Evolving to Keep Up with the Pace of Innovation

From IAPCO President and CEO

Ori Lahav

President, IAPCO

One of the biggest debates surrounding innovation is its definition. Answering the fundamental question of what comes first: Is innovation finding a solution to a problem, or is it creating a product or service organisations didn’t know they needed?

In either case, innovation is critical for any organisation to continue to thrive, scale, and grow.

The ever-accelerating pace of innovation has become almost impossible to follow. However, something that excites me the most right now is Artificial Intelligence (AI), and how it is already impacting our daily lives.

The AI today is already capable of creating and rewriting text, creating videos from a text brief, writing software codes, driving autonomously, and much more. One popular example of Open AI is DALL-E. It is a new AI system that can create realistic images and art from a description in natural language, combining concepts, attributes, and styles. In simple words, you describe your picture, and the AI computer paints it for you.

AI has the power to change our very own global meetings industry and the role of the PCO. Changing the way we learn, meet, network, work and even travel. And someday, it will not surprise me to see some of our clients’ keynote speeches delivered by AI-enabled humanlike robots.

In this fast-paced world of innovation, we need to ask ourselves - are we evolving as quickly and what are we doing to ensure relevancy?

Ori Lahav

President, IAPCO

Martin Boyle

CEO, IAPCO

Successful new innovations are difficult to assimilate realities without having an appreciation and understanding of what has worked and not worked beforehand.

As I reflect on the recent passing and celebration of the life of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, it causes me to stop and consider how a family that is based on such deep and long-standing traditions could possibly have the ability to innovate in order to remain relevant for today and tomorrow’s society.

Innovation comes in many shapes and forms and, as a conceptual theme, it empowers people, groups of people and, organisations to adapt a concept, service, product and practice to better meet the needs of those it engages with. One could argue that the British Royal family has changed the manner in which they communicate, interact and serve their people, but I am certain it has not been without its challenges.

What is without doubt in our own community is that we have witnessed the immense growth and development of IAPCO Member PCO services over the past 2½ years. Our Members are more agile, digitally skilled and strategically consultative to the clients they serve and the stakeholders they partner with.

Innovation, in its many shapes and forms has helped to make this a reality and needs to be encouraged continuously from within every level of every organisation so that we can all continue to push the boundaries between what we fear will be lost (i.e. tradition) vs what is actually possible.

I hope you enjoy this edition of The PCO.

Martin Boyle

CEO, IAPCO