Edinburgh wins bid to host ICCA Congress 2020

Edinburgh wins bid to host ICCA Congress 2020
High profile team helps to secure prestigious international conference for Edinburgh

Edinburgh, 13 May 2016 – Edinburgh has won its bid to host the biennial International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) Congress 2020 in what is estimated to be a £2 million boost to the local economy that will see over 1,200 delegates in attendance.

The team bid partnership comprising the Scottish Arbitration Centre, Convention Edinburgh, Conference Partners, Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) and VisitScotland, also gained national high profile support including the UK Prime Minister, Scotland’s First Minister and representatives of the national and international arbitration and legal communities.

The ICCA’s 2020 Congress, which is supported by VisitScotland’s Conference Bid Fund, is the world’s largest conference devoted to international arbitration. The ICCA is a worldwide non-governmental organisation devoted to promoting the use and improving the processes of arbitration and other forms of international commercial dispute resolution. Its activities include convening international arbitration congresses and conferences, sponsoring authoritative dispute resolution publications, and promoting the harmonisation of arbitration and conciliation rules, laws and practices.

In securing the bid win, Edinburgh bet off stiff competition from Copenhagen, Stockholm, Vienna, St Petersburg, Vancouver and Mexico City.

ICCA President, Donald Donovan, said: “We are delighted to be going to Edinburgh in 2020, and congratulate the bid committee on having prevailed in the face of stiff competition from a strong field of bidders. After recent ICCA Congresses held in Rio, Singapore and Miami, this year’s event in Mauritius, and a 2018 Congress scheduled for Sydney, ICCA looks forward to bringing the Congress to Europe in 2020. We’re confident that ICCA Edinburgh will provide a spectacular platform from which to pursue ICCA’s mission to address the toughest issues facing international commercial and investment arbitration.”

Andrew Mackenzie, Chief Executive of the Scottish Arbitration Centre welcomed the news that the ICCA’s 2020 Congress will be hosted in the Centre’s home town and said: “We look forward to showing the international arbitration community what Scotland has to offer and are confident that this conference will put Edinburgh firmly on the map as venue and a seat of international arbitration.”

Lesley Williams, Head of Business Tourism at Convention Edinburgh said: “The successful bid to bring ICCA 2020 to Edinburgh is a testament to the solid collaboration between all parties involved with the project. Not only will this high profile conference bring around 1,200 delegates and generate almost £2 million for the local economy, it will play a crucial role in raising Edinburgh and Scotland’s global reputation in international arbitration.”

Nicola McGrane, Managing Director at Conference Partners said: “We are delighted with that the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) has chosen Edinburgh to host their 2020 Congress. The partnership working with the bid partners throughout the bid process was crucial to the success of bringing ICCA 2020 to Edinburgh. We believe this team approach has been reflected in our success and highlights the warm welcome delegates will experience in Edinburgh in 2020.”

Marshall Dallas, the EICC’s Chief Executive, said: “We are thrilled that Edinburgh and the EICC have been chosen to host this prestigious international conference in the face of significant global competition. It is a testament to the hard work from the team and our supporters – overall it is great news for the city and the economy. It seems fitting that the ICCA Congress is being held in a city and nation renowned worldwide for its proud and progressive legal tradition.”

Rory Archibald, Business Development Manager at VisitScotland, said: “Winning the right to host the ICC World Congress is another coup for Edinburgh, and is testimony to the capital’s enormous appeal to conference organisers, as a city which boasts cutting-edge facilities as well as incredible history and heritage. Business events is an industry worth nearly £2 billion to the Scottish economy and we are delighted to be supporting this prestigious event through the VisitScotland Conference Bid Fund.”

