Still potentially the most valuable part of the ICCA Congress in terms of Return on Investment is the Business Exchange (BE). Rather like speed-dating with business leads, it is the easiest way to find new business leads for your venue or destination. If you can bring just one lead back to the office then the registration fee is already money well spent!
Once you have won an association meeting, it isn’t likely to come back to the same destination for approximately 10-15 years. And once the event is secured, there are two things you can do with your acquired information about that meeting: you can save it in your archive, where in a couple of years it will be too out-dated to use again. Or you can exchange this information for up to date and current inside information on other events you might win now. The latter you can do at the BE.
All ICCA members are invited to take part in the BE. It is free of charge, but pre-registration is necessary. To get an idea of the type of information which is being exchanged at the BE sessions, please see an example of the required forms for participation here: BE form
If you indicate when you register that you want to participate, you will receive a separate email with instructions. The instructions also include a link to an online application form where you will need to complete information on the event you are putting forward for the Business Exchange.
If you have already registered for the Congress, but you didn’t indicate that you would like to participate in the BE, it’s not too late! Please send an email indicating your interest in participating in the BE to the Events Department as soon as possible.
Criteria
1. Your lead must attract at least 250 participants.
2. Your lead must be held on a regular basis.
3. Your lead must rotate between at least 3 different countries.
Please note: In case of a past meeting, it should not have taken place more than 2 years ago.
Note that the bigger the rotation area is; the more interesting your Lead will be for the other BE participants. For instance; a meeting with a World/International rotation will generate interest with more members than a meeting which only rotates between German speaking countries.
What happens after you have submitted the BE lead?
Once we have received your completed BE Lead proposal form we will check the suitability of the meeting and upon approval you will receive a confirmation that you are now registered for the Business Exchange. The BE confirmation will also include information on how to access the other BE leads which have been submitted by other members, so you will be able to see an overview of who will bring which lead to the BE session. This will allow you to get in touch with BE participants beforehand to set appointments.
The Business Exchange at the Congress
The Business Exchange will be going on throughout the Congress. BE Participants will be using an app (eg. Spotme) to contact each other and make appointments with each other to exchange business information. You will share background details on potential meetings with fellow BE participants. There will also be an informal session without presentations; you only need to come prepared with regards to the event details and you should already have made your appointments to meet at the session. Additionally there will be the possibility to share BE information during breakfast, lunch and the social programme. The app will help delegates to identify leads and to send meeting requests to other BE participants.
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