The International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA) Association Database enables ICCA members – the main suppliers in the international meetings industry – to find potential association meetings business. The redesigned online version of the database provides simpler, smarter and faster access to association meetings information.
The redesigned interface is much more intuitive, flexible, jargon-free and tablet-friendly. New features include a new search engine and updated algorithm to quickly identify meetings with relevant rotation areas that have not been to a specific destination before and find confirmed meetings in a certain city or country. A vast amount of filtering and sorting options make it easier for members to find high-potential association meetings business.
“The Association Database is widely regarded as ICCA’s most important product, but it’s still under-utilized by many members because it has often been perceived as too complicated or that it required too much time to extract useful data. The redesign eliminates these barriers and will enable members to easily incorporate our data into their day-to-day business processes,” stated Martin Sirk, CEO, ICCA. “We confidently expect to see dramatically higher usage by those who are already in the habit of logging on, a big growth in regular access by those who currently aren’t using it and significant increases in bidding activity by ICCA members across the world as they find it easier to identify and engage with prospective future client associations.”
Founded in 1963, ICCA is built on the foundation of sharing information on international association meetings business between its members. This information was supplied to members by paper bulletins in the 1970s, by CD-ROMs with updated information in the ‘90s and the first online database was launched in 2004. The redesigned version of the ICCA Association Database online was launched at ICCA’s traditional Mid-Year Plenary meeting during IMEX.
ICCA also added Big Data Search functionalities to its Association Database. Utilizing the databases of Google Scholar and Microsoft Academic Search, ICCA members can identify leading academic contacts in specified cities and regions related to a specific meeting in the ICCA Association Database or a specific meeting subject. Finding these local “ambassadors” is a crucial step in preparing a successful bid to host the next edition of an association’s international meeting.
For more information, visit iccaworld.com
