Despite a recent report that men give more than twice as many talks than women at scientific conferences, there are signs that female-to-male ratios are improving at some events. One of the best strategies for tackling the gender agenda is to include women as part of the team that selects speakers. From PCMA Convene…
While The Iceberg prefers to write “familiarisation trips”, the rest of the industry seems to stick with the shorter “fam trips”, or sometimes the capital “FAM trips”. Which should be considered correct? One of our more particular partners places the use of that shift key under the microscope. From editor’s blog at Meetpie.com…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
The Association of Association Executives has launched a new event for Africa among its international meetings. The Africa Associations Congress will take place in October at the CSIR International Convention Centre in Pretoria. The event is aimed at pan-African, regional and national African associations and also for international associations with African members. From Boardroom…
To coincide with Global Meetings Industry Day, Iceberg partner BestCities Global Alliance has announced a new communications strategy to showcase the power of people. Led by the Greater Bogotá Convention Bureau, which will host the BestCities 2018 Global Forum in December, the campaign aims to celebrate the unique role people play in the events industry. From Meetpie.com…
One of North America’s biggest startup conferences, Collision, will be relocating to Toronto in 2019. The move is a sign of the growing tech sector importance of the Ontario capital. The event itself has grown rapidly in recent years, from 1,500 attendees in 2014 to an expected 25,000 this year. From The (Toronto) Global and Mail…
Puma has been accused of glamorising crime after hosting a drug and gang-themed party in central London. The sportswear brand invited people to its House of Hustle party in an abandoned Soho mansion by sending out wads of fake £50 notes and ‘trap phones’: less traceable low-tech handsets used by drug dealers. From Meetpie.com…
Destination websites and industry trade shows are the key sources for North American planners in meeting and event site selection, according to a new report from analytics firm STR. Three-quarters of the planners also turned to an industry trade publication in 2017, and 19 percent had attended the most recent IMEX industry conference. From Meetings & Conventions…
The organiser of the UK Rail Industry Awards has apologised after the ceremony featured a mock terror assault. The awards at Battersea Evolution were being held on the first anniversary of the Westminster Bridge attack. As well as the spoof terror stunt, complaints were also made about language and humour used during the event. From Meetpie.com…
Iceberg Partner Meeting Professionals International has developed a new special interest group for small business owners in response to the recent North America reductions in third party commissions. President and CEO Paul Van Deventer says around 3,000 third party meeting planners and small business owners are part of the MPI global community. From Meetpie.com…
Sheffield has hailed the success of its ambassador programme for attracting iSchools’ annual international iConference to the UK for the first time. Val Gillet, Professor of Cheminformatics at the University of Sheffield’s Information School, helped bring more than 450 delegates to the event at the city’s Diamond Building. Photo: Chemical Engineer. From Association Meetings International…
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…
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…
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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