The International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) today announced ICCA Advantage, a new program designed to boost organizations’ capabilities to attract and host international association meetings.

“ICCA’s commitment to remaining a leader in the education space on the global stage is strong, exemplified by the debut of ICCA Advantage. This program seeks to enrich and upskill participants with personalized instruction based on real-world issues that face business events organizations today. We’re thrilled to add ICCA Advantage to our roster of incredible instructional and educational offerings,” said Senthil Gopinath, CEO of ICCA.

ICCA Advantage provides ICCA members with a targeted solution to business events challenges.  The program can be tailored to all sectors: destination marketing, meetings management, venues, meeting support, and transport sectors. The two- to three-day bespoke training programs are offered on several topics, including:

• BidSmart: Bidding for Conventions
• Destination Promotion: Marketing and Branding
• Destination Readiness and Capacity
• Business and Market Planning
• Technology Systems, AI and Infrastructure
• Risk and Crisis Management
• Sustainability
• Impact & Legacy
• DEI
• Cultural Awareness

Recently, destination management professionals attended “BidSmart,” a two-day program hosted by the Berlin Convention Office. Instructors led participants through sessions focused on topics critical to success in destination management, including providing feedback on current bidding documents; reviewing how to define the most promising leads; and helping to improve bidding strategy. The interactive program was conducted using hands-on exercises and discussions, as well as review of real-life case studies.

“Continuous training of the team is so important — a seminar that is tailored to your own needs and also takes place in-house is a perfect solution for this! We are therefore delighted that ICCA introduced its seminar ‘ICCA Advantage BidSmart’ especially adapted to the needs of team members who are new to the topic of bidding,” said Marco Oelschlegel, director of Conventions, Berlin Convention Office. “Together with the international experience of the ICCA team, it provided valuable impetus for future bidding processes.”