Over 440,000 conferences and meetings worth £4.9 billion took place across the UK in 2021, after just 195,000 in 2020, new research has revealed. The direct expenditure in venues and destinations was £1.7 billion in 2020 and £17.6 billion in 2019. 45 percent of venues expect business to recover by 2023. From Conference News…
The US Supreme Court ruling that lifted constitutional protections for access to abortion services has now prompted calls for scientific events to boycott states that have banned or severely restricted services. At least one organisation has already moved a meeting out of Louisiana over the issue of abortion rights. Photo: Ted Eytan. From Nature…
Event technology platform Bizzabo has laid off 120 employees, or thirty percent of its 400-strong workforce, reacting to what it called the “swift economic downturn”. Meanwhile, AI and transcription unicorn Verbit laid off sixty members of staff, about ten percent of total, following a period of rapid growth. From Association Meetings International…
ICCA (International Congress and Convention Association) rankings just posted saw destination Vienna reclaim the top spot worldwide for the first time since 2012. The 2021 Iceberg partner survey attributed 92 congresses to Vienna, with Lisbon second (91) and Athens third (66). Barcelona and Singapore are next, then Madrid, Prague, Paris, Berlin and Brussels. From Meetings International…
Iceberg partner ICCA (the International Congress and Convention Association) has formalised a collaboration with BESarawak. The venture will see both working jointly on the new International Journal of Business Events and Legacies. GainingEdge, another Iceberg partner, and The Iceberg itself will also lend support to the publication. From Association Meetings International…
Over a hundred parties made a pledge at COP26 to reduce the carbon emissions created by the events industry. The coalition has doubled in size since that time. Kai Hattendorf, the President of Iceberg partner UFI and former Chair of the Joint Meetings Industry Council (which presents The Iceberg), helped make it happen. From PCMA…
International conferences are the most carbon-intensive activity for associations. Here five sustainability experts answer twenty fundamental questions to let organisations begin their journey towards net zero and assess their progress along the way. Included are views from Iceberg partners GDS-Index and Positive Impact. From Association Meetings International…
Jaimé Bennett, PCMA’s Regional Director of EMEA, was taken on a tour during her site visit to Vienna earlier this year. The aim was to find places Convening EMEA participants could explore during the meeting. One was a café which helps older residents augment their pensions and social lives through baking. From PCMA…
The UK has experienced red weather warnings and unprecedented high temperatures of late, with services shut down and events postponed. Europe and the United States have also suffered. Liz Taylor, the CEO of event management firm the Taylor Lynn Corporation, has sweated over the best solutions to keep delegates cool. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
On the back of a flash survey, Editor James Lancaster talks with Loren Edelstein, VP Content Director at Northstar Meetings Group, about how the US Supreme Court’s about turn on Roe v. Wade could inflence where international associations meet, and whether organisations should be being political about site selection. Photo: Ted Eytan. From Association Meetings International…
Carina Bauer, CEO of Iceberg partner IMEX Group, has been talking about her organisation’s Green Squad and its sustainability impact. The Squad was set up in 2017 to collect the sustainability champions within IMEX and share initiatives across the business. The Group has also signed the sector’s Net Zero Carbon Events Pledge. From Conference News…
During the pandemic, uncertainty was a daily torment for association meeting planners. With the threat of lockdown ended in most countries, the market is approaching business pre-pandemic. But organisers are also caught between a labour and skills crisis plus rocketing inflation. From editor’s blog at Association Meetings International…
After eleven years at the helm of MCEC (the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre), Peter King is leaving his CEO post later this year once a replacement has been hired. As he gets ready to depart, King has been looking back on highlights and challenges he faced during his time at the venue. From PCMA…
The Editorial Director Martin Fullard recently visited Scotland to find out how important business events are to the region. He talked to some of the country’s leading eventprofs, learning about VisitScotland’s new and improved “Policy Driven Model”, its “Journey to Change” project, and how universities are helping to bring in business events. From Conference News…
Sarawak’s Minister of Tourism, Creative Industries and Performing Arts, the Honourable Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, has been discussing the Malaysian state’s approach to recovery and its strategy of promoting business event legacy creation. Subjects covered include ventures with Iceberg partners GDS-Index and ICCA. From Boardroom…
Glasgow will stage seven neurology or neuroscience-related meetings during 2022, drawing up to 10,000 international delegates into the Scottish city. The meetings are testament to Glasgow’s extensive association with neurology, which includes several landmark moments in the field, as The Iceberg has had cause to cover previously. From Association Meetings Intenational…
There are signs the event tech goldrush is already over. How quickly organisers harness the potential of online meetings will determine the size of any returns in future. William Thomson, Founder of Gallus Events and Practically Perfect PA, examines how the sector is now facing something of a reckoning. From Association Meetings International…
Flanders is an Innovative Association Hub in the heart of Europe Flanders is the unsurpassable Association Hub. With Brussels as its capital, Flanders is home to more than 2000 international associations and trade organisations. Centrally located in Europe, Flanders is an economic hub in the middle of one of the world’s highest concentrations of people,…
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Iceberg partner European Cities Marketing has just staged its International Conference and General Assembly in Hamburg, rebranding during the event as the City Destinations Alliance. Visit Flanders and #Meet4impact presented a legacy collaboration there, and the latter’s Geneviève Leclerc now explains how the SDGs make a great framework around which to anchor the legacy of association meetings….
Glasgow, home of the famous Glasgow Botanic Gardens, will welcome over 2,000 soil scientists this summer for the quadrennial World Congress of Soil Science. Over the past twelve months, the city’s convention bureau secured 71 new conferences, expected to bring about 36,000 delegates to Glasgow and add £53 million to its coffers. From AMI Intellectual Capitals…
A major conference on how people with cognitive, linguistic and physical impairments interact will be held soon in Newcastle, UK. The Atypical Interaction Conference, to be staged at Newcastle University, runs every three years and is attended by experts on dementia, autism, aphasia, schizophrenia, visual and speech impairments among others. From AMI Intellectual Capitals…
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