Values, Ethics, Morals and the Events Industry

Interview with Bernd Fritzges, Initiator of WerteEvents, about ethics, morals – and his tips for event planners.

Bernd Fritzges came to the events industry through less conventional channels. Growing up in a culinary environment in Berlin, Bernd Fritzges still lives according to the motto “the more complex the challenge is, the simpler the solution needs to be.”

Perhaps this is what drove him in 2015 to take over the “WerteEvent” (English: ValuesEvent) event and to further develop its sustainable format. In this interview, he explains the idea behind WerteEvent and offers advice to event organizers who would like to offer matchmaking at their events.

What is the “WerteEvent” concept? Who does it address?

Bernd Fritzges: “Our event builds the bridge between topic-complex values, ethics and morals and the German event industry. We are targeted primarily at event planners from companies and agencies, as well as further industry representatives.

It is a charity event for the benefit of RTL – We Help Children foundation. In the past few years, we have managed to raise over 60,000 Euro. It is a meeting place for people of the events industry who concern themselves especially with values and have often already committed themselves to the value code of the events.”

How important is efficient matchmaking to the success of your event?

Bernd Fritzges: “An essential part of our event is matchmaking. Already during the registration process, you have the possibility to enter your fields of interest and the topics that you would like to concern yourself with during the course of the value event.

The system suggests suitable conversation partners, or you can search directly for colleagues that you would like to meet up and converse with during pre-scheduled networking breaks. This is more informal but also targeted and creates a large added value for our event.”

What role does the Converve Platform play?

Bernd Fritzges: “Converve is a partner of our event and provides us with the matchmaking platform and registration process. Converve has been doing this for the past 2 years.

Also, based on the feedback from our participants, I can state that the Converve software is a very good solution for matchmaking for finding the right partner at you’re your event.”

What advice do you have for event managers wanting to professionalize networking at their events? Which mistakes should they avoid?

Bernd Fritzges: “Be careful not to use too many ‘islands’ in your system landscape. The registration process, participant registration, correspondence, communication and matchmaking should all take place on one platform. Isolated solutions overwhelm participants. Keep all communication and participant data in one system. This will then lead to matchmaking being of added value at your next event.”