Organisers hosting their meetings in Vienna through 2021 and 2022 will be covered by Austria’s government if there are COVID cancellations or restrictions. The protective umbrella has been welcomed by the Vienna Convention Bureau. Other markets either have similar schemes or else are campaigning for them. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
The pandemic has questioned the role of the meetings industry and the function destinations now play. Five European convention bureaux, part of an informal alliance, share perspectives on how emerging as intellectual capitals may be key to staying relevant beyond the crisis: Glasgow, Copenhagen, Vienna, Brussels and Barcelona. From Boardroom…
The Vienna Tourist Board has been celebrating the success of its recent Vienna Tourism Conference, which welcomed more than 200 in-person guests and over 1,000 virtually. This was the first on location meeting the organisation had held since the start of the pandemic, with strict health and safety protocols in place. From Association Meetings International…
For 55 years the Austrian Society for Labour Law and Social Law has held its annual conference in Salzburg. This year proved no different. The conference was postponed from April until October to make sure it could be live under the belief that unrecorded public speaking is freer and “off-the-cuff”. From Association Meetings International…
After “overwhelming” interest, the Austria Center Vienna has published key findings of its COVID-19 testing pilot at a September 16th and 17th event. Each test took approximately 30 seconds with results delivered in six to ten minutes. Out of the 2,000 rapid tests taken, five were positive. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
The hybrid multi-site event BOCOM saw players from across Germany’s meetings industry demonstrating readiness for future event formats. Several hundred participants met on-site at the central conference venue in Berlin and at the hubs in Amsterdam, Essen and Vienna, as well as virtually from all continents. From GCB…
To have international association meetings looking anything like they did before COVID-19, either of two things must happen: enough host countries push their daily case rate down to nearly zero so overseas delegations become possible, or else science comes to the rescue with a vaccine or treatment(s). From editor’s blog at Association Meetings International…
Europe’s largest medical meeting in radiology and radiotechnology, the European Congress of Radiology, was held exclusively online for the first time this year. A record 15,265 delegates from over 130 countries took part, an increase of five percent in delegate numbers from the 2019 edition. From Association Meetings International…
Vienna Convention Bureau was instrumental in hosting Europe’s largest congress for radiology and radiotechnology exclusively online for the very first time in its history. Organisers say 15,000 international attendees from 30 countries took part in the European Congress of Radiology “Virtual Exhibition”. From Exhibition World…
Mark Taylor, Chief Executive of the QEII Centre in London, believes the meetings industry’s recovery from the impact and threat of COVID-19 could see it become even stronger. The venue has had an interesting journey, with one delegate in early February diagnosed with the virus just after attending. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
Medical and scientific meetings came to a sudden halt when the COVID-19 pandemic took hold of the world. Kenes Group kept cancellations to a minimum, postponing most events, but there was one event in particular that took a leap of faith to turn into virtual with less than three weeks’ lead time: the 2nd AAT-AD/PD™ Focus Meeting…
Governments have differing ideas about how meetings should return safely during the pandemic. Industry bodies advocate different plans. But what of the science? Dr. Brian Labus, epidemiologist and health sciences expert at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, prepares organisers for the months ahead. From Event MB…
In Iceberg partner ICCA’s annual rankings for international meetings, Paris has taken the top spot for the second year in a row, pulling even further ahead of other European destinations. The city’s dominance validates the work of both the local sector and the Conference Unit of the Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau. From Meetings International…
In 2017 Iceberg partner European Cities Marketing, in partnership with Toposophy, published eight bold statements in The Future of DMOs: The ECM Manifest that set out a vision for what DMOs (destination marketing organisations) could and should become. The final of these statements warned of ‘‘The New Normal’’, a world in which ‘‘crises of every kind have…
The 2020 2nd AAT-AD/PD™ Focus Meeting has been held as a wholly virtual event. The Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease conference was attended by 1,143 sector delegates from 56 countries across four days. 250 speakers pre-recorded lectures, and fourteen forums and “Meet the Professor” sessions were streamed live. From Meetings International…
MODUL University Vienna will host two major events regarding tourism on September 10-11, 2020: 16th TourMIS Users’ Workshop and International Seminar. Both events are directed toward managers, academics, as well as consultants and representatives of governments and international organizations dealing with tourism. Participants are invited to register for both days or can choose to participate in…
What next? The question is haunting meeting and event planners as the COVID-19 shows its contempt for national borders. There’s now grim fascination in seeing organisations responding quite differently to the unfolding crisis, and what this then says about our attitude to “known unknowns”. From editor’s blog at Association Meetings International…
* * * EVENT POSTPONED * * * Please note that after careful consideration, the ECM Board came to the decision of postponing the Spring Meeting in Graz, most likely to later this year, possibly in Autumn. We have never experienced a similar situation but due to the rapid spread of the Covid-19, our responsibility…
Ulrike von Arnold, Deputy Director of the Vienna Convention Bureau, has received one of the meeting industry’s highest honours, ICCA’s Moises Shuster Award. The award announcement was made at the 58th ICCA Congress in Houston. Past winners include Paul Flackett, Martin Lewis, Ray Bloom, Connie Cheng and Christian Mutschlechner. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
CWT M&E has unveiled its ranking of the top ten cities for meetings and events in Europe, the Middle East and Africa in 2020, with London holding onto the coveted number one spot. The ranking is based on data in the CWT 2020 Future Trends in Meetings & Events report just out. From Meetings International…
A study by the Austrian Institute of Economic Research has analysed the economic impact of Congress Messe Innsbruck on both the region and its people. The venue generates around €360 million in gross value added. It secures around 5,800 jobs, delivers tax revenue of €120 million, and contributions to social welfare of €62 million. From Meetings International…
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