Industry demand for female keynote speakers has more than trebled in five years, according to bureau Speakers Corner. In 2018 female presenters and moderators made up 35 percent of bookings, from just ten percent back in 2013. Younger speakers are also in favour, with growing demand for “the wisdom of youth”. From Association Meetings International…
Back in 2014, meetings and events industry veteran Fay Sharpe began Fast Forward 15, a mentoring programme to give 15 female professionals a voice in the industry. The scheme includes one-to-one sessions, group workshops and a graduation ceremony, held this year on board the Silver Sturgeon on the River Thames. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
World Travel Market Africa 2019 has been held at CTICC (the Cape Town International Convention Centre), with thousands of exhibitors and buyers from across the globe attending the leading travel and tourism event in the continent. The meeting included both the African Responsible Travel Awards, and two-day Business Case for Responsible Tourism conference. From the Event…
The meetings industry has joined others in condemning anti-LGBT laws in Brunei, where sex between men just became a capital offence and sex between women punishable by up to ten years in prison. IAPCO and DRPG have warned of damage this will cause to the sultanate’s destination status. From editor’s blog at Meetings & Incentive Travel…
Lyon has become the latest city to join Iceberg partner the Global Destination Sustainability Index, a ranking of meetings destinations’ environmental credentials. Only Lyon, the city’s convention bureau, is the 48th destination to sign up to the index, which benchmarks them on how well they are meeting UN Sustainable Development Goals. From Association Meetings International…
Don Welsh, CEO of Destinations International, once headed up individual convention bureaux in Seattle, Indianapolis and Chicago. Now he’s the leader of the entire CVB community. Here he describes how the roles differ, and also how the function of a convention bureau has evolved in recent years. From PCMA…
Carina Bauer, IMEX Group CEO, has spoken about the show’s focus on diversity, it being key to the future of the events industry. “That’s why it forms a core part of our offering at IMEX in Frankfurt this year”, she said. IMEX includes an opening session called “She Means Business”. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
Australian event and conference management company Arinex has worked with several associations ahead of International Women’s Day to empower women. Among the company’s events is the annual awards dinner (pictured above) of Australia’s National Association for Women in Construction. From editor’s blog at Meetings & Incentive Travel…
2019’s International Women’s Day is aiming to leave behind the legacy of a more gender-balanced world. Jill Manley, Business Development Director at ICC Wales, looks at the role of women in the meetings industry. All of the senior sales directors and managers at ICC Wales are female. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
How hard has the art of putting together panels become in an age more finely attuned to gender inequality? In the run up to International Women’s Day, a conference came under fire for being too sure it was booking panels, not manels. It invited only women scientists to speak. From PCMA…
It’s been a busy year for James Rees, Executive Director of ExCeL London. Following election as ICCA President in November 2018, Rees reveals his approach to the US market, to diversity at both ExCeL and ICCA, and how being in a New Romantic pop band helped him thrive in the events industry. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
The IMEX Group is championing the power of imagination as its talking point for 2019. The theme has been chosen in response to the growth of digitalisation, and the team will be focusing on three core aspects across its events: transformation and collaboration, diversity and inclusion, and sustainability. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
Iceberg partners BestCities Global Alliance and GainingEdge recently published a report on accessibility in meetings (see Research). It featured real-life examples of events, hosted in BestCities’ destinations, that make inclusivity for those with disabilities a key focus. The True Colours Festival held in Singapore last March was one such case study. From PCMA…
Matthias Schultze, MD of the German Convention Bureau, has been discussing the future of meetings on the back of GCB’s research project, Future Meeting Space, recently launched at PCMA Convening Leaders in Pittsburgh. Diversity, disruption, format innovation, knowledge transfer, networking, and accommodating the shy and less tech-savvy are all covered. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
The place of corporate social responsibility, the importance of incorporating legacy, plus the recent hosting of Sibos, are all among the subjects discussed by ICC Sydney CEO and AEG Ogden Director Convention Centres Geoff Donaghy, as his venue prepares for its busiest year ever after a successful run of events in 2018. From Boardroom…
In 2018 three major international medical conferences were hosted in Glasgow: haemophilia, Down’s syndrome and ALS / MND. About 10% of attendees were living with the conditions under discussion. Glasgow Convention Bureau partnered with Glasgow Welcomes and VisitScotland to offer free education sessions to help event stakeholders better understand these delegates’ needs. From Boardroom…
Five Convene editors have been examining meeting trends for 2019. Big data now needs data ethics. We will pay more attention to attention itself and our use of technology in groups. New kinds of benchmarks are emerging to measure diversity and inclusivity. Sleep is now very much part of any focus on wellbeing. From PCMA Convene…
As 2018 leaves its footprints on the sands of time, here’s to the past extraordinary year. The last twelve months brought great change to the meetings industry, from the #MeToo movement, to the war on plastic, and to fears about climate change. That’s before even the dreaded “B” word. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
After conducting research for the recent “Gender Diversity & Inclusion in Events” report, reviewing over 60,000 speakers at business events in 23 countries between 2013 and 2018, event software company Bizzabo found that on average more than two thirds (69 percent) of speakers were male, with less than one third female. From PCMA…
The President of the Association for Women in Events has spoken about the importance of diversity and inclusion in the industry. Kiki J Fox (pictured top right) discussed career advancement resources, what women have to offer the industry, the #MeToo movement, AWE’s goals, and the recurring subject of gender diverse panels. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
The team at UFI, the exhibition industry’s global association and an Iceberg partner, used UFI’s Global Congress, and other conversations around the world, to isolate and identify core themes that will be impacting the global sector. Kai Hattendorf, UFI’s CEO and MD, lays out five industry trends to watch out for in 2019. From UFI…
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