Entering the final, frantic preparation stages for Hyderabad this month, we were expecting final delegate numbers to be around 750, not quite a record for Asia (that was Thailand in 2007), but on a par with our 2008 Congress in Canada.
The finalists for the ICCA Best Marketing Awards have been selected, and we’ve got an intriguing competition in store between Iceland Convention Bureau, Sandton Convention Centre from South Africa, and the UK’s Excel London ICC.
The first round judging panel believes we’ve got one of the stongest line-ups ever in a competition that is renowned for the quality of creativity and execution on display. The speaker line up includes top international association executives from organisations such as Soroptimists International, World Allergy Organisation, European CanCer Organisation (ECCO), the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies, SIGGRAPH Asia, the International Diabetes Federation and the International Fertiliser Association.
There will be business leaders, marketing innovators and branding experts from outside our industry; specialists in fields such as business culture, media relations and advanced presentation techniques.
And that’s before we include the dozens of senior ICCA members who have volunteered to share their expertise and experience as panellists, speakers, and discussion forum leaders. Highlights include the Copenhagen-Denmark Lecture by Devdutt Pattanaik, one of the star speakers from the TED India conference, who will give an Eastern perspective on what success means in a globalised economy; and we’re thrilled to have Svend Olling with us.
He is now the Danish Ambassador to Bangladesh, but last year he was the Danish government’s top man involved with organising the massive COP15 climate change conference in Copenhagen. Session topics range from Mobile Apps to country branding; from how to create major new events, to what the most cutting-edge designer clients are doing at their parties; from association strategies, to risk management.
Every time slot has at least four sessions to choose from, almost all created exclusively for the ICCA Congress and its demanding audience. We’ve launched a major innovation to signal a radical shift in how the Congress works: ‘Expert Advice Appointments’ that enable delegates to design a personalised agenda throughout the Congress, with more than 30 experts on tap and more than 120 topics to choose from. Hundreds of available one-on-one appointments have been filling fast as delegates book online.
And we’re expecting about 150 of the delegates to be swapping vital inside information on events they’ve recently held via our traditional Business Exchange. Delegates will hear the latest findings from the Convention 2020 research project, and they will attend a variety of discussion forums to debate the implications for the future direction of, and challenges facing our industry.
We know the hosts are geared up and ready to welcome everyone; we know we’ve got some fantastic business opportunities and unique intellectual content, and we’re certain that every delegate will have an experience they’ll never forget.
The 49th ICCA Congress takes place 23-27 October in Hyderabad.
Details: www.iccaworld.com
