Along with an extensive educational program and series of new program briefings, the 2007 Annual Conference of the International Association of Congress Centres (AIPC) delivered a new Board of Directors anda set of winners for the newly launched AIPC Innovation Award.

Conference program content included keynote presentations and workshops from such noted industry leaders as Simon Anholt, founder and publisher of the Anholt Nation Brands Index and the Anholt City Brands Index; Steven Powell, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales, InterContinental Hotels Group and David Greusel, Principal with HOK Sport Venue Event. At the same time, it delivered updates on new initiatives including the AIPC Quality Standards program, the AIPC Academy, the International Sales and marketing Summit and the inaugural AIPC Key Issues and Outlook Survey.

The Conference also included a poster session for 16 entries in the AIPC Innovation Award competition, a program begun this year to recognize projects or initiatives that represent the development of new, more creative or more effective approaches to any aspect of congress centre management, operations or marketing. Three awards were made from the wide range of projects submitted for consideration:

• the first to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in recognizing the importance of green issues to congress centres through their Zero Waste program



• the second to the CCIB Centre Convencions Internacional Barcelona for their new program for the management of technology, and



• the third to the Washington State Convention and Trade Centre, Seattle, for the development of a food and beverage program that combined service, marketing and community relations.

Board elections at the General Assembly that followed the Annual Conference resulted in a new slate of Directors and Association Executives. Along with Past President Barbara Maple of Vancouver, Canada, the AIPC Board now includes President Edgar Hirt of Hamburg, Germany; Vice President Geoff Donaghy of Cairns, Australia; Treasurer Edgar Gnanou of Paris, France; Steve Piper of Brighton, UK; Antti Vihinen of Lahti, Finland; Marisa Marin of Bilbao, Spain and Paul Saint-Jacques of Montreal, Canada.