A record 52 events brought more than 3,500 delegates to the UK’s North East last month and led to an economic impact of more than £4.3 million. Over 1,500 attended major medical meetings. Where delegates booked accommodation through NewcastleGateshead Convention Bureau, half were international and from 43 different countries. From Meetpie.com…
Wales Business Events has held its first The Business of Events Wales conference in Celtic Manor Resort, Newport, where the new ICC Wales (pictured) is under construction. The idea was to motivate the region’s industry to grow to an international scale. Prominent UK advocates were on hand to deliver the message. From Association Meetings International…
Wondering who the business events leaders of the future are? The Professional Convention Management Association has announced its “20 in their Twenties” class of 2019, the sector’s brightest young talent. Although the list is dominated by North Americans, professionals from Italy, Bulgaria and the UK are also in the group. From Association Meetings International…
Tourism Australia’s key event for promoting Australia as a world-class destination for the incentive sector, Dreamtime, will be held in Perth for the first time in 2019. The city’s Convention Bureau Chairman Kevin Skipworth said CVB members would benefit enormously from hosting the event and promoting the city to meetings groups. From CIM News Magazine…
The convention bureau tasked with bringing international association meetings to Istanbul has signed a two-year partnership agreement to strengthen its hand. Istanbul’s CVB has therefore now become an Association Relations Partner of ICCA, the International Congress and Convention Association. The city’s standing as a destination has collapsed in recent years. From Association Meetings International…
Iceland’s academic events and conferences are further ramping up. Meet in Reykjavik has signed another three universities to help develop the Scandinavian country as a key player in the sector. Bifröst University, Hólar University College and the Agricultural University of Iceland join three signed earlier this year. From Meetpie.com…
City leaders in Dundee want to “open its doors to the world” with business events. Scotland’s fourth largest city has won six “major” conferences for 2019 through its Dundee & Angus Convention Bureau Conference Ambassadors. The events are worth £1.6 million and will attract some 1,250 delegates to the city. From Association Meetings International…
Conservative Members of Parliament in the UK have had personal details revealed by the official mobile app of their party conference. Users found they were able to access MP’s information simply by entering email addresses with no password. Within minutes of the flaw’s discovery, app accounts were already being hacked. From Meetpie.com…
The Duke of York may have had ten thousand men, but recently when the University of York announced an all-male panel of seven for a history (sic) conference, a well-known female alumna tweeted academic displeasure. The conference sponsor immediately took the message on board and postponed the event, winning himself a GenderAvengers award. From PCMA Convene…
Some things just work better when you’re hearing from two locations at the same time. The industry has been talking for a while about virtual and hybrid meetings, both on the rise. But what about multi-hub events (partially virtual meetings where groups in different places share the same programme at the same time)? From PCMA…
If a company sponsors a bar tab or breakfast at an event, the return on that investment may quickly wear off. But at the inaugural MANOVA in Minneapolis, one of the healthcare event’s biggest sponsors chose to offer something rather more lasting. Walmart installed something most unusual for a conference: a flu-shot station. From PCMA…
The debate about whether business events are “tourism” or “economic development” has been rumbling on for a decade. At a JMIC meeting earlier this year, the room decided “economic development” was the correct term. But one Iceberg partner finds himself going both ways (and with a spectacular mixing of metaphors). From SoolNua’s Pádraic Gilligan at Padraicino…
Can the knowledge imparted at a congress really be worth close to €1 billion? That’s the claim made by the European Society of Radiology and Vienna Convention Bureau about the European Congress of Radiology held in Vienna earlier this year. What does it say about the way we value knowledge? From editor’s blog at Association Meetings International…
Event designers are always imagining new ways to harness audience attention and make experiences memorable. But the pressure to be bigger and better than last year always seems to grow. David Peckinpaugh spoke at the Experient “Change Agents”-themed conference earlier this year, and here offers views on video about experience design. From Maritz Global Events…
Only seven percent of global CEOs are women. That stark fact opened a discussion about meetings industry gender equality at Cvent CONNECT Europe in London. Sitting on the panel were the CEO of Iceberg partner IMEX, Carina Bauer, and Fast Forward 15’s Fay Sharpe. Views on gender quotas proved extremely interesting. From editor’s blog at Meetpie.com…
The Watkins Report for US and Canadian convention bureaux is published biennially, and Curt Watkins of Watkins Research has been conducting the study for the past 25 years. Here he shares his perspective on how the features planners are seeking in their host destinations have changed over recent decades. From PCMA Convene…
Powered by 
