The 59th ICCA Congress focused on ICCA’s primary objective—to revive the tradeshow/events industry safely and sustainably. The Kaohsiung Protocol is a significant legacy outcome of the congress which brought together the entire global ICCA community to explore new ideas, formats, and technologies. Through the Kaohsiung protocols, ICCA is providing its members with real-time business intelligence based on original research.
The ICCA Kaohsiung Protocol has effective strategies and takeaways for all sectors to consider and implement in their management processes to drive the events/exhibition industry forward. In addition, the Kaohsiung Protocol provides a roadmap for broader industry collaboration on issues and challenges that are bigger than ICCA, which need all the industry organizations to solve together.
Four specific themes continually arose during the development of the strategies in the Kaohsiung Protocol framework: engagement, technology, risk and business. These four themes encompass the most significant opportunities and challenges across the entire event industry ecosystem in our increasingly fluid future.
The future of the events industry is not a debate about face-to-face versus virtual. It’s about building networks and optimizing connections to support the personal and professional transformation that drives economic and social progress—regardless of the formats and channels.
ICCA CEO Senthil Gopinath explains, “The Kaohsiung Protocol blueprint has provided us with a roadmap for broader industry collaboration on issues and challenges that are bigger than ICCA community which will need all the industry organizations to solve together. The ‘push’ to make that happen must come from all of us invested in our industry to demand our leaders in all the organizations work together to keep our industry vital and relevant to the appropriate governmental decision-makers. Our industry is uniquely capable of driving COVID recovery and ongoing social and economic development and transformation. While this moment in time is difficult, it is also an opportunity to transform our messages and businesses to evolve with the dynamic changes that are occurring.
“ICCA acknowledges the incredible dedication shown by MMGY NextFactor and the Kaohsiung Protocol Advisory Panel throughout, and for their invaluable insight to help define the road forward for the global meeting and events industry. ICCA and MMGY NextFactor will continue to work together to develop a detailed and objective model to assess a destination’s ability to host global business events for release in mid-2021.”
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ICCA is the global association leader for the international meetings industry and specializes in the international association meetings sector, offering unrivaled data, education, communication channels, and business development and networking opportunities. Since its establishment in 1963, ICCA represents the world’s top destinations and most experienced suppliers specialized in handling, transporting and accommodating international meetings and events, and comprises of more than 1,100 member companies and organizations in almost 100 countries and territories worldwide. As of 2020 ICCA encompasses all major stakeholders in the world of association meetings, by opening its doors to associations with the launch of the “ICCA Association Community,” offering education, connections, tools and resources to associations to organize more effective meetings. For more info, email icca@iccaworld.org
