The Iceberg, presented by the Joint Meetings Industry Council (JMIC), is the established industry metaphor for the extended value capture of business and professional events. The Iceberg Global Ambassador Program, announced at IBTM World, will commence in January 2019.
The JMIC Iceberg initiative encourages industry stakeholders to secure a role in delivering – and contributing to – the industry message at local policy and investment levels.
Rod Cameron, executive director of JMIC commented: “As powerful stories and measurable outcomes begin to emerge, The Iceberg has become the analogous industry vehicle which assembles and shares these stories on our collective behalf. Its Ambassador Program will be a tremendous way of reaching out to the regional and local communities who need to hear them”, he added.
The Iceberg also makes use of video in its industry storytelling.
The Iceberg was formed in January 2017 by JMIC Council members and other leading industry organisations. At IBTM World, JMIC elected its new president – Kai Hattendorf, chief executive of UFI, the exhibition industry’s global association.
Hattendorf welcomed the initiative: “We have an increasing depth of content in place on The Iceberg. Now we need to collaborate with those connected to policymakers and community investors in order to share this knowledge”, he said.
“This is where The Iceberg Ambassador Program kicks in because community decisions relating to the funding of infrastructure, professional education, and destination marketing will only result where we persuade the local administrations that we are relevant to their communities, rather than the interests of our supply chains, because it’s about stimulating demand, not supply”, he added.
The Iceberg will unveil a new “Build Your Own Iceberg” tool for industry and ambassadors to use when advocating investment at the local level, or while compiling a bid. From April 2019, it will enable Iceberg partners and ambassadors to select and paste content to their own version of The Iceberg so that they can build their case for investment, marketing or infrastructure support aligned to the local industrial strategy.
James Latham, the founder and producer of The Iceberg added; “We also anticipate a reverse flow of storytelling from our ambassadors, especially beyond the tourism pillar. We will continue to elevate the industry as a change agent across all sectors of the knowledge and creative economy and not just a travel agent. We will align industry support of sectors and strategies beyond those of our travel and hospitality supply chains. This is precisely the advice of Professor Greg Clark of The Business of Cities received at this year’s IMEX Policy Forum. We intend to follow Professor Clark’s advice and focus on the upstream value capture of this industry”, he concluded.
Applications for a seat on The Iceberg Global Ambassador Program at Call for Ambassadors 2019 & 2020 or email admin@the-iceberg.org.
Costs Per Annum per Ambassador (minimum 2 years) is £350 (organisation) / £250 (individual).
The Iceberg‘s James Latham, JMIC and UFI’s Kai Hattendorf and JMIC’s Rod Cameron.
