FAQs

Please visit the events calendar to find an overview of ICCA Events.

Foremost you need to be a member, to be able to host an ICCA Event, and you can review the current RFP’s on My ICCA.

ICCA is always on the lookout for good quality speakers that can present a session at one of our events. Preferred speakers are experienced members that can present a topic in good English and have given a presentation to an international audience before. Volunteers are requested to send a message to education@iccaworld.org. Depending on the topics and your expertise we will discuss your participation as a speaker at one of the ICCA events.

Yes, you will have to cover the ICCA head office trainer accommodation and travel costs plus a fee.
Please contact Marco van Itterzon, Senior Manager Research and Market Analytics.

The Business Exchanges (BE), are sessions where participants share information on events they have recently handled. This information could turn into potential clients for your destination. Participants give valuable background information normally not known on the decision-making process, contacts, budget issues etc. BE sessions are held at the ICCA Congress, IMEX, and on an ad-hoc basis at Chapter meetings. The only request is that you provide details on one recent event that is handled by your organisation. The criteria for these events (rotation, size, etc.) are different for each BE session.

Please find this information under My Account > Membership payment in the My ICCA section.

International Congress and Convention Association
Address: Alpha Tower, De Entree 57
Postal Code: 1101 BH
City: Amsterdam
Country: The Netherlands
VAT registration number: NL8274.25.338.B.02

Chamber of Commerce number Amsterdam: 40409074

 

International Convention and Congress B.V.
Address: Alpha Tower, De Entree 57
Postal Code: 1101 BH
City: Amsterdam
Country: The Netherlands
VAT registration number: NL8274.25.338.B.03
Chamber of Commerce number Amsterdam: 85598232

The ICCA country and city rankings are published in May/June. Only ICCA Members can have full access to the latest report including the ICCA Destination Comparison Tool on My ICCA.

Later in the year, the Public Abstract version is released.

There are some free resources available in our Knowledge Hub, if you require industry-specific education we suggest you visit the ICCASkills website to unlock your professional learning potential.

MICE is a traditional acronym for Meetings Incentives Conferences and Exhibitions but these days we tend to refer to the industry as the Meetings Industry.

If you still wish to know what MICE stands for, see below.

Meeting: general term indicating the coming together of a number of people in one place, to confer or carry out a particular activity. Frequency: can be on an ad hoc basis or according to a set pattern, as for instance annual general meetings, committee meetings, etc.

Incentive: meeting event as part of a programme which is offered to its participants to reward a previous performance.

Conference: participatory meeting designed for discussion, fact-finding, problem-solving and consultation.  As compared with a congress, a conference is normally smaller in scale and more select in character-features which tend to facilitate the exchange of information. The term “conference” carries no special connotation as to frequency. Though not inherently limited in time, conferences are usually of limited duration with specific objectives.

Exhibition: events at which products and services are displayed.

The tourism industry can be divided into leisure tourism and business tourism. ICCA uses the following definition for business tourism: "Business tourism is the provision of facilities and services to the millions of delegates who annually attend meetings, congresses, exhibitions, business events, incentive travel and corporate hospitality". Please note that as is the case for many terms in the meetings industry, there is not one commonly used definition.

ICCA’s signature training programme is ICCASkills which offers global certification for the meetings industry. Visit the ICCASkills website to find out more. 

Other ICCA educational content is available (Global Association Forum, ICCA Congress, Association Expert Seminar, The Future of Healthcare Meetings etc.) for more details, please go to our events page

The IAPCO Meeting Industry Terminology publication, which is used a “dictionary for the congress industry,” uses the following definitions: 

Congress: regular coming together on a representational basis of several hundreds - or even thousands - of individuals belonging to a single professional, cultural, religious or other group. A congress is often convened to discuss a particular subject. Contributions to the presentation and discussion of the subject come only from members of the organising body. Frequency: usually established in advance and can be either multiannual or annual. Most international or world congresses are of the former type while national congresses are more frequently held annually. A congress will typically last several days and have several simultaneous sessions.

Conference: participatory meeting designed for discussion, fact-finding, problem-solving and consultation. As compared with a congress, a conference is normally smaller in scale and more select in character-features which tend to facilitate the exchange of information. The term “conference” carries no special connotation as to frequency. Though not inherently limited in time, conferences are usually of limited duration with specific objectives.

Please go to our current events calendar and events page.

Non-ICCA members can attend ICCA Congress and other ICCA events as observers for one year only if they are eligible and genuinely interested in joining ICCA in the near future. Attendance as an observer is by invitation only and special application must be made to your Regional Director.

Please visit the Press Centre section and follow the instructions.

The ICCA Best Marketing Award (BMA), established in 1997, recognises the excellence and outstanding achievements of organisations in their effort to market their destination or product. Entries can range from full scale campaigns and branding exercises to individual promotions and events. The ICCA Best Marketing Award is open to all ICCA members, regardless of their sector.

