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#MEET4IMPACT: Legacy, Impact and Tourism New Zealand

Geneviève Leclerc is Chief Executive Officer of #MEET4IMPACT, and the best person to ask the difference between “legacy” and “impact”. This Iceberg partner is now working with Tourism New Zealand on the project “Enrich New Zealand – Conference Impact”. This will measure outcomes of three meetings held over two years. From PCMA…

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Beyond Tourism Event Legacies: BestCities’s Karen Bolinger

Many DMOs (Destination Marketing Organisations) have started to realise the true value of meetings and are tracking the social outcomes they deliver. Some governments include business events as part of policy. Karen Bolinger, Strategic Advisor at Iceberg partner BestCities Global Alliance, talks “beyond tourism” legacies. From City / Nation / Place…

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Coronavirus: Crisis’ Toll on Exhibitions Tackled by #Expochat

A recent Twitter #Expochat devoted an entire session to the coronavirus outbreak and its impact on US and global exhibitions. Industry leaders including Kai Hattendorf, MD and CEO of Iceberg partner UFI, talked through the shows being cancelled or seeing major absences from their Chinese delegations. Far more are going ahead than not. From UFI…

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Association Legacies: Keeping Leadership Ego Out of Impact Creation

Often legacies we leave behind are not as much under our control as we might like. Stylianos Filopoulos, Board Member of the European Society of Association Executives, argues that association leaders are not the sole drivers of association legacy, but caretakers who protect the vision that inspires and unites members and stakeholders. From Boardroom…

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Measuring the Value of Incentive Travel: Don’t Forget Soft Power

Profit and productivity rank high when buyers of incentive travel experiences list the objectives of their programmes. Except that isn’t the whole story. There’s a powerful narrative emerging around other objectives incentive travel sets out to achieve which has little to do with tangible metrics. From SoolNua’s Pádraic Gilligan at Padraicino…

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Olympia London: Food Waste Reduction with WRAP Campaign

Despite not sending food waste to landfill sites for over a decade now, Olympia London has introduced new measures to make sure excess isn’t created in the first place. The venue has also partnered with the sustainability advocacy group WRAP, which runs the “Guardians of Grub” campaign, to track food waste. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…

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UFI Global CEO Summit Pope Francis Vatican Address: Full Text

Attendees at the recent UFI Global CEO Summit in Rome were granted a private audience in the Vatican’s Sala Clementina with Pope Francis. His Holiness said that trade fairs and exhibitions were benefitting regional economies while “showcasing to the wider world the rich diversity and beauty of local cultures and ecosystems”. From UFI…

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Tackling Homelessness: Protesting at the UN Climate Conference

Homeless hackathons, like those being held this year in Edinburgh, Montreal, Barcelona, Dundee and London, are one way for meetings to tackle this pressing social issue. The MD of organiser Gallus Events recently had a personal experience of homelessness outside COP25, the UN Climate Change Conference, in Madrid. From Association Meetings International…

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Fleshing Out Strategies for Meatless Menus at Meetings and Events

Both the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild served meatless meals during their award ceremonies this January. Meatless meals were also served up at Convening Leaders in San Francisco, sponsored by Iceberg partner IMEX. There are many good reasons to go meatless, but it’s not always easy getting attendees to stomach the idea. From PCMA…

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Conference Shame: Time to Let the Media Know Meetings Matter

“Conference shame” was the term used in a Bloomberg article about the threat to events of “the Greta effect”. So the sector now needs to get its “game face” on. Partners of the Iceberg IMEX, Positive Impact and GDS-Index have already done so. Photo: World Economic Forum / Manuel Lopez. From editor’s blog at Association Meetings International…

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Sustainability’s Four Pillars: The Meetings Industry Perspective

2020 began with disturbing images of burnt koalas and fears of their “imminent extinction”. Climate change has played a role in the catastrophic and unprecedented early fire season, and the meeting industry can take a lead in tackling this universal issue. Paula Blomster of MPI’s European Advisory Council explains. From Association Meetings International…

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The Innovative Summit Reforming the Transit System of Sioux Falls

The Mayor of Sioux Falls in South Dakota, Paul TenHaken, was inspired to tackle his city’s inefficient transit system after attending a three-day, immersive classroom experience summit that kicked off the 2018 running of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative. This is a year-long professional development programme for over forty global mayors. From PCMA…

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Sustainable Agency: Legacy by Nature, Legacy by Name

The Iceberg doesn’t usually focus on the activities of individual agencies working across the meetings and events sector. But it is hard not to notice one founded at the same time as our very own little platform celebrating business event legacy, particularly when that agency is actually called “Legacy”. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…

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Medical Meetings: Designing to Provide “Provider Wellness”

Workers in any industry can suffer from burnout, stress, anxiety and exhaustion. For those employed in the medical field, problems can be real and severe. So in the last few years planners have been designing medical meetings that provide some appropriate “provider wellness”, as well as more customary networking and education. From PCMA…

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