Cocal 2024 closes its doors and sets course for its 41st edition

13-07-24

After intense days full of interesting conferences, inspiring presentations and networking sessions dedicated to meeting industry professionals, the 40th edition of COCAL closed its doors on the afternoon of July 11.

Presentations, panels and discussions took place during this last day, with a variety of topics on professional management, sustainability and technological integration in the Ibero-American and global events market.

During the morning session, the National President of AMPROFEC, Julio César Bojórquez, presented his paper "Creativity in the era of artificial intelligence". The digital advertising specialist based his presentation on the application of new technologies to the meetings business.

After him, the floor passed to the duo formed by Iván Cock, General Producer of Lupa Media e Interactiva and Hugo Tolentino, CEO of HTA Entertainment. Both professionals joined forces to talk about "Sustainable events and destinations: music as an example". Their interesting presentation put music as a central element in the search for destinations, motivating entertainment in a sustainable way.

Afterwards, Mariela Bazán, Chief Sustainability Officer and COO of the Events Industry Council (EIC), presented "Starting and accelerating sustainable event practices", on the active exercise of sustainability practices in the organization of meetings.

After a short break, José Quiñones, former President of the Peruvian Olympic Committee (COP), gave a presentation entitled "Sporting events: a scenario of opportunities". On the same topic, followed the conservatory "Niches in the sports market", moderated by Jim Vásquez Melgar, Deputy Manager of Sports and Recreation of the District Municipality of San Miguel. Francisco Lee López, President of the Association of Pan American Sports Confederations ACODEPA and the aforementioned Quiñones participated in this round table discussion and debate.

After them, it was the turn of Arnaldo Nardone, Director of Fiexpo Exhibition Group, who gave a presentation on business management with "Competitiveness and strategic planning. Key tools to generate business".

After a break, the last round of conferences hosted a panel moderated by Gonzalo Parró, Director of Parró Producciones, on "Technology in event operations". Oscar Mena, Director of Goodlinks, and José Antonio Ganoza, Country Manager of RLA Event Technologies, talked about innovative proposals.

David Hidalgo, CEO and Co-Founder of Tree Alliance, spoke next. He addressed the attendees with a presentation dedicated to "Marketing applied to fairs: optimize your participation in major events", inviting professionals to listen to tips on advertising and sales in the business environment.

To end this round of presentations, the floor was given to guest speaker José Carlos de Santiago, president of the Excelencias Group and vice-president of the Ibero-American Academy of Gastronomy, who spoke on "Gastronomy as the core of new experiences". During his presentation, he highlighted the importance of gastronomy as a key travel motivation and emphasized the importance of gastronomic events as an engine for business as well as for cultural exchange and as a tourism booster.

The last presentation of COCAL 2024 was given by Ana María Viscasillas, President of the Events Industry Council, with an interesting presentation based on "A GLocal strategy: inspiration and innovation to accelerate the meetings industry".

Closing remarks were given by Luis Ricardo Martínez, President of COCAL. This was followed by a farewell cocktail for the attendees.