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Scheduling: Better Late Than Early?

As meeting marketers try to turn prospective participants into registered attendees, it might seem that publishing a complete schedule early would be more than helpful. But in a fast moving knowledge sector, like that of the American Association of Cancer Research’s Annual Meeting, this can become a game of juggling crystal balls. From PCMA…

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Three Key Questions: The USPs of PCOs

At the recent International Association of Professional Congress Organisers Annual Meeting in Tokyo, an Iceberg partner asked four distinguished industry voices – including IAPCO’s new president – what value a PCO brings to the table for associations, what sector trends they were seeing, and how they saw the importance of IAPCO certification. From Boardroom…

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An Olympic Legacy: Korean Rapprochement

Even before the leaders of North and South Korea shook hands over the Demilitarized Zone border, plans were already being made for a possible meeting between Kim Jong-un and US President Trump. Is this political coup the legacy of an event: the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang? From editor’s blog at Association Meetings International…

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A Practitioner’s Guide: The Decoupling of Associations in China

Two years ago the authorities in China began the long process of decoupling an astonishing 700,000 associations or scientific societies from government sponsorship and control. International conferences also must have local partners. Olivia Jia, Senior Manager of consultants IME and publisher of the China Social Organisation, reflects on working with associations in China. From Boardroom…

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Farnborough: A Venue Fit for Aviation Pioneers

The new £30 million hall at the Farnborough International Exhibition and Conference Centre is now open for business. A year after an initial tour of the site, one Iceberg partner finds the finished facilities to be “gleaming” and “sparkling”: the new Hall 1 big enough to house three football pitches. From editor’s blog at Meetpie.com…

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GMID: Four Industry Tipping Points

This Global Meetings Industry Day IMEX Group CEO Carina Bauer has been reflecting on how the events and meetings industry has been evolving. In a press release marking GMID, Bauer shared four major tipping points that have transformed the sector over the last decade: globalisation, the emergence of innovation hubs, technology, and the TED factor. From BizBash…

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The US: Extending an Antisocial Welcome?

Proposed Trump administration legislation, if approved next month, will require most US visa applicants to relinquish all their social media identities from the previous five years. Convention bureaux across the country have already reacted, but what will the move mean for visiting international delegates? From editor’s blog at Assocation Meetings International…

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The US Events Industry Gender Pay Gap

In the US April 10th is Equal Pay Day. The date chosen reinforces a point. It takes women nearly four months longer to catch up to a man’s annual salary. Last year Convene’s Annual Salary Survey reported that female respondents earned 22 percent less than male respondents. This year’s survey has now closed. From PCMA Convene…

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TED: Funding Audacious Legacies

TED has just announced The Audacious Project, which will apply a startup funding model to bold, new philanthropic legacy projects every year. According to the press release, it is a “joint endeavor housed at TED, to surface and fund critical ideas that have the potential to impact millions of lives”. From PCMA Convene…

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Are Men the Solution to the Gender Pay Gap?

As UK firms must now submit gender pay gap data, it is clear that women working at large event agencies are on average paid less than men. But gender pay gaps and staffing makeup are separate issues. If there are still more men at the top, is this for men to address? From editor’s blog at Meetpie.com…

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Medical Meetings: Patients are a Virtue

Medical conferences that invite patients onto their stages and into their planning committees are finding out that patients are a virtue. Over the last decade there has been a slow-moving revolution in leveraging the legacies that can accrue to both healthcare professionals and to patients when the latter play a meaningful role. From PCMA Convene…

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Africa: Ready for Association Legacies

Jeffers Miruka is President of the African Society of Association Executives, headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa. He has over ten years of experience across association management and the meetings industry, and shares his views on how Africa is fast developing, both as an association and a meetings destination. From Boardroom…

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The Incentive of Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate social responsibility initiatives are becoming an increasingly important element of incentive programmes. They drive employee engagement and build corporate culture. From ordering 800 garments for a gala evening, helping locals to buy an industrial sewing machine and start a business, to rebuilding a school, creating such legacies can be powerful, authentic and transformative. From motivate…

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Meetings and Events Associations: An Insider’s Guide

The events and meetings industry is hardly short of its own professional associations. A good many of them are even Iceberg partners! You join for the networking, education and advocacy, then get much more. But which are right for each of the different tribes within our overall sector? From SoolNua’s Pádraic Gilligan at Padraicino…

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Planning for Families: New Approaches to Convention Education

It is not unusual for conventions to include recreational options for significant others and children. It is more enticing to register if the business trip is also a family vacation. But Destinations International Annual Convention organisers took the idea to the next level by holding an education session for the whole family. From PCMA…

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US Independent Planners React to Hilton Commission Cut

The decision of Marriott International to reduce group-intermediary commission rates has already made a major impact on the North American independent planners, many of whom have business models built entirely around commission. Now Hilton is doing the same. What will this mean for both the planners and the wider industry? Photo: Daderot. From Meetings & Conventions…

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