Limitless: MWC Shanghai 2020

MWC Shanghai next year is experiencing a host of changes, large and small, which will add up a much better experience for visitors of all kinds from around the world. This blog post will outline the latest planning for event and help you to identify opportunities to amaze and be amazed at our APAC flagship event.

‘Limitless’ is an exciting word, but it fits into a more dynamic and uncertain business environment than ever before. The old limits are crumbling: Those dividing different sectors and industries; products and services; collaborators and competition. Technologies like AI, broadband, blockchain, edge computing, 5G and more are opening up vast new opportunities… but also enable new forms of competition and business risk. There are few real boundaries for business today; limits set mainly by regulation and executives’ own imagination.

MWC Shanghai has been growing its reputation for innovation over the last few years and has increasingly been drawing executives from industries beyond ‘tech’, who want to understand what digitisation offers them. The illustration below shows the diversity present in 2019.

This is an ideal situation for the telecoms and tech industries, for whom enterprise customers are increasingly a priority. MWC Shanghai already acts as a bridge to help the digital industries engage with other sectors… but in 2020 we are making it much easier to find value, network and go beyond the limits of your imagination.

So what does that mean in practice?

1. Simplicity. There is so much going on at MWC Shanghai that it can be hard for people to find what’s right for them. In 2020 we’re taking the existing elements you enjoy from the show – thought-leading conference, topic tours around the event, networking activities and more – and helping you navigate this in a clearer fashion. We are evolving the website to make it much more easily searchable for topics like Connectivity, Customer Engagement, Security, Industry X and more. In addition, you’ll find pages that bring together the different activities designed for industries and specialisms of all kinds.

You’ll find the agenda much more usable on-site, too – you can download it to your phone or print it for easy reference on-site. 

• Cross–industry focus. Much of the conference content in 2020 is designed to bring together experts from many different industries, sharing practical experience of collaboration that’s worked well and exploring how to develop that further in repeatable, scalable practices and principles. Whole sections of the show-floor will be dedicated to the business and technology of industries such as payments, automotive and retail. Unique social activities will bring people together based on their interests, not their industry – allowing opportunities for you to meet very different people from ‘business as usual’. We have even created dedicated ‘specialist’ passes for some industries, providing a curated experience across the full three days.

• Personal interaction. While we welcome a remarkable number of overseas delegates and companies, often it’s a handful of key people from each one. By contrast, some of the bigger Chinese companies will bring thousands of staff. Finding the right English-speaking contacts just by chance can sometimes be a challenge. Happily, we’re here to help!

Firstly, MWC Shanghai will feature an unprecedented number of networking opportunities, from small-group topic tours on particular specialisms; VIP drinks; lunches; workshops and more. It’s easy to find the relevant people gathered together. 2020 will also bring you easy online networking before and during the event; when you register for your pass, you can sign up for our networking function. Set up meetings in advance and spend your time with the people you want to meet.

Finally, the conference hall has always been a haven for senior professionals from around the world; in 2020 we are taking that one step further. With the conference, VIP Lounge, workshop rooms, dedicated networking spaces and interactive exhibits, it’s the perfect environment for planned and unplanned meetings!

It feels as though every year we talk about making great leaps forward in Shanghai, but 2020 seems like one of the most profound yet with implications for years to come. The possibilities are limitless, and we’d love to get you involved.

• Our Call for Speakers is open now. It will run until the end of March, BUT we are starting to recruit speakers already. We recommend putting yourself forward before the end of January for your best chance at getting involved.
• Meanwhile, if you are interested in commercial opportunities at the show then our Sales team will be happy to talk to you. 
• If you’d like to attend as a delegate or organise a group to attend, registration will be opening in a couple of months. In the meantime, feel free to contact our delegation team with questions, especially if you are thinking about a group booking.  

In the coming months we’ll share some updates here on the Conference Confidential blog even while the event website develops. Shanghai 2020 will be the best yet: We’ll look forward to seeing you there!