ICCA event attracts record registrations

The 2009 annual ICCA Congress and Exhibition, taking place from 7-11 November in Florence, Italy, has attracted the highest ever number of registered attendees.

With more than fours weeks to go to the start of the event, a record-breaking attendance of 847 delegates from 66 countries had made a booking.

The previous record was 814 delegates for the 2007 ICCA Congress held in Thailand.

“The 2009 Congress will feature our biggest and best choice of sessions ever,” said ICCA chief executive Martin Sirk.

“The ICCA Congress education programme is custom-designed every year, and features a mix of speakers, including top corporate and association meetings clients, expert business speakers from outside the meetings industry, and, of course, a selection of some of the most experienced ICCA members.

“Our speakers are drawn from all regions of the world, matching the global mix and interests of our delegates,” he continued. “Each year we invest more and more in our speakers, and strive to create a programme that will be fresh, thought-provoking, strategically oriented and packed with new ideas for improving your personal performance and your organisation's bottom line.”

Sirk also explained that ICCA had been strategically positioned as the specialist expert association for the association meetings market, resulting in membership growth continuing over recent months, despite all the turmoil in world markets. Some 85 companies have joined ICCA so far in 2009. 

“We believe the main reason for this performance is that more and more suppliers have realised they need to take the international association meetings market more seriously," he said.