With 600 registrations from over 50 countries by the end of August, this year`s ICCA Congress at the end of October is on schedule to equal or break the 820 attendee record set by the 2006 Congress in Rhodes, Greece, which itself attracted 25% more delegates than ever before. The highest ever registration level for a Congress held outside Europe was the 2004 Congress in Cape Town, when 652 attended.

ICCA`s networking and business exchange opportunities are always a big draw to senior meetings industry directors, says Martin Sirk, ICCA CEO, but this year we have paid particular attention to the strength of the education programme and this has really caught the attention of our membership in Asia.

Dynamic growth in the region has created enormous demand for high level sales and marketing skills, know-how and training amongst the ambitious Asian workforce, which ICCA is delivering with sessions such as Creating Efffective Bid Documents; Marketing with Tight Budgets; and Handling Intergovernmental Meetings. Conversely, meetings industry professionals in Europe and the Americas want to find out what is really happening in Asia, and the programme delivers strategic insights through Asian Business Trends; Growth and Impact of Casino Convention Venues and Development of the Association Sector in Asia, and new research study results concerning the types of major venue being built in China.

A wide spread of experienced speakers from within the ICCA membership are supplemented with top international clients, including Susan Goldstein from World Youth Student Travel Conference, Anna Frick from pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, and Ulrike von Lonski from World Pertroleum Council. Professional speakers are led by branding guru Martin Lindstrom who will deliver the keynote Copenhagen Lecture, and include Bob Gray`s unique session on how to dramatically improve your business memory skills, back by popular demand from 2006.

We think we`ve now got an excellent formula for the congress states Martin Sirk. Experienced ICCA members share hard-won knowledge with less experienced colleagues, external experts provide new insights and perceptions from other industry sectors that are particularly valuable to the most senior attendees, and top clients with globally important events keep everyone aware of the latest market developments. I`m convinced that this is the reason why our registration figures are so impressive this year.