For further information on Convention Edinburgh and its services at www.conventionedinburgh.com @conventions
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#EICC #conventionedinburgh #VisitScotland #ICCA #MICE #MICEnews #investEdingburgh

IBTM AMERICA 2016 SET TO PROVIDE VALUABLE BUSINESS CONNECTIONS WITH IMPRESSIVE LINE-UP OF GLOBAL HOSTED BUYERS

IBTM AMERICA 2016 SET TO PROVIDE VALUABLE BUSINESS CONNECTIONS WITH IMPRESSIVE LINE-UP OF GLOBAL HOSTED BUYERS

81% of Hosted Buyers looking to place business internationally 

ibtm america 2016 (www.ibtmamerica.com), taking place from June 15-17 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee, has confirmed an impressive global line-up of Association, Agency and Corporate Hosted Buyers attending from the US, Canada, Latin America, Europe, Russia, the Middle East, Asia and more.

Registered Hosted Buyers have confirmed their product interests among exhibitors, with hotels and conference/meeting venues being the top two picks. Other event products to make the list include special event venues, Destination Management Companies, resorts and spas, and destinations. Among those buyers the two most popular event types were conferences/meetings and incentives, followed by exhibitions, conventions/congresses, staff training/motivation, and business and luxury travel.

Jaime McAuley, Event Director, ibtm america commented, “We have a great line-up of Hosted Buyers this year; not only do we have elite buyers with proven budget and business to place attending from all around the world, but we have a diverse group with a variety of products interests and this will increase the opportunity for our exhibitors to make connections at the event. And with our 100% mutually matched appointment system, we can ensure that all of our Hosted Buyers and exhibitors are only attending relevant, valuable appointments likely to result in business opportunities and ROI.”

Hosted Buyers have also indicated the regions in which they are most interested in placing business, with 98% of buyers looking to place business in the US and 81% interested in placing business internationally. Domestically buyers placed particular emphasis on wanting to meet exhibitors from the Western US (98%) and the Southeast (97%). Internationally buyers were most interested in Canada, Latin America, and Europe.

McAuley commented, “These preferences are really on trend with where the industry is right now. Rob Davidson, Managing Director of MICE Knowledge, predicted in his 2015 Trends Report that 2016 will see an increase across all meeting types in North America, so it’s not surprising that both our regional and international buyers are looking to place business in Canada and the US. Davidson also noted how Latin America’s close business and cultural ties to the US, which make it especially attractive for US-based meeting groups, have played a large role in the Latin American MICE industry’s growth, so we expect this to continue to be a region of interest among our Hosted Buyers.”

Some of the Hosted Buyers attending this year include Philips (Brazil), Rimac Seguros y reaseguros (Peru), Hurricane Action Sports (Canada), Montreal Event Planner (Canada), Lenovo (China), GECK’O Incentives & Events (Germany), Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited (India), Fullteam Networks (Mexico), TUSExpo BV (Netherlands), Decast Group (Russian Federation), ABB INDUSTRIES (UAE), Ultima Media (UK), Smartfocus (UK), Freestyle Football Federation (UK), the American Association for Cancer Research (US), AT&T (US), Wells Fargo (US), Corning Inc. (US), The Geological Society of America (US), and Nature’s Way (US).

Veronica Carletto, Project Manager, Fourth Wall Events, who will attend as a Hosted Buyer commented, “My objective is to learn about new hotels and services that I can share with my organisation and offer our clients. I am interested in looking at the 5* luxury brands in Europe and Asia.”

Blair Monica, Marketing Event Project Manager, GM Financial, also a Hosted Buyer for 2016 commented, “We plan events all over the US and Canada. I am interested in looking at different locations that can hold larger groups, what’s new with technology, meeting design, what’s new with exhibit design and displays and how to elevate our meetings and events.”

Fred Williams, Conference Manager, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, also a Hosted Buyer for 2016 commented, “Face-to-face meetings are critical to understanding city and hotel updates as well as special offers. Cities, hotels, airlines, audiovisual, and exhibition companies are the types of exhibitors I wish to meet.”

