The theme for AIME’s 2024 Knowledge Program is “The 4Ps of GLOCALISATION” and will explore the relationship between global insights and local nuances.

Keynote speaker Lisa Ronson will examine the intricate dynamics of glocalisation’s transformative impact on the global business events industry. 

With a career spanning more than 25 years at some of Australia’s best known consumer brands – including Coles, Tourism Australia, Westpac, Telstra, Visa International, David Jones and Carlton & United Breweries – Ronson is an award-winning marketing executive with an extensive track record of building strong consumer brands, leading high-performing teams and growing retail sales and market share.

With the support of Saxton Speakers Bureau (Saxton), Ronson will examine how the business events industry can use modern marketing tools and insights to best serve their customers today – and into the future. 

Ronson says she’s excited to be part of AIME’s Knowledge Program in 2024.

“It  looks like it will be a fantastic audience and I’m really excited to share some insights that they can take back and start implementing straight away. It’s all about being practical and using examples, so I’m excited for that,” she says.

On the Knowledge Program theme for 2024, Ronson says every global organisation grapples with how to apply and adapt an overall strategy to local nuances and cultural differences. 

She says the key is empathy. 

“Given the amount of data and insights we now have across digital channels it’s much easier today to break down the insights and have empathy between the two parties and teams. Having empathy between the global and local teams ensures greater understanding and is critical to ensuring those global insights or trends are interpreted in the right way for local audiences,” she says.

“Do I think we’ve made progress? Absolutely. Do I think we’re 100% there yet? No, I don’t think we are. But we are getting better.”

At AIME, Ronson will speak about how good leadership creates better-performing teams.

“I think to be a good leader and to create more high-performing cultures that drive growth and have much more satisfied employees comes down to the basics of communication and really focusing on them – things like really listening, not just to respond, but to understand,” she says.

She says modern management and leadership styles have had to evolve to adapt to today’s challenges.

“I  think we’ve made progress, going from a command and control style leadership to more distributed leadership – or leadership as a service, for want of a better term,” she says. 

“This again, has listening at its core, developing a listening culture across an organisation. You need to really seek to understand everyone, seek out different opinions and perspectives – you make better decisions when you have a diversity of opinions, when you have a workforce that feels they can speak up and give their opinion. 

“This helps to make the decisions of the business better – and drives a better commercial outcome. It’s sequential.”

She says accountability is key to creating a culture of high-performance and motivating teams.

“Leaders need to hold themselves accountable. We all have our strengths and weaknesses and, as humans, and leaders, we tend to have the conversations we’re most comfortable having and to avoid those that are more difficult,” she says.

“It’s about giving not only good feedback,  because that’s great, but it’s relatively easy. It’s also giving the feedback people might find a little bit more confronting but will help them develop and grow.”

To hear Ronson’s keynote presentation and to immerse yourself in an ecosystem of education and knowledge sharing, a ticket to AIME’s Knowledge Program is a must. The Program is attended by Hosted Buyers, Media, Exhibitors and Visitor Buyers who upgrade their ticket. 

AIME 2024 will run 19 –21 February, 2024 at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre.  

For more information or to register to attend AIME visit: aime.com.au