From the President & CEO

A WORD OF OPTIMISM

2021 started as another year of virtual events across our industry. A challenging year with a lot of uncertainties.

With recent news, however, coming from different countries, a bright light is appearing at the end of the tunnel.

The US travel association has released their travel forecast to 2024 using Oxford Economics’ proprietary travel forecasting model. Total spending on Business Travel will increase by 20% during 2021 and additionally by 23.2% during 2022.

Restrictions are being lifted and business events are happening again on a local and/or regional level in countries that have contained the virus such as Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, and in those where their vaccination rate is high, as in the United States and UAE. Venues are turning into vaccination centres instead of field hospitals, for example, in the Prague Congress Centre.

We all know that people are eager to travel and meet again. Nevertheless, we have an obligation as industry professionals to ensure this is done in a safe way, a way that will protect our staff, suppliers and participants and will keep them healthy. This year, along with continuing to service our clients, mostly in a virtual environment, we will focus on planning the return of in-person events.

One thing that came out of this pandemic is that organisations and associations have realised that education can continue online. This will shift the way we think and design the future of the in-person meeting. While content will still be the core of the in-person meeting, more emphasis will be given to networking, community building, research collaborations and hands-on experience. This will be bolstered with online participants unable to travel to the event.

One thing is clear, a fascinating year with room for optimism is ahead of us.

Ori Lahav, President 2020-2023

Take advantage of change…

Stephen Hawking once communicated that “Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change”. Well, if the last 12 months is anything to go by then our industry is certainly filled with very intelligent people and we don’t have to look far within the IAPCO community to experience just this.

IAPCO PCOs continue to lead the conversations with their association and corporate clients alike in transitioning business and professional events from traditional, in-person models, through to new and exciting hybrid formats that facilitate both on-line and in-person engagement.

There is no clearer evidence of this than when we compare the IAPCO Member Annual Survey data from 2019 to 2020 [see pages 6 & 7]. This ability to adapt to change and present viable alternative options to clients has resulted in IAPCO Members facilitating content and knowledge-share delivery to 6.4 million participants in 2020 compared to the 6.7 million participants in 2019, a drop of less than 5%.

Had it not been for the sheer professionalism, agility and forward-thinking of the many leaders and their teams across the IAPCO community, this important knowledge-sharing amongst academics, scientists and others would likely not have happened and solutions to some of the world’s greatest future challenges may not have been discussed and debated.

Although faced with challenging situations, professionally and personally, our IAPCO community has embraced change, created new opportunities and adapted exceptionally well.

As you read through this edition of The PCO, take a moment to congratulate yourself on how well you too have adapted to change over the past year, what you have already achieved, and consider what more exciting opportunities await you.

Martin Boyle, CEO