Over 150 delegates gathered in the Polish capital, Warsaw, to take part in the 3rd Annual Congress of the European Federation of the Associations of Professional Congress Organisers. Taking the theme “Tomorrow is Today”, it represented a quantum leap forward in the Federation’s short life – in terms of Congress arrangements and the sessions content…
Over 150 delegates gathered in the Polish capital, Warsaw, to take part in the 3rd Annual Congress of the European Federation of the Associations of Professional Congress Organisers. Taking the theme “Tomorrow is Today”, it represented a quantum leap forward in the Federation’s short life – in terms of Congress arrangements and the sessions content.
“We have come a long way in just three years,” said EFAPCO President Julio Abreu, “And we now seem to be regarded as a serious-minded and highly professional organisation, helping raise professional standards among PCOs and consolidating Europe’s position as the world’s leading conference destination.
“The superb facilities offered by Warsaw in general and by the InterContinental Hotel in particular also provided a great showcase of what Poland can now offer for international business events.”
Over 20 countries were represented at the Congress, from most quarters of Europe including Scandinavia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Russia, The Netherlands and Turkey, plus Canada and Algeria – along with some 40 EFAPCO members from the Federation’s nine member states.
The event attracted 15 international media and a strong squad of participants from the Polish trade and business press.
One of the most significant features of this year’s event, however, was the number of travel and tourism students from Poland who took an active part in the Congress.
“Poland’s comparatively young conference industry is investing heavily in its future development, not least because of the number of students who joined us for the business sessions,” said Julio Abreu.
“That was a fantastically encouraging aspect of our event and I know they will have learnt a great deal from a list of speakers representing the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the Finland Convention Bureau, the Professional Associations Research Network, international bodies dedicated to developing Europe-wide professional standards, international trade exhibitions like IMEX, EFAPCO Board Members and a great line-up of Polish experts. It is little wonder that business tourism is currently one of the fastest-growing sectors of the Polish economy.”
The day before the Congress, EFAPCO’s General Assembly approved the election of First Vice President Nicolas le Brun, from Belgium, as President for the next two years. When Nicolas le Brun takes on his new role in April, Julio Abreu will become Honorary President and Irena Sokolowska from Poland becomes 1st Vice President.
The Assembly heard that EFAPCO now represents 800 individual companies within the European meetings and conventions industry, including 300 PCOs.
Nicolas Le Brun said EFAPCO’s future development would focus on recruitment of new national associations of PCOs and encouragement of their development in countries that, at present, do not have their own associations.
Recruitment of new associate members was an on-going priority, together with further development of the Federation’s already active internal communications systems and marketing presence at Europe’s leading industry trade shows.
The Federation was also dedicated to further expansion of already well-developed links with the EU and its various institutions, with UNWTO, with other meetings industry associations and with European bodies working on normalisation and professional certification systems.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
