Following the use of UK convention centres as hospitals, Twickenham and AMEX Stadiums have become coronavirus drive-through testing facilities for healthcare and essential workers. Both arenas are significant event venues. The UK government is rapidly scaling up testing capacity. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
A key activity for over 35 percent of eventprofs now working from home is improving their education. Sector recovery may be quite quick, with a venue capacity shortage into 2021. So say a briefing from The Business of Events and a survey from Business Visits & Events Partnership. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
Hillary Rodham Clinton chose the Javits Center for her election night party in 2016, but in the end didn’t shatter its glass ceiling. Leadership gender equality within the meetings industry was discussed at a Cvent CONNECT Europe panel in October hosted by BBC Director of Creative Diversity June Sarpong (pictured). From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
Harrogate Convention Centre is the latest UK event venue to become an NHS Nightingale temporary hospital. Harrogate has joined ExCeL London, the Birmingham National Exhibition Centre and the Manchester Central Convention Complex, with the SEC Centre in Glasgow also set for use as a hospital. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
CEO of ExCeL London Jeremy Rees has confirmed that the UK’s National Health Service is using the exhibition and conference venue free of rental fee. The Sunday Times had reported that the venue’s owners, Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Company, were charging the NHS £2-3 million per month. From Conference News…
The coronavirus crisis has led to unprecedented interest in virtual events. For many organisers, this meant seriously looking into their possibilities, in some cases for the first time. But directly transposing the aims of a live event can mean missing the potential benefits of producing relevant and bespoke video content. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
ExCeL London has become an emergency hospital, called NHS Nightingale, with the conference and exhibition centre being put into service to treat the expected surge in coronavirus patients. Other UK venues are also being prepared as ancillary hospitals: Birmingham’s NEC, Manchester Central and Glasgow’s SEC Centre. From Association Meetings International…
Emergency hospital beds to serve a total of 1,200 patients have now all been installed in New York City at the Javits Convention Center. The units built across the main exhibition floor were constructed to relieve the pressure on New York City hospitals overwhelmed by COVID-19 cases. Venues elsewhere are also being readied. From PCMA…
Iceberg partner M&IT’s 2020 Awards saw over 1,200 event professionals celebrating the industry at Battersea Evolution in London. For the 14th year in a row, Glasgow Convention Bureau was named the UK’s best. The former CAT Media Managing Director Martin Lewis was named “Personality of the Year”. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
The plans for a new UK conference venue close to Manchester Airport have been approved. The updated EventCity venue will be built on the site of former indoor football pitches at TraffordCity leisure park, replacing the existing venue nearby. That will remain in use until its replacement opens next Spring. From Association Meetings International…
Hundreds of attendees at a London conference have been emailed by health officials after a delegate was diagnosed as having COVID-19. The patient, who has not been identified, had attended the UK Bus Summit at the QEII Centre. The email warned delegates with a fever or cough to self-isolate and seek advice. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
The ambassador programme Club Liverpool has marked five years with an event held at Liverpool Town Hall attended by some of the members who have helped attract £70 million of meetings to the city. The network of influential figures from academia, medicine and business now boasts 230 ambassadors. From Association Meetings International…
Despite not sending food waste to landfill sites for over a decade now, Olympia London has introduced new measures to make sure excess isn’t created in the first place. The venue has also partnered with the sustainability advocacy group WRAP, which runs the “Guardians of Grub” campaign, to track food waste. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
The Iceberg is now identifying and celebrating the greater mass of hard-to-see business events legacies that lie hidden beneath the surface in a new podcast “Below the Waterline”. In the fifth of a series featuring significant meetings industry players, Iceberg founder James Latham catches up with Talley Management Group President and CEO Gregg Talley. Gregg…
In China, major venues like the Wuhan International Convention and Exhibition Center have been repurposed as temporary hospitals during the novel coronavirus crisis. But British nationals evacuated from Wuhan, the centre of the outbreak, have been taken to Kents Hill Park hotel and conference centre to spend fourteen days in quarantine. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
Homeless hackathons, like those being held this year in Edinburgh, Montreal, Barcelona, Dundee and London, are one way for meetings to tackle this pressing social issue. The MD of organiser Gallus Events recently had a personal experience of homelessness outside COP25, the UN Climate Change Conference, in Madrid. From Association Meetings International…
The “Incredible Impacts” grants celebrate the “beyond tourism” legacy value of international association meetings and their projects that are delivering positive social impact. A panel of independent judges from the association world determines which meetings have left a proven legacy, and award three grants of $7,500 on behalf of Iceberg partners BestCities Global Alliance and…
It has ancient academic powerhouses with adjacent knowledge clusters like Oxford and Cambridge. It has the meetings-friendly pairing of Newcastle and Gateshead in the North, not to mention Liverpool, Leeds, Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester and of course London. England’s expertise is making it a world-class meeting destination. Photo: VisitBritain / Guy Richardson. From Boardroom…
ExCeL London is partnering with the London Academy of Excellence, a sixth form centre in local Stratford. The venue has contributed to LAE’s Hardship and Opportunities Fund to assist with visits that raise student aspirations. CEO Jeremy Rees called it “part of ExCeL London’s lasting legacy for the local community”. From Boardroom…
The Iceberg does like an ice event. The synergy between academia and meetings was recently on show with the University of Leeds hosting a group of experts on the Great Ice Age. The meeting, which explored the pressing issues around climate change, worked closely together with the college’s convention bureau MEETinLEEDS. From Association Meetings International…
Conference Aston Head Samantha Brown explains how the industry can meet the needs of all delegates through a new approach to venue accessibility. Delegates with sight, hearing and some lesser-known impairments need just as much consideration as attendees with restricted mobility. The value of proper training should never be underestimated. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
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