The International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) reports that Calgary, Canada, will be the host of the sixth ICCA Association Meetings Program (AMP), which will take place June 28 – 30, 2021. The move will mark the first time the ICCA AMP will be held in North America.
The AMP is one of the ICCA’s flagship events, according to the organization, bringing ICCA Members and Association Executives from across the globe together for small-scale networking and interactive knowledge transfer about bidding, designing, organizing and promoting international association meetings. The ICCA said that hosting the AMP in Calgary two years after the 2019 Congress in Houston will allow the organization to continue its market development efforts in North America.
The ICCA made the announcement at the 2019 ICCA Congress, which is taking place October 27 – 30 in Houston, drawing almost 1,000 senior meetings industry professionals and association meeting planners from 75 countries. The ICCA said that this year’s Congress is the largest ever held in North America.
The ICCA Congress will include education, networking and business opportunities based around this year’s theme, “Innovation and Technology.” Leading figures from various industries are appearing as keynote speakers, including Houston local Scott Parazynski, a former NASA astronaut and the first man to have both flown in space and summitted Mount Everest; Soulaima Gourani, who as one of Denmark’s most inspiring business women will lead the annual Copenhagen Denmark Lecture; and Scott Stratten, an expert in viral marketing who will be sharing his knowledge of how organizations can embrace disruption.
Interdisciplinary association Pumps & Pipes, who specialize in creating interactions and knowledge transfer between unconnected professional groups and are based in Houston, will share their expertise on facilitating innovation through cross-industry collaboration as part of the program.
“Out of the box sessions” include technical tours of Houston Spaceport, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and TMCx, a healthcare and life-science incubator located within the world's largest medical center in Houston, shaping the future of health care by uniting promising innovators with the best minds in academia, science and medicine.
In an examination of how association clients view collaboration, a panel of association executives and destination marketers will also debate the successes and failings of how the two sides work together.
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