The Mobile World Congress is a huge event in every way, from its physical magnitudes, capable of filling the entire Fira space in Barcelona with more than 108,000 visitors, up to its economic magnitudes, both in the part of the benefits that it leaves to Barcelona (around 465 million euros) as in the part of the costs for the companies that mount their stands or in the part of the tickets for the public.
Precisely, this year we had the opportunity to access the Fair with a Gold pass, with a cost of € 2,699 .If, indeed, € 2,699. "normal" entry costs € 799 and the Platinum pass goes up to € 4,999, with Silver remaining at € 2,199. A great opportunity to get to know the MWC from a different perspective than the usual journalist.
It may seem like a very high figure for mortals, and you might think that with a Gold pass we would have the right to enjoy a super exclusive VIP treatment, but the MWC is another planet , even for the nomenclatures, as we will see next.
Time is Gold
The truth is that we arrived at the MWC with our brand-new Gold pass after picking it up directly at the Sants station. At the moment nothing resenable, no red carpet or posters with our name .Jokes aside, everything very normal and conventional.
We hope to find the VIP room for networking reserved for attendees with Gold and Platinum passes (although the Platinum have their own VIP room, everything is said). Nor do we find a special glamor in the room , except drinks and the occasional canape that you only eat when you're hungry, but we begin to capture the essence of the advantages of having a € 2,699 pass.
The biggest advantage of such a pass in an event like MWC is the saving of time, not the enjoyment of material privileges .The saying "Time is money" takes on a special meaning when it's about getting the most out of an event with more than 2,000 exhibitors and 108,000 visitors, many of whom are CXX, that is, CEOs, CTOs, CDOs, CMOs and so on until the letters of the alphabet.
Every minute counts
Going to the MWC is an investment, both for those who exhibit and for those who visit.Sometimes we can think of these types of events as a mixture of fun and work, but for those who depend on four days of fair to get the largest number of contacts , business proposals or information gathering, every minute counts.
The Platinum pass has a somewhat more luxurious status if you want to.That pass is possibly the one that combines a certain dose of work with a greater enjoyment of the leisure possibilities that the MWC.But Gold, in practice, is a modality for those who really want to work on the event and make the most of it.
The VIP room, in Hall 4, practically halfway to everything in the center of the Fair, is strategically located, right next to the food court and the stage where the most relevant keynotes are developed.There are special tickets enabled to guarantee Gold visitors access to these sessions in preferred sites , and also to exit first and network in spaces dedicated to this purpose.
The VIP Room is a space for both eating or resting for a while, and to meet our contacts .And, in fact, even as a journalist with a room our disposition, in the last instance the VIP Room was better than the torture of waiting to find a free place in the press area.And with better speed for the WiFi connection too.
Access to events and conferences
With the Gold Pass we also have a certain advantage when attending keynotes and conferences .Again, it is a a meeting place for professionals that, otherwise , would not be within our reach.
In an event with more than one hundred thousand attendees, the difference between being or not being in a certain event can mean losing the chance to close an important business.And that difference is paid, and much.
As a journalist, having a Gold pass is also a plus to be in stands where, otherwise, they would be afraid to enter outside the press activities, such as the guided tours of the demonstration areas With the camera in hand and the cap open, it is normal to double check that the access green is not a mistake , and we do not get rid of the "no pictures" in some another case.But on the second day we all know how to stay without friction.
Reports and content of the sessions
Another added value is the documentary materials .With the Gold Pass it is possible to access the GSMA Intelligence Report , as well as the materials of some of the sessions and conferences of the event.These reports are not exactly cheap if we decide to get one, but they are especially useful when doing market analysis and opportunities for our business.
We also have access to guided tours of the event , as well as some partner programs , with a variable interest depending on our field of expertise or our business area.
The price of the MWC
If we look at the figures that are considered in an event like the MWC, with rates for exhibitors that include "bargains" such as the € 2,500 that it costs to have WiFi during the four days of the event , or the 6 million euros (euro above or euro below) that the Huawei stand costs (only the ground), the 2,699 € of the Gold pass crave up to almost calderilla.
It is an exclusive event, where companies, for the moment, still need to be in order to have visibility and to ensure that they are in a position to take advantage of the business opportunities that may arise during the days of fair.And that pays.
The four days that the Mobile World Congress lasts are, in any case, an experience capable of moving away from the reality of the world to enter an immense amusement park of business where the daily routine to replace it with a race against the clock to take advantage of each of the opportunities presented to us during this event.
And the entrance to a business amusement park costs more expensive than a leisure amusement park.
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