Finalists present at the ICCA Congress and the winner is chosen by judges and delegates on a 50:50 basis. The winner is announced at the Closing session of the Congress. Submission components consist of: innovation and creativity, research and rationale, return on investment, success in meeting the objectives and communication.

Read more here.

International association executives can rely on the ICCA network to find solutions for all their event objectives. Please see the Benefits for Associations section.

Please contact your Regional Director, with any queries or questions about ICCA Membership fees

ICCA takes personal privacy issues very seriously, and has been actively reviewing all policies and practices to comply with the latest European GDPR requirements.

The ICCA Board has reviewed the detailed policies and practices for each category of personal data that we process.  This information is available in our Privacy Policy and reflected in privacy notices on relevant pages of the ICCA website, including the association database and our event registration sites.

This is a complex issue, but ICCA aims to communicate our position as clearly as possible in simple English:

Your personal data (staff of ICCA member companies/organisations)

When you register for ICCA events, you enter into another contract regarding how your personal data is processed by ICCA, which will be clearly spelled out in our privacy notices each time you register.

ICCA data

We process personal data on numerous contacts linked to the international association meetings on our database, on the grounds of “legitimate interest”, based on our role as the world’s leading and long-standing aggregator and recorder of all data that is relevant to such meetings.  Our communication to contacts on the database makes clear that we hold their data for this reason, and that this data is shared with ICCA members, so that those members who have an interest in their meeting may contact them or use the data to better serve that meeting.   We have also communicated the Guidelines that we require ICCA members to adhere to.

All ICCA members (including those based outside Europe) who process this personal data (eg by adding such details to their CRM system) must themselves be GDPR compliant, with their own Privacy Policy and procedures that justify and explain their processing of personal data.  Such polices must apply to all personal data that they process from any source, not just ICCA data.  Members are advised to adopt policies that align with their own overall business interests – there is no single policy that everyone can adopt.  Typically, your policy’s rationale for processing personal data will be either “contract” or “legitimate interest” or “consent”.  Please note that if you adopt a “consent” rationale for processing data, you will need to obtain a proactive opt-in from all contacts that you process, no matter from what source.  

Misuse of ICCA data (eg passing on data to non-members or SPAMing association contacts) can result in exclusion from ICCA membership.

As part of this exercise, we have strengthened our long-standing Guidelines to members on how to handle ICCA data.  All members are expected to comply with these Guidelines, which we encourage you to study and incorporate in your own business operating practices and procedures.

Guidelines on working with ICCA data 

Our most important advice: treat all association contacts with intelligent respect!

ICCA’s policy for processing personal data in the Association Database is based on the rationale of “legitimate interest”.  All ICCA members need to adhere to their own Privacy Policy rationales when working with this (and all other) personal data, which could be based on “consent”, “legitimate interest” or even “contract” (eg, this may apply for persons linked to meetings that the ICCA member has organised or hosted in the past, or is actively preparing to organise or host in future).

The most sensible general principle for all ICCA members to adopt is to only process data on or make contact with individuals where there is a genuine, well-researched and well-argued business case for that meeting to be targeted, so that anyone can recognise the care that has been taken by the ICCA member to think about the needs of their meeting.

Association meetings are a long-term business, requiring the establishment of trust and a strong, long-term relationship.  From your earliest communication with these individuals this should always be kept in mind!  Treat all association contacts with “intelligent respect” at all times, and you will gain more success.

Please DO NOT send out standard letters to mass audiences, and avoid using salutations such as “Dear Association Executive” or “Dear Sir/Madam”.

Please DO NOT send large files or attachments (eg brochures), or generic tourist-type material.

Please DO NOT send out inappropriate or unasked-for gifts and invitations.

Please DO personalise each communication you send out, referring to what you know about about their meeting’s needs and their association’s business objectives, and explaining how your company or destination can help achieve their goals.

Please DO ensure that their meeting is a good fit for your company or destination, and that you have done your research on their history, size, rotation pattern, and decision-making criteria.

Please DO find out additional intelligence other ICCA members who have been involved in this meeting in the past, to ensure your approach is tailored to their needs.

Please DO check out other sources apart from ICCA before you contact any individual, to ensure your knowledge is as complete as possible.

Please DO ensure that individuals are easily able to request removal of their personal details or to not receive future contact from you, and react immediately to any complaints.

Please DO prominently display your privacy policies and demonstrate your adherence to GDPR.

Please DO mention that you are an ICCA member, with experience and special interest in international association meetings; mention other association meetings you’re worked on recently.

NEVER share ICCA data with non-members.

ALWAYS follow these guidelines to ensure that association executives feel welcome within the ICCA community, and that they are at all times treated with intelligent respect by ICCA members.