The continental experiment is over - MEM will return to London in 2009.
The MEF's showcase trade event will take place at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, in the shadow of Big Ben, on June 23 and 24 next year.It's what most of the trade has been waiting for. The moves to Monte Carlo and Cannes were conceived for laudable reasons - attracting the showbiz crowd, avoiding a UK bias - but neither really worked. Numbers fell from around 700 at the show's 2005 peak to around 300 this year.
That said, MEM 2008 has been an immense improvement on Monte Carlo in 2007. The networking is better, the venue more compact, the sessions more streamlined. Again, all the key content players are in attendance.
The MEF, and its partner Informa, should be postivie about returning to London. They can look forward to building on the improvements made this year, and hope to attract execs from the ad industry, movie studios, record biz and so on, many of whom are based within walking distance of the QEII building.
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