Specifically designed for meetings management sector delegates, International Association of Professional Congress Organisers (IAPCO) will host a mini conference at the 53rd International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) Congress, to be held Nov. 1-5 in Antalya, Turkey.
ICCA and IAPCO have collaborated to organize an extended, in-depth session on some of the most critical issues facing the meetings management professional, especially in relation to the international association market.
Using IAPCO’s extensive educational and research resources, professional congress organizers (PCO) will learn new ways to structure their business, negotiate with clients, draw up effective strategies and reduce risk. Scheduled for Nov. 3, the PCO Focus at ICCA will be “Association Meetings = Risky Business for PCO’s?”
Session leaders include Roslyn McLeod, arinex of Australia; IAPCO President Michel Neijmann, K2 Conference & Event Management Co. of Turkey; and IAPCO Training Academy Chair André Vietor, Barceló Congresos of Spain.
To be led by André Vietor, the topic “Have associations become too vulnerable or risky for PCOs to handle?” will focus on associations’ reliance on single events and the push for their partners to carry more risk. The objective of this session is to debate and identify how the professional community, not individual corporations, effectively communicates value to clients and to analyze to what extent taking on risks by PCO’s really pays back.
In the second session entitled “How do you report your performance to your clients?”, to be led by Roslyn McLeod, attendees will determine how a client distinguishes between tenders to decide the best value PCO appointment for their needs and whether transparency correlates with quality.
In “The times are changing – and so must we. Changes in the meetings industry and their impact on conferences, planners and suppliers,” session leader Michel Neijmann will follow up to the debate and outcomes from an IAPCO session run during IMEX America. The original debate focused on the changing needs and demands of conference delegates as well as those of sponsors and speakers.
The International Association of Professional Congress Organisers (IAPCO) was founded in 1968 and represents today more than 114 professional organisers, meeting planners and managers of international and national congresses, conventions and special events from 40 countries.
For further information, visit www.iapco.org.
