The European Exhibition Industry Alliance, representing nearly 400 European exhibition organisers and venue operators in Brussels to the European institutions and wider stakeholders, has welcomed recent economic support measures for the industry the European Commission has announced in the wake of COVID-19. From Exhibition World…
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…
What’s the number one challenge facing business events? When this question was posed in November 2019 by Convene as part of its 29th Annual Meetings Market Survey, just a few answers talked about dealing with the unknown. One respondent alone cited the management of risk, and specifically of epidemic risk, as a challenge. From PCMA…
Public views about COVID-19 have seemed to polarise around either very sensationalist panic or similarly dangerous complacency. Perhaps we should choose to hear neither of these extreme positions. The events industry is going to take a battering from this crisis. The sector should try to accept this. From editor’s blog at Association Meetings International…
The spread of COVID-19 has many planners confronting big questions about the risk assessment, the crisis management and communication involved in bringing thousands of people together. Bill Reed, Chief Event Strategy officer at ASH, the American Society of Hematology, has just had to pull the plug on a meeting. From PCMA…
Geneviève Leclerc is Chief Executive Officer of #MEET4IMPACT, and the best person to ask the difference between “legacy” and “impact”. This Iceberg partner is now working with Tourism New Zealand on the project “Enrich New Zealand – Conference Impact”. This will measure outcomes of three meetings held over two years. From PCMA…
Action to fight climate change is a growing part of CSR. But companies are starting to align activities around all the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Meetings contribute to quality education, or SDG 4. The industry’s engagement on SDGs has now been surveyed by Fiona Pelham, CEO of Iceberg partner Positive Impact. From PCMA…
With social impact moving ever higher up the business events agenda, ICC Sydney’s Legacy Program has set out to inspire conference organisers to make wider a contribution in the Australian host destination and beyond. Five streams of legacy creation guide associations and event planners towards the best fit for their own organisation. From Boardroom…
The purpose of this document is to outline key planning considerations for organisers of mass gatherings in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak. It should be read in conjunction with the World Health Organization’s Public Health for Mass Gatherings: Key Considerations, which provides general advice on the public health aspects of mass gathering events. It…
Wellness continues to be a topic highlighted in both professional circles as well as in our personal lives. For this 2020 study, the Incentive Research Foundation explored how wellness is specifically represented in incentive travel programmes as well as in general meeting types. Of the individuals surveyed for this report, 68 percent noted that wellness…
You are what you eat! But food isn’t just about physical health, it’s about mental health as well. So, in an industry where mental health is increasingly being scrutinised, how can food control mood? Beyond Food: Food and Mental Health (Lime Venue Portfolio website, registration required) Top Five Tips to Munch Your Way to Good…
Singapore’s meetings industry has been badly hit by the coronavirus outbreak, with a string of significant association events withdrawing from the city as a result to mitigate their risk. The Association of Corporate Counsel, The International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition and also Alzheimers Disease International have all cancelled or postponed. From Association Meetings International…
The organisers of IBTM Asia Pacific 2020 have postponed the launch event, set to have taken place this April at the Singapore Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre, until April 2021. The Iceberg partner made the decision due to the risks of coronavirus in discussion with its wider stakeholders. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
What next? The question is haunting meeting and event planners as the COVID-19 shows its contempt for national borders. There’s now grim fascination in seeing organisations responding quite differently to the unfolding crisis, and what this then says about our attitude to “known unknowns”. From editor’s blog at Association Meetings International…
Many DMOs (Destination Marketing Organisations) have started to realise the true value of meetings and are tracking the social outcomes they deliver. Some governments include business events as part of policy. Karen Bolinger, Strategic Advisor at Iceberg partner BestCities Global Alliance, talks “beyond tourism” legacies. From City / Nation / Place…
A recent Twitter #Expochat devoted an entire session to the coronavirus outbreak and its impact on US and global exhibitions. Industry leaders including Kai Hattendorf, MD and CEO of Iceberg partner UFI, talked through the shows being cancelled or seeing major absences from their Chinese delegations. Far more are going ahead than not. From UFI…
Often legacies we leave behind are not as much under our control as we might like. Stylianos Filopoulos, Board Member of the European Society of Association Executives, argues that association leaders are not the sole drivers of association legacy, but caretakers who protect the vision that inspires and unites members and stakeholders. From Boardroom…
Profit and productivity rank high when buyers of incentive travel experiences list the objectives of their programmes. Except that isn’t the whole story. There’s a powerful narrative emerging around other objectives incentive travel sets out to achieve which has little to do with tangible metrics. From SoolNua’s Pádraic Gilligan at Padraicino…
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…
Copenhagen’s strong life sciences sector has proved to be fertile ground for researchers in reproduction, with the city winning the 36th Annual Meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. The event is expected to attract 10,000 experts on infertility and reproduction to the Bella Center this July. From AMI Intellectual Capitals…
Japan is hosting a “smart farming” conference this year as its manufacturers use technology to improve yield efficiencies in the sector. The International Conference on Agricultural Internet of Things and Smart Farming is being held this April in Tokyo. It comes as the Osaka-based Kubota Corporation has unveiled a fully autonomous tractor. From AMI Intellectual Capitals…
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