Hong Kong-based destination and event management company Pacific World has announced it is to stop all meeting and event operations as of November after four decades in the sector. PW parent company TUI Destination Experiences said the decision was made as a result of impact COVID-19 is having. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
Iceberg partner IMEX Group has donated $250,000 to MPI to help members facing financial hardship as a result of the pandemic. The MPI Foundation will receive most of the money, to direct funds to distressed members, with the balance going to eleven European chapters to assist the events industry to recover. From Association Meetings International…
An officer of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has called on the meetings industry urgently to speed up action on climate change. Miguel Naranjo warned there “would be no events industry” if the challenge is not met. Event professionals, he said, had a responsibility to contribute. From Conference News…
As the industry continues to press pause on larger in person events, venues and suppliers have moved resources to serve those in need. The San Diego Convention Center has since April delivered 500,000 meals to those in need through its scheme Operation Shelter to Home, 3,500 meals a day at peak. From PCMA…
The pandemic is forcing so many sectors to rethink how they operate, including business events. So PCMA, the 7,000-member association for the industry, collaborated with the National Speakers Association and also the International Association of Speakers Bureaus on a virtual event addressing new business models. From Forbes…
When Marco Oelschlegel became head of Berlin’s Convention Bureau in January 2020, neither he nor the rest of the world knew how difficult and strange the coming few months would be. So just how has the start of his new role ended up being, and what is Berlin’s “new normal” like? From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
The Bulb, a UK-based sustainable event consultancy, has released a guide to help meeting organisers to navigate the “new normal” and make sure the progress made in creating a sustainable industry is not lost. The increase in need for PPE (personal protective equipment) has seen a rise in plastic pollution. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
As part of the #aNewTomorrow initiative, Iceberg partner ECM (European Cities Marketing) invited ten Long Thinkers – experts in their fields, industry influencers and purposeful changemakers – to look further ahead, beyond thee crisis and towards a New Tomorrow for tourism and destinations. These are now all compiled in this catalogue and shared anew. A…
Event professionals in Hong Kong have been urging government to provide further financial support as COVID-19 continues to batter the industry. The Hong Kong Exhibition & Convention Industry Association presented a member survey to the Hong Kong SAR’s Commerce and Economic Development Bureau. From Association Meetings International…
UK eventprofs have drawn attention to the critical state of the industry by lighting venues and other landmarks across the country in red. ICC Wales participated, and in London workers wore red shirts and lined the entire Southbank from Westminster to Tate Modern, all as part of the “Red Alert” #WeMakeEvents campaign. From Exhibition News…
The winner of the IMEX-EIC (Events Industry Council) 2020 Innovation in Sustainability Award is GDS-Index, a benchmarking and performance improvement programme for business tourism and events destinations,. IMEX, an Iceberg partner like GDS-Movement, will celebrate the award in May 2021. From Conference & Meetings World…
International association meetings, particularly those that are attracting thousands of delegates, were once the prized targets of all convention bureaux. COVID-19 has made the immediate future smaller and more regional. But this trend was already underway and should not frighten destination marketing organisations. From editor’s blog at Association Meetings International…
The Events Industry Council just released the “Meeting and Event Design Accepted Practices Guide” (see Research). More guides are to come from the EIC powered APEX COVID-19 Business Recovery Task Force. A webcast offered insights and answered audience questions about the new document. From Northstar Meetings Group…
In times like the current pandemic, how can associations begin to plan for the years ahead when decisions they are taking today may no longer be valid even in the very near future? Association not-for-profit AC Forum explains how its members anticipate changes in the sector and in their events. From Boardroom…
In July 2020 the Events Industry Council released the Meeting and Event Design Accepted Practices Guide. It is intended to serve as a resource and educational tool for industry professionals to utilise. This guidance also is intended to be global and universal in nature. The work will continue to evolve through regional workshops led by task…
A combined group of members from the Association of Event Organisers (AEO), the Association Event Venues (AEV) and the Event Supplier and Services Association (ESSA), led by the associations, has launched the All Secure Standard, a risk assessment based framework of COVID-19 secure industry best practice and guidance for business events and consumer shows which…
The results of the July COVID-19 Recovery Dashboard survey of 476 planners and 212 suppliers reveal a sharper divide between the two in several key areas. For instance, only one third of planners expect to see smaller local and regional events leading the recovery once the crisis is over (41 percent in the June survey),…
Martin Sirk is International Advisor for Iceberg partner GAH (Global Association Hubs). In a sharp reality check for the business events sector, he warns that successful reopening relies on a much wider containment of the pandemic than the industry on its own can ever achieve. The economy and health are not zero-sum trade-offs or parallel-track…
Months now into the COVID-19 pandemic we are awash in sector pronouncements and assertions, even if the route to recovery in this challenging situation remains rather unpredictable. But the recent global manifesto from the Joint Meetings Industry Council is a little different. So says JMIC’s Executive Director Rod Cameron…
Associations are perfectly placed to reshape the world emerging from lockdown. They are repositories of expertise and best practice. They are trusted curators of information. They connect people all around the world and provide lifelong learning beyond university. But is this an opportunity they will grasp? From Association Meetings International…
COVID-19 has forced a rethinking of travel. Many conferences have been cancelled. Some have gone virtual. This analysis looks at actions that might reduce conference travel emissions by up to 90 percent, including holding a conference biennially in accessible locations, plus having both regional hubs and more virtual events. From Nature…
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