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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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Smart Cities: Neighbourhoods and Communities

Port Covington in Baltimore, Lake Nona in Orlando, Hudson Yards in New York, and Quayside in Toronto are all being built or rebuilt from the ground up to promote mobility, connectivity and livability. In 2018 both the Consumer Electronics Show and South by Southwest launched tracks dedicated to smart cities for the first time. From Skift…

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Events: About to Hit Boom Time?

For some years the event sector struggled to find a voice. Now being more recognised as part of the marketing mix can only benefit the industry as a whole. The MD of marketing communications agency Triggerfish, Andrew White, believes the events sector could be about to hit boom time. From editor’s blog at Meetpie.com…

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Visit Faroe Islands’ Ambassador Network

The Faroe Islands are in the North Atlantic Ocean above Scotland. They belong to Denmark but are semi-autonomous. They also have a meetings industry and are seeking to attract international congresses. Visit Faroe Islands even has an Ambassador Network, with an Ambassador Day and Ambassador Awards, to do just that. From tmf dialogue marketing…

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Largest Ever European Association Summit Held in Brussels

For the sixth year in a row, visit.brussels has just staged the European Association Summit 2018 at the newly-rebranded SQUARE Brussels Convention Centre. This year’s EAS was the biggest to date, with over 200 participants, twenty themed workshops and three plenary sessions. For the first time industry associations ICCA and PCMA also participated. From Boardroom…

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Building a Built Environment Legacy in Glasgow

When the Chicago-based Society of Architectural Historians ran its 70th Annual International Conference, it left the US for the first time in forty years and visited Glasgow. The Glasgow Convention Bureau, VisitScotland, and the Universities of Strathclyde and Glasgow all helped showcase the local built environment and start a wider conversation about the future of cities. From Skift…

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Engaging with the Start-Up Sector at Events

With advances in technology and the rise of crowdfunding platforms, the start-up scene is booming. This has seen many events emerge for those that play in the sector, like 4 Years from Now (4YFN), an initiative from the GSM Association which takes place alongside its flagship Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona. From Freeman XP…

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Puerto Rico’s Recovery: The Role of Meetings

Puerto Rico has worked hard to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Maria last year. But its comeback is far from over. In January, the governor submitted a troubling forecast: an eleven percent contraction for the economy and an eight percent population drop for next year. Can business events ensure a brighter future? From PCMA…

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Medical Conferences in the Modern Age

National medical associations hold conventions yearly, while international ones are held every two to four years. But educational timeframes have utterly changed in the digital age. So what will happen to the traditional convention model, and its role in medical professional education? Neurosurgery Professor Antonio A.F. De Salles asks whether conventions will become digital. From Boardroom…

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The New Approach Required for True Equality

The events industry has a significant female workforce, yet only 27 percent of women at CEO or MD level. So there’s some catching up to do. For International Women’s Day, Director of Venues at RIBA Moya Maxwell discusses where we are, where we’re going and what needs to change. From editor’s blog at Meepie.com…

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Frances McDormand’s Speech: A Legacy for Meetings?

In her Oscar acceptance speech, actress Frances McDormand finished with two words: “inclusion rider”. The notion that an actor can contractually insist a film’s cast and crew meet a certain level of diversity was first floated at a conference. If inclusion riders become standard in Hollywood, might they also for event speakers? From PCMA Convene…

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