Carina Bauer, the CEO of Iceberg partner the IMEX Group, has been looking at four very positive industry trends for 2020 and beyond with her team: the “circular” economy, the UN Sustainable Development Goals, health and wellbeing (with increased focus on mental health), and how artificial intelligence can improve travel. From IMEX…
A lot has happened over the past year. Amidst all the political, social and technological goings-on, you may have missed big shifts in event design and experience strategy. The Design Studio™ of Iceberg partner Maritz Global Events just convened to discuss observations from 2019 and prognostications for 2020. From Maritz Global Events…
Meeting venues are facing increasing event acquisition, property and staff costs and competition from new venues. Planners are having to reconcile rising venue and travel costs with their flat budgets. Both groups are embracing technology in solving these challenges. Carl Law is a Development Manager at Capita Travel and Events. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
The London Bridge terror attack has had special resonance for meeting planners. It began during an event at Fishmongers’ Hall, which already stood in the shadow of increased security measures introduced after the previous 2017 attack. But lessons for the industry are complex. Photo: ChiralJon. From editor’s blog at Meetings & Incentive Travel…
2019 is drawing to a close. As we enter a new decade, the world now seems less stable and facing further disruption. Global association of the exhibition industry, UFI, has as per every year been tracking sector developments around the world. Here are five key trends the Iceberg partner has noted. From Kai Hattendorf via LinkedIn…
The trend of making meetings more sustainable is growing. Momentum is gaining pace, and not just in terms of recycling and reducing wastage. Director of Marketing, Europe at Cvent, Judy Elvey, discusses how associations are now integrating sustainability more and more into meetings. She also mentions work with Iceberg partner Positive Impact. From Boardroom…
Most conferences focus on success stories and those leaders who have chosen the right path with positive results. But real learning also comes when you talk about what didn’t go right. That’s the philosophy behind meetings known as “Fail Festivals”, which celebrate lessons emerging over shared “Fail Tales”. From PCMA…
In October the One Young World Global Summit came to London collecting together trailblazers including HRH The Duchess of Sussex. With sustainability at the core of the event, organisers asked venue partners for wholly meat-free menus. With over 3,600 delegates attending, meat-free meeting was no mean feat. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
In what way does the purpose of DMCs (Destination Management Companies) change in a market disrupted by the Internet? What happens when the core value proposition of “local knowledge, expertise and connections” is accessible, sometimes more efficiently and affordably, via other platforms? From SoolNua’s Pádraic Gilligan at Padraicino…
England and Scotland have many established convention centres, but finding a home for one in Wales was problematic until Celtic Manor went fifty-fifty with the Welsh government on the £83 million ICC Wales. CEO Ian Edwards runs through the long consultation process that decided what the new venue should be. From Association Meetings International…
Mubarak Al Shamsi, Director of the Abu Dhabi Convention Bureau, has been speaking about the emirate’s Economic Vision 2030, and the part played in it by business events. New infrastructure includes Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company’s The Hive, and its 80-seat auditorium The Collaboratorium. 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 third of a series featuring major meetings industry players, Iceberg founder James Latham catches up with Sissi Lygnou, CEO, Operations and Development, at AFEA Travel & Congress…
New Zealand has won its bid to host the 2023 10th World Avocado Congress. The five-day conference will bring the world’s leading avocado growers, researchers, marketers, tech innovators and investors to New Zealand. The bid was led by NZ Avocado, with a video message from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. From AMI Intellectual Capitals…
It’s not as easy to get to Kathmandu as it is to Brussels or Barcelona. But the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition accepted such logistical challenges with its 19th General Membership Meeting this March. The event drew 300 experts and over 60 speakers from around the world, also leaving a major local legacy. From Boardroom…
The IBTM World Trends Watch Report by Rob Davidson and Ali Turner is an insightful compendium of data that crosses business, industries, economies and geographies within the global meetings and events industry. The IBTM World Trends Watch Report 2019 (IBTM World website) Virtual Experience Economy Set to Grow, Says IBTM Trends Watch Report (Meetings & Incentive Travel…
During 2018 MeetDenmark, with consultancy and Iceberg partner GainingEdge, began a major project on outreach. The purpose was to identify how Danish destinations can create significant added value for the international associations coming to Denmark. The objective is to help associations achieve greater impacts in fulfilling their own goals and missions while also strengthening the…
UFI, the global association of the exhibition industry, has launched its first in-depth research study of the sector landscape in Latin America. The Exhibition Industry in Latin America provides neutral, up-to-date information, and will support the future activities of UFI members and the wider industry in the region. The first edition of the research was…
The European League Against Rheumatism is taking its huge congress to Frankfurt for the first time in almost two decades, after a city-wide effort to win the bid. More than 15,000 delegates are expected to attend the four-day meeting at Messe Frankfurt in June 2020, putting the city firmly on the medical-meetings map. From Association Meetings International…
Monaco’s meetings industry goes from strength to strength with a rise of 5.4 percent in business events during 2019. The principality has focused on continually improving services in the sector, which makes up 25 percent of the economy. The growth is also thanks to the Grimaldi Forum, which is set to be extended. From Boardroom…
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