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"Strategies for Success and Survival: Information, Context, Action" was the theme of this year’s AIPC Annual Conference in Amsterdam and as suggested it comprised a wide range of perspectives on the challenges associated with a lingering economic downturn and the growing expectations of centre clients.
"In a time of ongoing business and government uncertainty combined with intense and growing competition, new strategies are required not only to succeed but often to simply survive" says AIPC President Edgar Hirt. "Developing those strategies and putting them into action requires good information and analysis as well as the insights required to put them into a proper perspective".
Conference keynote presenters a range of topics intended to serve as conversation-starters for the industry- specific and strategic sessions that followed. They included Prof. Stephane Garelli, a world authority on competitiveness and professor at the Institute of Management Development in Lausanne who authored a best-selling book – "Top Class Competitors – How Nations, Firms and Individuals Succeed in the New World of Competitiveness"; Jochen Witt, a management consultant to the trade fair industry in the areas of strategy and marketing and a leading authority on trade fair related services and products, and Prof. Dr. Paul Louis Iske, Professor Open Innovation and Business Venturing, School of Business and Economics Maastricht University and Chief Dialogues Officer at ABN AMRO Bank.
Additional sessions included a global review of industry conditions and challenges; the perspectives of other industry professionals on the issues faced by key client groups and analyses of areas that impact convention centre business prospects such as the airline and accommodation sectors. As well, recent industry research and survey data was presented and debated in an effort to establish a clearer picture of global performance and conditions as well as the tactics being taken to address them.
Conference content was rounded out by panels on new technologies affecting centres and the emerging tools – including an AIPC sponsored economic impact calculator as well as advice on engaging more effectively in community and government advocacy – that have been developed to assist members with their owner and public interfaces.
The Annual Conference concluded with the announcement of the 2012 AIPC Apex Award winner for "World’s Best Convention Centre" and the Royal College of Physicians in London, UK and the AIPC General Assembly which included the election of Aloysius Arlando, Chief Executive Officer of the Singex Group in Singapore to the Board of Directors.
"I think we’d all have been a lot happier to have been gathering to discuss the implications and opportunities associated with a robust economic recovery, but that simply wasn’t in the cards" said Hirt. "Instead, we used our time together to compare industry conditions and look at alternate solutions, which is the best possible way to respond to the realities of today’s business environment".
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
