The International Social Housing Festival (ISHF) 2025, an initiative of Housing Europe, brought more than 1,800 international delegates from over 60 countries to Dublin, creating a global platform for conversations on one of society’s most pressing challenges: how to deliver not just housing, but thriving communities. The festival, hosted by the Irish Council for Social…
This is a story about inclusion in its truest sense: not simply being welcomed into the room, but having the authority to shape what happens within it. It is a story about the World Down Syndrome Congress, and what happens when the people a field exists for become the experts shaping it. By Ksenija Polla…
Vienna doesn’t just want to boast record-setting meetings growth, but is instead aiming for good growth. More than just a philosophy, Vienna’s new “Optimum Tourism” strategy encompasses a variety of concrete action plans. The goal is to transform the visitor economy into an engine for improved quality of life and city-wide sustainability. From Skift Meetings…
The International Coral Reef Symposium, a leading scientific conference on conservation, climate science and ocean sustainability, held its 16th edition at New Zealand International Convention Centre, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. The location gave space for Pacific peoples’ own perspectives, reinforcing the case for combining Indigenous knowledge with scientific research on reefs worldwide. From Boardroom…
Winner of the 2026 Incredible Impacts Programme Seed Fund Grant, the International Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association (IHPBA) World Congress 2026 will focus on the ‘IHPBA 2026 Legacy Project’, which addresses regional disparities in Hepatocellular carcinoma care across the Asia-Pacific region and low- and middle-income countries. This initiative aims to improve equity through frameworks, policy leadership, and regional…
Denmark’s life science sector accounts for approximately 20% of total national exports, backed by a national strategy through 2030 designed to enhance research capacity, improve framework conditions, and elevate global competitiveness. A major cornerstone of this strategy was the 2025 launch of Innovation District Copenhagen (IDC), a closely connected public–private hub bringing together 40,000 researchers,…
The International Association for Relationship Research Conference turned research into conversation through a community event at Social Bite. More than 660 delegates gathered in Glasgow for the International Association for Relationship Research (IARR) Conference 2026, but some of the conference’s most meaningful conversations took place away from the main programme.
Learn how Discover Saskatoon won the International Food and Agriculture Business Management Association (IFAMA) World Forum, using Destination Canada’s International Convention Attraction Fund. Invaluable lessons in how to incorporate “impact” and build partnerships at the earliest bidding stage. By Anna Look, Look Ahead Consulting…
Anthony Cassidy from Manchester Convention Bureau dissects the process of identifying targets, building ambassador capacity and bidding teams, and establishing trust with decision-makers in targeted organisations and events – a useful guide for destinations developing a bidding strategy linked to their economic development strategy, or looking to compare and benchmark their approach with others.
A year after global sexual health specialists gathered at the Palais des congrès de Montréal, the STI & HIV 2025 World Congress continues to bear fruit. A financial surplus of C$55,151.77 has been given to six Montréal community organisations working in sexual health, a wonderful example of the lasting legacy international conferences can leave.
642 delegates from 177 cities across 12 countries attended the 5th International Placemaking Week in June in Detroit. Experiential learning was at the centre of the educational programme, with opportunities to view and understand regenerative and resilient placemaking initiatives located across the city, ensuring extensive hands-on and tacit knowledge exchanges as well as formal learning.
Across Europe, more than 36 million people live with rare genetic diseases, many caused by single-gene mutations that have historically left patients with severe, life-limiting conditions and no effective treatments. While breakthrough CRISPR technology can now correct faulty DNA to treat genetic causes, there are barriers to these scientific advances reaching everyday clinical practice. Fragmented…
Beyond its status as Denmark’s leading gaming and esports festival, Copenhagen Gaming Week operates with a strategic long-term legacy model. Built to deliver tangible economic and societal outcomes, the event focuses on four core pillars: business and ecosystem development, cybercrime prevention, neuro-inclusion, and encouraging future careers in the cyber sector. To support these wider community…
In June 2026, Vienna hosted the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. The Festival of Robots, taking place ahead of the congress, and sustainability focus, formed a core pillar of the impact strategy by bridging science with the local community, while the Community Building Day highlighted DEI in science, encouraging inclusive environments in STEM.
Talley Management’s Ksenija Polla illustrates dimensions in delivering association event impact through the example of ISPCAN, describing intentional steps to put victims’ voices and experiences at the centre of ISPCAN’s Jamaica conference, and how a simple change of emphasis led to a profound communication impact via a presentation for ICCA’s Incredibile Impacts programme.
The 53rd annual SIGGRAPH conference convened thousands of innovators, researchers, and industry leaders from around the world in Los Angeles in July to explore innovations, trends, and predictions of computer graphics and interactive techniques. As host city, LA also took centre stage, showcasing its creative and technical talent and institutional strengths throughout the conference.
Singapore demonstrates how business events can deliver economic policy goals and strategic destination positioning. This event will attract high-level international participation, not only through its own agenda (including new policy announcements), but through synergy with events on related themes: Singapore International Energy Week, Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology, and the Asian Downstream Summit.
When the 76th International Astronautical Congress convened at ICC Sydney in 2025, Sydney became host of one of the world’s most strategically charged sectors. Space agencies, governments, scientists, engineers, commercial suppliers, students and the public gathered in Darling Harbour at a congress that reflected the ambition and complexity of the global space economy. From Boardroom…
This paper summarises the Legacy Event Advocacy Policy Summit 2025 and explains the significance of the Borneo Legacy Declaration as a strategic framework for advancing sustainable development, legacy creation, and policy integration through business events, highlighting how the Declaration aligns with sustainability and legacy theories, the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, and Sarawak’s long-term development agenda.
UChicago Medicine demonstrates how universities can utilise their participation at major events to showcase the excellence of their researchers, labs and departments, whilst highlighting how their academic work creates important value and impact for wider society. The 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting provides a clear example of how this can be achieved.
The value of a congress is increasingly assessed beyond attendance figures or immediate economic return – its significance lies in its capacity to reshape ecosystems, accelerate knowledge circulation, and anchor territories within global networks of influence. The SRS Annual Meeting 2025, hosted in Strasbourg, offers a particularly instructive example of this shift.
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