Sven Bossu currently heads Sibos, undertaking the responsibility of organizing the highly successful financial services event. He speaks to Banking Frontiers at the recently concluded Sibos 2016 at Geneva on what goes in making the event
Babu Nair: How was Sibos 2016 in qualitative and quantitative terms? How did it compare with the previous year?
Sven Bossu and his team spend 11 months every year preparing for sibos and interacting with a larger number of communities
Sven Bossu: In terms of quantity I will say Sibos 2016 was the second biggest in terms of number of delegates (with over 8300 registered delegates) and the absolute No 1 in terms of number of exhibitors (201). Quality wise, the level of speakers and content brought to the community was extremely high with speakers as the CEO of IBM, CEO of UBS, thought leaders like Marco Gercke, director, Cybercrime Research Institute, etc giving their views. And from an operational point of view, everything went flawless. A special mention should go to the venue catering, which was simply outstanding.
What are some of the unimaginable things that happened?
In total, we had 249 lorries of material. We served 2000 lunches per day, we had over 7600 devices connected to wi-fi at the same time, we used 8 km of black drape, we managed to get over 5000 delegates in the venue in less than 2 hours on the first day.
Can you describe the intellectual and operational preparation that precedes Sibos every year?
Sibos takes a 11 months of preparations, starting right after the end of a Sibos. So, we are already starting the preparations for Sibos 2017. We first debrief on this year’s event delivered and then visit the venue of the next Sibos with the key stakeholders. As from end of year, we’ll have a good view on the structure (both physical and conference), after which we reach out to our community to get input/feedback. In May and July, we communicate to the wider community via pre-editions of our newspaper – Sibos Issues. In parallel, we reach out to the community for speakers, finalize the conference schedule and prepare the sessions. And while that is going on, the operational teams make sure that everything gets to the right place by the right time. It’s quite a machine and it’s never the same – despite the fact that we’ve been around for 38 years. This has to do with changing requirements (Wi-fi was not a requirement 10 years ago – in 2016 we had over 7600 concurrent devices connected to the network.) and also with the fact that we continuously enhance the event.
A business session in progress at sibos 2016
How do the SWIFT community help you?
The SWIFT community is the driving force for making Sibos a success by providing guidance on topics which need to be covered, by proposing true industry thought leaders as speakers and – more locally – by providing us access to local authorities and facilities.
What are your qualification criteria for selecting a city to host Sibos? What cities have been finalized for the next few Sibos events?
We have a set of 10 criteria we apply, including strategic fit of the venue, cost, availability, space for exhibition and conference, greening aspects, etc. The cities for the next years are Toronto (2017), Sydney (2018) and London (2019).
How big is the team Sibos and what are the key functions the team members do? What functions do you outsource?
The core teams consist of eight people, dealing with every critical aspect of the event – from conference, logistics and catering to communications and Sibos tools, eg the Sibos app, sibos.com. etc. Given the size of the event, we work with a set of key partners dealing with exhibition management, conference production, registration, etc.
When and how did SIBOS begin and can you share the highlights of the journey?
Sibos started in 1978 as an operational symposium with 300 participants. Over the years, it has transformed into a premier event for financial services with over 8000 delegates in 2015 and 2016. During 4 days, everybody who is relevant in the financial services industry is at Sibos, allowing for great networking, knowledge sharing and of course doing business. This did of course not come overnight and was only made possible with the support of the full SWIFT community, who embraced the concept and is the true driver of making Sibos the place to be.
How could you make it the world’s most sought after banking event full of bankers?
By working really hard, seriously. Sibos can only be successful if the content we bring is truly relevant. And with the support of the SWIFT community, we definitely managed to do so. Not only do they provide us guidance on the topics to be covered, but they also provide us with the thought provoking speakers which can inspire the industry in moving forward together.
What new things do you propose to bring up at Toronto? What is it that you always wished for and are still working towards achieving it?
We have an internal KPI, requiring the Sibos team to implement 20 tangible changes each year, which must have a positive impact on the customer experience. We’re currently going through the de-brief process with all parties involved and will have a clear view on the changes for 2017 by end of October. But it’s already clear that technology, increased presence of fintech and innovative ways of networking are some of the areas we’ll work on.
The thing I always wished for is a 12-month engagement with our community on the topics which really matter, making Sibos a yearly meeting point in a continuous journey.
What is your benchmark Sibos?
It is difficult to say. I think that in terms of collaboration with the local community, Sibos 2015 (Singapore) was a true benchmark. Both the venue, the tourism board and the local association of banks brought their full support which resulted in a great end-to-end collaboration. This was a true win-win: Singapore showed itself to the world as the gateway to Asia and we had access to great speakers and facilities.
Do you have any special plans to enhance participation of banks from the two most populous countries – China and India?
In collaboration with the SWIFT regional teams, we’ll do better local marketing of Sibos. We do feel we need to visit these communities and explain what Sibos is about and what it can bring to participants of these fast growing markets. As a matter of fact, I’ll go personally to India in January to explain and promote Sibos to the Indian community.
What makes you completely satisfied with your effort ant Sibos? How do you chill post the hectic week?
I’m truly satisfied when we make it to midnight on Thursday without issues on the operational and conference side – which was the case in 2016. As for the chilling: personally, I take two days off right after the event to catch up with sleep, go for long walks and read non-business related literature.
Murphy’s law is probably highly applicable to any large event. What worries give you sleepless nights? What is the biggest unexpected chaos that you have handled?
We never had an unexpected chaos, but Sibos does have a tradition of something popping up at the last minute which needs to be managed. In Boston (2014), an outbreak of the Ebola virus made us take the decision (four weeks before the event) to install scanners at the entrance of the venue to detect possible victims of the virus. In Singapore (2015), the level of air pollution related to bush fires (also known as haze) forced us to relocate the closing event in 72 hours (knowing that it is a 2000-person event, not that easy to do). And we have a story like that for every Sibos we had for the last 10 years. But each time, we managed to find solutions.
