Global convention industry consulting firm GainingEdge has released its fourth annual Competitive Index of international convention destinations. The 2021 edition ranks the world’s top cities in terms of key draw factors for meeting planners. Competitive Index 2021 (GainingEdge website) 2021 Destination Competitive Index Offers Advanced Tools for Business Recovery (GainingEdge press release)
Iceberg partner AIME (the Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Event), the largest meetings and conventions tradeshow across the region, has run its much-anticipated 2022 show in Melbourne. As part of the show opening, AIME launched new research revealing how the industry, battered by the pandemic, intends to spearhead recovery. From Association Meetings International…
Daegu Metropolitan City and the Daegu Convention and Visitors Bureau have released a report on the legacies of five business events, starting with the International Solar Cities Congress 2004, which placed the South Korean city on the world renewable energy map. Research was reviewed by Gary Grimmer, Executive Chair of Iceberg partner GainingEdge. From Boardroom…
A journal documenting the wider societal benefits of international association meetings and of other business events has been launched in Malaysia. Curtin University and Business Events Sarawak are the main “International Journal of Business Events and Legacies” partners. The publication will share case studies from 44 organisations. From Association Meetings International…
Iceberg partner UFI, the global association of the exhibition sector, has released the latest edition of its flagship Global Barometer. Figures highlight the quickening pace of the industry’s recovery in 2022 after the continuing impact of the pandemic throughout 2021. The results vary between locations, primarily driven by reopening dates for exhibitions.. From Exhibition World…
Three industry associations have published a white paper calling on governments to harness the power of business events to stimulate their economies. “Business Events are the Fast Track to Recovery” documents support for the return of the sector and is the work of AIPC, ICCA and UFI, all Iceberg partners. From Association Meetings International…
After two extremely hard years for associations, the first edition of the Brussels International Association Forum, from ASSOCIATIONWORLD, has been held, making a community out of its attendees. The changing sector models, good governance, diversity and inclusion, as well as skills of pandemic leadership, all made for lively panel discussions. From Boardroom…
International Women’s Day, which has now been marked for over a century, offers the opportunity to remember the key conferences and other events that have helped move the needle on women’s rights. The 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women (pictured) in Beijing, China, featured participation by future Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. From PCMA…
Australia’s recent reopening to the world, and the lifting of domestic border closures and restrictions, makes this an important moment in the county’s business events sector. Andrew Hiebl, the CEO of AACB (the Association of Australian Convention Bureaux), discusses the upcoming pipeline plus Tourism Australia’s Business Events Bid Fund. From Association Meetings International…
Community libraries in Sarawak, Malaysia, are leaving incredible legacies. One of them, Batang Ai’s Nanga Ukom Longhouse Library, is even a business events CSR project organised by BESarawak together with Iceberg partner ICCA on the occasion of Kuching, Sarawak, staging the Asia Pacific Regional Hub of the 59th ICCA Congress. From Options…
Malaysia’s MyCEB, with help from the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture and the Economic Planning unit, will soon introduce a 3R (Reset, Restart and Responsible) recovery programme for business events. MyCEB will reduce travel costs to Malaysia for international delegates, and provide full COVID-19 insurance and PCR test costs. From TTGmice…
Three German cities are among the top ten destinations chosen for large international meetings, according to new figures in Northstar Meetings Group’s Convention Cities Index. Frankfurt tops the list, with Cologne fifth and Hanover eighth. The update is the third publication of the index, which was launched in 2020. From Association Meetings International…
The crucial role played by meetings in developing economies has been underscored with Business Events Sarawak’s revelation it had secured RM3 billion ($718 million) in business from conferences. Now marking its fifteenth anniversary, the convention bureau also intends deeper societal impact, with half of bid wins to be legacy-driven. From Association Meetings International…
The spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is causing havoc for meeting planners, with major events being cancelled or postponed right across Europe. The World Economic Forum has postponed its high profile meeting in Davos, Switzerland. The in person event, scheduled for mid January, has been pushed back to the Summer. From Association Meetings International…
Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre, whose ceremonial launch has now taken place, already has fifty “multi-day conferences” on the books with further events also in the pipeline, from exhibitions to smaller meetings and seminars. The venue replaces the original Christchurch Convention Centre badly damaged during the 2011 earthquake. From Association Meetings International…
“MICE” is a term long-associated with the meetings sector. But now the small and wily mouse-deer of Malaysian folklore has become a metaphor for how Business Events Sarawak has crossed the river after the pandemic and resumed business events activities through its Legacy Impact Initiative. Photo: Dave Curtis. By Jane Vong Holmes, Senior Manager Asia, GainingEdge….
PCMA Editor-in-Chief Michelle Russell drew our attention to this discussion of how the model of scientific conference should be changing in the wake of the pandemic. It contains a fantastic example of serendipitous legacy, a chance meeting at a conference in Puerto Rico leading to some Nobel prize-winning CRISPR gene editing. From Chemistry World…
The Iceberg ambassador Jane Cunningham (pictured centre with Lesley Williams and Nigel Brown promoting “Incredible Impacts” as “The Incredibles”) is leaving Iceberg partner BestCities Global Alliance after twelve years. The Iceberg will pay its own tribute elsewhere, but Jane has also given this interview to her own BestCities colleagues. From BestCities Global Alliance…
Business Events Sarawak, the local region’s convention bureau, has just launched a scheme to help congress organisers to leave positive legacies through their meetings. The initiative identifies five key areas where legacy occurs, namely sectoral, economic, environmental, plus community and social, and political. BESarawak’s initiative was launched at TRIBE. From Association Meetings International…
Associations and the meetings sector have gathered across hub cities and via a virtual platform for the 60th ICCA Congress. Around 1,200 delegates from 83 countries attended the Iceberg partner event to enjoy 100 hours of live content. Hopes for one unified Congress in Colombia, were dashed by travel restrictions. From Conference & Meetings World…
The Joint Meetings Industry Council pledge over Net Zero Carbon Events is not the end of the events industry, as some alarmists have decried, but rather a new beginning. But the key will be measurement. Here is how assorted Iceberg partners worked together to make progress on the issue, including Positive Impact. From Exhibition News…
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