A sold-out IAPCO EDGE Seminar in Geneva

Reflect, Reconnect and Reimagine was the theme for this year's European IAPCO EDGE seminar which took place over 3 days in January in the beautiful city of Geneva, Switzerland. An EDGE seminar is a highly interactive programme for meeting professionals who wish to network with peers from PCOs, convention bureaus, convention centres, and associations from around the world and enhance their careers in a practical way. The sold-out EDGE Geneva was hosted by IAPCO accredited PCO Symporg and drew a record 86 attendees from 20 nations, including Canada, UAE and Australia.

Nicky McGrane (CPI), Mathias Posch (ICS), and Oscar Cerezales (MCI Group), all recognised experts in the meetings industry, taught classes on bidding, international trends, people/ project/time management, budgeting, and risk management.

Highlights:

• Sustainability in event management - Mathias Posch, Chair of the IAPCO Training Academy, offered a fresh viewpoint on this pressing issue for the sector. “Sustainability encompasses much more than just environmental preservation. By conserving resources, expenses can be greatly decreased so budget is not an obstacle for change”, Mathias said.

• Mental health - “We place a very high value on providing quality and customer service in our workplace and yet we frequently neglect to take care of ourselves in our daily lives.”

• Guest panel discussion on collaborative bidding - Conducted by Nicky McGrane and centred on what associations anticipate from the destination and the PCO.

• Geneva Centre for Security Policy's head of leadership, Peter Cunningham Keynote Address - An illuminating session on leadership and personal development. Alvin Toffler's prediction that "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn" served as his closing statement.

Participants enjoyed a fabulous social programme and got to know each other outside of the classroom thanks to the support of the Geneva Convention Bureau, Manotel, and Palexpo.

Highlights:

• A typical cheese fondue dinner served in the setting of an authentic Swiss mountain chalet, complete with live music (accordion, cow bells, and Alphorn) set the stage for a light-hearted evening where people connected and shared stories on long trestle tables

• A tour of Palexpo

• Villa Sarasin - Newfound friends enjoyed an elegant meal and let loose on the dance floor in the opulent Florentine

• Attending an IAPCO Edge Seminar is a memorable experience. EDGE Geneva provided attendees with plenty of ideas to reflect upon and reimagine as well as a network of 86 new industry peers with whom they made connections for life

- Esra Güler, MICE Director, Türkiye Tourism Promotion and Development Agency

- Emma Slattery, Senior Account Manager, Conference Partners International