UIA Round Table Europe
On 15 November 2024, delegates from international associations took part in the two-day 18th UIA Round Table Europe in Florence, which was an opportunity to draw attention to the SDGs and the contribution of associations to their achievement, as well as provide a first presentation of the 2024 UIA Survey on International Association Meeting Issues.
Tourism Organisation POT was one of the event partners, participating together with a representative of the Krakow Convention Bureau.
The Union of International Associations (UIA) is a research institute and documentation centre, which for 115 years has been collecting and providing information on the market of international meetings of non-governmental associations and intergovernmental organisations, as well as on the directions and trends in its development. The POT has been a member of the UIA since 2011.
UIA member meetings are mainly held in Europe. This year's UIA Round Table Europe was opened by UIA Secretary General Jacques de Mévius and UIA President Cyril Ritchie, who welcomed the participants. In his speech, UIA President Cyril Ritchie addressed the UN Summit of the Future, reminding of the 56 actions to “turbocharge” the SDGs in such areas as peace, security, global governance, climate, digital cooperation, human rights and gender equality, and highlighted the role of international associations in actively pursuing these goals.
“It's up to us” – this year's theme emphasised collective responsibility, offering a platform to share challenges and ideas, as well as engage in discussions with experts and delegates. Inspiring case studies were shared by experts such as: Alberto Mattiello, Stefano Berretti and Diye Ndiaye, who covered such topics as “Disruption? Future of Events?”, “Storytelling of AI – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”, and “Associations Striving for Equal Opportunities”.
Tobia Salvadori, head of Convention Bureau Italia, shared creative ideas for events, including an opening ceremony inspired by Botticelli's work. Together with Sara Lucatello and Michela Pacifici, the Florence-based team explored ways to engage researchers in attracting meaningful events, presenting their collaborative approach at conferences, for instance the Low Vision Congress.
Sustainability took the centre stage not only as a discussion topic, but also as an action. As a legacy, the UIA Round Table Europe planted 300 trees selected by participants online using the Treedom platform. We chose to plant a coffee tree and a cocoa tree in Colombia.
In addition to discussions, the event was an excellent opportunity to network with international associations and present Poland as a host country for future conferences.
It is worth noting that in 2023, according to UIA data from the 65th International Meetings Statistics Report, Poland hosted 122 international association meetings, placing it 21st place in the world and representing about 2.2% of all international meetings, highlighting Poland's significant position as a key player in the meetings industry in Central and Eastern Europe.
2024 UIA Ranking
The UIA creates its ranking on the basis of collected data on international meetings that have to meet the following four criteria:
last at least three days,
attract at least 300 participants,
the participants have to come from at least five countries,
at least 40% of the participants come from abroad.