9 HRS AGO - Events agency Identity has been chosen to work with the UK Government to deliver the 26th session of the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Scotland this November. Following a competitive tender process, UK-based Identity will deliver the 12-day event at Glasgow’s SEC Centre on behalf of the UK Government. The news follows Identity’s delivery of the G7 Summit in Cornwall two weeks ago. The sustainable COP26 event, expected to be one of the largest gatherings of heads of state ever hosted in the UK, will also feature climate experts and negotiators to agree coordinated action to tackle climate change. The conference, postponed since 2020 due to Covid-19, will include the COP26 Green Zone – a platform for business and others to have their voices heard through events, exhibitions, workshops and talks that promote dialogue, awareness, education and commitments. National delegations and international organisations and other delegates will be able to Collapse

17 HRS AGO -   Industry association Meetings & Events Australia (MEA) has announced the winners of the 2021 Ungerboeck Young Professional Scholarship. The Scholarship has supported and nurtured the development of future leaders in the events industry since 2005 and it provides an opportunity for the successful applicants to attend Evolve 2021, MEA’s major annual conference, held in Melbourne on 8 September this year. The recipients of this year’s Scholarship are: Australian Capital Territory – Olivia Hannan, Air Force Events Northern Territory – Emily Smigowski, AA&P Events New South Wales – Keisha Pickin, Merlin Events Queensland – Erin Glackin, Sofitel Noosa Pacific Resort Victoria – Luci Awad, Saxton Speakers Bureau “Congratulations to this year’s winners of the Ungerboeck Young Professional Scholarship,” said Fred Lazzerini, managing director APAC at Ungerboeck. “They have all shown incredible achievements and their participation in Evolve will provide them with valuable insights Collapse

3 DAYS AGO - The US Government Blockchain Association (GBA) is to host a week-long live event, Government Blockchain Week, 27 September-2 October 2021. Blockchain leaders will join investors and government policymakers in Washington DC for a week of live events that will feature six blockchain conferences. Blockchain is gaining momentum in multiple fields, inspiring topics such as cybersecurity and cryptocurrency, international trade and aid, NFTs, legal and law enforcement, and more. On the Thursday and Friday, the entire conference will converge on the Congressional Auditorium of the US Capitol. This two-day conference is GBA’s flagship event, ‘The Future of Money, Governance, & The Law’. One of the speakers will be founding fathers of blockchain technology, Scott Stornetta and there will be presentations from the Australian Trade & Investment Commission and from a blockchain architect from the London Stock Exchange. The head of Tax Risk Analysis from the Croatian Ministry of Finance is Collapse

4 DAYS AGO - The European Union is recommending adding the United States to the list of countries from which restrictions on non-essential travel should be lifted. The move was adopted during a meeting, 16 June, in Brussels of permanent representatives to the 27-nation bloc. The EU has no unified Covid border policy, but has been working on a joint digital travel certificate for those vaccinated, freshly tested, or recently recovered from the virus. Travel into the EU from the US was all but suspended throughout most of the pandemic. The recommendation for US travellers is non-binding, and individual national governments still have authority to demand test results or vaccination records and to set entry conditions. Some EU countries have already started allowing in American visitors and Belgium’s Prime Minister Alexander De Croo has said a phased-in approach should remain the rule. “Let’s look at science and let’s look at the progress. Let’s look at the numbers and when Collapse

5 DAYS AGO - Leading event management platform Hopin has announced, 16 June, that it has acquired the leader in onsite event solutions, Boomset. With the acquisition, Hopin will add premier onsite event tools to its offerings to become a holistic partner that enables anyone to plan, produce and share events whether hybrid, in-person or virtual. Johnny Boufarhat, CEO and founder of Hopin said: “The events industry has changed forever and event organisers need a seamless solution that includes virtual and onsite technology and services. With the addition of Boomset, we will allow our customers the ability to scale and analyse any type of event by capturing both virtual and in-person audiences and data together. “I am extremely proud to welcome the incredible Boomset team to Hopin as well as partner with Boomset’s founder and CEO Kerem Baran, whose attention to company culture is highly valued at Hopin.” Baran said: “Hopin has been transformational for virtual events and joining the organisation Collapse

5 DAYS AGO - Saudi Arabia has, in recent years, reached out to the world of leisure and business tourism with international campaigns. it is a destination looking to make a mark, a sentiment reflected by its stunning Mirror building in Al-‘ula. Saudi Arabia is the second biggest tourism destination in the Middle East, although most has been religious tourism. Advertising and marketing campaigns, allied to some new visa options, helped push the Kingdom’s international tourism sector’s value to over $25bn in 2019. Tourist visas, including e-visas, were introduced for citizens of 49 countries for a fee of $80. That first rush of tourists was led by those from China, the UK and the US. Although in-person conference business at Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Centre – the Kingdom’s No. 1 congress facility – remains suspended due to Covid, the facility had been recording 70% occupancy rates pre-pandemic and has regularly staged major national events. It is also a member of the Arab Union Collapse

5 DAYS AGO - The World Wind Energy Association (WWEA), which has members in 100 countries, has chosen Rimini’s Conference Centre in Italy to host its annual WWEC conference 28-30 June 2022. The decision was inspired by the long-standing collaboration between Italian Wind Energy Association ANEV and Key Energy, the international trade show for renewable energies and sustainable mobility. ANEV and Key Energy recently extended their long-standing collaboration until 2023. Palacongressi Conference Centre will host the event, which comes to Italy for the first time. “The National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) foresees that Italy’s wind energy capacity, which now stands, in addition to off-shore, at about 10GW, will double by 2030,” says ANEV President, Simone Togni. “The wind sector will therefore make a significant contribution to the fight against climate change by building new onshore wind energy plants and updating existing plants. Moreover, off-shore wind energy systems will be Collapse

6 DAYS AGO - Prime minister Boris Johnson has confirmed that Step 4 of the UK’s reopening has been pushed back to 19 July. The original roadmap plan had targeted 21 June as the “full and irreversible” final unlocking of the economy, subject to the virulence of the coronavirus. The extended target date, the prime minister said, was to allow all adults in the UK over the age of 18 to receive their first vaccination. Two doses of the vaccination reduce the risk of hospitalisation by 84%, professor Chris Whitty noted in the press conference. The prime minister said: “We cannot simply eliminate Covid. We must learn to live with it.” Prime minister Johnson said weddings would be allowed to go ahead from 21 June without the need for a 30-person capacity limit, so long as social distancing can be maintained. The pushing back of Step 4 means that current Step 3 rules still apply, which came into force on 17 May. At present, indoor events for 1,000 people (or 50% of venue capacity) can continue to Collapse

7 DAYS AGO - Melbourne Conference and Exhibition Centre’s (MCEC) participation in the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) Impact Academy culminated in a final showcase at the end of May where students presented their impact-driven solutions to industry clients and the Academy cohort. MCEC had joined forces with students from RMIT University in an effort to eliminate single-use plastics from their events and onsite cafes by 2025. Using a circular economy approach, the RMIT students designed a closed loop system and developed a proposal to replace MCEC’s disposable coffee cups and drink cups with reusable and sustainable alternatives. As part of the RMIT Impact Academy programme, six students in multi-disciplinary teams immersed themselves in the real-world task of tackling environmental challenges through a ten-week programme with MCEC’s sustainability manager, Samantha Ferrier. “Our team at MCEC was really excited to see the solutions that the students came up with because eliminating Collapse