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Making the Business Case for Holding Sustainable Events

Holding sustainable events can be hard work, and involve a variety of quite different challenges. The Vice President of Marketing for Oracle, Paul Salinger, discussed how to navigate the business aspects of sustainability during the Sustainable Brands 2018 conference recently held in Vancouver. Here are the four takeaways of his session. From PCMA Convene…

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Desert Island Discs and the Conference Castaway

Dr Sue Black is a British computer scientist, academic and social entrepreneur. She also helped save the World War II codebreaking site Bletchley Park from falling into ruin. Recently Black was interviewed on a famous BBC radio programme, and told an interesting story of gender and the power of conferences. From editor’s blog at Meetpie.com…

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Indianapolis: An Eventful MPI World Education Congress 2018

Meetings Professionals International’s World Education Congress has just concluded in Indianapolis, having welcomed around 2,200 attendees. Since WEC 2017 MPI had totally reimagined the event, and the 2018 running was certainly eventful, even to the extent of a Sudanese-Australian speaker being unable to attend because of a US visa waiver refusal. From Meetings & Conventions…

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Sustainable Meetings: Six Areas to Shine a Light Upon

With an ever-increasing focus on the environment and growing demand for sustainable practice, green event and conference planning is now an established trend within the global meetings industry. Here are six areas to consider for a greener approach: the venue, carbon offsetting, the accommodation, the catering, technology and lighting, and the materials used. From the Event…

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Incentive Travel Industry Index: Survey Opens for Submissions

The Society for Incentive Travel Excellence, Incentive Research Foundation and Financial & Insurance Conference Professionals have now opened up submissions for their new joint survey of the incentive travel sector. The resulting crowdsourced evidence-based study will provide insights into the current and future direction of incentives. From SoolNua’s Pádraic Gilligan at Padraicino…

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Events: How Impact Can Shape the Hosting Community

Events have the potential to make a lasting impact on organisations that plan and own them, participants attending them, and communities hosting them. A focus on legacy at every stage is therefore essential. Karen Kotowski, CEO of the Events Industry Council, offer five criteria for creating the right community impact. From PCMA…

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IMEX 2018: Three GainingEdge Legacy Case Studies

The Rehabilitation International World Congress (pictured), held in Edinburgh in 2016, fundamentally advanced approaches to accessibility and inclusion. The event’s legacy – and indeed the distinction between legacy and impact – was one of three case studies discussed at an IMEX 2018 session hosted by Iceberg partner GainingEdge. From Boardroom…

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ICCA CEO Martin Sirk: The Real Legacy of Global Events

When most people think about international meetings they think about bed-nights and tourism expenditure. But hidden below the iceberg surface are the impacts that really count: knowledge creation and transfer, new solutions to societal issues, and opportunities for inward investment, partnerships and business deals. From ICCA CEO Martin Sirk via TTG Mice…

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GED 2018: UFI MD and CEO Kai Hattendorf

On Global Exhibitions Day the international sector joined in force to advocate for its future and also catch the attention of young professionals considering the industry. Every year tens of thousands of exhibitions are held worldwide, serving 4.4 million exhibiting companies and attracting 260 million visitors. From UFI Managing Director Kai Hattendorf via LinkedIn…

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Size Doesn’t Matter: Why Small is Beautiful

According to ICCA, almost two-thirds of international association meetings attract 250 or fewer delegates. Only seven percent welcomed more than 1,000 people, and just a tiny fraction (1.3 percent) attracted 3,000 or more. Small events can indeed be beautiful, but we hear little about them. From editor’s blog at Association Meetings International…

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Copenhagen: Evaluating Academic Conferences

During IMEX, Copenhagen described the image problem academia is facing: endless conference invitations alongside carbon footprint concerns and straining public budgets. Industrial PhD student Thomas Trøst Hansen has been researching how delegate academics work and receive recognition through the value chain used as a basis for evaluating academic events. From Boardroom…

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Lyn Lewis-Smith: Sydney’s Vivid Legacies of Incentive Travel

Sydney has just hosted over 6,500 members of Jeunesse Global, the largest corporate incentive group ever to visit during the city’s Vivid festival. The huge meeting should contribute almost AU$40 million to the NSW economy. The Chief Executive of Business Events Sydney reflects on the value and legacies of such incentives. From Lyn Lewis-Smith via LinkedIn…

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MyCEB Spurs Association Legacy Planning Through Case Studies

The Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau has rolled out several programmes and initiatives to spur legacy planning among local associations hosting international conferences this year and beyond. It is doing so by disseminating case studies of past meetings legacies, including those of the 55th International Congress and Convention Association Congress in 2016 (pictured). From Boardroom…

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Community Advocate of the Year Jeff Chase: Greener Waste

Jeff Chase is Vice President of Sustainability at Freeman and the PCMA Education Foundation’s 2018 Community Advocate of the Year. He’s a fierce champion of lowering the amount of waste major events send to landfill and getting the sector committed to recycling. Green-minded clients now make up $400 million of Freeman’s business. From PCMA…

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The JMIC Summit: Giving Business Events a Global Voice

The Iceberg revels in the complex cross-networking of its industry association partners. Recently the Chief Marketing Officer of the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence attended his first Joint Meetings Industry Council summit in Hannover, Germany. Here he is with the confessions and impressions of a JMIC virgin. From SoolNua’s Pádraic Gilligan at Padraicino…

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Cape Town Water Legacies: “Never Waste a Good Crisis”

Despite being a coastal city, Cape Town is fighting the worst drought in its history and has come close to actually running out of water. But even before the problem turned critical, water-related conferences were identifying opportunities for creating legacies in the destination. “Never waste a good crisis” has become the apt motto. From Boardroom…

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