The ICCA community gathers in Zaragoza

The conference programme included presentations at the Hotel Alfonso, as well as at the University School of Tourism and the San Valero Group, and a busy social agenda in other venues to learn about the city’s artistic and tourist heritage and try its gastronomy. The first evening was dedicated to the institutional welcome, and the second to a lot of emotion: after walking from the hotel to the restaurant (taking a stroll is the best thing you can do at a conference!), we enjoyed dinner with a final surprise: a surprise tribute to Manolo Macias of Sevilla CB and Carolina García of Gijón CB, who was about to retire… with a trophy for each, moving speeches, and a few tears thrown in. A vibrant party followed.

Best practices: knowledge is shared among the participants

One of the key sessions of this conference is a set of four short presentations by members of the association, who share their best practices. Phil Cross (B-Network) explained the process for obtaining ISO 20121 sustainable certification, the keys to doing it well (management support, consistent work), and the benefits (it’s a very clear way of demonstrating responsibility, it allows for better work, etc.). Mariana Souza (Porto CB) explained a CSR experience at the IAPCO conference, where they worked with the social organization dedicated to the homeless, CAIS, recycling event decoration elements into merchandising. Artisans taught the conference attendees these crafts, which also helped raise awareness about this social issue. All this at a cost of less than €1,000 for the conference.

David Noack (Madrid CB) explained how, coinciding with the 2024 Hematology Conference, they launched the “share knowledge, share life” concept to encourage conference attendees to donate blood, with donation points set up at IFEMA and several hotels in the city. 2,600 people agreed to donate blood, and it’s estimated that one donation can save three lives. It’s a program they can propose to other events, a great way to collect blood with tan interesting message that “visitors are thanking their hosts”. Carolina García (Gijón CB) explained her ambassador program, an atypical program in which an ambassador is appointed each year, a way to give weight to this status and offer more prominent thanks. It’s a way to develop conference attraction by leveraging the city’s assets, such as the “knowledge mile” or its specialized engineering campus.

Young talent is here!

Of note is a training session on AI taught by Alejandro García, a student who demonstrated that you don’t need gray hair to have knowledge. Also noteworthy was the participation at the conference of Ekaterina Khoopenko, a young intern at Feria Valencia, who took center stage, serving as the spokesperson for her panel and speaking up at various points during the event. It was interesting to see how enthusiastic the participants were about the dynamism of young talent. In fact, ICCA invites young people to many of its events or offers sessions for students, a good way to develop relevant job integration in this sector.

Update on ICCA’s business intelligence tool

Of all ICCA’s value proposition to its members, the database and the help in identifying potential conferences for their destination, venue, or PCO are undoubtedly number one. The association monitors thousands of international conferences, including who organizes them, where they have been held, their size, sector, etc. And this tool is becoming increasingly powerful, now with the business intelligence tool. Several examples were explained, such as a destination looking for marine science conferences, and the database with this business intelligence service allowed them to identify several conferences of the appropriate size, with descriptions and decision-makers. This is a gold mine for targeting conferences that are truly relevant to the destination, and a key tool when attracting a conference responds to a destination’s strategy for growth in a particular sector.

Other sessions

Group sessions were held using design thinking methodologies to solve challenges that industry professionals may face, providing an interesting collective intelligence format. There were also sessions on how to leverage AI in their work and updates on ICCA’s planned actions. And obviously, we’re in 2025, so the sessions were recorded and will result in a summary prepared by the inevitable AI!!

Zaragoza, host city

The Aragonese city demonstrated its full hospitality and allowed us to experience the best of the city. Zaragoza hosted 431 conferences in 2024, 5.6% more than the previous year, with an economic impact of €84.6 million, according to a study by the University of Zaragoza.