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Medical conferences that invite patients onto their stages and into their planning committees are finding out that patients are a virtue. Over the last decade there has been a slow-moving revolution in leveraging the legacies that can accrue to both healthcare professionals and to patients when the latter play a meaningful role. From PCMA Convene…
Jeffers Miruka is President of the African Society of Association Executives, headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa. He has over ten years of experience across association management and the meetings industry, and shares his views on how Africa is fast developing, both as an association and a meetings destination. From Boardroom…
The events and meetings industry is hardly short of its own professional associations. A good many of them are even Iceberg partners! You join for the networking, education and advocacy, then get much more. But which are right for each of the different tribes within our overall sector? From SoolNua’s Pádraic Gilligan at Padraicino…
For the sixth year in a row, visit.brussels has just staged the European Association Summit 2018 at the newly-rebranded SQUARE Brussels Convention Centre. This year’s EAS was the biggest to date, with over 200 participants, twenty themed workshops and three plenary sessions. For the first time industry associations ICCA and PCMA also participated. From Boardroom…
When the Chicago-based Society of Architectural Historians ran its 70th Annual International Conference, it left the US for the first time in forty years and visited Glasgow. The Glasgow Convention Bureau, VisitScotland, and the Universities of Strathclyde and Glasgow all helped showcase the local built environment and start a wider conversation about the future of cities. From Skift…
Two years ago the Chinese administration began the process of decoupling associations or scientific societies from government sponsorship and control. An astonishing 700,000 associations will now need to establish sustainable business models in order to survive. Oscar Cerezales, Chief Operating Officer of MCI Asia-Pacific, reflects on the differences between this Chinese association market and the…
The business events industry is changing faster than perhaps ever before. Each year we see new and exciting developments brought about by rapid evolution of technology, growing understanding of how business events can create value, and changing priorities and expectations of host organisations and their delegates. So what’s next? From Lyn Lewis-Smith via LinkedIn…
The imminent sledgehammer of the EU’s General Data Protection Requirement (GDPR) has been in the air for some time now. But does the extent to which companies have been ignoring their soon-to-be regulatory responsibilities mean that we should in fact be calling it GDDPR: the General Denial of Data Protection Requirement? From Meetings & Conventions…
The word “legacy” is much used, especially in the context of what associations leave behind after their events in any destination. Beyond the idea of a “gift” or “bequest”, an act of love, charity and care, a recent article defines legacy in terms of community engagement, meeting content, and the transfer of skills. From Boardroom…
Associations are increasingly reexamining traditional approaches to creating meeting and event programmes. Delegate numbers are broadly rising, but audiences continue to demand more engagement and specialist content. Organisations need to balance effective continual professional development with giving delegates content curated around their specialities: creating a legacy of knowledge across often global memberships. From Boardroom…
Convening Leaders 2018 in Nashville was a valedictory event for Deborah Sexton, who is stepping down as CEO of the Professional Convention Management Association after thirteen years. So here are Deborah’s revealing answers to thirteen questions, including her country music ambitions, ad libbing after Matthew McConaughey, and surviving a plane hijacking. From PCMA Convene…
The first-ever Dubai Association Conference, held last month at the Dubai World Trade Centre, reinforced the role associations are playing in the emirate’s economic development and transition to a knowledge economy. The event brought together association executives, government representatives and university faculties, as well as professionals from around the world interested in forming associations. From Boardroom…
Made up of twelve convention bureaux partnering to help associations achieve success through their events, the BestCities Global Alliance has just run its second BestCities Global Forum in Tokyo. The conference’s four day programme included much talk of the beyond tourism benefits of meetings, including the “Incredible Impacts” grants BestCities has just co-presented. From Boardroom…
Artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, 3D printing, wearables, telemedicine: the convergence of healthcare and technology is reaching an inflection point at a time when other pressures are putting the squeeze on medical meetings. How can they stay relevant if the entire structure of healthcare is about to fundamentally change? From PCMA Convene…
Recent years have seen the growth of regulation from European governments, and also from the sector itself in terms of interactions between the pharmaceutical / medical-device industries and healthcare professionals. So where to now for medical associations, their meetings and their revenue streams? By Caroline Mackenzie, Global Association Partners, on behalf of IAPCO, via Boardroom…
The Event, a partner of The Iceberg, has just produced a five part series of video interviews called “Business Events Insights and Predictions”. These examine Africa’s current meetings industry and its future opportunities from a number of differing industry perspectives. The series includes Gary Grimmer, CEO of The Iceberg partner GainingEdge, on business events as…
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