With almost 1,000 senior meetings professionals and association event planners from 75 countries coming to Houston, Texas, the recent 58th Congress of Iceberg partner ICCA, the International Congress and Convention Association, was the largest ever held in North America. The event is one of the industry calendar’s most significant. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
Weeks of anti-government protests in Chile have forced the embattled President Piñera to cancel both this month’s APEC trade summit and COP25 UN climate conference in December. The 2019 Cochrane Colloquium,a major healthcare meeting, was also due to be held in Santiago, but the growing death toll has forced its cancellation. From Association Meetings International…
“The majority of disabled people don’t travel to conferences because they expect their needs will not be met”. So says Alan Broadbent, an accessibility writer and consultant to the events industry. Three examples of inclusivity, a venue (ICC Wales), a meeting (Glasgow’s IASSIDD World Congress) and a city (Dubai), are analysed. From Association Meetings International…
Business Events Luxembourg was created at the end of 2018 by the Ministry of the Economy of the Grand Duchy and the City of Luxembourg. It is the convention bureau for a destination striving to attract meetings in the government defined key sectors for economic growth: automobility, ICT, space, cleantech and life sciences. From Boardroom…
The trend toward plant-based diets has made headlines recently, and this June the first Plant Based World Conference & Expo launched at the Javits Center in New York City. The inaugural event welcomed 3,737 attendees, including professionals from retail, specialty restaurant and food service, healthcare and distributors. From PCMA…
One of the biggest takeaways from the World Wildlife Fund’s research into ending food waste occurring in commercial kitchens was the need to clearly better communicate with meeting planners about the multiple ways in which they can reduce food waste. So says Monica McBride of WWF, who lists some approaches to follow. From PCMA…
It’s clear that food production and consumption needs to change, and radically, to safeguard the planet and feed a growing population. The best place to start for the business events industry is with food waste, and now the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has been working on food conservation in convention centre kitchens and hotels. From PCMA…
Every destination has a story to tell and specialist knowledge to attract international meetings. For the South Tyrollean capital Bolzano, with its significant existing tourism business as skiing destination, intellectual capital has also developed around local geography. Eurac is a private research cluster headquartered in the destination. It boasts eleven institutes of different disciplines, including one…
RAI Amsterdam is a venue that considers itself more of a neighbour than a conventional conference centre. It works closely with organisers to limit noise and traffic congestion, and looks for opportunities to give back to its local community. These include encouraging donations to social initiatives, especially of the venue’s own surplus food. From Boardroom…
Food waste isn’t about ignorance, it’s about changing behaviour. Through the prism of our fear of running out, how can we regulate the wasteful habits of the events industry? Beyond Food: Food Wastage and the Fear of Running Out (Lime Venue Portfolio website, registration required) Survey Shows Event Planners Responsible for “Alarming” Food Waste (Association…
Patient involvement in clinical care and research has gained momentum in recent years, firstly because the patient community itself is asking for more active role, but also because patient participation in healthcare systems has been proven to improve treatment outcomes. Scientific associations are also increasingly recognising that patients can contribute to the success of congresses…
A survey has found that almost a third of planners throw away fifteen percent of food they commission for events. New research from Lime Venue Portfolio, in partnership with BCD Meetings and Events, makes clear the need for the meetings industry to take a lead in tackling food waste. From Association Meetings International…
Seoul’s recent debut hosting of the International Bar Association Annual Conference is the latest example of global groups using the city’s PLUS SEOUL support service for meetings. The event follows in the footsteps of the International Organization for Standardization’s TC258 Plenary Meeting in September, which also made use of PLUS SEOUL. From Boardroom…
London’s QEII Centre has posted its highest-ever economic contribution to the UK. The Gross Value Added figure of £153.1 million is an rise of 72.6 percent since 2013 – 14. Last year, MPs voted for a refurbishment of Parliament that could see the House of Lords rehoused in the venue. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
Can venues help bridge the divide that often lies between international associations and their local hosts or chapters in the event destination? Angeline van den Broecke, Director of Global Business Development and Marketing at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, believes they can, and in the process ensure the success of major congresses. From Boardroom…
Salespeople used to visualise reward for success through pictures placed on their desk, of a sports car, dream home or paradise location. Agency Strata Creative Communications’s Client Services Director and Head of Incentives, Mike Parrott, spells out how modern incentive events drive effective and sustainable growth in performance. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
Every year Iceberg partner UFI, the global association of the exhibition industry, gives young and emerging sector talent the chance to advance via its Next Generation of Leaders Grant sponsored by Freeman. In the first of a two-part series, three of the five 2019 awardees talk about what NGL mentoring means for them. From UFI…
Some US convention centres have chosen not to donate leftover food from events because they believe it opens them up to legal liability if any illness is attributed to it. But an act of law passed during the Clinton years actually waives donor liability except in cases of gross negligence or intentional misconduct. From PCMA…
Sustainability continues to rise up the agenda across meetings and events, and two Iceberg partner specialists in this area have turned up in a series of video interviews on the subject filmed at IMEX America, Positive Impact’s Fiona Pelham and the Global Destination Sustainability Index’s Guy Bigwood. From Endless Events…
Seoul and wider South Korea have much to offer planners of meetings and incentives, and are competing strongly against other key Asian destinations like Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia. Big wins of late include the 31st World Congress on Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Seoul now lies tenth in ICCA rankings. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
The 45th Annual Meeting of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation staged in Frankfurt, the world’s largest meeting for stem-cell therapy, was the result of close cooperation between the city, the venue and the scientific community. From Association Meetings International in collaboration with Conference & Incentive Management and Frankfurt Messe…
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