The Centre for Events and Festivals, the network connecting academics and industry in the events sector, has built a new specialist course aimed at event and festival professionals, founders,local authorities and cultural organisations who need to design, evidence and communicate impact in ways that genuinely hold up to scrutiny.
Informa was already the world’s largest exhibition organizer. Its nearly $3 billion acquisition of Clarion Events raises a bigger question: What happens when one company controls roughly 1,000 B2B brands and gains even greater leverage with the destinations, venues, suppliers, and exhibitors it does business with? From Skift Meetings…
Can an event change the way people think, feel and behave – and, crucially, can we measure it? One UK festival is putting this question to the test, asking attendees whether exposure to different ideas and perspectives has shifted their outlook and behaviour. Paul Harvey, M&IT, asks whether we should all be following their example…
A new advocacy movement, The Athens Promise, has launched this July to support existing efforts and further unite the meetings and events industry behind one clear message: the work of business events matters, and the world needs to understand why. The initiative is led by the IAPCO, in partnership with AIPC AMC Institute and PCMA.
Skift analyses new research from Freeman that confirms what meeting planners have suspected for years: the agenda they spend months building isn’t where attendees are finding the most value. Attendees say they would ideally spend 54% of their learning time in unstructured formats rather than formal sessions. At trade shows, that figure rises to 64%.
Net Zero Carbon Events (NZCE) has appointed sustainability specialist Johanna Fuhlendorf as its new Programme Director, marking a significant milestone in the evolution of the global initiative as it enters its next phase of development. The appointment is the first dedicated leadership role created specifically for NZCE since its launch in 2021. From Headquarters Magazine…
In this episode of The Meeting Room, host James Lancaster sits down with Dr Mike Duignan, founder of the Centre for Events & Festivals (CEF), to unpack the BIG problems nobody is talking about enough, from fragmented advocacy and missing economic data to why festivals, sports events and business events must stop operating in silos.
Apollo bought 140 trade shows. Searchlight bought CloserStill. MARI bought the consumer side. In short: Apollo, Searchlight, and MARI just spent $5B on live events in seven months. What looked like isolated deals may signal a broader shift: live events becoming a serious asset class. David Adler spells out the profound implications of these mega-purchases.
From Meetings Today, by Vincent Alonzo: On April 22, more than 10,000 Earth Day events unfolded across the globe—river cleanups in Bali, regenerative tourism pledges in Canada, LEED-certified renovations in Tampa, and a wave of “conscious luxury” messaging from hotel brands worldwide. The meetings and events industry showed up as well. On paper, at least…
Executive assistants remain the largest group of business event organisers in Australia; this provides a useful snapshot of how buying behaviour is shifting. Activity and budgets are back to 2019 levels but the way events are being planned has changed: Lead times are shorter. Convenience, speed and ease of delivery are now key decision drivers.
David Adler, Gathering Point News, explores the rationale for establishing the Centre for Events & Festivals as a response to a fragmented events industry, weak knowledge-sharing, and limited use of evidence. The organisation aims to bridge academia and practice, strengthen collaboration, and promote more sustainable, inclusive, and community-focused approaches to event design and delivery.
CEMA Summit is the annual moment that brings the world of event marketing together to compare strategies. We test ideas, we track lessons learned, and we unpack the best practices emerging as the industry evolves. Join event marketers from around the globe for three days of practitioner-led education, global case studies, and candid, future-focused conversation.
As the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia F1 races face likely cancellation, the fallout is highlighting broader risk for live events across the region as trade shows, conferences, and corporate gatherings prepare for the post-Ramadan business rebound. The conflict is causing the most significant disruption in the Middle East since the Covid-19 pandemic. From Skift Meetings…
The event industry does not lack expertise; it lacks a system that turns thousands of successfully delivered events, research, and thought leadership into accumulated professional knowledge that helps us continually improve how events are planned, delivered, and evaluated. Prof Mike Duignan sets out a pragmatic framework to solve this fundamental challenge.
Kai Hattendorf sets out the data that prove we are experiencing an accelerating degradation of digital business environments, and argues that this dramatically revalues the utility of the exhibition hall, conference hall and networking spaces: Across the business events industry, we have long argued that trust is built through physical presence…
GatheringPoint’s David Adler takes global experiential agency Jack Morton’s latest annual report as a starting point to explore how factors such as trust, credibility and alignment enable events to become purposeful platforms for the exercise of soft power.
The Iceberg Partner & Ambassador, Matt Pearce, extends a sunshine-filled welcome to join the party for the 2026 edition of the Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Event (AIME) from 9-11th February supported by the full suite of industry associations including AIPC ICCA – International Congress and Convention Association IAPCO PCMA UFI, The Global Association of…
The world’s first international professional body to support the professional development and recognition of everyone working across the global events industry. The Centre for Events & Festivals (CEF) is an international Not-for-Profit providing resources to all event and festival sectors – from sports, business and private events to public, arts, and cultural festivals. We do…
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The Knowledge Program, taking place on 9 February, is built around the theme, Expertise Matters!, highlighting the credibility, clarity and strategic influence that business events professionals bring to a rapidly changing global landscape, featuring high-impact keynote presentations and an extensive series of breakout sessions designed to sharpen skills, elevate strategic thinking and strengthen industry capability.
From Meetings International: A major boost for Kenya’s Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) industry, President William Ruto on 15 December 2025 approved the operationalisation of the National Convention Bureau during a Cabinet meeting at State House – marking its re-establishment after being disbanded three years ago due to funding constraints.
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