After months of conference calls, webinars and online meetings, we recognise perhaps more than ever the role that business events play in exchanging ideas, building networks and fuelling innovation. So explains Chantal Sturk-Nadeau, Executive Director of Business Events at Destination Canada. From PCMA…
To have international association meetings looking anything like they did before COVID-19, either of two things must happen: enough host countries push their daily case rate down to nearly zero so overseas delegations become possible, or else science comes to the rescue with a vaccine or treatment(s). From editor’s blog at Association Meetings International…
In times like the current pandemic, how can associations begin to plan for the years ahead when decisions they are taking today may no longer be valid even in the very near future? Association not-for-profit AC Forum explains how its members anticipate changes in the sector and in their events. From Boardroom…
The results of the July COVID-19 Recovery Dashboard survey of 476 planners and 212 suppliers reveal a sharper divide between the two in several key areas. For instance, only one third of planners expect to see smaller local and regional events leading the recovery once the crisis is over (41 percent in the June survey),…
Funding of £10 million has been offered by Scotland’s Government to help the events sector recover from the pandemic, as a result of £97 million of funding being made available by the UK’s Government. Businesses which have not yet been able to access previous mechanisms of support will be prioritised. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
Melbourne Convention Bureau has announced a hat-trick of significant congress wins taking place over the next eight years. These high-profile events will deliver AU$24.8 million to the state economy, and drive 3,750 delegates through the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre’s doors. From Association Meetings International…
In a bid to relaunch international conferences and the events sector, Brussels is launching a fund of €2 million to entice planners to choose the Belgian capital as a destination. Grants for organisers are available until September 2020, with up to €50,000 per event with at least 200 particiating. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
Trade show business will contract by 60 percent compared to 2019, says global association of the exhibition industry and Iceberg partner UFI. €158 billion of total output and 1.9 million jobs are now affected. The updated assessment compiles data from the new UFI Global Exhibition Barometer. From Exhibition World…
Venue managers across the UK have welcomed the announcement that business events are to resume this autumn, subject to the successful outcome of pilot events. The ACC Liverpool Group, ExCeL London and the NEC in Birmingham are among those responding. From Association Meetings International…
The UK meetings industry is now launching a campaign to boost confidence in the sector and to prove its worth to the country. Smyle’s Rick Stainton and BVEP Chair Simon Hughes are leading the drive to embed trust in the industry’s safety approach. They are calling for contributions. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said conferences and exhibitions in the country will be permitted from October 1st. The PM announced that the decision would depend on data and that local authorities would have powers to close events if there was a danger to the public. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
With a location near two World Heritage sites, Australia’s Cairns Convention Centre is starting to market its AU$176 million brand expansion and refurbishment. The first stage of the work, completing in February, will see a refurbishment of the existing Centre. Then expansion will create all-new spaces. From Conference & Meetings World…
Designers of Melbourne’s latest meeting space, CENTREPIECE at Melbourne Park, have been setting out their ideas. NH Architecture was selected as part of the final stage of AU$972 million redevelopment. The firm has worked on other projects in the city, including the expansion of MCEC. From Association Meetings International…
Martin Sirk is International Advisor for Iceberg partner GAH (Global Association Hubs). In a sharp reality check for the business events sector, he warns that successful reopening relies on a much wider containment of the pandemic than the industry on its own can ever achieve. The economy and health are not zero-sum trade-offs or parallel-track…
The largest business-to-business, face-to-face exhibition in the US, CES 2021, has moved to being an online, all-digital event. In 2019 CES had 170,000 visitors, 6,000 media, plus 4,000 exhibiting businesses from every corner of the world. The early pivot sent shock waves across an industry already devastated by the pandemic. From UFI…
The UK’s Conservative Party will be hosting its annual conference at Birmingham in 2022, 2024 and 2026. The event has alternated between ICC Birmingham and Manchester Central since 2008. Both used to be Labour heartlands, which shows the legacies that come from targeting a specific destination. From editor’s blog at Meetings & Incentive Travel…
Months now into the COVID-19 pandemic we are awash in sector pronouncements and assertions, even if the route to recovery in this challenging situation remains rather unpredictable. But the recent global manifesto from the Joint Meetings Industry Council is a little different. So says JMIC’s Executive Director Rod Cameron…
In planning a hybrid or digital event, content is key to success. Panelists said as much during the first hybrid webinar of The Hague Convention Bureau. Talking through the viability of such events were a corporate and two association planners, a meeting design expert and a hotel executive. Article includes webinar video. From PCMA…
Associations are perfectly placed to reshape the world emerging from lockdown. They are repositories of expertise and best practice. They are trusted curators of information. They connect people all around the world and provide lifelong learning beyond university. But is this an opportunity they will grasp? From Association Meetings International…
When ASN (the American Society for Nutrition) decided to switch its live event set for late May in Seattle to all-virtual just sixty days before the meeting, the organising team of ten didn’t know what to expect from the pivot. Nutrition 2020 typically draws 3,500 delegates, but about 30,000 attended the virtual version. From PCMA…
In the rush to pivot strategies for the new normal, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters for an association and its members. Here is a guide to this transformative shift for associations and their congresses, including the delegates, sponsors and technology: the myths, facts and opportunities around virtual events. From MCI…
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