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The place of corporate social responsibility, the importance of incorporating legacy, plus the recent hosting of Sibos, are all among the subjects discussed by ICC Sydney CEO and AEG Ogden Director Convention Centres Geoff Donaghy, as his venue prepares for its busiest year ever after a successful run of events in 2018. From Boardroom…
Five Convene editors have been examining meeting trends for 2019. Big data now needs data ethics. We will pay more attention to attention itself and our use of technology in groups. New kinds of benchmarks are emerging to measure diversity and inclusivity. Sleep is now very much part of any focus on wellbeing. From PCMA Convene…
As 2018 leaves its footprints on the sands of time, here’s to the past extraordinary year. The last twelve months brought great change to the meetings industry, from the #MeToo movement, to the war on plastic, and to fears about climate change. That’s before even the dreaded “B” word. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
After conducting research for the recent “Gender Diversity & Inclusion in Events” report, reviewing over 60,000 speakers at business events in 23 countries between 2013 and 2018, event software company Bizzabo found that on average more than two thirds (69 percent) of speakers were male, with less than one third female. From PCMA…
The President of the Association for Women in Events has spoken about the importance of diversity and inclusion in the industry. Kiki J Fox (pictured top right) discussed career advancement resources, what women have to offer the industry, the #MeToo movement, AWE’s goals, and the recurring subject of gender diverse panels. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
The team at UFI, the exhibition industry’s global association and an Iceberg partner, used UFI’s Global Congress, and other conversations around the world, to isolate and identify core themes that will be impacting the global sector. Kai Hattendorf, UFI’s CEO and MD, lays out five industry trends to watch out for in 2019. From UFI…
Accessibility is a concept buzzing around the business events industry, but what do planners need to know to ensure awareness at congresses? According to new research from Iceberg partners BestCities Global Alliance and GainingEdge, working with Rehabilitation International, universal accessibility is now key to business growth, knowledge sharing and increased competitiveness for destinations. From PCMA…
Along with bookings panels and not manels, gender inclusivity should also extend to working mothers attending business meetings and conferences. At In Good Company, an event for women entrepreneurs at Fort Mason in San Francisco, the sessions were emphatically BYOB: not “bring your own bottle” but “bring your own baby”. From Forbes…
The Duke of York may have had ten thousand men, but recently when the University of York announced an all-male panel of seven for a history (sic) conference, a well-known female alumna tweeted academic displeasure. The conference sponsor immediately took the message on board and postponed the event, winning himself a GenderAvengers award. From PCMA Convene…
Only seven percent of global CEOs are women. That stark fact opened a discussion about meetings industry gender equality at Cvent CONNECT Europe in London. Sitting on the panel were the CEO of Iceberg partner IMEX, Carina Bauer, and Fast Forward 15’s Fay Sharpe. Views on gender quotas proved extremely interesting. From editor’s blog at Meetpie.com…
Few issues have dominated public debate over the past few years as much as those related to diversity and inclusion. Charged discourse is impacting every part of our culture, including the meetings industry. Last month five thought leaders gathered on a conference call to discuss the topic. From Successful Meetings…
INBOUND is one of the world’s most popular business events. Each year it attracts well over 20,000 attendees from more than a hundred countries to Boston. The audience is about 65 percent female, but unlike many other meetings the event’s speaker lineup is also diverse. So how did INBOUND make it happen? From Forbes…
Opinions has already published Convene’s annual Best in Show list, celebrating industry excellence. But Convene also invited notables from across the sector to reflect on how the business of events is getting better. Nineteen contributed, among them Gregg Talley of the Talley Management Group and SoolNua and SITE’s Pádraic Gilligan. From PCMA Convene…
The events industry has a significant female workforce, yet only 27 percent of women at CEO or MD level. So there’s some catching up to do. For International Women’s Day, Director of Venues at RIBA Moya Maxwell discusses where we are, where we’re going and what needs to change. From editor’s blog at Meepie.com…
In her Oscar acceptance speech, actress Frances McDormand finished with two words: “inclusion rider”. The notion that an actor can contractually insist a film’s cast and crew meet a certain level of diversity was first floated at a conference. If inclusion riders become standard in Hollywood, might they also for event speakers? From PCMA Convene…
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…
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