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US Visa Entry in the Trump Era: A Growing Challenge for Events

The TED Radio Hour just interviewed Yassmin Abdel-Magied, an Australian author, TV personality, and founder of Youth Without Borders. In April 2018 Abdel-Magied traveled to the US to speak at an event, but was denied entry because her country of birth, Sudan, was on President Trump’s original travel ban. From PCMA…

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SACEOS: Turning 40, New Leadership, New Generational Vision

This year marks a milestone for SACEOS, the Singapore Association for Conventions Exhibitions Organisers and Suppliers. It is both celebrating its 40th year, and a new President, industry heavyweight Aloysius Arlando, took over the reigns in February. Here he shares his vision for the future and explains why associations must be “future-ready”. From Boardroom…

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Edinburgh’s Room Tax: Breach in the Dyke or Bad Idea?

While the Edinburgh Convention Bureau’s future funding lies under threat, so the city has also voiced the idea of a £2 per person nightly “room tax”. Some see this as a welcome source of new revenue, but will any get back to marketing, and what about competitiveness? From editor’s blog at Meetings & Incentive Travel…

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First M&IT Survey of Mental Health Reveals Industry on the Edge

An Iceberg partner’s first ever mental health survey received responses from event professionals struggling to stay afloat. The results reinforce the much-referenced CareerCast survey from 2017 that ranked event planner as the fifth most stressful job in the world, beaten only by roles in the emergency services and military. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…

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Designing Legacy: The Meetings Approach Across Africa

The legacy of events is best pictured as an iceberg, as this website should certainly know! Design Indaba, held annually in Cape Town, is extending the legacy it creates for participating SMMEs through four simulcasts of its conference. Natasha Skoryk looks at the impact of business events on destinations and the meetings industry itself. From the Event…

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Meetings Accessibility: True Colours Shines Through in Singapore

Iceberg partners BestCities Global Alliance and GainingEdge recently published a report on accessibility in meetings (see Research). It featured real-life examples of events, hosted in BestCities’ destinations, that make inclusivity for those with disabilities a key focus. The True Colours Festival held in Singapore last March was one such case study. From PCMA…

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Filling those Shoes: Continuing Vienna’s Christian Mission

Events industry guru Christian Mutschlechner (above right) has now retired as head of the Vienna Convention Bureau after 27 years. 250 people attended a farewell event in Vienna, some from as far afield as the USA and Uruguay, both to celebrate his career and welcome successor Christian Woronka. From editor’s blog at Meetings & Incentive Travel…

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Multiple Suspect Package Alerts: Dealing with the Unthinkable

During the European Banking Federation annual summit at the National Bank in Brussels, an alarm went off. Then another. And then another. In an exclusive interview, EBF senior events coordinator Tina Marolt describes the steps taken in dealing with every event planner’s worst nightmare. Photo: Tiger Rus. From Association Meetings International…

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Associations Growing Global V: ICCA Expands in Dubai

The Iceberg is publishing a series of interviews about the globalisation of large associations. These are jointly produced by partners Boardroom and the Global Association Hubs Partnership. This time we hear from another partner, the International Congress and Convention Association, which is spreading its wings in Dubai. From Global Association Hubs Partnership…

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Playing with Fyre: Event Disaster to End All Event Disasters

The branded plane that flew the foolhardy to the Fyre Festival in 2017 was just one footnote in the event disaster to end them all. After Fyre’s calamitous collapse, and the organiser’s imprisonment for fraud and $26 million fine, two new TV documentaries dissect every event planner’s worst nightmare. Photo: John Klos. From editor’s blog at Meetings & Incentive Travel…

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Future Meeting Space: Analysis from GCB’s Matthias Schultze

Matthias Schultze, MD of the German Convention Bureau, has been discussing the future of meetings on the back of GCB’s research project, Future Meeting Space, recently launched at PCMA Convening Leaders in Pittsburgh. Diversity, disruption, format innovation, knowledge transfer, networking, and accommodating the shy and less tech-savvy are all covered. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…

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Dubai Business Events: Building Business High on Hard Work

The latest figures from Dubai Business Events show 261 meeting bids won in 2018, up 24 percent on 2017. This success also marks a whopping 62 percent increase over the previous year in the number of delegates set to visit the emirate, and a shift towards larger-scale events. From editor’s blog at Association Meetings International…

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ICC Sydney’s Geoff Donaghy: CSR, Legacy and Hosting Sibos

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…

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2019: Data Ethics, Screen Time, Diversity, Inclusivity and Sleep

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…

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2018: Climate Change, #MeToo, the War on Plastic and Brexit

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…

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Panels Not Manels III: Research Highlights Gender Discrepancy

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…

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