Meeting venues are facing increasing event acquisition, property and staff costs and competition from new venues. Planners are having to reconcile rising venue and travel costs with their flat budgets. Both groups are embracing technology in solving these challenges. Carl Law is a Development Manager at Capita Travel and Events. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
The London Bridge terror attack has had special resonance for meeting planners. It began during an event at Fishmongers’ Hall, which already stood in the shadow of increased security measures introduced after the previous 2017 attack. But lessons for the industry are complex. Photo: ChiralJon. From editor’s blog at Meetings & Incentive Travel…
2019 is drawing to a close. As we enter a new decade, the world now seems less stable and facing further disruption. Global association of the exhibition industry, UFI, has as per every year been tracking sector developments around the world. Here are five key trends the Iceberg partner has noted. From Kai Hattendorf via LinkedIn…
The trend of making meetings more sustainable is growing. Momentum is gaining pace, and not just in terms of recycling and reducing wastage. Director of Marketing, Europe at Cvent, Judy Elvey, discusses how associations are now integrating sustainability more and more into meetings. She also mentions work with Iceberg partner Positive Impact. From Boardroom…
Most conferences focus on success stories and those leaders who have chosen the right path with positive results. But real learning also comes when you talk about what didn’t go right. That’s the philosophy behind meetings known as “Fail Festivals”, which celebrate lessons emerging over shared “Fail Tales”. From PCMA…
In what way does the purpose of DMCs (Destination Management Companies) change in a market disrupted by the Internet? What happens when the core value proposition of “local knowledge, expertise and connections” is accessible, sometimes more efficiently and affordably, via other platforms? From SoolNua’s Pádraic Gilligan at Padraicino…
England and Scotland have many established convention centres, but finding a home for one in Wales was problematic until Celtic Manor went fifty-fifty with the Welsh government on the £83 million ICC Wales. CEO Ian Edwards runs through the long consultation process that decided what the new venue should be. From Association Meetings International…
It’s not as easy to get to Kathmandu as it is to Brussels or Barcelona. But the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition accepted such logistical challenges with its 19th General Membership Meeting this March. The event drew 300 experts and over 60 speakers from around the world, also leaving a major local legacy. From Boardroom…
The IBTM World Trends Watch Report by Rob Davidson and Ali Turner is an insightful compendium of data that crosses business, industries, economies and geographies within the global meetings and events industry. The IBTM World Trends Watch Report 2019 (IBTM World website) Virtual Experience Economy Set to Grow, Says IBTM Trends Watch Report (Meetings & Incentive Travel…
During 2018 MeetDenmark, with consultancy and Iceberg partner GainingEdge, began a major project on outreach. The purpose was to identify how Danish destinations can create significant added value for the international associations coming to Denmark. The objective is to help associations achieve greater impacts in fulfilling their own goals and missions while also strengthening the…
The virtual experience economy is set for big growth, according to the annual IBTM World Trends Watch Report. The complete study, which analyses the future of the events industry, was compiled using over 25 existing data sources and was unveiled on the first day of Iceberg partner IBTM World in Barcelona. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
Visit Flanders and the region’s five major destinations (Antwerp, Bruges, Ghent, Leuven, and Mechelen) have joined Iceberg partner the Global Destination Sustainability Index. Along with Brussels, the Flemish cities now become part of the measurement and benchmarking sustainability movement which comprises 56 cities worldwide. From Boardroom…
Marketing Cheshire’s “Brilliant Science” programme has helped it win the Society for Reproductive and Infant Psychology September 2020 40th anniversary event. “Brilliant Science” makes the most of the region’s scientific heritage and links, to develop the North West as a hub for international association congresses. From Association Meetings International…
In advance of IBTM World 2019, just staged in Barcelona, interest from new exhibitors more than doubled compared to 2018. More than 2,600 exhibitors took stands at the Iceberg partner event, 35 of them coming from destinations that hadn’t before, including Greece, Azerbaijan, Macau, South Korea and Croatia. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
Expo 2020 Dubai is set to welcome over 25 million visitors from 192 countries between October 2020 and April 2021. Organisers have teamed up with more than 1,000 authorised ticket resellers in key markets to drum up interest in the event. This network will make the World Expo the most international ever. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
Convening Leaders, the flagship event of PCMA (the Professional Convention Management Association), is taking place in January at San Francisco’s Moscone Center. Setting out the agenda and stage for this major industry meet, PCMA President and CEO Sherrif Karamat explains how debate has shifted towards the outcomes and impact created by the sector. From PCMA…
Dr Nicholas Barrett is Consultant in Critical Care at London’s Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust. Starting out in Sydney Australia, he now specialises in extra-corporeal life support for acute heart and lung failure. Dr Barrett is also Chair of EuroELSO 2020, being held at London’s Queen Elizabeth II Centre next May. The congress…
Launched in February, #MEET4IMPACT is creating a framework to support and measure association meetings’ social impacts. In this fifth instalment of our Features series, founder Geneviève Leclerc discusses the one term everyone connects with legacy creation, measurement. Metrics should be a tool for understanding, not an end goal in themselves. From Boardroom…
With almost 1,000 senior meetings professionals and association event planners from 75 countries coming to Houston, Texas, the recent 58th Congress of Iceberg partner ICCA, the International Congress and Convention Association, was the largest ever held in North America. The event is one of the industry calendar’s most significant. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
Weeks of anti-government protests in Chile have forced the embattled President Piñera to cancel both this month’s APEC trade summit and COP25 UN climate conference in December. The 2019 Cochrane Colloquium,a major healthcare meeting, was also due to be held in Santiago, but the growing death toll has forced its cancellation. From Association Meetings International…
“The majority of disabled people don’t travel to conferences because they expect their needs will not be met”. So says Alan Broadbent, an accessibility writer and consultant to the events industry. Three examples of inclusivity, a venue (ICC Wales), a meeting (Glasgow’s IASSIDD World Congress) and a city (Dubai), are analysed. From Association Meetings International…
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