The Memphis Cook Convention Center in Tennessee is getting a $175 million refit. The upgraded venue will boast 52 meeting rooms, glass covered concourses, and outdoor terraces looking over the Mississippi. The city plans to use a hotel / motel tax to fund the project as well as the Downtown Tourism Development Zone. From News Channel 3…
It was 2017’s most memorable meetings industry picture story: the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston repurposed as a mega-shelter in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. Over 22 days, the venue became a temporary home to over 10,000 evacuees. Chief Operating Officer Luther Villagomez relives an operation the sector won’t quickly forget. From PCMA Convene…
Today convention centres have to take a broader approach to the meetings sector, offering organisers a gateway to the cities and regions in which they are located. Some are effectively convention bureaux in their own right. Just how the role of major venues is changing is revealed across the thriving Australian scene. From CIM News Magazine…
The holiday season is a time we should all be thinking about those less fortunate than ourselves. So what better story now to tell than the charitable legacies offered by several major US convention centres during Thanksgiving… the last time that turkey was on the menu? Go and do likewise. From PCMA…
World Forum The Hague (formerly World Forum) and the City of The Hague have reopened the Dutch city’s largest venue for conferences and events after years of renovations and an investment of more than €28 million. The work allows the venue to host even larger events in a new 12,000 square metre exhibition hall. From Boardroom…
In yet another example of the creative legacies of business events, ICC Sydney has published a book celebrating its art collection. “ICC Sydney Art Collection: A Curated Collection of Art to Celebrate Sydney” includes commissions both for the new venue and for the first convention and exhibition centre in Darling Harbour. From CIM News Magazine…
The opening of the new Paris Convention Centre, the largest venue of its kind in Europe, has shone a spotlight on the French capital’s offering for large meetings. The Viparis launch event showcased not just the centre itself, but also some of the wider knowledge economy Paris can bring to the table. From Boardroom…
The nature of venues and of how organisers use them is changing. If coffee shops are now suitable spaces, why not cinemas? The refurbished Stella in South Dublin – an Art Deco time capsule – is visited in this article, with some Bold ideas for small meetings featured as well. From SoolNua’s Pádraic Gilligan at Padraicino…
ICC Sydney is to roll out a multi-streamed legacy programme, designed to connect the world’s brightest minds, industry leaders and delegates across a diverse cross-section of Sydney’s community. Starting in January, the scheme will foster knowledge exchange, collaboration and engagement around four streams: Innovators, Generation Next, Aboriginal Australia and Sustainability. From CIM News Magazine…
The Paris Convention Centre, the largest venue of the kind in Europe, has opened its doors for business. The new facility boasts 72,000 square metres of event space and can host up to 35,000 people. The €180 million project is the first of three phases in the refurbishment of the Parc des Expositions. From Association Meetings International…
It’s awards time again, and the marketing category of any major ceremony is always hotly contested, as for example at the recent ICCA Congress in Prague (News: “FMCCA Wins Best Marketing Award”). One Iceberg partner, SoolNua, boasts not only the Chairman of Judges of that ceremony, but also a nomination in another. From SoolNua’s Pádraic Gilligan at Padraicino…
UFI’s World Map of Exhibition Venues (November 2017) reveals that the total venue space available for exhibitions has grown 7.4 percent in the last six years, from 32,500,000 to 34,900,000 square metres (gross indoor exhibition space, venues over 5,000 square metres). The fastest growth is in venues offering more than 100,000 square metres, a rise of…
The Flanders Meeting & Convention Center Antwerp has won the prestigious Best Marketing Award at the 56th ICCA Congress in Prague. The FMCCA team won with their “a room with a ZOO” destination campaign. A record number of applications were received by ICCA this year for the award, which was promoted on video. From Meetpie.com…
UFI’s World Map of Exhibition Venues 2017 reveals that the total venue space available for exhibitions has grown 7.4 percent in the last six years. The fastest growth is in venues offering more than 100,000 square metres. Asia now boasts more space than North America, and Europe has the most globally. From CIM News Magazine…
This report gives an overview of the experience and intentions of exhibitors at trade shows across the world. It aims to give event organisers a deeper understanding of the patterns and trends that drive positive and negative exhibitor experiences and the objectives and behaviours that underlie them. This report has been created in two stages….
Belfast Waterfront is hosting nine major international conferences in 2018, generating around 29,000 delegate nights and more than £10 million for the city. The convention centre’s management says £1 billion of investment has just revitalised Belfast’s tourism offering. The city is also attracting visitors as a Game of Thrones location. Photo: William Murphy. From Meetpie.com…
The Puerto Rico Convention Center will resume its event schedule in the New Year, according to the island’s convention bureau. The US territory’s hotels, port and airport are now fully operational after the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria in September. The conference centre has been relief effort command centre since the storm. Photo: Mtmelendez. From Meetpie.com…
An addition to PACIFICO Yokohama will be opening in the spring of 2020: a new multi-function conference centre. With the ability to host 6,000, its column-free 6,300 square metre hall has eight sections which can be configured in different ways. PACIFICO Yokohama itself can be used together with the new centre for larger events. From Boardroom…
A new convention centre is to be built in Hong Kong to bring in more international meetings to the city. The new venue will be near the existing Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai. The site currently houses government buildings which will be demolished to create the new facility. From Association Meetings International…
Over $80 million of public benefits, including affordable housing, cycling, pedestrian and road projects, have been agreed by the Washington State Convention Center as part of its planned $1.6 billion expansion in downtown Seattle. The agreement with a group called the Community Package Coalition will include $29 million of funding for affordable housing. From The Seattle Times…
Marriott has recently taken flak for hosting a convention of ACT America, which calls itself a ‘grassroots national security organisation’ but which has also been dubbed America’s ‘largest anti-Muslim hate group’. Marriott lists diversity and inclusion among its core values. ACT America has its own anti-violence, anti-discrimination policy. From the editor’s blog at Association Meetings International…
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