Interview Benoit Froment – Brussels MICE day, Meetaxis

Benoit, can you tell us more about yourself ?

Benoit is born in Namur and when he was a little boy, his father got a job in Bolivia and they moved with the entire family to South-America. During 4 years he lived in Bolivia, where he learned Spanish and French. Unfortunately, they had to leave due to altitude sickness of his twin brother and mother as their house was situated 4000 meter above sea level.

Back in Belgium, Benoit studied art, but never got a job in this sector however his passion for art remained until now he still visits exhibitions worldwide. He continued to study political science and finished at the Solvay Business School where he choose for marketing.

Would you like to share more information about your professional career?

Benoit started his career directly in the exhibitions ‘sector’. He organized the ‘baby & future mother’ exhibition in Belgium and expanded the formule for his former employer to other cities in Belgium and abroad to Spain, all over the country.
In 2000 Benoit started to organize EMIF in Belgium from 200 exhibitors for the first edition until 650 exhibitors to last edition with 6000 visitors in 2007. A huge success!
From 2008 –  he started his own company focused on marketing and exhibitions for the MICE industry and launched the Meetopolis concept during 4 years.
A part from his job, to keep fit and de-stressed, he plays badminton and volleyball.

Why have you started with The Brussels & Global MICE Day?

Very simple, Benoit replied. Due to a high demand and since EMIF no other concept has replaced this exhibition, there was really a need for something new.

Last year 2016 was the first edition of the Brussel MICE Day, how are you looking forward to the upcoming edition?

We have a lot of international destinations, more than national destinations which means there is a huge interest from abroad.  We still receive demands from exhibitors to join, which is great. We aim to have around 400/500 trade visitors and 154 exhibitors. We have learned from the previous edition and we improved the second edition for the upcoming year.

If we have a look in the future, how does your future looks like?

On professional level, more new concepts will be launched, he didn’t want to tell more, please keep us posted. We are curious!

On the personal level, his passion for art remained and he would love to move to Barcelona in the upcoming years.

To close the interview Benoit would like to share the following slogans with us:

A big portion of ‘courage’

Don’t be afraid to fail
Take one step at the time

Thank you very much Benoit Froment
Project Leader & Organizer
bf@meetaxis.com
www.globalmiceday.com
www.brusselsmiceday.com