The recent BestCities Global Forum explored how legacy-building with every conference can quickly lead to dramatic change. A trio of videos from the Iceberg partner event examines the ESTRO Madrid Project which yielded a €700 million legacy for cancer patients, the new Madrid PLUS tool for creating legacy, and the personal legacy of BestCities’ Jane Cunningham.
CLARITY OF MISSION: How the ESTRO Madrid Project yielded a €700m legacy for cancer patients in Spain…
The BestCities Global Forum in Madrid came just a few months after the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO) completed its much anticipated Congress, in August, within the same city. The Iceberg has been following the evolution of its legacy engagement project – The Madrid Project – which derived from a revolutionary RFP created by CEO Alessandro Cortese, and explained at the IBTM Policy Forum by ESTRO’s former COO, Sven Bossu.
In a feature length review, The Iceberg Founder and Producer, James Latham, captures what could become the new blueprint for association congress Requests for Proposals (RFPs) and which will move legacy and sustainable development to the epicentre of future bids for association and other professional events.
In a vigorous effort to align impacts, outcomes, and legacies of association events to the mission and purpose of the professional community, every attending association at the Global Forum signed The Madrid Challenge, committing to centre their own RFPs around legacy and sustainable development goals reflective of their organisational mission. More on that to follow below including Madrid PLUS – the incredible new tool with which to further these goals – and an example of leadership from the Global Alliance of leading destinations.
ESTRO’s Cortese and David Noack, Director of the Madrid Convention Bureau, combine to explain the journey to an astounding legacy set to transform the capacity for cancer patient care across the whole of Spain but first, Genevieve Leclerc of #MEET4IMPACT explains how her organisation is providing the rationale and tools for destinations to apply their business events strategy to the longer term social, economic, and sustainable development priorities of governments as DMOs evolve as gateways to change.
Business and professional events are value creators, not just consumers, she explains…
ESTRO’s Madrid Project.
BACK IN THE ROOM: Madrid PLUS Tool compounds Copenhagen Legacy Lab as BestCities Global Alliance accelerates legacy and sustainability agenda…
The BestCities Global Alliance annual Forum held in December in Madrid revealed a second digital tool, hot on the heels of the Copenhagen Legacy Lab, for international associations and destinations to co-create their legacy and sustainability pathways – the Madrid PLUS (Platform for Legacy through Us) platform.
The platform, created by the Madrid Convention Bureau and host to the 11 member cities and 25 associations attending the Forum, provides connections with over 30 local and national NGOs, Associations, Institutes, Foundations, and Charities with whom to work in order to effect a positive social, economic, or environmental impact aligned to the UNSDGs resulting from international association events.
The Madrid PLUS platform sits comfortably as the sequel to the award-winning Copenhagen Legacy Lab which was unveiled at the previous Forum in 2019 and received the Global Destination Sustainability (GDS) Award for Innovation in 2021.
At the Forum in Vancouver in December, the city will unveil a case study series by Capilano University documenting the legacies of key events supporting the strategic vision of the host associations as well as the city’s interests in transforming priority sectors identified in its (and Destination Canada‘s) own strategic pathway to a knowledge and creative economy.
BestCities continues to lead legacy charge.
TRANSFORMATION AGENT: Jane Cunningham spreads her wings…
The Iceberg Ambassador Jane Cunningham received an emotional send off from BestCities Global Alliance MD Lesley Williams at the close of the Madrid Forum in December, following twelve years’ service as Director of Community Engagement at the Alliance. Cunningham explains what the future holds…
JC, Superstar.
Further content about the BestCities Global Forum 2021:
Legacy: An Awakening – Notes from Bestcities Global Forum, Madrid, December 2th to 5th, 2021 (Association Meetings International article)
BestCities Global Forum 2021: Deciphering the Complexity of Legacy Creation (Boardroom article)
Bestcities Global Forum: Crafting a Legacy (BestCities Global Alliance article)
Madrid Launches New Digital Platform to Ensure Sustainability of Events (Madrid Convention Bureau sponsored article)
Reports by James Latham. Video by Toby Miller.
