Under the leadership of Executive Director Lilly Pavlou, QUBE Events has carved a niche in the industry with its focus on fostering genuine business connections and mutual growth. Lilly Pavlou, with her over eight years at the helm, has brought a blend of marketing savvy, business development acumen, and executive recruitment know-how that has been instrumental in driving the company's success. QUBE's philosophy is rooted in delivering an authentic experience to attendees, emphasizing efficient time use, facilitating meaningful business contacts, and striking a balance between professional growth and personal enrichment.

The following interview with Lilly Pavlou reveals the complexities and challenges involved in crafting impactful B2B events. Lilly delves into the art of catering to both in-person and virtual participants, the increasing focus on sustainability, and the paramount importance of technological security in the modern, digital-centric event landscape. Her insights into building strong business relationships through QUBE's events are particularly revealing, highlighting the company's dedication to enhancing both individual and organizational returns on investment.

With nearly eight years of experience in international conferences at a leading global company, I held dual senior roles in marketing and research, overseeing teams across Europe, Asia, and the US. Upon leaving this position, my partner and I founded QUBE Events in 2016. Our strategic approach focused on establishing a brand in the conference arena, initially targeting the Payments and Regulatory technology sectors due to their rapid growth. We later extended into the Forex, Finance, and Trade Finance sectors. We initially hosted events in Malta, Brussels, and Cyprus, later expanding events to Zurich, Dublin and London. Our upcoming events in South Africa, Dubai and Austin, Texas, reflect our ambitious and continuous growth.

The most fulfilling aspect has been upholding our vision of providing an authentic platform for business professionals to connect and build credible relationships in a healthy and productive environment.

Firstly, virtualisation and hybrid event formats. With the Covid era behind us, the most significant developments in the conference industry were webinars and digital networking platforms. Consequently, B2B conferences have increasingly embraced virtual and hybrid formats, allowing participants to attend remotely. This shift has increased the networks, scope and knowledge-sharing capability. These technological advancements offer a more flexible and accessible way for businesses to connect without needing physical presence. Secondly, enhanced networking opportunities are available via the evolution of B2B conferences, which focus on improving networking opportunities. Organisers are utilising advanced dedicated networking platforms to facilitate meaningful connections among attendees. This helps participants identify potential collaborators, clients, or partners more efficiently. The third advancement is within data analytics for personalisation. The integration of data analytics has enabled organisers to personalise conference experiences, creating a more valuable experience for each participant.

The three significant challenges facing the global events industry lie in balancing the needs of in-person and virtual attendees poses a challenge. Sustainability concerns are a second major challenge. With a growing awareness of the environmental impact, conferences face challenges in adopting sustainable practices, from reducing carbon footprints associated with travel to minimising waste generated during events. The third major challenge I will mention is technological security. As conferences rely heavily on digital platforms, ensuring robust cybersecurity measures becomes paramount to protect sensitive information, prevent data breaches, and maintain the trust of both participants and sponsors.

QUBE has the great advantage of being a very agile organisation – we quickly adapt and evolve to accommodate the latest advancements in the conference industry while also understanding the challenges. Our diversified service offering allows us to create a bespoke and comprehensive service offering, including international conferences and online webinars; we offer a meeting point service and a personalised one-to-one meeting platform for targeted business/ partner development. When it comes to personalisation - we provide a secure platform and access to our MaaS (Marketing as a Service) for organisations looking to enhance their marketing initiatives, both by expanding their ecosystems and giving them access to a team of marketing experts that can assist in creating a robust plan, execution and close monitoring of the objectives.

Great question – we are very conscious and mindful of the time, energy and investment it takes to attend a conference. We keep in mind both personal and organisational expectations. 

We think of ROI on a personal side for participants and an ROI for their organisations. We include a series of networking activities and ice-breakers within our events. This helps the participants feel connected and engage more, opening up for discussing business opportunities and knowledge sharing. Lately, a new addition to our agendas is personal development coaches who offer incredible presentations to develop soft skills and assist us in creating a deeper bond within the group. For our Sponsors, we provide dedicated account executives who work closely with the teams before, during and after the event to ensure that the correct targets are approached, meetings are on schedule, and expectations for clients or potential partnerships are always met.

Another great question: I am involved in speaker recruitment for our events. QUBE attracts the most talented and highly sought-after thought leaders as speakers at our Forums. Much research goes into creating an agenda of key industry topics and selecting the right expert to discuss or present on the respective topics. We typically have around 40 speakers at a Forum of one and a half days – so it’s an action-packed agenda and attracts a very engaged audience. We aim to maximise our participants' experience in networking, knowledge and time – to secure a positive ROI. Regarding specific qualities for speakers – they should be experts in their field; often, they come recommended by our network. We also find it valuable to include entrepreneurs doing impactful work. As we host the global Nextgen Series, it’s essential to include professionals and entrepreneurs revolutionising the industry, innovating and ready to share their vision.

QUBE Events has a great privilege on this event by collaborating with the ICPAC CFO Committee.  The ICPAC CFO Committee is a dedicated group of practising senior finance professionals working in various roles across various industry sectors. They bring excellent knowledge, practical insights and a deep understanding of the challenges and developments of the finance function. When creating this agenda for this conference, each topic was fine-tuned, and each speaker was carefully hand-picked to ensure a valuable exchange for the audience. We have ambitious goals with this Forum as we aim to make it the most impactful finance conference in the Mediterranean. With the 3rd edition taking place on 23-24 May this year in Limassol, Cyprus - we are well on our way to achieving this!

QUBE is not only a conference company - it’s a global network of thought leaders and industry experts. We gather in exciting 5-star locations worldwide or on digital platforms one-on-one or in large groups. 

Within this incredible ecosystem lies the opportunity for growth, partnerships, and knowledge sharing. We always focus on bringing value. In 2024, we are most excited about expanding into Africa, the Middle East, and finally, the USA! We have had these goals and dreams in QUBE for the past few years, and it’s just been an incredible journey to make these dreams come true!

What: QUBE Events

Where: Nicosia, Cyprus

More Info: qubevents.com

Who: With over two decades of extensive experience in international conferences, Lilly emerges as a seasoned industry leader skilled in orchestrating successful events. Specialising in both Research and Marketing, she has contributed her expertise to having worked for renowned global conference leaders, overseeing teams across Europe, MENA, APAC, and the USA. Lilly excels in curating impactful networking experiences underpinned by a robust foundation in thought leadership. Having been raised in South Africa, her upbringing enhances her ability to thrive in diverse, multicultural environments, bringing a distinctive perspective to her professional journey.