Growth. The World PCO Alliance continues to grow, and will announce on July 29th its new members, which will effectively expand the alliance to all 6 continents of the globe.
The Alliance held its Third Annual General Meeting on May 23rd in Frankfurt, and re-elected Mr. Anthony Wong (AOS Conventions & Events, Malaysia), for another 2-year term as President. Also re-elected was Ms. Kayo Nomura (Congress Corporation, Japan), for another 2-year term as Secretary General. Joining them in the Alliance’s Board of Officers is Mr. Per Anker (ICS – International Conference Services, Denmark), who continues as Vice President for the balance of his 2-year term.
The World PCO Alliance was created to help associations organize effective meetings throughout the globe. Representing the leading PCOs in all six continents, this cohesive group aims to capitalize on the efficiency of consolidating conference and event services within one network. By sharing resources, knowledge, technology, training and best practices, the WPCOA is your associations’ one-stop solution for your international meetings and conferences. All members of the alliance are leaders in the association congresses industry in their respective countries and regions, and have a record of contributing to the development of the local meetings and events industry.
The Alliance’s strength is its ability to combine the virtues of being global and at the same time local, large and at the same time accessible. Its global reach allows for more efficient marketing of international congresses, as each country contributes to the marketing efforts of the congresses organized by any member of the Alliance. Furthermore, the permanent exchange of knowledge, and human and technical resources, as well as training and sharing of best practices, propels each PCO to greater levels of excellence in servicing its clients. Just as important as its global reach is its capacity to maintain ownership of each PCO in the hands of its local leaders, providing a high level of accountability and motivation in the local organization in charge of the project, and propelling thought leadership and creativity.
The current 15 PCOs that integrate the alliance are:
Australia: Eventcorp
Brazil: Exclusive South America
China: China Star Professional Programs
Denmark: ICS – International Conference Services a/s
France: Colloquium Paris S.A.
India: KW Conferences Pvt Ltd.
Ireland: Keynote PCO
Japan: Congress Corporation
Korea: People-X, Inc.
Malaysia: AOS Conventions & Events Sdn, Bhd.
Singapore: Ace:Daytons Direct (International) Pte Ltd.
South Africa: The Conference Company
Taiwan: K & A International Co., Ltd.
Thailand: Creative Destination Management
United Arab Emirates: Congress Solutions International
As part of its initiatives for 2011, the Alliance members expressed their full support for Japan and their intention to back up efforts to help the recovery of its meetings and events industry, in view of the fact that outside a very limited part of the country directly affected by the earthquake and tsunami of 11 March and its aftermath, there is no obstacle to hosting international meetings and events in Japan.
