Trade show marketing contributes near $2 trillion to the worldwide economy. Trade Shows from One Country to the Next delves into the international differences when exhibiting products and services outside of your country of origin. The book focuses on the needed adjustments that must be made to achieve greater success communicating at a trade show.
ICCA and BestCities Global Alliance have announced the recipients and finalists of the 2025 Incredible Impacts Programme, which recognises associations delivering transformational impact through their events. One of the three finalists for the $20,000 USD Main Grant is the World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA) – World Rural Health Conference (Limerick, 2022). Conference Chair, and…
From Carolin Lenehan, BESydney: If there was ever a single graph to demonstrate a knowledge economy benefit of global conferences this is it. The International Astronautical Federation‘s Annual Congress returns to Australia this September. The last time it visited our shores in 2017, the Australian Space Agency was born. On the announcement Sydney was to…
ICCA CEO Senthil Gopinath argues that the era of transactional venues selling rooms, tech and m2 is over, and sensitivity to the delegate experience is the key factor for future success: Over the past few years, I have witnessed something remarkable in the business events world: venues are no longer simply spaces where meetings take…
Prof. Liam Glynn of Limerick University shares the remarkable journey to impactful change from his remote General Practice in Ireland’s Ballyvaughan, County Clare. Starting from the creation of a political movement – No Doctor No Village – reversing post-GFC rural healthcare policy in Ireland. Attracting one of the world’s leading rural healthcare conferences to Limerick…
Business Events Sydney (BESydney) welcomes the NSW Government’s Visitor Economy Strategy 2035, which aims to generate A$91 billion in annual visitor spending and 150,000 new jobs by 2035. Developed with input from over 500 stakeholders, the strategy emphasises “Drive Growth Through Events.” BESydney has already secured 66 upcoming events, bringing 46,000 delegates, 174,000 delegate days,…
Sarawak is redefining academic conferences through BESarawak’s Academia Malaysia Advocacy Programme. With universities embracing legacy-driven events aligned to PCDS 2030 and UNSDGs, and innovations like AI.LEGACY plus major infrastructure growth, Sarawak is set to become the hub where research sparks lasting societal, environmental, and economic impact. From Sarawak Tribune…
From Skift Meetings: The poor jobs reports of the past three months reflect what planners are seeing in the meetings industry — fewer jobs with more applicants. There’s growing number of green #OpenToWork circles on LinkedIn and posts from job hunters about their struggles trying to find work in the meetings industry…
By Kai hattendorf, Global Business Events Industry Strategist: America’s reputation as a tourism and events hub is strained, with travel down, costs rising, and accessibility questioned. How can this be overcome, and what might happen next? Fees, access issues, and image concerns weigh on the country’s standing in the international meetings market…
Business events have long been celebrated for their economic footprint, such as hotel bookings, venue rentals, and restaurant traffic. But what if the true power of a conference lies not in the delegate spend, but in what happens long after the lanyards are packed away? That question is at the heart of Destination Canada’s three-year…
As is also the case with its strategy to attract international business events, Gothenburg doesn’t host football tournaments and other sporting events simply to drive tourism expenditure and bed-night figures, but as a means of advancing societally-important policy goals. In this case, the objective was to get more girls involved in organised sports – from…
Henley Business Centre Professors Andrew and Nada Kakabadse outline ways in which insights and data from local, frontline stakeholders are key for international associations to navigate turbulent times. Without systems for obtaining such input, Boards cannot navigate effectively. This applies particularly to international meetings, as key platforms for obtaining grassroots feedback and input into strategy.
During the celebration, we will: Reveal the 2025 GDS-Index results, which are vetted, verified, correlated, and validated by our benchmarking assessors; Celebrate and recognise the Leadership, based on ranking, and Most Improved destinations, based on year-on-year improvement (independent of ranking); Share inspiring, real-world, recent stories of progress, innovation and collaboration from around the earth.
The International AIDS Society has used it’s recent global conference on HIV science not only to present the latest scientific progress and research initiatives in combatting HIV, but to shine a spotlight on the impact of recent dramatic cuts to overseas aid programmes on rising HIV infections, the scale of stalled treatments, and the overall…
View this video interview of Guy Bigwood, CEO and Chief Changemaker with Global Destination Sustainability Movement, as part of the series “Travel Redefined: Tourism for People and Planet” by Content with Purpose and Global Sustainable Tourism Council, in which he urges destinations to start thinking and acting beyond sustainability and into regeneration.
Leading global tourism and business events industry consulting firm, GainingEdge has announced that Steen Jakobsen will begin work as the company’s new CEO on September 1, 2025. Jakobsen has more than 25 years of international experience in the global tourism and business events industry. He served as Director of the Copenhagen Convention Bureau for 14…
James Lancaster, Editorial Director at Northstar Meetings Group, highlights how stricter immigration policies are increasingly affecting international conferences. Visa denials, particularly for delegates from the Global South, limit participation and make global collaboration more difficult, raising questions about inclusivity and the ability to address shared challenges effectively.
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