The 36th edition of the CityDNA Summer School was hosted in late August. This year the Iceberg partner educational meeting graduated 43 students from Europe and South Africa. As well as video about the Summer School itself from Turin, Italy, this feature looks at participating medical associations and their meetings, sustainability and also hybrid meetings.
Ongoing education and professional training are crucial to face ongoing changes in the meetings and events Industry. Since 1987, the aim of the CityDNA Summer School (once called the EFCT and then the ECM Summer School) is to provide insights into the structure and functioning of this industry, bringing attendees face to face with its senior practitioners.
After two years of holding this event online, CityDNA offered an improved and refreshed programme for 2022 in Turin.
The 36th CityDNA Summer School in Turin.
The CityDNA Summer School was an chance for destination marketing professionals to understand the missions and needs of associations that hold large international meetings. Two such groups participating in the event also spoke to The Iceberg on video about their events. Daniel Waigl is Executive Director of CIRSE (Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiological Society of Europe), which runs ECIO, the European Conference on Interventional Oncology. Professor Tommaso Castroflorio is President of the European Aligner Society, which is working in the field of orthodontic aligner therapy.
CIRSE’s Daniel Waigl and European Aligner Society’s Prof. Tommaso Castroflorio.
Among the most important changes in the new CityDNA Summer School programme was the addition of a session on sustainability and regenerative destinations.
Led by Inge Krogh Larsen, Senior Changemaker at GDS-Movement, another Iceberg partner, this session gave newcomers to the meetings industry the tools to create their own destination strategy with sustainability and regeneration at its heart. This session was followed by a hands-on workshop where students discussed practical details and collaborated to find ideas and solutions.
Also contributing to this video is Catherine Kalamidas, Account Manager International Congresses and Events at Rotterdam Partners.
Sustainability is clearly growing in prominence within the business events sector. But this growth is sometimes reluctant, a matter of some frustration for its advocates.
GDS-Movement’s Inge Krogh Larsen and Rotterdam Partners’ Catherine Kalamidas.
Catherine Kalamidas also talked to The Iceberg in greater depth about Rotterdam Partners’ approaches in different intellectual capital sectors around sustainability, particularly with regard to climate adaptation and water usage.
The city’s strategy has seen it secure the World Energy Congress for 2025. Kalamidas also explains how the International Liver Transplantation Society Congress in 2023 will work collaboratively with the new Erasmus MC Transplant Institute.
Rotterdam Partners’ Catherine Kalamidas.
The 36th CityDNA Summer School was the first held in person since the pandemic. For many participants, the crisis had also seen experiments with pivoting to different forms of virtual and hybrid events.
So what are the issues around the efficacy, practicality and cost of meeting online? CityDNA Summer School participants had answers aplenty.
Hybrid Meetings: a CityDNA Summer School analysis.
Further reading:
CityDNA To Support the Meetings Industry and Destination Strategy With Sustainability and Regeneration at Its Heart (City Destinations Alliance website)
Video by Toby Miller.
