In January two scientists wrote an article asking why conference design for those involved in scientific research has been slow in evolving. While some science meetings are surely guilty as charged, others do have an appropriately innovative approach. Here are ten that break with tradition to design experiences with big impact. From PCMA…
This AIPC and UFI guidance aims to help convention and exhibition centres prepare for and perform in an exceptional role they were not designed for but are increasingly being asked or forced to perform: as temporary emergency facilities. The immediate worldwide concern and context for this guidance is the COVID-19 pandemic. Convention and Exhibition Centres…
During education sessions of the suddenly virtual Global Meetings Industry Day (GMID), leaders from Meeting Professionals International, IMEX and other sector organisations advised fellow professionals to focus on long-term recovery and to work together to help the industry come back stronger than before. From Northstar Meetings Group…
A nationwide initiative led by the American Hospital Association is working to ramp up production of the personal protective equipment (PPE) that healthcare workers need during the COVID–19 pandemic. The 100 Million Masks Challenge joins up manufacturers, community businesses and individuals to leave a life-saving legacy. From Associations Now…
Stockholmsmässan in Sweden has now been set up as a field hospital to manage the current COVID-19 crisis, in joint partnership with the Swedish Armed Forces plus Region Stockholm and Locum. 140 beds were ready by the end of March, with 50 additional staff members preparing a further 600 for Easter. From Boardroom…
Adelaide has been doubly hit by bushfires and coronavirus, causing unemployment and food poverty. So the Adelaide Convention Centre and other venues of its parent operator are now using their big commercial kitchens to make tens of thousands of meals for food charities to send out into the community. From Boardroom…
The UAE Government has filed a formal request to postpone Expo 2020 Dubai due to the COVID-19 crisis. The proposed new dates are from October 1st 2021 to March 31st 2022, but the government has also asked BIE (the Bureau International des Expositions) for the official name to remain “Expo 2020 Dubai”. From Association Meetings International…
CEO of ExCeL London Jeremy Rees has confirmed that the UK’s National Health Service is using the exhibition and conference venue free of rental fee. The Sunday Times had reported that the venue’s owners, Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Company, were charging the NHS £2-3 million per month. From Conference News…
In January, the Javits Center in New York was hosting a meet-and-greet for the American Kennel Club. Now the space is housing 2,600 hospital beds. Across the US the story is the same, inside venues like McCormick Place in Chicago and the Michigan Expo Center. But why choose them for this use? From Fast Company…
Once they relied on actors or even mannequins, but more and more medical associations now involve real patients in their congresses. Whether as speakers, panellists or co-designers, they add a different perspective. The result is meetings that are engaging, insightful and enlightening. From Association Meetings International…
Everything has changed. Meeting and travel are banned. Venues are hospitals. Events are online. We are learning so much about ourselves, but also need the world outside to learn about us and our £70 billion sector. Together we have to keep banging the drum. From editor’s blog at Meetings & Incentive Travel…
New York’s Javits Center has been put to use in crises before. It was a command and control base for the Federal Emergency Management Agency after 9/11, and in 2012 also had minor government operations running after Hurricane Sandy. But the venue has never been used as a hospital until now. From PCMA…
Globalisation, the world’s closer integration, is under attack. After nativism, terrorism and of course climate change, now a microscopic pathogen is even stopping us from gathering to meet. If globalisation does have a positive legacy though, international association meetings may be the best of what closer integration gives society. From Association Meetings International…
Māori culture gives New Zealand its distinct identity, but is also moving centre stage at meetings hosted in the country. This was very evident during the 2019 International Union for Health Promotion and Education Conference, which drew to Rotorua 1,185 attendees from 73 countries. From Association Meetings International…
Expo 2020 Dubai is almost certain to be postponed. Organisers said they wanted to show “solidarity” with the participating countries now fighting coronavirus. The event is likely to be put back a year, but a final decision should be made in June. Expo 2020 was hoping to attract eleven million visitors. From Association Meetings International…
The German government has run a hackathon to brainstorm solutions to the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. 42,869 took part online in #WirVsVirus (“us versus the virus”). The result was more than 800 ideas on topics like shopping, childcare and symptom monitoring. Some of them have now been selected for funding. From Euractiv…
There has never been a more vital time for the services and value that associations provide, at precisely the moment traditional business models are falling apart. With a strong focus on societal mission, and by making urgent challenges the top priority, associations now have a unique opportunity to make difference. From Martin Sirk via Boardroom…
In the wake of so many meetings cancelling due to the COVID-19 crisis, and the resultant economic losses, the Founder of The Iceberg James Latham has been discussing how event organisers are reacting, and why the sector could be leading the charge when business does start to return to normal. From Duetto…
Meeting planners should be working with hospitality partners to donate leftover food from events cancelled due to the coronavirus crisis or for any other reason. The non-profit Food Rescue US works in seventeen of the fifty United States, facilitating the logistics of meetings donating their excess food. From PCMA…
The associations sector is vast and diverse, but one community dealing with particular challenges is that of the medical associations. Significant demographic changes are changing how healthcare professionals work and meet together. Ben Hainsworth, Managing Director at EASL (home of hepatology) explains what these are. From Boardroom…
The President of the Joint Meetings Industry Council, which presents The Iceberg, has addressed on video the disruption of meetings, events and exhibitions worldwide caused by the COVID-19 crisis. Kai Hattendorf called upon all industry members to actively support measures to help restore and build confidence in event participation including: Making sure policies and procedures…
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