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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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Vegetarian and Pescatarian Meetings: The Sustainability Question

In the GDS-Index white paper The Iceberg just published in Research, Finland’s Visit Espoo is committing to serve only locally-produced vegetarian food and sustainable fish to association delegates. Would you ever serve only vegetables and fish to your event attendees? Would they accept such a proposal? From editor’s blog at Association Meetings International…

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Rotation: The Right Thing or a Big Risk?

As any youngster with a fidget spinner will tell you, rotation can be fun. But when a UK convention bureau suggested to the organiser of an event that had stayed in the same city since it started that they should be rotating destinations, there was surprising friction. From editor’s blog at Meetpie.com…

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The Huntington Convention Center’s “Real FarmVille”

The Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland is the latest venue to be farming produce onsite for the consumption of its visitors. The project, called “The Real FarmVille”, grows tomatoes, corn, mesclun and peppers. There are also chickens, pigs and even bees, not just for honey but for scientific study as well. From PCMA…

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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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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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Well-Run Events “Should Automatically Leave a Legacy”

At IMEX 2018’s Association Day (pictured), executives fretted about how their organisation’s events could leave behind appropriate legacies. The thinking seemed to be that legacy was an adjunct to rather than an intrinsic part of planning meetings. But well-run events should automatically leave a legacy. From editor’s blog at Association Meetings International…

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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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No Pressure for a PCO: World Peace v. Fire and Fury

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo may have met North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, but we now know that President Trump’s face-to-face with the Supreme Leader on June 12th won’t take place. Before it was officially cancelled, one Iceberg partner pondered the pressures for organisers of such meetings. From editor’s blog at Meetpie.com…

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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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IMEX 2018: Five Themes for the Meetings Industry

IMEX 2018 is currently underway in Frankfurt. One of the greatest meetings industry exhibitions, the event also showcases key trends and advancements in the sector. The Iceberg’s favourite topic, legacy, is the main theme this year, but also making headlines are: event tech, wellness, live and experiential, and CSR and sustainability. From tmf dialogue marketing…

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