South Wales venue secures ICCA award for Protect Duty campaign

International Convention Centre Wales (ICC Wales) has won an international award for its work in educating the global events sector on the UK’s incoming Protect Duty (Martyn’s Law). ICC Wales was announced the winner of the Best Marketing Award at the annual International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) congress in Krakow, Poland, earlier this week. The ICCA Best Marketing Award, which began in 1997, recognises the excellence and outstanding achievements of organisations in their effort to mark their destination or product. Following a detailed written submission with accompanying video, ICC Wales sales director Danielle Bounds and marketing director Vanessa Russell gave an on-stage presentation to almost 1,000 ICCA delegates in Krakow, where they won more member votes than three other finalists. ICC Wales is the second UK conference venue to win in the 25-year history of the award, securing the title for its work in creating educational resources: including its Protect Duty report, delivering informative sessions at industry trade shows, and launching the Protect Duty Events Industry Group. The venue’s CEO Ian Edwards said: “We know the esteem in which this award is held by the international meetings industry. Securing the ICCA Best Marketing Award is a testament to the dedication of the team in educating not only the UK’s events sector but the global industry on this very important legislation.” ICCA president Marta Gomes said: ‘The ‘Protect Duty Report’ is an interesting and important story. It’s not just about marketing a destination, but about improving security in convention centres. It is easily transposable to others too, so people everywhere can learn about the impact the Protect Duty legislation has had on UK venues.” “As Best Marketing Awards winners, it will have an even wider impact about improving security in all venues and protecting people who use them for work and for leisure.” Martyn’s law The Protect Duty is a result of campaigning by Figen Murray OBE. Figen, who wrote the foreword to the ICC Wales report, is the mother of Martyn Hett who was killed in the Manchester Arena terrorist attack in 2017. The new legislation will formalise the responsibilities and actions that publicly accessible locations must take to mitigate the risk of a terrorist attack. Murray said: “The Protect Duty may be UK legislation, but this is a global objective – to mitigate the risks at our event venues so that the people attending can go home safely at night.”