ICCA Transforming Together in 2020

The 59^th ICCA Congress has opened with the hosts in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, thrilling the audience both physical and virtual with a musical feast of an Opening Ceremony. The spirit of Kaohsiung City shone through whatever the medium of connection. ICCA’s London-based President James Rees beamed in his welcome to delegates thanks to holographic technology. A metaphor for the overarching theme of this year’s Congress, ‘Transforming Global Events Together’. Eight ICCA Congress regional hubs have been in full swing, with some holding ‘watch parties’ for the Opening. The Malaga Regional Hub welcomed delegates with a fun city tour and welcome reception. The Kaohsiung programme began with the first hybrid song creation activity in the session ‘The Global Connection – The moment we Share and Create’. The Original Song of Kaohsiung ICCA Congress 2020 was created using music to inspire creativity and strengthen connections. The video of that, as with other sessions, is available in the Congress Broadcast Platform. The 2 November programme kicked off with a session, ‘The Powerful Future of Events and Education with Bob Bejan from Microsoft and Salman Khan from The Khan Academy. Bejan shared insights on how new technologies could be utilised to extend reach, attendance and engagement with global audiences, and Khan shared some thoughts on the new future of online learning. ICCA Board member Greg Talley is also introducing the Kaohsiung Protocol, a major framework project created by ICCA for assessing global macro trends and industry micro trends. The regional hub programmes also have many incredible speakers and sessions lined up so registered delegates – and 1,150 industry peers are signed up this year – are encouraged to check them out. There is access to 100 hours of live and on-demand education content that will be available to registered participants post-event until 2021. The 59th ICCA Congress runs until 3 November.