IAPCO Council Meeting in Prague

From 17 to 20 May 2023, the IAPCO Council Meeting was held in Prague with the participation of ten council members hosted by Prague Convention Bureau.

IAPCO’s administering body - the Council, holds 3 meetings throughout the year, one of them in Europe. To bring the May 2023 IAPCO Council Meeting to Prague, the Prague Convention Bureau initiated communication with IAPCO in 2018.

Apart from the closed Council sessions, on 18 May the IAPCO Council attended “The Art of Attracting Business Events: Global Best Practices for Success” workshop with the participation of around 50 Prague Convention Bureau members and partners took place at the Prague Congress Centre. The workshop programme consisted of sharing the global perspective by IAPCO President, CEO, ICMS Pty Ltd, Sarah Markey-Hamm and included presentations by Barbara Calderwood, MCI UK, Ori Lahav, CEO Kenes Group, and Sissi Lygnou, CEO, AFEA S.A. Travel & Congress Services.

The presentations were followed by group discussions reflecting on topics relevant to convention bureaus, PCOs and client collaboration case studies, emerging technologies, trends and perspectives of their application in congress design and marketing, and an international conference's social and economic impact.

After the workshop, the Prague Congress Centre offered all participants a guided site visit with a presentation of their new projects.

The IAPCO Council Meeting in Prague also included social events and sightseeing hosted and provided by the Prague Convention Bureau members and partners.

We would like to thank the main partners: CzechTourism –Czech Convention Bureau, Prague Congress Centre, Zátiší Catering Group, Almanac X Prague; and Červený Jelen, ADO Services and Prague City Tourism for their collaboration in hosting the IAPCO Council and organising the engagement programme.