Over 500 senior oil and gas executives will visit Nairobi in March with Kenya poised to become a hub of oil and gas exploration. The sixth edition East Africa Oil & Gas Summit & Exhibition will bring together government officials, national oil companies and investors to examine significant opportunities across the region. From AMI Intellectual Capitals…
With the WHO declaring coronavirus a public health emergency, and with airlines suspending their flights to China, conference managers are having to cancel, delay or relocate their meetings in the country. One professional congress organiser said his clients were exercising “extreme caution” because of the crisis. From Association Meetings International…
Leaders of Australia’s convention bureaux have sought to dampen fears about the recent bushfires and quash what they call the spread of “misinformation”. The Association of Australian Convention Bureaux says organisers and managers of events should be contacting its members for destination-specific information and advice. Photo: Rob Russell. From Association Meetings International…
The decisive general election result back in December gave a boost to UK marketing expenditure during the final quarter of 2019, according to the IPA Bellwether Report. Cuts to event marketing were seen over Q3 and Q4, but the report is optimistic about the sector for 2020 and 2021. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
Conference Aston Head Samantha Brown explains how the industry can meet the needs of all delegates through a new approach to venue accessibility. Delegates with sight, hearing and some lesser-known impairments need just as much consideration as attendees with restricted mobility. The value of proper training should never be underestimated. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
With a scientific consensus that we are already in a full-blown climate crisis, events are under widespread scrutiny for environmental impact. So are meetings now in a state of emergency? German Convention Bureau Director Matthias Schultze, UFI CEO Kai Hattendorf and Iceberg Founder James Latham are among the sector voices canvassed. From EventMB…
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 fourth of a series featuring significant meetings industry players, Iceberg founder James Latham catches up with BestCities Global Alliance Director of International Associations Jane Cunningham…
The number of corporate travel buyers forecasting bigger budgets for 2020 is now at a five-year high, according to annual research from the Business Travel Show. 41 percent of buyers said they would have more money to spend on travel in 2020, a rise from 33 percent last year. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
As bushfires continue to cause devastation across all of Australia, the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre has become a disaster relief centre. It is offering transition assistance to evacuees from Mallacoota in East Gippsland, including access to food and water, medical support and other services. From News.com.au…
Would you accept a media blackout required by your keynote speaker? PCMA, the Professional Convention Management Association, has just done so for former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Media outlets registered for Convening Leaders were strictly forbidden from reporting her main keynote. From editor’s blog at Association Meetings International…
In comes another year, and with it yet another list of trends to watch on the horizon. Events will deliver personalised experiences with the aid of artificial intelligence. Plus, sustainability, the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and flygskam (flight shaming) are also on the map, as is Q and A 2.0, Conversation and input. From PCMA…
When an attendee posted video of a speaker’s lewd remarks at a financial services conference, it was actually the video poster who was breaking the rules, since the invitation-only event had a privacy policy. But the event in fact commended the poster and instead the billionaire panellist was barred from future events. From PCMA…
Last December Mariela McIlwraith, Director of Industry Advancement at the Events Industry Council, went to the UN Climate Conference COP25 in Madrid. There she took part in a panel discussion on the role of the meetings sector in bringing people together to act on climate. From the Events Industry Council…
The way people eat at events is changing. As populations around the world begin to understand the impact of their eating habits, we are seeing a massive change in what and how people eat. This chapter of the Beyond Food report series delves deeper into these trends, and into the emergence of the plant menu…
The industry has reacted and urged vigilance in the wake of the London Bridge terror attack. Two attendees were killed and three injured at an event at Fishmongers’ Hall. The attacker was shot dead by police. The security concerns raised have been circling for some time. Photo: Ethan Doyle White. 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…
During 2019, the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre successfully attracted ten major international events due to be held in Malaysia between 2020 and 2025. These meetings, from the energy, medical and education sectors, are expected to be attended by more than 17,300 participants. The venue’s recent expansion contributed to its wins. From Boardroom…
Meeting professionals are feeling less optimistic about the future. So says MPI’s quarterly Outlook Survey for November 2019, which shows positive sentiment at lowest levels since before the 2008 financial crisis. Other responses note that meetings are getting shorter, more frequent and more niche, but that audiences are getting bigger. From Association Meetings International…
Dr Nicholas Barrett is Consultant in Critical Care at London’s Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust. Starting out in Sydney Australia, he now specialises in extra-corporeal life support for acute heart and lung failure. Dr Barrett is also Chair of EuroELSO 2020, being held at London’s Queen Elizabeth II Centre next May. The congress…
Marketing Edinburgh has moved closer to collapse with the entire board of the organisation resigning “with immediate effect” after city councillors rejected a funding plea to implement new strategy. The publicly-owned organisation is set to lose all funding as the authority tries to cut up to £40 million from next year’s budget. From Eventsbase…
The Association of Independent Festivals has just returned to the city of Sheffield for its annual Festival Congress. The two-day meeting is claiming to be the first travel carbon neutral events industry conference. Organisers have worked with Energy Revolution to balance emissions with investment in projects creating clean and renewable power. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
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