Lyn Lewis-Smith is CEO of Business Events Sydney. She also devotes her energy to championing women’s rights. Here she answers three questions: about how bidding for conferences has changed and evolved over time, about emerging association meeting trends and creating value, and about hosting and participating in the Global Summit of Women. From Boardroom…
When IACC launched its Meeting Room of The Future report in 2016, it set out to predict and shape the future of events. Three years on, the series says as much about today’s meetings landscape as it says about tomorrow’s. Mark Cooper, IACC’s CEO, examines some key findings in areas like internet infrastructure. From Successful Meetings…
The glorious weather we are now enjoying cannot have escaped your attention. Simply being outdoors is healthy for both body and mind. But do event professionals forget sometimes the basic pleasures and benefits of getting out of the office? One Iceberg partner wants to take things outside. From editor’s blog at Meetpie.com…
Coffee in copious quantity sustains much of the meetings industry. Yet disposable coffee cups are in of themselves a major sustainability issue. As the sector aims to reduce its carbon footprint, one organiser successfully avoided the mountains of cups often left behind at events, while also helping fund clean water projects around the world. From PCMA…
In June officials ceremonially broke ground on the all-new Oklahoma City Convention Center. This is a $288 million venue, scheduled to open in 2020, that will offer acres of modern and flexible meeting space. According to Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt, the building is set to become “a modern town hall”. From PCMA Convene…
Holding sustainable events can be hard work, and involve a variety of quite different challenges. The Vice President of Marketing for Oracle, Paul Salinger, discussed how to navigate the business aspects of sustainability during the Sustainable Brands 2018 conference recently held in Vancouver. Here are the four takeaways of his session. From PCMA Convene…
As the Iceberg’s Opinions section has already noted, the 2017 ICCA Statistics Report has revealed that association meetings continue to decrease in size. It also shows that cities holding the most association meetings in 2017, like top-placed Barcelona, were also those holding the largest. And the total number of association meetings is growing. From Association Meetings International…
Oklahoma City has hosted a ceremonial groundbreaking for its new convention center. Scheduled to open in 2020, the $288 million Oklahoma City Convention Center will boast 200,000 square feet of exhibition space, a 30,000 square foot ballroom and 45,000 square feet of meeting space. Oklahoma City CVB has also launched a new website. From Successful Meetings…
Marketing Cheshire has partnered with local organisations to deliver a new concept for business events. “Brilliant Science” is promoting the UK as a world leader in the field for international association events looking to make the most of the region’s scientific heritage and venues. Delegates will be offered tours of relevant facilities and attractions. From Boardroom…
When about 2,000 meeting delegates sat down for lunch at the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education Annual Conference, they were fed all plant-based food all conference long. In addition to the conference’s first-ever all-vegetarian menu, the organiser made another big move in 2017 by eliminating breakfast from the menu. From PCMA…
Fear has been described by the acronym False Expectations Appearing Real. Change is often accompanied by it, so here’s a look at seven fears that come up with big changes to meetings, conferences and trade shows. Can we can flip those fears around and think about transformation in a whole new light? From PCMA Convene…
Dr Sue Black is a British computer scientist, academic and social entrepreneur. She also helped save the World War II codebreaking site Bletchley Park from falling into ruin. Recently Black was interviewed on a famous BBC radio programme, and told an interesting story of gender and the power of conferences. From editor’s blog at Meetpie.com…
Meetings Professionals International’s World Education Congress has just concluded in Indianapolis, having welcomed around 2,200 attendees. Since WEC 2017 MPI had totally reimagined the event, and the 2018 running was certainly eventful, even to the extent of a Sudanese-Australian speaker being unable to attend because of a US visa waiver refusal. From Meetings & Conventions…
With an ever-increasing focus on the environment and growing demand for sustainable practice, green event and conference planning is now an established trend within the global meetings industry. Here are six areas to consider for a greener approach: the venue, carbon offsetting, the accommodation, the catering, technology and lighting, and the materials used. From the Event…
In the GDS-Index white paper The Iceberg just published in Research, Finland’s Visit Espoo is committing to serve only locally-produced vegetarian food and sustainable fish to association delegates. Would you ever serve only vegetables and fish to your event attendees? Would they accept such a proposal? From editor’s blog at Association Meetings International…
As any youngster with a fidget spinner will tell you, rotation can be fun. But when a UK convention bureau suggested to the organiser of an event that had stayed in the same city since it started that they should be rotating destinations, there was surprising friction. From editor’s blog at Meetpie.com…
Medical meeting organisers at the PCMA Education Conference also got a behind-the-scenes look at how the Cleveland Clinic is now reshaping the future of both patient care and medical education. David McMillin reports from the visit and offer his five takeaways, including the power art can play, especially one “amazing Iceberg”. From PCMA Convene…
The Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland also hosted the recent PCMA Education Conference. The event included a focus on medical meetings. Convene Editor-in-Chief Michelle Russell took time out from the floor to put the evolution of the sector under the microscope with Robert Heard of the American College of Emergency Physicians. From PCMA…
Events have the potential to make a lasting impact on organisations that plan and own them, participants attending them, and communities hosting them. A focus on legacy at every stage is therefore essential. Karen Kotowski, CEO of the Events Industry Council, offer five criteria for creating the right community impact. From PCMA…
The ICCA Statistics Reports are based on the ICCA Association Database, which means the figures cover meetings organised by international associations according to this criteria: a meeting must take place on a regular basis, host at least 50 participants, and rotate between a minimum of three countries to be included in the Database. ICCA’s Association…
Last month the International Congress and Convention Association published its annual rankings of countries and cities for international association meetings. Now ICCA has an alternative view of the data: destinations ranked by estimated number of meeting delegates. Again, Barcelona is top city, and the United States top country. Other placings shift slightly. From Meetings & Conventions…
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