The 2019 World Trotting Conference opened on Monday morning (May 27) with the constitution meeting and plenary session this afternoon.

The theme this year is "Change." This year, 13 countries are taking part in the World Trotting Conference.

The first speakers this afternoon was Martin Carlsson-Wall, director and co-founder of the Center for Sports and Business at the Stockholm School of Economics. His lecture had the title "Meeting the Future by Leveraging the History." The sports world is currently changing with high levels of innovation and digitization. Carlsson-Wall discussed what this means for the racetrack experience and how it is important to go back and utilize historical events, symbols and memories.

Guest speakers Geir Kamsvag and Princess Martha Louise from Hest360 (Horse360) concluded today's plenary session. They are the creators of Hest360, a YouTube channel from Norway. The videos on this YouTube channel educate people on horses. They have videos on all sorts of equine disciplines from dressage and jumping to harness racing. Their goal is to educate and bring all equine disciplines together and increase the recruitment to the equine sports.

The conference will continue Tuesday morning (May 28) with the second plenary session in the morning, followed by the Breeding Committee and Marketing and Business Development Committee meetings in the afternoon.