MONTHLY COMPILATION

Business Events World issues 1 to 25.

Welcome to issue 100 of Business Events World from The Iceberg! Notwithstanding the pandemic that brought the industry to its knees, and at a time when British Prime Ministers stay in office for just a single issue, The Iceberg and Business Events World are both still hard at work almost six years after launch, chronicling the legacies of business events. Across a hundred issues, this is hopefully now a legacy in itself.

Before getting to this issue’s content, The Iceberg is still making its call for partners and ambassadors through 2023 / 2024. Founder and Producer and James Latham asks you to join us in advancing the sector’s narrative. Kai Hattendorf, Managing Director and CEO of UFI, the global association of the exhibition industry, also discusses on video the value of contributing to our platform at the same link.

Business Events World issues 26 to 50.

In News this issue, four major Iceberg partner events have taken place. The second Convening EMEA, organised by the Professional Convention Managers Association, has been staged in Vienna. Sustainability was a significant theme. IMEX organisers heralded the eleventh edition of IMEX America “the big comeback we’ve all been waiting for”. The show was 45 percent larger than last year due to easing of travel restrictions and also returning exhibitors taking more space. Association meetings are facing tough economic headwinds with a renewed sense of purpose, and also focusing on legacy, sustainability and diversity, equity and inclusion. That was the unmistakable message from the 61st Congress of the International Congress and Convention Association, held in Kraków, Poland. IBTM World has come to a close with organisers claiming 100,000 business meetings took place at the exhibition. 10,000 attendees gathered in Barcelona during three show days. Plus, Strasbourg hopes the €200 million Strasbourg Exhibition Centre will improve the destination’s reputation in hosting global business events. Meeting professionals expect both on site events and budgets to rise in 2023, says American Express Meetings and Events. The Events Industry Council has posted the results of its 2022 Equity Benchmarking Study, which has uncovered broad diversity, equality and inclusion dissatisfaction among event professionals, minority groups and women.

Also in News, there is legacy aplenty. During COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, the Net Zero Carbon Events initiative launched its Roadmap, designed to aid suppliers, venues and businesses in the journey to reaching Net Zero by 2050. Gothenburg is the world’s most sustainable events city for a sixth year running as the Scandinavian destinations once again headed Iceberg partner the Global Destination Sustainability Index. A group of Edinburgh-based event professionals have launched a new tool to measure the societal impact conferences and meetings have in the city. This BEST (Business Events Shaping Tomorrow) tool has been developed to evaluate positive outcomes from the business meetings hosted in the capital. A series of case studies by the Copenhagen Convention Bureau will show what happens when associations prioritise long-term impact in the early planning stages of an event. Using a revised legacy methodology, the Iceberg partner Copenhagen Legacy Lab has studied five events hosted in the city in 2022. Malaysia’s Sarawak has published the first volume of a new academic journal to help the sector “reset and recover” and identify legacy opportunities. Business Event Sarawak joined with several bodies, including Iceberg partner ICCA, to create the International Journal of Business Events and Legacies.

Business Events World issues 51 to 75.

All twelve Opinions articles this issue are fresh. Eight directly tackle our core subject of legacy. In September, VisitBritain launched a legacy and impact toolkit together with Iceberg partner #MEET4IMPACT. Journalist Mike Fletcher looks at the business of legacy planning after the launch of this toolkit. Copenhagen Convention Bureau launched the Copenhagen Legacy Lab in 2019 to bridge international congresses held in Copenhagen with the local public, business and science communities. This Iceberg partner is aiming to create the world’s leading legacy hub. As preparations for COP27 were being made in Egypt last month, Glasgow Convention Bureau was showing how the Scottish city had benefited from hosting the UN’s Conference on Climate Change twelve months earlier. Also in Glasgow, how does environmental impact fit into a traditional Request for Proposal? This was the question asked by Guidelines International Network in finding a place to hold its 2023 international conference. The starting point was to consult another Iceberg partner, the Global Destination Sustainability Index.

Also in Opinions, Jane Cunningham has worked for hotels, a convention centre, a destination marketing organisation and a professional conference organiser. Jane’s employers include two Iceberg partners, BestCities Global Alliance and Destinations International. This issue she offers thinking on legacy and Net Zero Carbon Events. One year since exhibitions returned after the UK’s COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, EN guest editor Phil Soar explores who the true “heroes” of the pandemic have been. Works by First Nations artist Jeffrey Samuels are part of ICC Sydney’s comprehensive art collection, and are also being adapted in other media, including digital signage. Plus, last year Goodfellow Publishers released “Business Event Legacies: Global industry case studies”, by Carmel Foley, Deborah Edwards and Karin Weber. Past work by Foley and Edwards includes the first JMIC Case Study published on The Iceberg, and this book cites all of those studies. We have an extract.

There are four further Opinions about advocacy. The workday of Tommy Goodwin, Vice President of the Exhibitions and Conferences Alliance, is explaining the business events sector to policymakers. But are they finally starting to get it? More than forty percent of US meeting organisers said that state abortion legislation would influence site-selection decisions. But Iceberg partner Destinations International has been on a mission to convince groups that such travel boycotting simply does not work. The “Invisible Industry” was a label put on the meetings and hospitality sectors back in 1996 by broadcaster Charles Osgood. Now this title has become an advocacy roadshow with a 49-foot trailer stocked with interactive media, touring US cities. Finally, the CEO of Iceberg partner UFI, Kai Hattendorf has been gazing into a crystal ball yet again as the year ends. What are the key trends that will see business events through 2023?

Business Events World issues 76 to 100.

In Features this issue there is a bumper festive gift of four great video stories. Two are destination reports, from Guadalajara, which joined Iceberg partner BestCities Global Alliance earlier this year, and from Washington, D.C., where access to both political and corporate power is a major draw for associations and their meetings. Plus, we have extensive video coverage of two Iceberg partner events. First, the 36th City Destinations Alliance Summer School was hosted during August in Turin, Italy. Then, legacy was one of three main content streams at the 61st International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) Congress, held last month in Kraków, Poland.

In Research you will find added the 2023 Global Meetings and Events Forecast from American Express Meetings and Events, mentioned above. There is also the IBTM Trends Report 2023 just released and The Business of Events Global Destination Report 2022, also recently launched at Iceberg partner IBTM World.

For issue 100 Business Events World is retiring its lengthy Parish Notices section which has served the sector through the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Iceberg has big plans for this editorial section of Business Events World… but more on that in issue 101.

Season’s greetings, and until the next time…

Robert Coren, Curator of The Iceberg

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