Joost de Meyer, Chairman & CEO, First Incentive Travel, also a Hosted Buyer for 2016, commented, “I am the Chairman & CEO with First Incentive Travel. I lead a team of experienced project managers. We work all over the USA for incentive groups coming to the USA, Mexico and Caribbean from mainly Europe and the rest of the world. I am interested in hotels, DMC’s, CVB’s, cruise lines, etc.”

To hear what more Hosted Buyers have to say, please visit:http://www.ibtmamerica.com/Media/galleries/Testimonials/

For further information about exhibiting, please visit http://www.ibtmamerica.com

 

Poken expands its partnership with Reed Exhibitions to provide additional technology solutions for ibtm america 2016

Poken expands its partnership with Reed Exhibitions to provide additional technology solutions for ibtm america 2016
Poken, the 360º event platform, today announces a new partnership with Reed Exhibitions, which sees an expansion of the services previously provided and an integration with Nova™, Reed’s global online event management platform.

This year, ibtm america 2016 will take place June 15-17 at The Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee. This venue is best known as one of the largest hotel exhibition and meetings venue in the continental US, featuring 882 guest rooms, 6 ballrooms, more than 100 technologically advanced conference and breakout rooms, and some 600,000 sq. ft. of meeting, convention and exhibit space.

The Poken event technology platform will be employed throughout ibtm america 2016, a leading industry event that offers 100% mutually matched one-to-one meetings between top suppliers and pre-qualified meeting and event planners with proven business to place in the US and globally. Poken’s on-site registration and badge-printing software will be deployed on large touchscreen tablets wirelessly connected to printers, providing attendees with fast registration, badge retrieval, and a printed individual meeting schedule.

As measuring and tracking meeting attendance is integral to Reed Exhibitions’ objectives, Poken will also be used to track buyers’ attendance at their scheduled meetings. All attendees will receive a Smart Badge which they will use to check into their meetings by touching a small iBeacon & 3G-connected reader embedded in a coaster on each meeting table. These readers are unique to Poken, who had been deploying them to provide advanced lead-generation and digital content delivery solutions to large exhibition clients worldwide.

Poken will also provide the event’s mobile app, ensuring a rich digital experience for attendees, and reporting key engagement metrics to the organiser. Viewing their personal meeting schedule on their mobile device, attendees will be reminded about their meetings with automated alerts sent via the Poken platform, helping to drive efficient meeting etiquette.

At past events using its technologies, Poken has demonstrated a behavioral shift among participants, helping drive better results through enhanced engagement, better awareness, and increased networking.

Ron Speechley, who heads Poken’s Sales and Marketing in the US, says: “Reed Exhibitions has been one of our valued partners over the past few years and we are thrilled to continue to have the opportunity to innovate with this world class client. Creating more seamless ways for attendees to get results out of the shows they attend has been a priority for us.”

Jaime McAuley, ibtm america Event Director, comments: “Working with Poken for the past two years has been an absolute pleasure. Poken proved to us that beyond anything they understand an event organiser’s needs, and are committed to developing technologies that empower not only the attendees, but also the organiser. This year we are rolling out 100% mutually matched appointments, which means that exhibitors and Hosted Buyers can use the mutual match appointment system to create a diary of up to 30 valuable and relevant appointments with the business leads they identify. Poken’s technology will work to keep the thousands of pre-scheduled appointments taking place at ibtm america 2016 on schedule, which will in turn maximise opportunity for ROI.”

“Technology is one of the fastest growing sectors within the meetings and events industry and this means that meeting professionals are always playing catch up. Reed Exhibitions is constantly redefining the marketplace through its vision, and through innovation which it sometimes sources from leading-edge suppliers such as Poken.”

COUNTDOWN ON UNTIL THE WORLD’S LARGEST FESTIVAL OF LIGHT, MUSIC AND IDEAS, VIVID SYDNEY, ILLUMINATES SYDNEY

COUNTDOWN ON UNTIL THE WORLD’S LARGEST FESTIVAL OF LIGHT, MUSIC AND IDEAS, VIVID SYDNEY, ILLUMINATES SYDNEY

With less than four weeks to go until the world’s largest festival of light, music and ideas, Vivid Sydney, illuminates the city, 141 artists from 23 countries are working to create more than 80 light installations and projections that will appear in more than eight Vivid Sydney precincts spread across Sydney.

