IACC Connect
time that Connect returned to Canada after 15 years in the
US. Our members in the region embraced the opportunity
in a truly incredible way, and the ideas and creativity from
the team tasked with designing this year’s event was
immense.”
The traditional IACC Global Copper Skillet competition
took place on day two of the event where the Americas,
European and Australian finalists competed for the title of
Global Copper Skillet Champion. Celebrity chef Michael
Smith, regular on the Food Network Canada, presented a
workshop and joined the line-up of judges for the Copper
Skillet final.
Sebastian Layen of Deloitte University | Benchmark, a
Global Hospitality Company was named Senior Chef
Champion and Niclas Jansson of Sigtunahöjden was named
Junior Chef Champion.
IACC’s next annual European conference ‘Knowledge
Festival’ will take place in Brussels 4–6 October 2019.
Let’s embrace
the future together
MARK COOPER, CEO OF
IACC, RECENTLY RETURNED
FROM THE TORONTO EVENT,
SHARES HIS TAKE ON THE BIG
‘CONNECT’
he conference offered 30
educational sessions from
world-class speakers and
IACC members and
welcomed attendees from more than
seven countries.
They came to hear a new vision for
the conference and meeting sector and,
after two days of hearing presentations
from phenomenally inspiring speakers,
covering some of the most innovative
initiatives and projects, my head is still
buzzing with ideas, which I look
forwarding to building into our strategy
and communications over the coming
months.
The conference and meetings
industry has entered a new era; it’s an
era where delegates expect more; where
they want events to deliver unique
experiences; it’s an era where
expectations are high. IACC Americas
Connect 2019 set out to use radical
thinking to come up with new ways of
addressing this challenge.
We learned how to increase
experiential awareness, why we
shouldn’t be afraid to make mistakes, the
effect of values and culture on managing
continuous change, how biometrics are
set to transform the events industry and
50 /
CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD
/
ISSUE
100
there was even a session on how to
reinvigorate coffee breaks! That’s just a
tiny snapshot of the fascinating insights
we were treated to - there certainly was
a lot to takeaway.
Alhough, there were many clever, well
thought out and though-provoking
sessions, what I really learned, was
something I believe we all already know:
Engaging in so many inspirational,
insightful and innovative speaker
sessions and the lively discussions that
followed, where idea sharing was
prolific, reminded me that, our best
outcomes are achieved when we work
together in open collaboration.
Perhaps the most radical innovation,
which really would change everything,
would be if we were to ignore the
barriers that exist between businesses in
our industry, opening up the silos our
creative strategies are built in, to
collaborate with our peers.
No one organisation has all the
answers. No one knows everything. By
working together, pooling resources, we
can use our collective knowledge and
experience to greatest effect.
Collaboration and sharing through
our established associations and
institutions, is how our industry has had
the greatest successes in embracing new
ideas and developing new thinking. The
structure associations afford their
members, enable meaningful
co-operation, that can take us beyond
our current reality, to build an industry
that easily adopts new technologies and
adjusts to new expectations and ways of
thinking.
The answer to how we will best
overcome the challenges and grasp the
opportunities the future presents our
industry, is already there: collaboration.
IACC Americas Connect demonstrated
how it can work, and we will need to
collaborate more, if we are to transform
the way our industry serves its clients
and delivers events that continue to
exceed their expectations. If the future is
a destination; we’ll make the journey
there together.