ICCA
Beyond the meetings industry
INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS AND CONVENTION ASSOCIATION( ICCA) CEO SENTHIL GOPINATH HIGHLIGHTS THE INDUSTRY’ S POWER OF BRINGING DIFFERENT WORLDS TOGETHER
O ne thing I have learned
from working across the global meetings industry is that the most interesting conversations often happen when we stop talking to ourselves.
It is easy to stay within our own professional circles. We know the people, the language and the challenges. But some of the biggest breakthroughs happen when someone from outside that circle asks a different question, offers a new perspective or approaches the same problem in a completely different way.
That is why the future of our industry is not just about bringing more people together, it is about bringing different worlds together.
Think about the challenges we face today: artificial intelligence, sustainability, talent, scientific progress and economic development. None belongs to one industry, and none can be solved by one group of professionals talking only to each other. We need different perspectives. Our opportunity goes beyond connecting people within our own ecosystem. We can create bridges to the worlds around us. And that does not happen by accident. Through structured networking sessions, curated interactions and spaces designed to encourage people to mingle beyond their usual professional circles, we can help people step outside their own bubble.
Above: Dr Senthil Gopinath
The same thinking is reflected in the way we are shaping the ICCA Congress 2026 programme. This year, the Congress will bring together 70 associations, creating a genuinely international pool of knowledge, experience and perspectives.
But we are also deliberately bringing voices from outside the traditional meetings industry into the conversation. Congress co-creators include IEEE, AC Forum, UN Tourism and CAF – Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean.
These organisations do not all look at the world through the same lens. That is the point.
The co-curators become part of a unique narrative that encourages delegates to move beyond familiar conversations and discover what other sectors can teach us. And then there is the human element. Simply putting hundreds of people in the same room does not necessarily create meaningful connections. The design of the interaction matters.
Are attendees given a reason to move beyond the people they already know?
These details can completely change the value of a gathering.
We should therefore ask a bigger question about the meetings we create: what happened because these people met?
Did someone discover a new way of thinking? Did an unexpected partnership begin? Did a conversation lead to an idea that could not have emerged in a more familiar setting?
We are not simply in the business of organising meetings. We are in the business of creating environments where knowledge can move. And knowledge moves further when we connect beyond our usual boundaries.
Sometimes the person who can help us solve our biggest challenge is not sitting across the table from us. They are sitting at a completely different table. Our responsibility is to bring those tables together. n“ Through structured networking sessions, curated interactions and spaces designed to encourage people to mingle beyond their usual professional circles, we can help people step outside their own bubble”
ISSUE 144 / CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD / 9