Keeping events diverse and inclusive often means thinking about issues like age, mental and physical ability, culture, religion, gender identity or language. But how can organisers deliver on diversity, equity, access and inclusion? Arinex Managing Director Nicole Walker offers ten tips for holding a more inclusive event. From Association Meetings International…
Montreal just hosted AIDS 2022 (the 24th International AIDS conference). Around 8,000 attended on site, with another 1,000 online. The legacies of the conference include additional government funds for remote HIV testing in Canada and for ending AIDS worldwide. All outcomes will be measured by Montreal-based Iceberg partner #MEET4IMPACT. From Tourisme Montréal…
Australia is a hotbed of business event excellence, the country’s cities and states both competing and collaborating to win events for the destination. In this high-powered video double bill, The Iceberg hears once again from BESydney CEO Lyn Lewis-Smith, and also from Tourism Australia’s Robin Mack, about the role of meetings in diversifying destinations’ economies….
The US Supreme Court ruling that lifted constitutional protections for access to abortion services has now prompted calls for scientific events to boycott states that have banned or severely restricted services. At least one organisation has already moved a meeting out of Louisiana over the issue of abortion rights. Photo: Ted Eytan. From Nature…
ICCA (International Congress and Convention Association) rankings just posted saw destination Vienna reclaim the top spot worldwide for the first time since 2012. The 2021 Iceberg partner survey attributed 92 congresses to Vienna, with Lisbon second (91) and Athens third (66). Barcelona and Singapore are next, then Madrid, Prague, Paris, Berlin and Brussels. From Meetings International…
Iceberg partner European Cities Marketing has just staged its International Conference and General Assembly in Hamburg, rebranding during the event as the City Destinations Alliance. Visit Flanders and #Meet4impact presented a legacy collaboration there, and the latter’s Geneviève Leclerc now explains how the SDGs make a great framework around which to anchor the legacy of association meetings….
Glasgow, home of the famous Glasgow Botanic Gardens, will welcome over 2,000 soil scientists this summer for the quadrennial World Congress of Soil Science. Over the past twelve months, the city’s convention bureau secured 71 new conferences, expected to bring about 36,000 delegates to Glasgow and add £53 million to its coffers. From AMI Intellectual Capitals…
Prague is better than any other city at engaging with its locally-based association leaders to secure big meetings and conventions, says a new report. The Czech Republic’s capital has a 95 percent “harnessing ratio”, according to the Leveraging Intellectual Capital second edition just compiled by Iceberg partner GainingEdge. From Association Meetings International…
An unexpected artistic legacy now hangs in Salt Palace Convention Center, Utah. Monumental Mattie, by Chad Farnes, portrays Martha Hughes Cannon, a local physician and suffragist who became the first female state senator in America in 1896. The mosaic is made of carpet samples donated from a flooring trade show. From PCMA…
During its recent Brain Awareness Week, Glasgow Convention Bureau took time to acknowledge its Conference Ambassadors, academics working to attract academic meetings to the city. Over 70 percent of Glasgow events are led or supported by the city’s academic institutions, and in 2022 many are in the field of neurology. From Glasgow Convention Bureau…
Ukrainian scientists have called for an international boycott of scientific conferences inside Russia and asked for Russian institutes and scientific leaders to condemn the invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile international associations and other academic bodies are scrambling to cancel conferences in Russia and find alternative venues or pivot their meetings to virtual events. From Association Meetings International…
Carola van der Hoeff is the new President of AC Forum (Associations and Conference Forum). In a broad interview on the Deep Dive podcast she discusses restarting association events, changing business models, building back better and organising her first webinar. As well as that, she looks forward to face-to-face IMEX meetings. From Associations Meetings International…
According to Nikki Walker, who is Global Vice President Engagement, Associations and Communities at Iceberg partner MCI, associations are craving to get back to meeting face-to-face, yet prefer to hold a fully virtual substitute rather than hybrid. In this Deep Dive podcast, Walker examines how associations have evolved through COVID. From Associations Meetings International…
PCMA Editor-in-Chief Michelle Russell drew our attention to this discussion of how the model of scientific conference should be changing in the wake of the pandemic. It contains a fantastic example of serendipitous legacy, a chance meeting at a conference in Puerto Rico leading to some Nobel prize-winning CRISPR gene editing. From Chemistry World…
Just what is COP26, and why should it matter to meetings professionals? Sustainability not-for-profit isla put together this handy historical guide in advance of the Glasgow COP26 conference. Which destinations have hosted previous COPs, and what legacies did they create, if the climate emergency is still upon us? From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
The global meetings industry is being urged to join together in an historic pledge to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. JMIC (Joint Meetings Industry Council), which presents The Iceberg, has launched an initiative called Net Zero Carbon Events to connect the industry to the growing movement to radically reduce emissions. From Association Meetings International…
Postponed a few times for obvious reasons after having been staged online in 2020, the GIAF (Geneva International Association Forum) was the first physical association event of the kind post-lockdown. Delegates were certainly happy to be together again seeing old friends and making new ones. But the event programme also did not disappoint. From Boardroom…
Business and Events Academy Creator Nadia Rubtsova once worked for the European Health Management Association. Back in 2019, the scientific conference of EHMA was taking place in Espoo, Finland. After a year of hard work, the organiser’s guiding Northern stars for the meeting’s three days and 350 delegates were legacy, community and impact. From Boardroom…
The European Society of Cardiology has said that its ESC Congress, the world’s largest gathering of heart specialists, will be back at ExCeL London in 2024. The society ran its 2015 event at the venue, bringing in more than 32,700 participants from 140 countries, and leaving a legacy of public involvement. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
The key role that conference ambassadors can play in a city’s fortunes has been highlighted by Dubai Business Events securing several international association events last year. The World Marinas Conference 2021, World Congress of Direct Selling 2023 and World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems 2024 were all secured by ambassadors. From Association Meetings International…
Almost three quarters of scientists want virtual meetings to continue, according to a new poll conducted by the magazine Nature. But survey respondents also gave compelling reasons for a balance of virtual and in person formats, thus combining the best of both worlds to maximise the benefits of each approach. From Associations Now…
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