Call for Partners & Ambassadors 2023-24

Together, we extended the value proposition of business and professional events. Now it’s time to advance the sector narrative curated by the 2023/24 edition of The Iceberg.

 
The meetings industry collectively achieved one of the most significant re-alignments of any within the communications spectrum by successfully pivoting the value proposition of business & professional events from one based on tourism receipts and measures alone – the high-yielding travel agent – to one that included the critical part that events play in local and global social, economic, and environmental recovery and regeneration – the change agent.
 
But despite virtual unanimity of support for highlighting value creation as well as value consumption, the job is far from over.
 
In-person events, especially, face an existential challenge from climate activism articulated not least by the event tech sector citing the in-person events contribution to GHG’s at over 10% (*source nature.com) and more than the entirety of the United States. However accurate or inaccurate that may be, those with a vested interest in business & professional events will need a robust & coherent body of knowledge to illustrate the handprint, the positive impacts and legacies of events, if it is to countermeasure such claims and avoid taxation levies on business travel, carbon passporting, or worse. It will need this repository and more, not least to follow through on the JMIC/UNFCCC Net Zero Carbon Events Pledge announced at COP26 in Glasgow, but to counterbalance the weight afforded to the carbon footprint of events.
 
As importantly will be the value proposition presented by event owners to a new generational culture of attendees and sponsors which are increasingly mindful of the need to realize positive social, economic, and sustainable development outcomes from their event attendance and investment. These impacts and longer-term legacies need to be the product of the event design, aligned to the mission and purpose of the professional or business community, then captured and shared not just with the next generation of attendees and investors, but also the meetings industry and its supply chains which can enable advocacy and policy support for, and defence of, the medium of events by illustrating the enormous contributions made to the sustainable development goals and targets (SDGs) to which these events align.

 

 
UFI Chief Executive, Kai Hattendorf, has already committed the global exhibition sector support for The Iceberg for 2023 and 2024
 
This will require the support not just of the destination development and stewardship communities, but the event owners and the meetings industry trade bodies to which they belong. Only together can we adopt a more accountable and measurable set of tools and arguments – a common and consistent narrative – that counterpunch the critics and sceptics of the in-person medium of business & professional events.
 
This can only be done collaboratively and collectively by both the destination and the client communities. The Iceberg is the proven and apolitical repository for hosting and sharing the design tools, impact and sustainable development frameworks, case studies, and other legacy of event assets, including the sources of information, education, events, research, publications, and sustainable development consultancy available from its myriad of partners.
 
And policymakers demand collective consistency of message – a rising tide lifts all boats.
 
Your contribution to The Iceberg funding and content for the 2023 & 2024 edition is essential for its continued delivery. It will enable yours and your members’ voice within one of the most critical initiatives we have as a value creator for social and economic recovery, reinvention, and regeneration so please make the decision today to align with your international colleagues in shaping a bright and relevant future for the business & professional events sector as a whole.
 
Please click here to select and confirm your role as an organisational partner, or individual ambassador, for the next 2-year term c/o admin@the-iceberg.org no later than 30th November.
 
Click here also for an extended OpEd and Producer’s Picks from The Iceberg’s founder, James Latham, and an update on the revised service offer to all partners.
 
We look forward to providing continued non-profit service on your behalf.
 

The Iceberg Secretariat