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With the launch of the Africa Exhibition Forum this December, co-organisers jwc founder Jochen Witt and Exhibit Africa MD Daniel Mesfin are interviewed by Exhibition News about the potential of Africa’s exhibition market to drive economic development across the continent, and how to overcome bottlenecks in available venue capacity.
Association leaders and meetings industry professionals gathered in Athens for the latest edition of ICCA’s Future of Healthcare Meetings, held 20-22 September at the Megaron Athens International Conference Centre, with a clear message: stop calling it sponsorship, use AI strategically and rethink supplier-buyer relationships. From Boardroom…
At RAI Amsterdam square meters are only the starting point. This trade show and convention powerhouse is tapping into what matters to the city, the economic and scientific sectors it serves, and particularly the people of Amsterdam and The Netherlands. CEO Maurits van der Sluis explains his venue’s integrated approach. From Headquarters Magazine…
Senior executives from the global convention centre-community recently gathered in Bilbao for the AIPC Annual Conference, under the theme “Bridging the Gap: Venues Connecting Human Experience and Innovation.” But beyond the technology on display and the venues discussed, one question dominated: what is a congress now expected to achieve, and for whom? From Boardroom…
Dubai is taking a strategic approach to maintaining its position as a leading business events destination amid regional uncertainty and risk. Flexibility, long-term relationships and trust are central to the strategy, with two venues, adaptable planning and unlimited date changes offering organisers greater reassurance and the ability to respond as circumstances evolve. From CMW…
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Launched at 2026 IMEX America alongside innovation partners Business Events Montreal and the IMEX Group, the AI-powered platform and extensive toolkit help event organisations and destinations to prove the wider societal value their events create, build stakeholder support, and make better decisions. ImpactAIQ enables organisations to evaluate social, cultural, economic and environmental outcomes, but even…
Informa was already the world’s largest exhibition organizer. Its nearly $3 billion acquisition of Clarion Events raises a bigger question: What happens when one company controls roughly 1,000 B2B brands and gains even greater leverage with the destinations, venues, suppliers, and exhibitors it does business with? From Skift Meetings…
Zambia makes the connection between its planned healthcare infrastructure investment and opportunities to develop conference facilities, attract international visitors and establish a wider medical and tourism destination — demonstrating how major healthcare projects can also create opportunities for meetings, business events and destination development. From Ministry of Infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development, Government of Zambia…
The Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau has designated six additional locations as MICE Cities, expanding its network for meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions to 16 destinations. The new destinations are Chiang Rai, Ubon Ratchathani, Rayong, Hua Hin–Cha-am, Krabi and Nakhon Si Thammarat, extending the programme across northern, northeastern, eastern and southern Thailand. From M&C/ASIA…
From The New York Times: The UN General Assembly is delivering extraordinary scenes: Iran’s President addressing the world amid war with the US, Ukraine warning of a brutal winter, Venezuela promising political change, and Canada’s leader challenging America’s new global role. Meanwhile, Trump meets China’s Xi Jinping as attitudes toward China—and America—shift.
City Destinations Alliance has concluded the 40th edition of its CityDNA Summer School in Dijon. Taking place in August, the milestone edition welcomed 49 students from 16 countries across Europe. Since 1987, more than 2,200 business events professionals have taken part in the programme, building knowledge, confidence and connections at the start of their careers.
Some of the meetings industry’s most prominent leaders are making a public appeal to their Canadian counterparts: We still want your business. Leaders from major industry associations have signed an open letter assuring Canadian members and partners that, despite political tensions, their commitment to working with Canada remains strong. From Skift Meetings…
Business Events Adelaide has reported a strong winter business events calendar in Adelaide, generating more than $114 million in economic impact for South Australia. Strong delegate attendance, interstate visitation and international participation have bolstered the city’s reputation as a leading choice for business events and corporate incentives in Australia and the Asia Pacific.
The Exhibitions & Conferences Alliance (ECA) has submitted comments to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on behalf of 100 industry organizations urging the agency to preserve longstanding rules that allow new and emerging technologies to be imported, displayed, and demonstrated at U.S. events and tradeshows before receiving final FCC equipment authorization.
From September 8 to 10, Destination Canada will bring a select group of senior international association and corporate leaders to Québec City for Innovate Canada, an invitation-only program built around a simple idea: where an event takes place can shape what that event makes possible. This year’s program focuses on digital industries and applied technology…
Leaders from medical associations are among the business events professionals appointed to PCMA’s newly formed European Advisory Board, reflecting the significant role association congresses play in the region’s meetings industry. The board brings together senior figures from associations, convention bureaux, venues, agencies and global organisations to help shape PCMA’s strategy, growth and impact across Europe.
The forthcoming World Congress on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion will seek answers to the question: How do we turn evidence into action that makes people and communities safer? Lived experience, creativity and community action are central to the host city and organisers’ shared vision and event design.
