When about 2,000 meeting delegates sat down for lunch at the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education Annual Conference, they were fed all plant-based food all conference long. In addition to the conference’s first-ever all-vegetarian menu, the organiser made another big move in 2017 by eliminating breakfast from the menu. From PCMA…
Fear has been described by the acronym False Expectations Appearing Real. Change is often accompanied by it, so here’s a look at seven fears that come up with big changes to meetings, conferences and trade shows. Can we can flip those fears around and think about transformation in a whole new light? From PCMA Convene…
Dr Sue Black is a British computer scientist, academic and social entrepreneur. She also helped save the World War II codebreaking site Bletchley Park from falling into ruin. Recently Black was interviewed on a famous BBC radio programme, and told an interesting story of gender and the power of conferences. From editor’s blog at Meetpie.com…
Meetings Professionals International’s World Education Congress has just concluded in Indianapolis, having welcomed around 2,200 attendees. Since WEC 2017 MPI had totally reimagined the event, and the 2018 running was certainly eventful, even to the extent of a Sudanese-Australian speaker being unable to attend because of a US visa waiver refusal. From Meetings & Conventions…
With an ever-increasing focus on the environment and growing demand for sustainable practice, green event and conference planning is now an established trend within the global meetings industry. Here are six areas to consider for a greener approach: the venue, carbon offsetting, the accommodation, the catering, technology and lighting, and the materials used. From the Event…
In the GDS-Index white paper The Iceberg just published in Research, Finland’s Visit Espoo is committing to serve only locally-produced vegetarian food and sustainable fish to association delegates. Would you ever serve only vegetables and fish to your event attendees? Would they accept such a proposal? From editor’s blog at Association Meetings International…
As any youngster with a fidget spinner will tell you, rotation can be fun. But when a UK convention bureau suggested to the organiser of an event that had stayed in the same city since it started that they should be rotating destinations, there was surprising friction. From editor’s blog at Meetpie.com…
Medical meeting organisers at the PCMA Education Conference also got a behind-the-scenes look at how the Cleveland Clinic is now reshaping the future of both patient care and medical education. David McMillin reports from the visit and offer his five takeaways, including the power art can play, especially one “amazing Iceberg”. From PCMA Convene…
The Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland also hosted the recent PCMA Education Conference. The event included a focus on medical meetings. Convene Editor-in-Chief Michelle Russell took time out from the floor to put the evolution of the sector under the microscope with Robert Heard of the American College of Emergency Physicians. From PCMA…
Events have the potential to make a lasting impact on organisations that plan and own them, participants attending them, and communities hosting them. A focus on legacy at every stage is therefore essential. Karen Kotowski, CEO of the Events Industry Council, offer five criteria for creating the right community impact. From PCMA…
The ICCA Statistics Reports are based on the ICCA Association Database, which means the figures cover meetings organised by international associations according to this criteria: a meeting must take place on a regular basis, host at least 50 participants, and rotate between a minimum of three countries to be included in the Database. ICCA’s Association…
Last month the International Congress and Convention Association published its annual rankings of countries and cities for international association meetings. Now ICCA has an alternative view of the data: destinations ranked by estimated number of meeting delegates. Again, Barcelona is top city, and the United States top country. Other placings shift slightly. From Meetings & Conventions…
The PCO community is mourning the loss of Gonzalo Perez Constanzo who has died aged 61. The past President of the International Association of Professional Congress Organisers passed away in Buenos Aires after a long battle with cancer. During his tenure as IAPCO President he launched the Albert Cronheim Scholarship. From Association Meetings International…
How not to punch your own event in the face #472. The comics community has hit back at New York Comic Con and its organiser ReedPOP after noted professionals found out that their pro badge applications had been rejected. The mess was caused by a simple Excel spreadsheet sorting glitch. From The Beat…
According to ICCA, almost two-thirds of international association meetings attract 250 or fewer delegates. Only seven percent welcomed more than 1,000 people, and just a tiny fraction (1.3 percent) attracted 3,000 or more. Small events can indeed be beautiful, but we hear little about them. From editor’s blog at Association Meetings International…
Brisbane has just reinforced its reputation as a powerhouse in robotics by welcoming 3,000 delegates from the sector to the 2018 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. The six-day event brought an estimated AU$10.5 million into Queensland’s economy and connected together the state’s substantial ecosystem of robotics institutions and academic departments. From Intellectual Capitals…
For the third year in a row, IACC is pleased to present a ground-breaking report that combines research and insights into the top issues facing the global meetings and conference industry. The 2018 IACC Meeting Room of the Future™ report brings together insights from over 50 venues across four continents, as well as suppliers including global meeting…
IACC’s newly-released 2018 Meeting Room of the Future report highlights how event venues are helping organisers to create memorable experiences for their attendees. More than 50 venues across four continents took part, a large number of which said that meetings, conferences, and training represented between half and all of their business mix. From PCMA Convene…
The last minute cancellation of an academic conference in 2012 due to an approaching hurricane caused a sizeable decline in collaboration and research, a study from the University of Kent has shown. Two days before the American Political Science Association Annual Meeting was due to begin in New Orleans, Hurricane Isaac forced cancellation. From Meetpie.com…
BestCities Global Alliance has announced a joint study project in partnership with Rehabilitation International and GainingEdge. The goal is to produce a reference guide for organisers and the supplier community to make events more inclusive for delegates with special needs. The hope is that knowledge sharing and robust case studies will improve accessibility. From Boardroom…
Destinations International, the global association for convention and visitor bureaus, and European Cities Marketing, the local association for destination marketing organisations, have joined forces to launch an event impact calculator for the European market. The tool is designed to measure the economic value of meetings and calculate their return on investment. From Meetings & Conventions…
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