AIPC’s congress: Bienvenido A Coruña

07/07/2009 Spain

What a difference a year can make – and what a difference an association can make!” says Edgar Hirt, president of AIPC, about the current association’s congress and general assembly. This quotation underlining the value of sharing industry trends with MICE leaders and experts especially in the current context

After an informal pre-event get-together programme in Santiago de Compostela, delegates had the pleasure to enjoy a “tasty” welcome dinner held yesterday in A Coruna Opera House ending the evening with a surprising Flamenco danse.The first day session of the congress (Bedouk Meetings & Events Media being one of the corporate sponsors) started at the Palexco Palacio de Exposiciones y congresos (22,000 sqm) in A Coruna, a welcoming north-west Spanish city which celebrated its 800th anniversary last year. Dr. Linda Yueh, a brilliant key note speaker, gave quite a clear insight in regards to the Global challenges our economy is facing this year and how it affects our Meeting Industry. She ended the session with a positive analysis on the recovery we will experience by 2010 and on the expected growth of emerging countries such as China and India. Delegates are also greeted with roundtable discussions, case presentations such as “how we’ve been impacted, how we’re coping”, punctuated by statements from congress centres managing directors. The association has also been developing initiatives in order to help its members position in this difficult year, for instance by gathering opinions of other industry sectors in order to draw best practices to face the downturn. www.aipc.org