ICCA Association Expert Seminar focuses on interactive strategies
The 6th ICCA Association Expert Seminar (AES) took place the weekend before IMEX
This unique, interactive seminar is organised by ICCA and brings together 20 international association executives and 40 international suppliers (ICCA members) to share information and experiences, and to update themselves on the latest trends and ideas relating to international association conferences.
The hot topics at this year’s edition were interactive strategies and social media and sustainability of associations. Associations are being challenged to use electronic marketing and communication and develop social media strategies. Growing competition forces associations to find new value propositions for members: networking is king, and content of association meetings and webinars has to be new, authentic and exclusive. Meeting budgets of international associations are being cut and time pressure of volunteers is increasing. It is foreseen global associations will organise smaller, regional meetings, which will compete with national meetings.
Please find an article with a full report on the subjects discussed at the AES on the ICCA website.
Moderator Gary Grimmer says: «The AES has always gotten pretty good marks from the participants over the years, because it is a unique opportunity for association executives and ICCA members to get together to discuss current issues in the international meetings market. To me, this was the best year yet. We had some very interesting discussions that were at very a high strategic level. I think it gave the association executives a lot to think about, and the ICCA members went away with a much better understanding of the challenges their customers are facing.»