A multi-venue event in The Hague, showcasing: FBN NxG International Summit 2024

Creating meaningful immersive multi-venue event experiences is a topic that every event planner seems to be talking about. Yet, we often fall back on the well-known set up of single location that facilitates the networking, program, drinks and dinners. The risk? Not making enough use of your actual surroundings and leaving no lasting impact on your participants. At the NxG International Summit of FBN they decided to do things differently. A new innovative event set-up, not only engaging their participants but also making excellent use of all the unique sights the city of The Hague has to offer. In this article we talk to their national program manager Jeroen Mann on how they achieved this: “with help of all the professionals in the city. Because the people make the event, not just the venue”.  

‘Owning the Unknown’ The Future of Family Businesses

In May 2023 the international team of FBN first came together in The Netherlands to discuss their upcoming NextGen Summit. A big and fun challenge. How to find a location that matches everyone's expectations and fits the NextGen audience and DNA? FBN stands for ‘Family Business Network’, the world’s leading organization of business families operating in all fields and sectors. FBN organized the Summit together with their Dutch chapter FBNed | Familiebedrijven Nederland. The network offers business families a safe space to learn from, share with and inspire each other about how to guide the family involvement in the business, facilitate relationships within the family and raise the awareness and importance of family business models in society. Each year FBN hosts networking events, important and valuable face-to-face moments because their network is so spread over the world. FBN also facilitates a specific sub-network of ‘youngsters’ between 19 and 40 years old, the future of the family businesses. “Over the past 16 years, the NxG International Summit has brought participants to places they thought they would never go geographically, emotionally, and mentally. Also this year, we wanted to host the event in a city where we can deliver a unique experience for all attendees”, stated Jeroen Mann the Program Manager of FBNed | Familiebedrijven Nederland. After a site visit it was decided; The Hague was a perfect match. Because of multiple factors, the fact that The Hague is the international city of peace and justice, the city of impact, with a leading ecosystem for entrepreneurs and market leaders that combine doing good and doing business, but also because of its unique venues and location right next to the North Sea.  

A chance to break the ice and create a fun element; ever thought of integrating beach games into your summit program?  

The extra mile and personal connections

After visiting The Hague they knew one thing for sure, “we didn’t want to have 1 venue, we wanted to go the extra mile”, Jeroen mentions. This ambitious idea was embraced by the Convention Bureau of The Hague, the eyes and ears of the city when it comes to hosting large scale events. Finding the right people and connections is key when setting up large events, and that is exactly what the Convention Bureau helped with. Showing all opportunities within the city and connecting FBN to the right contact persons per location, activities and practical arrangements. “Often when you attend a conference you hardly have any time to see your surroundings, or you need to see it in your spare time", Jeroen explains. “In order to include all beautiful and interesting sights of The Hague in the Summit program, we gave the NextGen participants the opportunity to explore the city while keeping it on subject”. All activities, speakers and locations had the ‘family business’ angle. For instance, the Major of The Hague Jan van Zanen, who held the opening speech, grew up in a family business in the cheese industry. These personal angles lifted the event to the next level. 

From the Mayor to the Queen

Integrating the Major of The Hague, Her Majesty The Queen of the Netherlands and the President of  the Louwman Group (and many more!) into the program, is an impressive achievement. But being able to spark the attention of the NextGen attendees throughout the conference, is next level. “Imagine 300 attendees from all over the world taking the bike from the hotel to the beach for the opening activity” Jeroen says. “The start of an event is of utmost importance, especially when 68% of your attendees are a newcomer to the event. It sets the tone for the entire event and can make or break your program”. At the beach the attendees went to the Waterreus, played beach games, had dinner and a party. Each individual connected with others and that was a perfect basis for the rest of the  journey. After setting the right ambience, it was time to dive into the theme ‘Owning the Unknown’. In today's landscape, responsible family owners need to navigate unknown challenges by handling privilege and sacrifice, embracing diversity, and driving meaningful impact. 

“Imagine 300 attendees from all over the world taking the bike from the hotel to the beach for the opening activity.”

The Marriott, Madurodam and Louwman: a think-a-long mindset

The next day it was time for transferring information, starting conversations and exchanging ideas. But instead of taking your coffee into a plenary room, the participants were picked up by a tourist tram from their hotel The Hague Marriot, to the next venue: Madurodam. A fun and engaging experience. At the end of the day, her Majesty the Queen joined the NextGen in Madurodam to have a conversation about their learnings. In the evening the participants had the chance to visit the Madurodam park by night and enjoy dinner. “With the venues in The Hague work together like partners, you can create the best experience for your event”, Jeroen elaborates. This underlines again the importance of having proper connections and a ‘thinking-a-long’ mindset, in order to create such meaningful experiences. The next day the participants followed workshops at the Marriot Hotel, an excellent place for hosting large conferences, and thereafter had dinner at another unique location, the Louwman Museum. Drawing on their Summit’s theme “Owning the Unknown” with a masked party.  

Impact hub tour The Hague

In the morning, before the event took place, several NextGen attendees had to opportunity to prolong their experience, by taking part at a hubtour through The Hague. During the hubtour, organized by The Convention Bureau of The Hague & Partners, the attendees got the chance to learn more about the culture and history of The Hague. They visited the Peace Palace, toured with the cityhost through the city centre and visited the innovationhub Titaan. They received an extensive tour by Unknown group, attended a workshop by WeShare, a presentation by ImpactCity and met various national entrepreneurs, impact makers and start-ups. A perfect way for the participants to get the inspiration going and meet with Dutch entrepreneurs. 

A new event format

"Compared to the previous year, the hubtour was really a valuable addition to the program”, Jeroen says. Back then it was harder to experience the city, learn more about the local culture and history and get in contact with the local entrepreneurial community. Now this opportunity was not only offered right at the start of the event but also fully integrated in the event journey.  The combination of sightseeing, relevant content and meeting local entrepreneurs really made it unique. 

The multi-venue event format paid off; the best review in the last 10 years! Also, many attendees claimed that they want to attend the event next year and left behind positive feedback. Therefore, the FBN organization decided to take the idea of adding a local ‘hub tour’ to the event with them to next year’s event. And as a tip for other organizations Jeroen mentioned “Every event should connect their party to the Convention Bureau, in order to really bring your event to the next level and bridge the gaps”. A location can be great, but if you don’t have the right people, it doesn’t work. It is the personal connections which make the difference.