The Joint Meetings Industry Council (JMIC) marked its first 2019 Council meeting in Frankfurt recently with the tabling of a long-awaited report, new programme offerings, the announcement of a 2019 Unity Award winner and another increase in membership.
The JMIC Case Study programme launched three years ago in partnership with three member organisations – AIPC, ICCA and PCMA – delivered its final report, Business Events Legacies, including recommendations on event value capture and documentation for the future. The study, carried out by the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and a global panel of academic advisers, elevated the business events value discussion to an academic level and will shortly be published.
At the same time, the Council gave a green light to two additional projects arising from the redefinition of industry terminology and value proposition undertaken as part of the Industry Charter development in 2018. One is an industry ‘organogram’, the first effort to define all industry functions and associated organisations on a global basis and provide an effective basis for external communications and advocacy. The other is an industry-wide registry of member actions in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals via an online reporting tool and reporting templates developed by UFI and now being made to all JMIC members to again support broader communications efforts.
Industry associations EMECA – the European Major Exhibition Centres Association and IAEE – the International Association of Exhibitions and Events were accepted as JMIC members, bringing the total for new members over the past six months to 5 and an overall current membership of 18 industry organisations.
As reported by CMW, 28 May, the 2019 JMIC Unity Award was made to Joachim König, Managing Director of HCC Hannover Congress in recognition of his more than 12 years of industry leadership first through EVVC, the European Association of Event Centres and subsequently leading the re-orientation of JMIC itself.
“We are taking the new decisions and definitions developed through our renewal efforts of 2018 and turning these into relevant initiatives that members can engage in,” said JMIC President Kai Hattendorf (pictured). “With members having decided that JMIC’s role must be a global one, we are ensuring that our focus is on consolidating individual member efforts for increased impact and creating vehicles that will support greater consistency and more powerful messaging to external audiences. Through these actions we will be able to advance our image and value proposition as a key economic driver worldwide”.
The Joint Meetings Industry Council (JMIC) is an organisation that represents the combined interests of international business meetings industry associations. It has provided a forum for information exchange and recognition amongst industry groups for well over 50 years and is currently focussing on documenting and communicating the diverse values of the industry to broader community and governmental audiences.
