IACC eyes up membership growth with launch of enhanced Global Standards of Brilliance

IACC, the International Association of Conference. Centres, has relaunched its Global Standards of Brilliance as part of a drive to redefine excellence in the events industry and grow membership through greater engagement with small and medium-sized business event venues. IACC says its goal is to represents the top 1% of small to midsize conference and meeting venues globally. The enhanced Standards came about because of an increase in enquiries about membership from convention hotels focused on groups of 250 attendees or less. Mark Cooper, CEO, IACC, said: “IACC is committed to building and developing the global community of business event hotels and venues, and over the past few years we have grown some areas of our communities where venues fall just outside of the IACC member venue footprint. Rather than excluding outstanding venues who live by our high standards, we decided to deep dive into the pillars of requirement for membership and look at how we can better serve such an innovative industry.” “To accommodate this and enable a broader spectrum of venues to apply for members, the enhanced Standards of Brilliance shift the focus from meeting space size to group size, allowing more venues to apply for membership.” Cooper noted that, by becoming a member of IACC and adhering to these standards, venues can benefit from training and professional leadership development opportunities and marketing support from IACC, as well as access to the expensive IACC network. Criteria under the new global standards include: ‘Conference Room Design’ which focuses on the quality and functionality of the space; ‘Conference & Business Service’ which relates to effective meeting room set-ups, special event planning, and conference technology (AV/IT) equipment; ‘Food and Beverage’, which appreciates high quality nutritious food and flexible catering in terms of dietary requirements; ‘Technology’; ‘Staff’ which relates to clearly defined roles and professional development; and ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’, an affirmation that the venue is engaged in a holistic sustainable environmental endeavour that is woven into the fabric of the business. Nancy Lindemer (pictured), global president elect, IACC, said: “We are thrilled to unveil the new Global Standards of Brilliance which aim to represent a more diverse spectrum of venues, and champion those specific and unique venues that deserve to be recognised. The new standards aren’t an expansion link to meet a certain membership goal; it is to embrace the changing needs of communities on the periphery of some of our core venues. “These new standards have also built in the demanding innovation of technology, and we’ve also embraced what IACC stands for in terms of corporate social responsibility around people, community, accessibility and climate. Our chapters around the world have now adopted those changes and will embrace the opportunity to welcome new members. “Our recent review not only opens doors for new members who will be onboarded under the new global standards, but also enriches the offering to our current members, allowing for collaboration, networking and knowledge-sharing opportunities with new types and sizes of venues across the global community.”