A speaker stands before a seated audience on a stage with a large screen displaying ‘IMPACT MAKERS’.

How Canon IMS brought five worlds together for one unforgettable day at InnStyle

FUSION: Where innovation meets experience

The challenge

Organising an event for 250+ guests, five divisions and an international audience: how do you do it without losing the message?

Canon Information Management Solutions may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the name Canon. Yet it is a powerful organisation with five specialist competence centres that help businesses with software solutions for information and communication processes. Those five distinct branches are precisely what makes it challenging: how do you show customers of one centre what all five can offer together? For the first time, they shared a single stage. One message, one experience, one day – to show customers the power of working with all the divisions. Named: FUSION, where innovation meets experience. We spoke to Sandra van Horen and Ralph de Geest about their collaboration with InnStyle.

‘For an occasion like this, where people come together, you need more than just a room.’

The search for the right venue

The bar was set high, with 250 to 300 guests, an international audience who needed to be able to travel easily, and a programme that made room for both plenary sessions and in-depth discussions in smaller groups. There is a wide choice of centrally located venues, but finding somewhere that met all those requirements and had the right atmosphere proved harder than expected.

In the search for the perfect match, Ralph de Geest, marketing manager at Canon IMS, suggested InnStyle. He had attended another event here years earlier, and the experience had stayed with him. Not just a memory, but the feeling of a place that makes an impression. Sandra van Horen, who coordinated the event from within the communications team, confirmed that feeling on her very first visit to the venue.

Three attendees chat by a buffet of snacks during Canon IMS FUSION at InnStyle.

“From the outset, the team actively shared ideas. They took so much off our hands right from the start. You can tell straight away: this venue knows what it’s doing.”

Sandra van Horen, Canon communications team

Connection as the goal, space as the means

Canon IMS was not looking for a stage to broadcast from, but for a place where genuine connections could form – between customers, across sectors and between people who would not normally meet. ‘It is crucial that a venue aligns with an event’s ambitions,’ said Sandra. Rather than an exhibition floor where salespeople approach you or a large hall with fixed rows of seats where visitors disappear anonymously into the crowd, they found an environment at InnStyle that invites conversation and connection.

The foyer and adjoining terrace proved to be a natural focal point for the day. People kept coming together there, creating new encounters and conversations each time. ‘Every time you walk in there, you connect with someone again. It works,’ said Ralph.

How the day unfolded

An experience that reinforces the message

With Canon being a globally recognised brand, Sandra and Ralph wanted to carry that recognition through every aspect of FUSION. Through the décor, screens and various prints, Canon IMS's branding conveyed a consistent, unified identity. This ensured visitors always had a sense of where they were and who had brought them together. According to Ralph, the bespoke technical setup with side screens made an immediate impression.

On the day of the event, InnStyle's support felt like a natural extension of their own team. They not only helped find solutions when needed, but also thought ahead before anything became an issue that Sandra would have to flag. ‘That inspires a great deal of confidence.’

'The technology was a real plus and visually incredibly inspiring.'

Speaker points to a screen during Canon IMS FUSION at InnStyle, with an audience seated in the room.

A guest holds a plate with mini burgers and salad at a buffet at InnStyle.

Speaker beside a screen addressing a seated audience during Canon IMS FUSION at InnStyle.

Bartender pours beer into a tilted glass beside a filled beer glass on the bar.

A day to remember

At the end of an event like FUSION, following months of preparation, the question that matters is: ‘did it resonate?’ For Canon IMS, the answer was clear: clients meeting for the first time, conversations that went beyond the agenda and an experience that reinforced the Canon IMS message rather than overshadowing it.

‘We were able to truly bring our clients together in a beautiful space that was perfect for our event.’

Ralph and Sandra look back on a day that not only delivered strong content, but also had all the visual appeal and atmosphere to make it memorable. The venue was not just a backdrop, but an active part of the experience.

Canon IMS FUSION attendees chat on the InnStyle terrace, with jetties and the lake in the background.

“Where innovation meets experience – that was our tagline. And the venue brought it all together.”

Ralph de Geest, marketing manager at Canon IMS