In 2016, Vivid Sydney will host its longest program ever running for 23 nights from 27 May until 18 June. Last year more than 1.7 million guests attended Vivid Sydney including 112,000 international and domestic visitors. In 2015, Vivid Sydney generated $63.2 million in visitor spend for the NSW economy.

NSW Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events Stuart Ayres said, “With less than a month to go until Vivid Sydney begins, our city is gearing up for this year’s festival which will once again shine a light on Sydney as a hub for culture and innovation. The city’s hotels and major attractions are reporting strong bookings and are preparing to welcome visitors from across Australia and the world who will travel to Sydney to be a part of this incredible annual event. I encourage everyone to make plans for Vivid Sydney today, as there is so much on offer over the festival’s 23 nights.”

Destination NSW CEO and Vivid Sydney Executive Producer, Ms Sandra Chipchase agrees. “Vivid Sydney is simply too big to cover in just one night. It’s the combination of light, music and ideas that makes Vivid Sydney a completely unique experience. Visitors should plan to stay in Sydney and surrounds to enjoy a jam-packed schedule of daytime Ideas talks, seminars and forums combined with night time tours of the light installations and evening music performances,” she said.

Vivid Light will see the city illuminated into a dazzling playground of fun and free sights for all ages. New precincts at Taronga Zoo, The Galeries and the harbourside of the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney will join returning favourites at Circular Quay, Darling Harbour and the Australian Maritime Museum, Martin Place, Central Park and Chatswood.

According to Vivid Sydney Creative Director, Ignatius Jones, the next four weeks are a time of intense creativity and construction for light artists. He says “Vivid Sydney takes art off the walls and literally puts it on the street. You cannot underestimate the complexity of creating touchable, durable outdoor light art. Artists are working intensely, often developing new technologies to bring their vision to life.”

Over the next four weeks, Vivid Sydney’s artistic and technical teams will be busy preparing for the incredible lights-on moment at 6pm on Friday 27 May. Up to 1,480m of LED tape will be installed to light up Sydney Harbour Ferries as they journey across the Harbour. Approximately 1600 LED tubes, containing 76,800 individual LEDs, and 140 High Output LED Cans will be laid so visitors can literally control the colour of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, as part of the Dress Circle installation at Circular Quay.

Light artists Ruth McDermott and Ben Baxter have exhibited at every Vivid Sydney since the festival began in 2009. In the coming weeks, they will be installing lighting by boat under Walsh Bay’s Piers 2/3 to bring to life the Underwater Forest, a light work that pays homage to the massive turpentine tree trunks which support the heritage pier.

Wunderkind designers, Thomas Martin and Sebastian Barkoczy, will be fitting thousands of clear light tubes to build U-Tube, a frame in which guests can imprint their palm or body. Martin and Barkoczy are well known for their popular Robtoanic installation which was a hit in Martin Place during Vivid Sydney 2015.

At the McGrath Foundation, almost 3,000 Australians have submitted images of those touched by breast cancer to create the inspirational McGrath Foundation Mosaic installation. Images will be projected on the AMP ‘Sydney Cove’ Building at Circular Quay to form a mosaic tribute to Jane McGrath who inspired a nation, and whose legacy via the McGrath Foundation continues to support families across Australia experiencing breast cancer through its McGrath Breast Care Nurses.

Artists Justinus Hartany, Sean Virili, Matthew Fungs and Jamie Bastiol are collecting 1,200 PET bottles to fill with 120 litres of tonic water. Quinine in the tonic will glow under UV light to create Tectonic, a playful installation suspended above visitor heads in Kendall Lane.

