In News this issue, the owner of venues including ICC Birmingham and the National Exhibition Centre, NEC Group, is set to make 450 redundancies after earning “almost zero revenues” due to the pandemic. More than 525,000 jobs are now at risk across the £84 billion UK events and experiences industry, and three out of four companies could fail to survive beyond next February, the government has been warned. Two industry associations, SISO and Iceberg partner UFI, have asked global governments to prioritise COVID-19 testing over quarantine to “keep business going”. The Vienna Tourist Board has been celebrating the success of the Vienna Tourism Conference, its first on location meeting since the start of the pandemic, held with testing and strict health and safety protocols in place. And, of course, a vaccine that may stop over ninety percent of people from COVID-19 could mean the return of in-person conferences and events sooner than anticipated.Īlso in News, research. Ashfield Meetings and Events and IPCAA (the International Pharmaceutical Congress Advisory Association) have both partnered on a study into healthcare professionals’ thinking about online medical congresses. The 27th annual UK Conference and Meeting Survey report confirms that last year the industry was “extremely robust and dynamic” and contributed nearly £18 billion towards the UK economy. A report from Iceberg partner IMEX calls for the global meetings industry to regenerate and not just to restart. Welcome! Find out more about and make use of these invaluable resources in Features, where you can also discover how to become an Iceberg partner or ambassador yourself for 2021 / 2022. Copenhagen Legacy Lab is also now an Iceberg partner. To coincide with the congress, Copenhagen CVB shared its Copenhagen Legacy Lab processes and tools with the global events industry. Has anything happened while we’ve been away? Is Donald Tump still President? Are we still waiting for a vaccine? I look forward to seeing the Hollywood adaptation of The Kaohsiung Protocol. Huge thanks to James (Rees), Senthil, Sina, Ksenija and Josephin at ICCA, to Ben at Maritz and to Gregg at TMG, plus to Dale, Gemma, Max, Zac and all at DRPG. James Latham and I both found the multi-hub, hybrid event experience truly invigorating, and the content covered across the regions was impressive.

The Iceberg and Business Events World just took another short hiatus from regular delivery, to assist with studio presenting duties on the 59th ICCA Congress. Alongside ICCA President James Rees (right) during the 59th ICCA Congress.Īs we TV folk still often say… “welcome back after the break”.

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