Most convention centres are publicly owned, so local laws are framed to allow community access. When it comes to the homeless this can present challenges. But being public institutions, venues can also play an active role in assisting the homeless. The International Association of Venue Managers offers nineteen amazing cases in point. From PCMA Convene…
The Watkins Report for US and Canadian convention bureaux is published biennially, and Curt Watkins of Watkins Research has been conducting the study for the past 25 years. Here he shares his perspective on how the features planners are seeking in their host destinations have changed over recent decades. From PCMA Convene…
Las Vegas has topped Carlson Wagonlit Travel’s rankings for North America corporate meetings and events next year, based on CWT’s 2019 Meetings & Events Future Trends report. The top ten has three new entries: Boston, San Antonio and Vancouver in Canada. Cities that have dropped out of it include Philadelphia, Phoenix and Atlanta. From Meetpie.com…
The International Association of People-Environment Studies is to hold its 26th biennial conference in Quebec, Canada. The event will be co-hosted in June 2020 by Laval University and the Quebec City Convention Centre. The previous 25 conferences have taken place in Europe and Asia. Around 500 sector researchers are expected to attend. From Association Meetings International…
Last year Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that the Vancouver Convention Centre will be hosting the next Women Deliver Conference in June 2019. Held every three years, the last event was in Copenhagen in 2016, attracting 6,000 delegates. This time Women Deliver also wanted a host city matching its dedication to gender equality. From PCMA Convene…
A random sampling of B2B exhibition organizers from the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) Census was pulled to generate an attendee sample for this project. A total of 21 exhibition organisers in the United States and Canada agreed to participate, with a minimum of one event per sector, with the exception of Sporting Goods, Travel…
Claire Smith is Vice-President of Sales and Marketing at Vancouver Convention Centre, and also Chair of PCMA. Here she answers three questions: about how working with associations has changed for her over the years, about the kind of meetings her venue targets, and about the future of the association sector itself. From Boardroom…
The Certified Destination Management Executive (CDME) program prepares senior executives, who want to advance their careers to blend theory with experience and application of knowledge to help industry leaders thrive in a constantly changing environment. The program focus is on vision, leadership, productivity and implementing business strategies.
The inaugural edition of Energy Disruptors Unite in Calgary, Canada, joined together oil and gas leaders with the brightest minds of the renewable energy industry. With a diverse speaker lineup that included Sir Richard Branson, initial success indicates the event could become a driving force in solving the world’s big energy issues. From PCMA…
Ottawa has won a clutch of major international association meetings as part of its ongoing campaign to target industry sectors with strong links to the city. This focus has netted more than a dozen big events held over the next two years, including the International Conference of Wireless for Space and Extreme Environments. From Association Meetings International…
Although underperforming against the wider economy, the exhibition industry continued to expand during the first quarter of 2018, according to the Center for Exhibition Industry Research, which has published the first-quarter results of its periodic Index research report. The industry posted a “decent” year-over-year gain of 1.8 percent in the quarter. From Meetings & Conventions…
The Rehabilitation International World Congress (pictured), held in Edinburgh in 2016, fundamentally advanced approaches to accessibility and inclusion. The event’s legacy – and indeed the distinction between legacy and impact – was one of three case studies discussed at an IMEX 2018 session hosted by Iceberg partner GainingEdge. From Boardroom…
The Executive Leadership Forum is a thought-provoking executive learning experience for senior-level leaders in the association community seeking intellectually demanding, creative, open-ended, and higher-order learning. Participants are inspired and challenged by engaging thought leaders from a variety of professions and backgrounds. Designed in an evidence-based and highly interactive format, the forum leverages conversations, mental agility,…
The Palais des congrès de Montréal has assembled a group of leaders from eight of the city’s significant economic sectors into a Multisector Strategic Taskforce. Their mission will be to establish ties with key influencers who will actively help attract major international meetings to Montreal and to the Palais des congrès de Montréal itself. From Boardroom…
Last year Toronto hosted 951 meetings and events that attracted 400,000 delegates and generated $634 million for the local economy. But business events are too often overlooked in the wider accounting of tourism impact across Canada, as are the ambassador programmes that bring in such meetings to Canadian destinations. From BNN Bloomberg…
Plan Your Meeting Live (PYM LIVE) is a cutting-edge, relevant and engaging event developed specifically for the non-traditional meeting professional – the person whose job responsibilities include so much more than planning meetings or events. PYM LIVE is a great way to hone your planning skills and connect with people who can help increase your chances…
TED has just announced The Audacious Project, which will apply a startup funding model to bold, new philanthropic legacy projects every year. According to the press release, it is a “joint endeavor housed at TED, to surface and fund critical ideas that have the potential to impact millions of lives”. From PCMA Convene…
One of North America’s biggest startup conferences, Collision, will be relocating to Toronto in 2019. The move is a sign of the growing tech sector importance of the Ontario capital. The event itself has grown rapidly in recent years, from 1,500 attendees in 2014 to an expected 25,000 this year. From The (Toronto) Global and Mail…
Destination websites and industry trade shows are the key sources for North American planners in meeting and event site selection, according to a new report from analytics firm STR. Three-quarters of the planners also turned to an industry trade publication in 2017, and 19 percent had attended the most recent IMEX industry conference. From Meetings & Conventions…
Iceberg Partner Meeting Professionals International has developed a new special interest group for small business owners in response to the recent North America reductions in third party commissions. President and CEO Paul Van Deventer says around 3,000 third party meeting planners and small business owners are part of the MPI global community. From Meetpie.com…
The decision of Marriott International to reduce group-intermediary commission rates has already made a major impact on the North American independent planners, many of whom have business models built entirely around commission. Now Hilton is doing the same. What will this mean for both the planners and the wider industry? Photo: Daderot. From Meetings & Conventions…
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