including Bali, Abu Dhabi and many more countries.
We collaborate with them to bid and bring international conventions to the city, and that’s kind of where our role begins right at strategizing the paid, helping the government bid for projects.
Once it’s confirmed for the city, we help organize and execute it. So, events like EPEX 2025 gives us an opportunity to continue that conversation, work with other partners that are involved like hotels, convention centers and other stakeholders.
Are there any sustainability projects that you’re currently working on at MCI Group?
So, now, most of our events do come with a defined strategy of sustainability, whether it’s as simple as using sustainable products on site having at minimal or no printing on site and pre planning phase.
Since we are also certified as ISO 20121 sustainable event management, We look at some of the planning phases to make sure whether it’s travelling for meetings, working with the clients and stakeholders, on how sustainability is integrated right from the start and not just for an onsite experience.
How is your experience dealing with diverse clients from all over the globe?
So generally, the expectations are quite different when you work with clients that come from outside the region. But having said that, it’s great to be organizing events in countries like the UAE and cities like Dubai because the infrastructure, whether it’s a venue, a convention center, or the services that are offered; all these are of superior quality.
A lot of the experience factor is taken care of, and you want to focus on the core elements of the event, the strategy and the experience of delegates on site or participants on site. So when you’re interacting with people coming from outside, it’s a lot easier to convince them why to buy or this region is far better and ahead in terms of how events are planned as compared to a lot of other countries and regions.
What do you observe is the biggest trend in the event management space amidst EPEX 2025?
I think the big involvement in integration is AI coming into the mix of how we run, organize and plan events and whether it’s right from day-to-day planning, day-to-day working on documentation and the strategy of the event. AI has the entire on-site experience, and its role is getting bigger. The future is going to be full of AI integration into every aspect and process of an event.
What’s your outlook for the growth of the sector?
This region is in a hyper growth phase. We see large scale conventions. We’re always coming to the region, but now you also see large scale festivals and concerts. Expanding and going deeper into this industry and sector, the government is very well focused and is investing heavily as well.
Whether it’s infrastructure, subsidies and support for or getting these events organized in the region, but not just in the region, but they’re also helping events get exported, which means helping homegrown events go outside the region as well, so you will start seeing the region play a far bigger role in the world of events on a global scale.
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