Building on the momentum of an eventful opening day, the 17th edition of WOW Awards Asia 2026 concluded on a high note at the Jio World Convention Centre, Mumbai. Bringing together leaders from the experiential marketing, MICE, live entertainment, hospitality and wedding industries, the second day continued the convention’s theme, “Community to Collective Consciousness,” with insightful discussions, industry networking, knowledge sharing and the celebration of excellence across the experience economy.
The 17th Edition of WOW Awards Asia 2026 was presented by Maharashtra Tourism, powered by Inventum Global and Rixos Hotels, co-powered by Event Kabaadi, COTRAV and Event Bazaar, and held in association with EEMA.
Day two of the convention opened with high energy, featuring an interactive performance by Aarti Khertapal that set a dynamic tone for the central debates. The flagship session, “The King’s Table Debate: Who Will Win the Next Frontier?”, was moderated by veteran Brian Tellis and initiated a macro confrontation across industry sectors, featuring Khantil Mehta and Nishit Shah representing government events; Reema Sanghavi and Akanksha Khemka representing corporate MICE; Prateek Tandon and Aarti Mattoo representing social functions; and Shaju Ignatius and Upneet Bhatia representing live public formats.
Civic events at a massive population scale were analyzed during a national keynote on the planning of the Simhastha Kumbh Mela in Nashik, delivered by Smt. Himgauri Aher-Adke, Hon. Mayor of the Nashik Municipal Corporation, and supported by a popup presentation on managing the scale of the Mahakumbh by Hariom Seth. Following an Inventum Global country briefing on Vietnam’s corporate MICE infrastructure, Aaquib Wani presented an immersive design showcase on transforming artistic vision into structural reality. Ankur Kalra delivered a poignant EEMA keynote titled “WHEN THE INDUSTRY SPEAKS: Collective Consciousness as a Competitive Advantage,” right before delegates broke for an afternoon of networking.
The second afternoon shifted focus back to public entertainment ecosystems and live festival management on the main stage. Following an opening live show by comedian and mentalist Karan Chauhan, Vinod Janardhan explored the latest trends shaping on-stage talent curation. The spotlight then turned to the Entertainers Connect Awards 2026, celebrating the artists, performers, talent managers and entertainment professionals whose creativity and excellence continue to elevate India’s live entertainment industry. The best in performance and talent management were subsequently honoured during the awards ceremony.
Hrishikesh Kannan then moderated a headline fireside chat with legendary consulting editor and author Rajdeep Sardesai, tracing four decades of generational media evolution and the changing dynamics of public engagement. The spotlight then turned to the Event Managers A-List Awards 2026, honouring the visionaries, entrepreneurs and leaders who continue to shape and elevate India’s events and experiential industry through innovation, creativity and excellence.
The celebrations continued with the Women of the Year Awards 2026, recognising exceptional women whose leadership, innovation and contribution have made a lasting impact across the events, experiential, hospitality and allied industries. This was followed by the highly anticipated ministerial keynote by Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Hon’ble Minister of Culture and Tourism, Government of India, who outlined strategic policy initiatives aimed at positioning India as a global tourism and experiential destination.The evening culminated with the grand finale awards gala for Group A and Group C categories, followed by celebratory cocktails, dinner and entertainment.
The event also featured a series of special honours, recognising outstanding contributions across industries. Anurag Batra, Chairman & Editor-in-Chief, BW Businessworld, received the Special Contribution to the Events Industry Award, while Neeti Mohan was honoured with the Music Excellence & Achievement Award, and Jonita Gandhi received the Live Music Sensation of the Year Award.
The auxiliary tracks on day two continued to provide highly specialized operational masterclasses across all rooms. The Humans of WOW stage tracking industry stories featured Rhea Dave interviewing Vivek Singh on Procam International’s sports transformation; Shveta Mehra interviewing Satadru Dutta on the commercial business blueprint of the Messi G.O.A.T Tour; Ipsita Tripathy detailing Mastercard’s experiential blueprint; Akul Narula moderating a live tour execution panel with Akash Jain, Mohit Bijlani, Rishabh Talwar, and Siddhesh Kudtarkar; Alaap Gosher discussing TM Ventures’ global artist management model; and Karl Katgara delivering a critical case study on implementing clean energy systems in mass formats.
Concurrently, the day two WOW Garage panels tracked luxury strategy execution; Prerana Agarwal Saxena led a social event originality panel with Jaydeep Mehta, Jueta Hemdev, Kalpana Mital Mangal, Ketan Sawant, and Megha Bhatia, while Birju Gariba targeted optimization workflows with Himanshu Anand, Sunny Vohra, Sushma Gaikwad, Tabasum Modi, and Taranbir Sahni. Regional logistics were scrutinized in a destination panel moderated by Raghav Roy with global experts Ceyda Dural, Alena Ryndych, Neeraj Tayal, Rahul Soni, and Rhyn McCutcheon. Manuj Agarwal steered a critical IP checklist discussion alongside Anmol Kukreja, Balakrishnan Balram, Meghana Bhogle, Rajat Uppal, and Siddharth Anand Kumar, while Parthip Thyagarajan analyzed generational shifts in wedding client mindsets with Abhishek Khamar, Achint Nag, Anjali Tolani, and Ruchika Arora Bansal.
Finally, the technological workflows at WOW Labs closed out the event with Aaron Myles Pereira, Hariom Seth, Jay Punjabi, and Shiva Sureka designing multi-sensory consumer environments; Shilpi Gupta conducting a masterclass on optimizing outcomes over optics in cultural IPs; Takesh Singh teaching advanced psychological storytelling tactics for pitching; and Thejas Menon and Pankajsingh Yadav mapping out the structural transformation of India’s mega-summits from rigid trade shows into spectacular experiential pavilions.
The sweeping build-out, technical deployment, and experiential curation of the entire convention were driven by an expansive network of prominent B2B exhibitors, culinary institutions, and production partners, cementing the 17th edition as a foundational success.
The second day concluded with live performances by Anusha Mani and Vaibhav Gupta & Prakruti Mishra, followed by DJ Beatcrush, who brought the celebrations to a lively close. The performances marked the end of another memorable edition of WOW Awards Asia.
