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Indianapolis: An Eventful MPI World Education Congress 2018

Meetings Professionals International’s World Education Congress has just concluded in Indianapolis, having welcomed around 2,200 attendees. Since WEC 2017 MPI had totally reimagined the event, and the 2018 running was certainly eventful, even to the extent of a Sudanese-Australian speaker being unable to attend because of a US visa waiver refusal. From Meetings & Conventions…

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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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Medical Meetings Under the Microscope: Part II

Medical meeting organisers at the PCMA Education Conference also got a behind-the-scenes look at how the Cleveland Clinic is now reshaping the future of both patient care and medical education. David McMillin reports from the visit and offer his five takeaways, including the power art can play, especially one “amazing Iceberg”. From PCMA Convene…

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Medical Meetings Under the Microscope: Part I

The Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland also hosted the recent PCMA Education Conference. The event included a focus on medical meetings. Convene Editor-in-Chief Michelle Russell took time out from the floor to put the evolution of the sector under the microscope with Robert Heard of the American College of Emergency Physicians. 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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Spreadsheet Glitch Rejects NYCC Pro Badge Delegates

How not to punch your own event in the face #472. The comics community has hit back at New York Comic Con and its organiser ReedPOP after noted professionals found out that their pro badge applications had been rejected. The mess was caused by a simple Excel spreadsheet sorting glitch. From The Beat…

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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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IMEX 2018: A Global Perspective on Incentive Travel

Pádraic Gilligan is Chief Marketing Officer of the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence. During IMEX 2018 in Frankfurt, Pádraic (pictured on the far right at SITE NITE Europe) also jointly chaired a discussion on current trends in the incentive sector. SITE colleagues from all corners of the globe contributed. From SoolNua’s Pádraic Gilligan at Padraicino…

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The Cyclical Incentive Market in a Recovering Economy

Jenner Carter, Head of Marketing at Lime Venue Portfolio, believes that team building, training and incentives have a cyclical outlook. As businesses return to investment, teams are again under pressure to perform and excel in a tough market. So after the lean years, are incentives once more on the up? From editor’s blog at Meetpie.com…

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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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