Mr Jones points out that these initiatives are just a small part of the overall efforts undertaken by artists to create the most original and exciting Vivid Sydney festival yet.

“Every year artists outdo themselves to create new art works, use new technologies and engage with audiences in new ways. Vivid Sydney is never the same, it is always evolving to provide fresh experiences to visitors annually,” he says.

Tickets to Vivid Sydney’s Vivid Music and Vivid Ideas events are also selling fast. Limited tickets remain for Vivid Ideas’ Game Changer talk series featuring filmmaker Spike Jonze, House of Cards creator Beau Willimon, Orange is the New Black creator Jenji Kohan, and fashion creative director, Margaret Zhang. While demand is high for Vivid Music events such as New Order and Anohni at the Sydney Opera House, Models, Machinations and Dave Mason reunion event at the Enmore theatre, and art-meets-music dance party Curve Ball at Carriageworks.

Vivid Sydney is owned, managed and produced by Destination NSW, the NSW Government’s tourism and major events agency. Vivid Sydney features large scale light installations and projections (Vivid Light); music performances and collaborations (Vivid Music including Vivid LIVE at the Sydney Opera House); and creative ideas, discussion and debate (Vivid Ideas), all celebrating Sydney as the creative hub of the Asia-Pacific.

For more information on travel packages, light installations, events and to make tour bookings, visit www.vividsydney.com/.

 

ISES RE-BRANDS TO INTERNATIONAL LIVE EVENTS ASSOCIATION

ISES RE-BRANDS TO INTERNATIONAL LIVE EVENTS ASSOCIATION

Chicago IL: The International Special Events Society has officially changed its name to the International Live Events Association (ILEA) which was announced today (2^nd May) via a video broadcast, presented by international president Jodi Collen CSEP.

The name change reflects the now fully global nature of the association and the more relevant term of ‘live’ used by its members to describe the wide range of events delivered. It was announced via the ILEA YouTube channel HERE and will begin with immediate effect.

A wider roll out of the brand will be carried out over the coming months to encompass a new logo, website and other marketing collateral. In addition, the association will be transitioning its existing social media presence to create new names and pages where necessary.

Jodi Collen explained; “The world has changed phenomenally since the International Special Events Society was founded in 1987 and our industry has always kept up and changed with it. This is the culmination of a process that began several years ago and that will continue as our association continues to evolve.

“We are known by our global members and partners as the live events industry. ‘Live’ is quite simply the best way to express and communicate in one powerful word the fantastic energy and clarity that live events, no matter what kind, bring to human communication.”

“She added; “The change from ‘Society’ to ‘Association’ is equally as important– it is the crux of what ILEA is about. We’re more than a ‘Society’, we’re a close-knit ‘Association’ of like-minded people working together through trust and commitment to purpose.

“This is a massive opportunity for us as an association and the beginning of a very exciting time in our history.”

The new ILEA website is now live www.ileahub.com

 

Maimühle Perl – German Wine Tasting at it’s worst

Maimühle Perl – Client Rip-off at the Mosel River, Germany
Restaurant / Vinothek Maimühle in Perl – last minute cancelation by text message.

Long time preparation for our group event and wine tasting with Restaurant Maimühle in Perl. Already in October 2015 we got our offer and we booked our group event for April 2016 instantly.
But sometimes things happen you will never believe… just two days before our wine tasting should take place we received an sms “text message” from one of the staff member of Maimühle, that our event will be canceled!

We could not believe that and tried to reach the sender of this message, but the phone was turned off and our calls were not answered. Lucky we could reach the owner of the Maimuehle Mr. Frederik Theis… He totally played innocent and stupid, telling us he did not know about this. Funny it was mentioned in the text message that the “order” came even from the owner. Anyway Mr. Theis told us he is not able to take any action now, because he has nobody who can do the wine tasting for our group. This might have been the problem from the beginning.
Now we had really a worst case scenario, now looking for another option – we found a solution with a wine farmer, but ofcourse since we had no other choice it was much more expensive. At least we had our event not canceled!
The Restaurant Maimuehle we can absolutely not recommend, since they seem not to be able to handle groups or at least offer a compensation for the loss and big trouble we had with this event.

