ABPCO’s annual AGM and member conference took place in Belfast on June 21 attended by more than 60 PCOs, partners, speakers and press. During the event, which was hosted by ICC Belfast, Visit Belfast and Titanic Belfast, the ABPCO leadership team highlighted the association’s ongoing success as well as forward looking plans from greater member engagement and communication.
During the AGM, the following were confirmed as new members of the ABPCO executive board: David Parker, Royal College of Physicians; Michael Smith, RenewableUK; Rob Eveleigh, Brightelm; Anne Doherty, Happening Conferences & Events; and Barbara Calderwood, MCI Group.
The last year was hailed a tremendous success by the chairs Kate Sargent and Jo Powel during their review of 2018-19. In particular they highlighted growth in member attendance at events, increased profile for the associations across a range of different media and ongoing membership growth.
Moving into 2020 ABPCO is launching a new online member portal that will deliver a wider range of resources to the ABPCO community including education content, event booking tools and opportunities for peer to peer communication. The new website and portal was launched during the AGM.
During the event the ICC Belfast and Visit Belfast delivered content including a session designed to improve connectivity among members and highlights of Belfast’s recent successes and future plans. The AGM was preceded by a welcome reception and dinner hosted by Titanic Belfast.
“The AGM rounded off a fantastic year for ABPCO,” says Powel. “It was an opportunity to highlight our success whilst demonstrating our plans for the future. The new online portal will be an incredibly powerful tool for our members as they continue engage and get value from ABPCO in a host of different ways. The whole Belfast team were incredible, they delivered a seamless event that perfectly balanced professionalism and friendliness, clearly demonstrating everything the city has to offer event organizers.”
The Association of British Professional Conference Organizers, (ABPCO) is the UK’s leading professional body for association conference and not-for-profit event organization. For 30 years, ABPCO has focused on excellence and helped to facilitate conversations, knowledge sharing and collaboration between ABPCO members. For more info, visit www.abpco.org.
