Kai Hattendorf documents a fundamental shift in the way AI will influence the future of events: rather than primarily being a suite of tools for organisers, AI’s most impactful role will be in how younger delegates use it long before the event starts to guide their entire decision-making on whether and how to participate.
David Adler, Gathering Point News, explores the rationale for establishing the Centre for Events & Festivals as a response to a fragmented events industry, weak knowledge-sharing, and limited use of evidence. The organisation aims to bridge academia and practice, strengthen collaboration, and promote more sustainable, inclusive, and community-focused approaches to event design and delivery.
Boardroom’s Vicky Koffa and Remi Deve summarise the key issues, opportunities and challenges discussed at the recent EAS 2026, all of which provide vital insights for business events suppliers and destinations interested in better understanding the current thinking and priorities of their association clients. An important conclusion: collaboration has become a strategic necessity.
M&C Asia magazine examines the changing picture of global rankings in passport power (how easy it is for holders of a particular passport to visit other countries) and border openness (how restrictive countries are to holders of different passports), and explains the implications for destination competitiveness for international business events.
Australian-based association consultancy Mayvin Global has released a series of three White Papers packed with valuable insights from 15 international association case studies, focused on the most mission-critical strategic challenges and potential solutions, many of which have implications for the future evolution of their event strategies.
International association meetings can find themselves in the frontline when geopolitical conflicts erupt. This Boardroom feature by Pamela Wilton explores the implications of key risk factors, illustrates why associations can no longer argue that they are “apolitical by nature”, and outlines how to build a geopolitical resilience framework.
Gatheringpoint’s David Adler suggests answers to the conundrum of managing two conflicting realities simultaneously: projecting confidence to the market, whilst making real-time decisions behind the scenes. Exercising resilience in real-time during periods of high uncertainty is one of the hardest challenges imaginable, especially with only partial vision of what’s happening.
60 years young: that’s the spirit of Melbourne Convention Bureau, one of the world’s most successful and innovative DMOs. The MCEC – Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre – is a relative youngster with only 30 years under its belt, but the venue laid out its ambitions at birth by achieving a six Green Star sustainable…
Dr Emma Delaney analyses some key issues regarding subventions and other financial incentives, drawing from the perspective of PCOs. Amongst her conclusions: flexible, co-created incentive packages are more effective than rigid, conditional offers, and when aligned with a destination’s goals, incentives can facilitate sustainable, inclusive and high-quality conferences and stronger societal impact. From CEF…
Tommy Goodwin, Vice President of Exhibitions & Conferences Alliance, provides a helpful and robust decision-making framework for industry leaders attempting to understand and navigate the fast evolving geopolitical landscape we all are facing. From Exhibition World Magazine…
Scotland’s capital is set to become the first city in the UK to fund its convention bureau through a mandatory tourist tax – or ‘visitor levy’ – in what could herald the start of major changes to how cities across the country attract business events and conference tourism. From M&IT…
The launch of the MeetEngland Impact Network at Sheffield’s Cutlers’ revealed why intellectual capital is one of England’s biggest advantages on the international business events stage. It was a genuinely significant industry moment — not just another announcement, but the start of something that could reshape England’s global competitiveness. From M&IT…
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The Net Zero Carbon Events pledge from the Joint Meetings Industry Council, which presents The Iceberg, has just been delivered at COP26. At the 60th Congress of our partner ICCA (International Congress and Convention Association), The Iceberg spoke to Aileen Crawford of the Glasgow Convention Bureau and to Guy Bigwood of the Global Destination Sustainability Movement. Speaking…
The Net Zero Carbon Events pledge from the Joint Meetings Industry Council, which presents The Iceberg, has just been delivered at COP26. Iceberg founder James Latham talks to former JMIC President Kai Hattendorf and Miguel Naranjo and Laura Lopez of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change about what it means for the sector….
The global meetings industry is being urged to join together in an historic pledge to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. JMIC (the Joint Meetings Industry Council), which presents The Iceberg, has launched an initiative called Net Zero Carbon Events to connect the sector with the growing movement to radically reduce emissions. The United Nations Framework Convention…
Kai Hattendorf is CEO of Iceberg partner UFI, global association of the exhibition industry. He has launched the UFI Global Policy Leadership Series, holding a series of high-level ministerial conversations to hear directly from government representatives about their economic plans and the role exhibitions play stimulating economies and societies. From UFI…
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