Meeting Like No Other: 61st ICCA World Congress starts this Sunday
This truly has been a special year for the meetings industry, including organizers of conferences, congresses and fairs. After two years of struggle for survival, marked by the constant search for creative and technological responses to the ever changing circumstances and restrictions, the industry has awakened again with redoubled strength and vigour. It is now richer with priceless lessons of the past two years, new tools at its disposal and - most importantly – a stronger sense of purpose, not to mention the overall impact awareness and appreciation for the underlying values that should be guiding the industry, today more than ever, perhaps, given how riddled with formidable challenges and uncertainties our world has become.
After months of preparations, the 61st ICCA World Congress, starting in Kraków this Sunday, will bring together a great variety of meetings industry experts from all around the world, including organizers of conferences and congresses. This extraordinary annual event is widely seen as one of the world’s most impactful meetings industry events and is the first on-site edition since 2020.
Looking at the timeline of this year's conferences and events in Poland, it would probably be difficult to find a more international and multicultural event for meetings industry experts, especially one that feels powerfully symbolic in today’s broader context.
Although the price of an admission ticket might feel like it’s on the higher side, the number of registered delegates has already exceeded the expectations of both ICCA and the host city, however registration remains open for the coming few days or hours.
The new face of togetherness
Although this year's thematic framework lists three main areas: DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion), sustainability and legacy, the issues and topics planned for this year's edition go beyond simple categorizations. The war in Ukraine and the new dimension of the need for solidarity in the face of our world’s newly found sense of fragility and unpredictability has become an extremely important background to the process of creating this year’s agenda.
The power of on-site meetings
ICCA’s annual congress is also a global stage for competition among regions, cities and destinations in attracting attention and opportunities, as well as presenting their unique qualities before an international audience of experts. Congress sessions and accompanying events may therefore be focused on specific countries, cities or regions, or take place under their patronage (e.g. Gyeonggi, Incheon, Songdo, Edmonton, Bergen, Copenhagen, or Polish regions, such as Mazowsze and Podkarpacie).
Like in the past, this year’s edition has been organized with much attention given to environmental issues, which is especially important to both Polish congress partners and ICCA representatives. Hence, numerous incentives and amenities related to free public transport for delegates have been introduced, but also planned activities for delegates under the banner of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). This year, Krakow joined the Global Destination Sustainability Index, which measures, among others, the most important parameters of a mature and ambitious destination for the meetings industry.
Last but not least, there will also be Polish accents in the programme of the main sessions and the so-called out of the box sessions. In short, a not-to-be-missed event, organized in Poland for the first time.