“The majority of disabled people don’t travel to conferences because they expect their needs will not be met”. So says Alan Broadbent, an accessibility writer and consultant to the events industry. Three examples of inclusivity, a venue (ICC Wales), a meeting (Glasgow’s IASSIDD World Congress) and a city (Dubai), are analysed. From Association Meetings International…
Patient involvement in clinical care and research has gained momentum in recent years, firstly because the patient community itself is asking for more active role, but also because patient participation in healthcare systems has been proven to improve treatment outcomes. Scientific associations are also increasingly recognising that patients can contribute to the success of congresses…
AIM Group International has published a white paper on why organisers should consider the integration of patients in scientific congresses, and how to do so with success. The real life example used is the organiser’s very own World Systemic Sclerosis Congress, run since 2010 and previously featured on The Iceberg. From Boardroom…
Gina Glantz is the co-founder of the advocacy campaign GenderAvenger, and the global lead champion of meetings booking panels and not manels. Already recently profiled in these pages, she has just filmed an interview for the video series PCMA Ascent Luminaries, which promotes diversity and inclusion in business events. From PCMA…
Sustainability continues to rise up the agenda across meetings and events, and two Iceberg partner specialists in this area have turned up in a series of video interviews on the subject filmed at IMEX America, Positive Impact’s Fiona Pelham and the Global Destination Sustainability Index’s Guy Bigwood. From Endless Events…
Business Events Sarawak is looking beyond the narrow limits of business tourism’s financial benefits. Malaysia’s biggest state and second-tier conference destination, with fast-increasing popularity, has recently expanded its focus towards the social impact and remote legacy that meetings can leave behind, like April’s Borneo Coffee Symposium. From Boardroom…
MEETinLEEDS, conference facilities for the University of Leeds, has just finished hosting the Communication Matters International Augmentative and Alternative Communication Conference. Attracting over 430 delegates from 19 countries, the event created significant legacies around communication needs for both attendees and the venue. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
For the first time ever the UN has received commitments from the event industry at the Sustainable Development Goal Summit in New York. 7,000 pledges were collected from 58 countries, and the resultant “acceleration action” from Iceberg partner Positive Impact is promoting events as a form of lifelong learning (SDG 4). From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
During August, Iceberg partner Positive Impact conducted a survey of event industry commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Over 7,000 pledges from 58 countries were received, like using only plant-based food to reduce carbon footprint. In a video from outside UN HQ in New York, CEO Fiona Pelham explains. From Positive Impact via YouTube…
The first time Gina Glantz used social media to call out the lack of women on a conference panel, she was “rebuked”. This ultimately led to the foundation of the campaigning nonprofit GenderAvenger, and later a change in how meetings respond to the naming and shaming of sessions which only schedule “manels”. From PCMA…
Iceberg partner Positive Impact has been campaigning for the meetings industry to align its activity to the framework of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. An industry survey that was conducted during August is being submitted to the UN itself. In a further video recorded at IMEX America, CEO Fiona Pelham explains. From IMEX via YouTube…
This is the third year in which IMEX has had an annual “Talking Point”, a thread and a story that runs through both shows and all year long. In 2017, the concept was “Purposeful Meetings”, which was followed by “Legacy” in 2018. To help demonstrate this year’s idea of “Imagination” in concrete and practical terms, IMEX…
London has just hosted the 33rd edition of the European Cities Marketing Summer School. This year’s event graduated 64 students from three continents, including four from the USA and Canada and five from South Africa. Brand new for 2019 was an innovative stronger connection between attendees and the host city. From European Cities Marketing…
Through August, global meetings industry professionals were asked for comments and commitments about how the sector can support UN Sustainable Development Goals. Survey responses have now been analysed by Iceberg partner Positive Impact to form an “acceleration action” shared with the UN. CEO Fiona Pelham explains. From Positive Impact via YouTube…
In issues 18, 33, 53 and 60 of The Iceberg’s fortnightly Business Events World, the importance of meetings has been discussed in terms of President Trump’s rapprochement with Kim Jong-un. Their summit venue, the Demilitarized Zone or DMZ, is also a fascinating outing for incentive delegates. From editor’s blog at Meetings & Incentive Travel…
The She Means Business educational event at IMEX America will address issues surrounding economic and gender equality within the meetings industry. A joint event by IMEX and tw magazine, supported by MPI, She Means Business will launch in Las Vegas at the Smart Monday event, a pre-show day of education. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
UK industry charity Meeting Needs has celebrated its 15th birthday with a vow to get bigger and better. The anniversary coincides with another milestone for the initiative: a total distribution of £1 million to more than 287 charities in the UK and 68 countries across the globe since its foundation. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
New Zealand gave the AASA (Australasian Animal Studies Association) Conference 2019, “Decolonizing Animals”, an original spin when it hosted the event this July in Christchurch. Both local and international specialists, including indigenous perspectives, were all given a voice. Annie Potts, Director of the New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies, explains. From Boardroom…
The Iceberg is now identifying and celebrating the greater mass of hard-to-see business events legacies that lie hidden beneath the surface in a new podcast “Below the Waterline”. In the second of a series featuring significant meetings industry players, Iceberg founder James Latham catches up with the IMEX Group’s formidable CEO, Carina Bauer. IMEX…
New Zealand offers meeting planners the chance to tap into market sectors like health sciences, agribusiness, tourism, advanced manufacturing and design, high value food and wine, ICT and earth sciences. Collaboration between learning and research centres and a strong focus on education and progress from government have placed Aotearoa centre stage globally. From Boardroom…
Ahead of the World Congress of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, held in Glasgow, First Citizen Eva Bolander posed for Project Ability artists. The initiative showcases people living with disability, and the event was part of the wider “People Make Glasgow Healthier” campaign. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
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