No more Maimühle!
MAIMÜHLE
Hotel Restaurant
Bahnhofstrasse 100
D-66706 Perl
http://www.maimuehle.de

See some of the documents here:

http://www.maimuehle.de

http://www.maimuehle.de

 

Maimühle Perl – Unseriöses Geschäftsgebahren

Maimühle Perl – Unseriöses Geschäftsgebahren
Weinprobe kurzfristig per SMS-Nachricht abgesagt

Bereits im Oktober 2015 hatten wir von dem Restaurant Maimühle in Perl ein Angebot über eine Weinprobe für unsere Gruppenveranstaltung mit ca. 30-50 Personen erhalten, welches wir bestätigten und fest buchten.
Urplötzlich und nur zwei Tage vor unserer Veranstaltung erhielten wir von einem “Angestellten” oder freien Mitarbeiter von Herrn Frederik Theis ein Absage / Stornierung unserer Veranstaltung, wohl gemerkt per SMS (Textnachricht).
Alle unsere Bemühungen den Absender dieser SMS telefonisch zu erreichen schlugen fehl. Das Telefon wurde umgehend ausgeschaltet und / oder unsere Anrufe einfach bewußt nicht angenommen. Nach langem Hin und Her haben wir dann den Inhaber Herrn Theis in der Maimühle (Perl) erreichen können. Hr. Theis stellte sich vollkommen unwissend, obwohl laut SMS (Textnachricht) die Anweisung zur Stornierung von der Geschäftsleitung gekommen sein soll. Herr Theis teilte uns nun mit, dass dies zwar tragisch sei, aber wenn sein Mitarbeiter dies so mitgeteilt hat dann ist dies nun so, da er keine anderen Mitarbeiter für unsere Veranstaltung vorgesehen hatte als diesen Mitarbeiter.
Herr Theis hat sich geschickt mit gespielter Unwissenheit aus der Affäre gezogen – für uns ist eine Gruppenveranstaltung ins Wasser gefallen bzw. sind für uns ganz erhebliche Mehrkosten angefallen!
Wir konnten zwar dann noch einen Winzer finden, der unsere Weinprobe ausgerichtet hat, allerdings zu einem sehr viel höheren Preis.

Nach diesem Disaster posteten wir diesen Vorfall bei TripAdvisor.
Der Eintrag war lediglich knapp 2 Tage auf TripAdvisor abrufbar, dann bekam ich eine Nachricht von TripAdvisor “Dieser Eintrag wurde gelöscht”. Es ist zwar kaum zu glauben, aber Herr Theis rief mich darauf hin sogar persönlich an und teilte mir mit, dass er sich bei TripAdvisor über diesen Eintrag beschwert hätte. Herr Theis teilte mir lapidar mit, dass es sich nur um ein Mißverständnis gehandelt hätte. Wenn dies das Geschäftsgebaren der Maimühle in Perl ist, dann kann man Reservierungszusagen und schriftliche Absprachen leider nicht ernst nehmen.
Vermütlich ist die Maimühle größeren Gruppen nicht gewachsen oder die Geschäftsleitung hat ihre Mitarbeiter nicht im Griff, wenn diese eigenständig Veranstaltungen absagen, wovon die Geschäftsleitung angeblich nichts gewußt haben will.

Für uns ist die Maimühle in Perl gestorben – Weitere Details sowie Belege liegen uns natürlich noch vor. Anbei ein Ausschnitt der SMS (Textnachricht) sowie das Angebot der Maimühle, Perl.

MAIMÜHLE
Hotel Restaurant
Bahnhofstrasse 100
D-66706 Perl
http://www.maimuehle.de

 

Maimühle Restaurant Perl

Maimühle Restaurant Perl