Great News!!! Congratulations MET Hotel!!!

Four ICCA Chapters – Mediterranean, UK/Ireland, Central European and Middle East have joined forces to create a Summit in Thessaloniki, Greece, originally initiated by the Mediterranean Chapter, aiming to deliver inter-chapter education and to create business synergies opportunities. The Summit will be held 31 January to 02 February 2013 At the MET Hotel in Thessaloniki. Registration for the event is open at http://bit.ly/ICCA4CS and the event Twitter hashtag is #ICCA4CS.

The Summit is open to all ICCA members; it will however offer focused educational content relevant to the needs and regions of the four Chapters joining forces. This will be mainly on issues such as creativity (in marketing, events, organizations); VAT; sponsorships and other creative solutions in dire times; digital strategies (along with results of a survey to be carried out in advance); technologies for the Meetings Industry; green meetings/hotels certification; strengthening/recovering during/after crises; fast track to securing association business; synergies for companies and students – internships/jobs and available, capable students/graduates the paradigm of a seamless cooperation.

The Summit is also open to a limited number of Observers and students. They can be MPI, SITE, PCMA, IAPCO members wishing to interact with ICCA colleagues.

On 31 January 2013, before the Summit officially begins, a complimentary ICCA Masterclass will be held in Thessaloniki, open to industry professionals, ICCA members and a limited number of students. Separate registration is required to attend.

Event registration is opening today at EIBTM with a promotional activity on the floor featuring chocolates printed with the event details (http://bit.ly/ICCA4CS).

As a result of the successful cooperation of the ICCA Mediterranean and UK/Ireland Chapters in Nice, France, in February 2011 on the issue of HarnessingCity and Country-wide events for Developing Meetings Industry Business, the cooperation will be repeated in 2013 and more European-based Chapters have expressed interest in joining in.]

Miranda Ioannou, ICCA Mediterranean Chapter Chair and ICCA Board Member, noted: «The Chapter Summit is an opportunity to kick-start a series of key, short events targeted at raising awareness about the impact of the Meetings Industry for politicians and business leaders in the Mediterranean countries and especially in Greece, at this particularly harsh time for the country. We expect that these will lead to the Joint Chapter Summit in a more effective way than ever before, culminating to a powerful message to the Mediterranean region and Europe-Middle East as well. It is our intention to forge synergies with destinations close to Thessaloniki to enable business development take place before-during-after the Chapter Summit, in addition to the great cooperation and business opportunities we have already put in place with the UK & Ireland Chapter. It is with great pleasure that we have the Central European and the Middle East Chapters joining in, to enhance this circle of cooperation».

«We have the full support of the industry, the politicians and business leaders in our region to make this event a success and showcase our city in the best possible way to meetings industry professionals», said the Thessaloniki CVB President Mr Yiannis Aslanis at the Philoxenia Exhibition in Thessaloniki last week.

«We are very pleased to be hosting this event in our city and will do our utmost to help spread the word’, said Valentini Amarantidou, head of Artion Conferences and Events, that submitted the bid jointly with the Thessaloniki CVB.