The UK government has launched a £250,000 competition to improve connectivity at conference centres that host international meetings. The funding will be awarded to venues across the UK to help them improve on-site broadband and attract more international business events. The competition is open for six weeks. From Association Meetings International…
Sigurjóna Sverrisdóttir has taken over as Managing Director of Meet in Reykjavík. She follows Thorsteinn Orn Gudmundsson, who piloted the Icelandic capital’s new convention bureau from its founding in 2012. Last year Iceland welcomed about 135,000 international meetings delegates, and some years of solid business growth. From Meetings International…
Getting proactive with meaningful data is always a good idea. In 2018 the key metric for meetings and events was the number of leads. In 2019 67 percent of marketers are looking to calculate ROI. Here findings from some of the latest meetings and events research are explored. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
New Zealand offers meeting planners the chance to tap into market sectors like health sciences, agribusiness, tourism, advanced manufacturing and design, high value food and wine, ICT and earth sciences. Collaboration between learning and research centres and a strong focus on education and progress from government have placed Aotearoa centre stage globally. From Boardroom…
Aberdeen’s economy may once have been powered by oil and gas, but Scotland’s third city is now becoming an all-energy hub, with major investment in renewables, especially wind. It’s a life sciences hub as well, with coming new infrastructure in that sector, plus in transport, digital and the P&J Live venue (pictured). From AMI Intellectual Capitals…
Shaun Vorster is Vice President of Business Integration and Activations at Dubai’s Expo 2020. Here he talks about that role, shares information on what to expect at the October 2020 launch, and discusses the place legacy holds in shaping both the programming of Expo 2020 and the afterlife of its venues. From the Event…
A historic and musical icon, Liverpool has seen substantial regeneration in recent years, reinventing itself as a life sciences knowledge hub, with further expertise in creative digital technology, maritime and logistics. It also boasts a world-class event campus and other venues hosting major national and international meetings. From AMI Intellectual Capitals…
Toulouse, Montreal, Singapore, along with Seattle, South East England and Bengalaru in India, are all destinations with clusters of innovation in aerospace. Where knowledge collects, so do associated meetings, so these hubs of expertise in this exciting sector are also attracting significant international events. From Association Meetings International…
Iceberg partner IBTM World has just launched a mentoring / investment scheme for young entrepreneurs. The Event Business Accelerator will give those with an idea, product or service for the events industry the chance of intensive mentoring, and of pitching to potential investors at IBTM World this November in Barcelona. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
Iceberg partner European Cities Marketing, in collaboration with TCI Research, has used analysis of over a million social media postings to study the reputation of destinations across Europe. The City Sentiment Index Report reveals the theme of MICE scoring highest intensity in London, and highest positivity in Oslo (pictured). From European Cities Marketing…
Brisbane is the latest city to join up with Iceberg partner the Global Destination Sustainability Index, becoming GDS-Index’s 50th signing. The Queensland capital is now part of a global sustainability movement, benchmarking the sustainability of both destinations and their events, and promoting adoption of the seventeen UN Sustainable Development Goals. From HQ…
London has been named the top meetings destination in Europe for the fifth consecutive year. Cvent, the events and hospitality technology provider, has released its annual rankings. Eastern European cities are gaining momentum, with Prague moving back into the top ten. Istanbul has broken into the top twenty-five. From Association Meetings International…
Legitimate research meetings are now under threat from “predatory” conferences. These unscholarly events are organised for profit and publish anything sent their way for a fee. One even passed a nuclear physics paper written using iOS autocomplete. Could tracking the meetings as well as the research be the answer? From Paul Killoran via Boardroom…
Cambridge is capitalising on its reputation in medical science and technology, winning international events that will bring in more than 3,000 delegates and £3.2 million of economic impact over the next two years. The Cambridge Biomedical Campus is also expanding into one of the world’s leading centres in the sector. From AMI Intellectual Capitals…
CTICC, the Cape Town International Convention Centre, has just passed its sixteenth birthday. To mark the occasion, CTICC shared sixteen of its achievements. Among them were job creation, economic contribution and training, growing the province’s knowledge economy, and CTICC’s response to Cape Town’s water crisis. From Meetings International…
What will the meetings industry look like in 2029? New tech, spiralling travel costs, legislation about the environment and “flight guilt” will transform the sector. The industry will still thrive. The need to “meet” will not go away. But “meeting” will more often be through a screen. From editor’s blog at Association Meetings International…
Festivalisation refers to a process of making existing meeting structures more engaging, more immersive, and more tailored to the individual. The word is everywhere and may sound like a gimmick, but there’s a serious side to it, which might determine whether your congress lives to see another ten years. From Association Meetings International…
Taiwan is now one of its region’s most dynamic economies, with industry specialties including IT, telecommunications and semiconductors. Government-driven and foreign investment assists Taiwanese firms venturing into areas like artificial intelligence, blockchain, fifth-generation telecoms, gaming, Internet of Things (IoT) and virtual reality. The sector is also attracting meetings. From Boardroom…
The UK’s first-ever tourism sector deal is set to deliver a focussed new government strategy to grow the country’s conferences and meetings. It has created plans for identifying business events it might support, with separate criteria for attracting events to the UK, growing existing meetings and creating new ones. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
A year ago Amsterdam hosted the 22nd International Aids Conference. A visual “dressing” campaign made the meeting very hard to miss in and around the city. Holland may be a compact in size as a conference destination, but it packs a punch when it comes to its knowledge infrastructure and congress capabilities. From Boardroom…
Africa’s Travel Indaba, hosted again at the Durban ICC, has attracted over 1,000 exhibitors and 1,500 buyers, as well as South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (centre). The event was organised around greening principles in evidence throughout the three days, which included introducing Meetings Africa’s Green Stand Award for the most sustainable exhibitor. From the Event…
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