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Former Events Director at International Gas Union Rodney Cox has strong views on the all-too-frequent under-utilisation of exhibitors at international association events, to the detriment of the event owner, the delegates, and the host destination. Far too many organisers build exhibitions as a matter of habit rather than intent. “I like the word intent,” states…
Lakshman Rathnam, Founder and CEO of Wordly, the AI-driven, 60+ language meeting interpretation company, had a revelation early in the company’s seven-year journey: “Clients were saying to us, ‘What are you doing to hear us?’ — not asking for passive access to (usually English-language-using) presenters.” Essentially, they were asking for multilingual tools to offer engagement,…
By Padraic Gilligan, Co-founder, SoolNua Consulting: In the last six years alone we’ve had Covid, Ukraine, Israel, tariffs, Venezuela, Greenland and now Iran. Layer onto that the existential debates around climate and AI and you begin to understand why the question keeps surfacing: should we be worried for our industry? The short answer is yes…
AMI’s James Lancaster analyses the geopolitical balancing act that helped UAE, particularly Dubai, become one of the most successful association meetings destinations, arguing that it’s premature to write the city off. With a long-term government vision centring business events, Dubai has the assets and the will to bounce back swiftly, provided the conflict is short-lived.
Naomi Smith explores what events are revealing about association leadership this year in places where strategy becomes visible: association events. Naomi is joined by Ariane Brusselmans, Senior Nonprofit Executive and Director of Conferences at the International AIDS Society, and Professor Peter Van Daele, Secretary General of the International Union of Radio Science.
Dr Senthil Gopinath, CEO, ICCA, articulates the case for why and how we can change external perceptions of the business events sector amongst audiences beyond our own “bubble”. He argues the industry must speak with a stronger, unified narrative that highlights business events as drivers of knowledge exchange, innovation, economic growth and long-term societal impact.
Experienced sustainability practitioner and impact consultant Jessica Vandy takes issue with the inappropriate and reputation-damaging misuse of sustainability terminology such as “regenerative”, a slowly growing trend that she argues is infiltrating event websites, venue brochures and destination marketing. Credibility and trust are essential attributes, and sloppy use of language is putting these at risk.
Roy Ying says Hong Kong and cities across Greater Bay will reap benefits after visits by UK and Canadian leaders to Beijing. High-level diplomacy resulted in extending visa-free travel, leading to opportunities for MICE organisers, and marking the latest milestone in a sweeping national strategy to open China’s doors wider to the world. From MIX…
The event industry does not lack expertise; it lacks a system that turns thousands of successfully delivered events, research, and thought leadership into accumulated professional knowledge that helps us continually improve how events are planned, delivered, and evaluated. Prof Mike Duignan sets out a pragmatic framework to solve this fundamental challenge.
Skift Meetings’ Executive Editor Andrea Doyle argues that as global associations expand into fast-growing destinations, inclusion and human rights are becoming as critical as infrastructure and airlift. ICCA’s choice of Kigali for its 2027 Congress spotlights Rwanda’s rising meetings profile but raises concerns about LGBTQ safety and stigma, prompting calls for proactive inclusion planning.
Kai Hattendorf sets out the data that prove we are experiencing an accelerating degradation of digital business environments, and argues that this dramatically revalues the utility of the exhibition hall, conference hall and networking spaces: Across the business events industry, we have long argued that trust is built through physical presence…
Soolnua co-founder Padraic Gilligan demonstrates how to effectively counter negative press stories by unapologetically hammering home economic multiplier facts and figures, and illuminating the bigger picture behind the cost and style of doing business in the business events or tourism sectors. From Padraicino…
GatheringPoint’s David Adler takes global experiential agency Jack Morton’s latest annual report as a starting point to explore how factors such as trust, credibility and alignment enable events to become purposeful platforms for the exercise of soft power.
IAPCO President Sissi Lignou calls for International healthcare conferences to be designed with the experiences of the end-beneficiaries of the conference theme as the central messaging. The PCO plays a critical role in bringing together all voices – destination representatives, event owners, delegates, speakers – to promote these key messages about impact and value created.
From AI abuse scandals to collapsing trust, X is no longer just “controversial” – it may be fundamentally broken. And that matters for meetings, events and destination marketers. With the use of the Grok AI tool to manipulate images by removing clothing, the demise of X as a credible social media platform feels complete.
Kai Hattendorf draws together strands from multiple sources in an attempt to isolate the seven most important issues facing our sector in the coming year. In an era of accelerating change and unpredictable complexity, this is a call for observation of what’s happening, serious debate and contemplation of multiple perspectives, and for flexible, mission-focused leadership.
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