The International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), hosted a two-day workshop at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) to introduce the local business tourism community and strategic partners to the bidding process for international conferences.

Titled ‘The ICCA Middle East Bid Workshop’, the event consisted of lectures and panel discussions on the first day, followed by group works and presentations on day two. It drew the participation of 60 ICCA Middle East members and many new potential regional members from the private sector including Professional Conference Organizers (PCOs), Destination Management Companies (DMCs), MICE venues, hotels, venue operators and government organisations from the UAE, Oman and Saudi Arabia.

In his opening remarks, Khalifa Al Qubaisi, Head of Sales - Congresses & Conferences at ADNEC and Chairperson of ICCA - Middle East Chapter, said: “ICCA is regarded as the global expert in international association meetings, providing our members and partners with the best tools to increase the Middle East market share from the international association congresses and conferences. We are confident the workshop benefited our regional partners from the private sector, including venues, PCOs, government organisations and provided them with crucial pointers for winning more association meetings business.”

Day one of the workshop opened with an introduction to the initiative and included three lectures titled ‘Understanding the Association Market’, ‘How to Master a Successful Bid Process’ and ‘How to Encourage the Local Host to Bid’. Led by industry experts, the session outlined the types of international associations covered by ICCA and strategies for developing a successful bid.

Day one also included a session that explored aspects such as ‘Lessons from Bidding’, ‘Global Trends and Destination Competitiveness’ and ‘Reasons to Host a MEGA Event’.

The second day of the workshop focused on exploring suitable leads for regional destinations and featured group works, group presentations and open deliberations. Delegates were divided into groups to create a mock bid for a conference and present it to the workshop trainers for evaluation.

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