CFC Big Ideas Holds Largest Regional Government Relations Forum

CEE GR Forum 2022 was CFC Big Ideas’ second annual event aimed at gathering leading public and government affairs professionals to share their vision and ideas on conforming with and shaping ever-changing standards in public affairs and industry advocacy in the Central and Eastern Europe region and beyond. When our CFC team began preparations for the forum, we never anticipated the disruption caused by the war in Ukraine. Overnight, we completely shifted event topics in order to address the war’s impacts on businesses.

The goal of the event was to understand how businesses have adapted to the uncertainty of tomorrow, how martial law affected CEE businesses, and whether there exist “business morals” in such cases. The forum’s agenda comprised four panel discussions, seven keynotes, six case studies and two interviews. All these covered the issues of leaving the russian market and effect of sanctions on the market, as well as the long- and short-term outlook of Ukraine’s economy. Throughout the planning and implementation process, we at CFC learned how to implement crisis communication strategies and create content while under missile attacks.

Here are some statistics from the forum:

1. 30 high-level experts, including top in-house executives from Mastercard, Microsoft, Airbnb, Glovo, Metlife, and more, experienced public affairs and government relations consultants, and government officials joined the forum as speakers.
2. More than 350 attendees registered for the event.
3. Attendees came not only from the CEE region but also from other EU countries, the USA, Latin America, and even the Middle East.
4. The forum was dedicated to new GR practices in our changing world order, particularly ensuring security and solidarity in the CEE region.

And finally, CFC Big Ideas is planning to execute our newest big idea of hosting a hybrid forum in Kyiv in 2023. We look forward to welcoming everyone back in a year’s time.