BIE (the Bureau International des Expositions) has just unanimously agreed to postponing Expo 2020 Dubai. The rescheduled event will become a global celebration that the COVID-19 crisis is over. There are precedents for postponement across the past history of world fairs, and Dubai’s own back catalogue has seen other milestone events. From Meetings International…
Tokyo-based Congress Corporation has sent Iceberg partner Boardroom a letter outlining the current status of the Japanese events industry. The COVID-19 crisis even saw the 2020 Summer Olympics being postponed. Having also had to weather SARS in 2003, Congress President Noriko Takeuchi has been among those lobbying for government relief. From Boardroom…
A webinar has been held to discuss “Restarting Events in a COVID-19 World”. Chaired by Peter Sheahan, Karrikins Group Founder, speakers included Sherrif Karamat, PCMA President and CEO, Kati Quigley, Senior Director of Global Industry Marketing at Microsoft, and David Peckinpaugh, President of Iceberg partner Maritz Global Events. From PCMA…
With the industry still one of the hardest hit by the coronavirus crisis, the most pressing question on event professionals’ minds is what events will look like once lockdowns have been lifted. There are extra factors on the health and safety front that will pile on top of the measures traditionally taken. From EventMB…
Matthias Schultze, the German Convention Bureau’s Managing Director, has been discussing the future of meeetings with Christina Buttler, the MCI Germany Director of Strategy and Innovation (MCI is a partner of The Iceberg). She is sure virtual and hybrid events will still be revolutionising established formats even after the current crisis ends. From GCB…
The recent staging of Iceberg partner AIME (the Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Event) was not only a platform to showcase the strength and resilience of the region’s events industry, but also as always of destination Melbourne itself. Last October Melbourne Convention Bureau posted record results for the financial year 2018 – 2019, with over…
Luxembourg has a new convention bureau aiming to punch above its weight in business events. The CVB is prioritising green meetings, so wants to register with Iceberg partner the Global Destination Sustainability Index. As not only a city, Luxembourg will be registered as a country, the first to be benchmarked in the index. From Boardroom…
The speed with which the COVID-19 pandemic hit the business world – and the totality of its damaging effects in every corner of the hospitality, destination marketing, travel and live events sectors – cannot be overstated. To get a sense of the pandemic’s impact, PCMA (Professional Convention Management Association) Convene sent an email invitation on…
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…
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…
The UK’s Minister for Sport, Tourism and Heritage, Nigel Huddleston MP, has held an online discussion with over twenty industry CEOs about the government’s £70 billion fund for business events. Leaders from across destinations, event venues and creative agencies were asking whether the economic assistance was enough. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
The 2020 2nd AAT-AD/PD™ Focus Meeting has been held as a wholly virtual event. The Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease conference was attended by 1,143 sector delegates from 56 countries across four days. 250 speakers pre-recorded lectures, and fourteen forums and “Meet the Professor” sessions were streamed live. From Meetings International…
Iceberg partner ICCA and CIMERT (Center of International Meetings Research and Training) have jointly monitored since February the status of meetings in the ICCA Association Database affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Based at Chengdu University, CIMERT has had fifteen students and three lecturers working virtually on the project. From the Event…
Last month Iceberg partner IMEX was forced to cancel its Frankfurt show. Group CEO Carina Bauer has spoken previously about the journey to cancellation, but now the Iceberg ambassador talks more about taking that difficult decision, and also about crisis management, team spirit and of course IMEX America. From EventMB…
Oscar Cerezales (pictured on right), Global Executive VP Corporate and COO Asia Pacific at Iceberg partner MCI, received the prestigious PCMA Chairman’s Award in January. Today he’s at working from his Singapore home, while pondering the flexible, diversified, and consolidated events industry that will emerge beyond coronavirus. From Event Crisis…
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…
COVID-19 has struck a blow to many associations by halting their key source of revenue: the massive annual meeting. With the timescales of lockdown uncertain, associations should try out new ways to support and connect members. So says the CEO of Iceberg partner TMG (Talley Management Group), Gregg Talley. From Northstar Meetings Group…
As the World Health Organization designated COVID-19 a pandemic, and the US announced more flight restrictions, so PDPW (Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin) was one week away from welcoming over 1,200 attendees to its annual Business Conference in Madison. Converting the meeting to virtual was the only way forward. 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…
International travel is now all but shut down and meetings are either cancelled, postponed or online. It’s hard to think about rebuilding while still in the eye of the storm, but it’s nevertheless vital. Rod Cameron, Executive Director of the Joint Meetings Industry Council, which presents The Iceberg, talks sector recovery. From JMIC…
Melbourne’s AIME (the Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Event), with its more than 2,500 visitors and 300 exhibitors on the showroom floor, was one of the last significant industry gatherings successfully delivered in February before the coronavirus pandemic shutdown large meetings across the globe. The Iceberg partner’s buyers and exhibitors connected to conduct business at more…
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