Cape Town. The Annual Conference of the International Association of Congress Centres (AIPC) just concluded at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) provided members with key industry insights along with a newly elected President and Board.
AIPC’s new President is Geoff Donaghy, CEO of International Convention Centre Sydney and Director Convention Centres AEG Ogden. Joining Mr. Donaghy on the board are new Vice President Peter Gunn, Chief Executive of the Bournemouth International Centre, UK.
Conference content was driven by a wide range of sessions that included a strong representation from South African business and thought leaders along with research results and observations from an array of both industry and business / political perspectives.
A common theme related to the concerns arising from ongoing global economic uncertainties and the strategies being developed to address these. In particular these reflected the lessons that the experiences of emerging economies such as that of the host country could offer to colleagues from other parts of the world.
“I’m both grateful and excited to be taking over the AIPC leadership at a time when the challenges being faced by both the industry as a whole and convention centres specifically are increasingly being seen as opportunities for those with more innovative approaches”, said Donaghy.
He added: “In particular I think we have a great opportunity to advance the role and image of centres as vehicles for broad economic development of the sort required by governments around the world, and that is an area where AIPC can make a real contribution“.
Another highlight of the Conference was the awarding of the 2013 AIPC Innovation Awards for creative program development in the areas of convention centre management, marketing and operations. This year’s winners were the Fira de Barcelona for their Near Field Communication Badge and the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, Boston for their Event Management System with Mobile Interface.
AIPC represents a global network of 170 leading centres in 54 countries with the active involvement of more than 900 management-level professionals worldwide.
