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…
Association meeting planners are eager to return to in person events according to a recent report. The Business Events Consumer Demand Project from Tourism Australia found that nearly half of their association respondents, or 45 percent, had held meetings over the past ten months, including those with delegates attending on site. From Association Meetings International…
Postponed a few times for obvious reasons after having been staged online in 2020, the GIAF (Geneva International Association Forum) was the first physical association event of the kind post-lockdown. Delegates were certainly happy to be together again seeing old friends and making new ones. But the event programme also did not disappoint. From Boardroom…
The pandemic offers an opportunity for the business events industry to reinvent itself, according to a recently published white paper jointly presented by PCMA, Singapore Exhibition and Convention Bureau, Singapore Tourism Board, and Iceberg partner UFI, global association of the exhibition industry. But the paper, Reimagining Business Events Through COVID-19 and Beyond doesn’t make light of…
The pandemic offers a chance for the global business events sector to reinvent itself. So says a white paper and recovery roadmap just jointly released by PCMA, the Singapore Exhibition and Convention Bureau, Singapore Tourism Board, as well as Iceberg partner UFI. But the paper also details havoc already wreaked upon the industry. From PCMA…
BestCities Global Alliance has just celebrated twenty-one years since its founding. Managing Director Lesley Williams reflects upon the Iceberg partner’s past and future, and upon the role collaboration has played in the journey. She also pays tribute to the BestCities’ member destinations and to more recently formed alliances. From BestCities Global Alliance…
The scale of the challenges facing event planners were again laid bare with the World Economic Forum announcing the cancelling of the Special Annual Meeting that was set for Singapore. Amid a spike in local cases of COVID-19, WEF cited the uncertain travel outlook and also variations in vaccination rollout. From Association Meetings International…
Singapore is tightening up its COVID restrictions. The UK has piloted large free-of-mask events, but uncertainty remains over resuming international meetings. With the global vaccine rollout still not injecting enough certainty into the industry, four Northstar editors from around the world have collaborated on a global outlook. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
In March 2020, the Iceberg partners AIPC and UFI released good practice guidance to help members manage the unfolding crisis, and in April 2020, further guidance on repurposing a convention or exhibition centre to serve as a temporary emergency facility. It is a role that many centres embraced to serve their community in a time…
Global convention sector consulting firm GainingEdge has launched the first annual report on leveraging the intellectual capital of convention destinations, based on an analysis of international association leadership. The research underpinning the Iceberg partner’s report identifies the relative strengths of 350 destinations via the presence of their local intellectual leaders in the governing bodies of international associations…
A new report names London the “intellectual capital” of the world. The study ranks destinations by the number of international association board members living in them. But the UK capital could attract more meetings by better “harnessing” its potential conference ambassadors. The report is from Iceberg partner GainingEdge. From Association Meetings International…
As well as about 3,000 delegates taking part for PCMA Convening Leaders 2021 virtually, 300 more joined in person on site at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. Organisers worked closely with the venue and also the Singapore Tourism Board, making sure the event was safe with protocols in place like rapid antigen testing. From PCMA…
PCMA’s Convening Leaders has been held as a global showcase of business events. Houston in Texas had initially been chosen to host, but the pandemic meant that PCMA connected delegates mainly via the Marina Bay Sands Global Broadcast Center in Singapore. The content was constructed around “Recovery Discovery”. From Conference & Meetings World…
Sven Bossu was named as Iceberg partner AIPC’s first CEO back in May. Prior to that, he was the Managing Director for Innovation at ESTRO (European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology) after eight years at SWIFT’s SIBOS. Here he offers the same message of a retiring Flemish TV anchor… “everything will be fine”. From AIPC…
During the virtual CL21 (Convening Leaders 2021), over fifty delegates contributed to “Hospitality Helping Hands”, PCMA’s pre-conference social responsibility opportunity. Participants created online art, in doing so raising money for water filtration systems in East Uganda. The sponsor was Iceberg partner Maritz Global Events. From PCMA…
Global convention industry consulting firm and Iceberg partner GainingEdge has released its third annual Competitive Index of international convention destinations. The 2020 edition extends the listing to the world’s top 101 cities, those which have hosted 87 or more international conventions over the past three years as reported by the International Congress and Convention Association….
The 2020 Global Forum of Iceberg partner BestCities Global Alliance has been held, mixing physical and digital elements to create a unique hybrid event for over 128 delegates around the world. The meeting saw the launching of BestCities Global Forum Madrid 2021, anticipated since its postponement this year. From Meetings International…
Ten well-known UK exhibition organisers have been describing their thought processes and plans for 2021. Several talked about how their teams had risen to the multiple challenges of keeping the lights on and their businesses ticking over. There was also real consensus of opinion about key learnings and outlook going forward. From Exhibition News…
We are in unchartered territory with a global pandemic disrupting lives and livelihoods. But with improved knowledge about the virus, more efficient testing and now with mass vaccinations, the tide is turning. Kai Hattendorf, Managing Director and CEO of Iceberg partner UFI, offers with his team five trends to drive industry development. From UFI…
When looking for hybrid meeting sites, over a third of respondents to the Convene Recovery Dashboard surveys conducted in late summer and autumn were seeking venues with broadcasting facilities. As a result, convention centres around the world have worked quickly to meet the demand, with facilities designed as spaces to reflect the destination. From PCMA…
2020 has been crushing for the DMO (destination management organisations). Destinations in the US have endured wiped-out funds as a result of zero hotel occupancy, en-masse event cancellations, and double-digit layoffs, not to mention further challenges with social unrest and also, for some, natural disasters. 2020 has brought the DMO to the brink. From PCMA…
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