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ICCA board members have committed to work harder to forge closer working partnerships with airlines and hotels to build a greater understanding of the needs of international meetings.
The pledge was revealed at the organisation’s Winter Debate in Copenhagen (12-13th February 2009) entitled; "The Real Economy in 2009 – Beating the Credit Crunch and Preparing for Growth," where senior professionals from the UK, Ireland, Denmark and European meeting industries debated challenging issues surrounding the current economic climate.
Points raised during speeches and keynote session from profile attendees including Hilton Hotels, experiencial marketing agency, George P. Johnson, and partners of the debate, SAS Airlines and Wonderful Copenhagen suggested event organisers should put a strong emphasis on building the relationship with clients in order to become integrated in their decision making process. The debate also concluded that quality of attendance at events was more important than quantity.
Other points which were hotly debated were:
– ROI has overtaken CSR policy as the key driver for live events and meetings with measurement seen as key
– Organisations need to show agility, taking time to zoom out and look at the bigger picture
– Meetings should be considered an investment not a cost and an importance placed on communicating this
– Successful marketing should embrace the undoubted strength of events
Chair of ICCA UK & Ireland Chapter, James Rees commented; "Inevitably, gaining a return on investment is a much higher issue on everyone’s agenda at the moment and in order to achieve this, a high emphasis must be placed on trust and partnerships between suppliers and clients. Alliances are a two way thing and can only be as strong as the weakest partner.”
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
