Giving International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) members a unique way to identify local representatives who could help them bid for an international association meeting is the Big Data Search, a new tool launched at the joint ICCA member session on May 19 at IMEX in Frankfurt.
Utilizing the vast databases of Google Scholar and Microsoft Academic Search, ICCA members will be able to identify leading academic contacts in specified cities and regions, related to a specific meeting in the ICCA Association Database or a specific meeting subject. Involving local association representatives is crucial for preparing a successful bid to host the next edition of an association’s international meeting.
The tool is provided by new ICCA member Human Equation, a center of innovation in digital marketing, specializing in the development of interactive solutions designed to perfect the business needs of its clients.
“This exciting initiative with ICCA member Human Equation presents a revolutionary new way of applying Big Data search techniques in the international association meetings market. Human Equation had set up a similar project for Tourisme Montréal, one of our members,” said Martin Sirk, CEO, ICCA. “ICCA is always looking for new ways to increase its membership value for its members, and when we got word of this project Human Equation immediately showed great interest in teaming up with us to make this tool available to all ICCA members. The version announced today is ICCA’s first step in harnessing the power of Big Data and combining it with our own unique data on associations and their meetings, and we anticipate adding new functionality and data sources to ICCA Big Data Search as we receive feedback from users.”
ICCA is the leader in the international association meetings sector, and it comprises almost 1,000-member companies and organizations in over 90 countries worldwide.
“Tourisme Montréal wanted to refine its method of identifying and reaching out to potential local ‘influencers’ to champion their international congress bids, so Human Equation worked to define the digital DNA of such an individual,” said Andrea Doyon, chief innovation officer, Human Equation. “Our system tracked down markers in specific sectors and delivered qualified leads for Tourisme Montréal, saving thousands of hours over traditional methods. The Big Data Search provided very valuable information for them, and I am convinced it can do the same for other suppliers in the international meetings industry. We are very excited and proud to team up with ICCA to provide this revolutionary service to all ICCA members.”
The first release for ICCA members will go live Jun. 2. ICCA is also offering Human Equation’s Lead Analytics tool to its members, which identifies organizations’ names and tracks online behavior of website visitors.