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The International Social Housing Festival (ISHF) 2025, an initiative of Housing Europe, brought more than 2,500 delegates from over 60 countries to Dublin, creating a global platform for conversations on one of society’s most pressing challenges: how to deliver not just housing, but thriving communities. The festival, hosted by the Irish Council for Social Housing…
This is a story about inclusion in its truest sense: not simply being welcomed into the room, but having the authority to shape what happens within it. It is a story about the World Down Syndrome Congress, and what happens when the people a field exists for become the experts shaping it. By Ksenija Polla…
As climate change, food security and economic development become ever more closely linked to water, scientific expertise is no longer enough. For the International Water Resources Association (IWRA), creating lasting impact means ensuring research informs policy, partnerships and practical action long after the congress has concluded. From Headquarters Magazine…
Vienna doesn’t just want to boast record-setting meetings growth, but is instead aiming for good growth. More than just a philosophy, Vienna’s new “Optimum Tourism” strategy encompasses a variety of concrete action plans. The goal is to transform the visitor economy into an engine for improved quality of life and city-wide sustainability. From Skift Meetings…
The International Coral Reef Symposium, a leading scientific conference on conservation, climate science and ocean sustainability, held its 16th edition at New Zealand International Convention Centre, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. The location gave space for Pacific peoples’ own perspectives, reinforcing the case for combining Indigenous knowledge with scientific research on reefs worldwide. From Boardroom…
642 delegates from 177 cities across 12 countries attended the 5th International Placemaking Week in June in Detroit. Experiential learning was at the centre of the educational programme, with opportunities to view and understand regenerative and resilient placemaking initiatives located across the city, ensuring extensive hands-on and tacit knowledge exchanges as well as formal learning.
The 53rd annual SIGGRAPH conference convened thousands of innovators, researchers, and industry leaders from around the world in Los Angeles in July to explore innovations, trends, and predictions of computer graphics and interactive techniques. As host city, LA also took centre stage, showcasing its creative and technical talent and institutional strengths throughout the conference.
UChicago Medicine demonstrates how universities can utilise their participation at major events to showcase the excellence of their researchers, labs and departments, whilst highlighting how their academic work creates important value and impact for wider society. The 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting provides a clear example of how this can be achieved.
The 2025 BIO International Convention in Boston enabled the Massachusetts-wide biotech sector to showcase its world-leading expertise and institutional excellence, and its role as a founding leader in this sector. Government, private sector and not-for-profit collaboration and strategic partnerships were a key factor in deciding on the location for this event. From Massachusetts Biotechnology Council…
A highlight of PTCOG 64 was the tour of CYCLHAD and the Caen Cancer Center, providing attendees with an opportunity to visit one of Europe’s most innovative particle therapy and research facilities and observe cutting-edge technologies, demonstrating that often the most important elements of international conferences take place outside the main venue. From Kenes Group…
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This report provides an overview of exhibition venue capacity worldwide, covering 1,565 venues with a total of 45.2 million sqm of gross indoor exhibition space. Beyond global and regional data, the report provides detailed profiles of 22 key markets, each offering more than 300,000m² of exhibition space, delivering a benchmark for industry planning and development.
Drawing on a survey of more than 1,000 US travelers, self-reported diaries from people booking real trips, and interviews with executives across hotels, distribution, destinations, and business travel, this report sets out where decisions are actually being made now—and what it takes to stay credible, visible, and bookable across a journey no single player controls.
Plenty of food for thought can be found in this report, which summarises the conclusions of the Futures Workshop facilitated by Conference Futurist Graham Norris at The Meetings Show London 2026. It explores the forces shaping the future of events and considers how technology, human connection and changing expectations may influence the industry.
For a decade, leading on destination sustainability meant having a strategy. In 2026, it means proving what the strategy achieved. This report sets out what changed across the GDS-Index this year: where destinations are moving fastest, where progress has stalled, and why leadership in destination sustainability no longer sits where it used to.
European city tourism kept climbing in 2025, but the headline figure only tells part of the story. The Central message of CityDNA’s report: Europe’s city destinations are moving from a volume race to a value-and-resilience race. Success is increasingly measured by what visitor economies deliver for residents, businesses, the environment, and the cities themselves.
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The Iceberg Curator Martin Sirk is interviewed by Jan Orsic and Gorazd Cad on a range of industry issues, from AI as enabler vs barrier, to why we persist in organising and attending sub-par meetings that fail to extract and utilise even a fraction of the intellectual capital they’ve spent so much effort gathering together.
What happens when an association’s impact continues long after we have stopped watching? Ksenija Polla explores how Women Deliver conferences have helped spark political commitments, mobilise communities and advance the rights and health of women and girls, and considers why the true impact of a meeting often unfolds months or years later.
In this episode of The Meeting Room podcast, host James Lancaster talks with Tamar Beck, CEO of events marketing agency Gleanin, about one of the most pressing privacy and risk-related issues facing our sector, exploring what can be done to ensure attendees feel safe and secure in the age of covert surveillance.
Fáilte Ireland’s Ciara Gallagher explains why focusing on ambassadors, legacy, sustainability and societal impact makes good business sense from a tourism-metrics perspective as well as in terms of inward investment, positive healthcare outcomes, scientific progress and identifying concrete solutions to important societal challenges. From Conference & Meetings World…
Executive Director Dorian Kronenwerth outlines JMIC’s priorities for the years ahead, and argues that the future of business events depends on speaking with one voice. He sets out how JMIC plans to turn stronger advocacy, sustainability and collaboration into practical tools that help the global events industry demonstrate its value. From Headquarters Magazine…
Can an event change the way people think, feel and behave – and, crucially, can we measure it? One UK festival is putting this question to the test, asking attendees whether exposure to different ideas and perspectives has shifted their outlook and behaviour. Paul Harvey, M&IT, asks whether we should all be following their example…
AMI’s James Lancaster poses an existential question for anyone involved in business events advocacy: what if the reality for most business event organisers doesn’t align with the messaging of the industry that supports them? If we place too much emphasis on the society-wide and host destination-specific benefits, are we failing to deliver sufficiently authentic messaging?
BESarawak’s CEO Jason Tan Chin Foo elaborates on the close collaboration required between government, industry, academia and local communities to ensure business events create meaningful and lasting benefits, creating opportunities to improve lives, strengthen communities and influence future services. From M&C Asia…