Welcome to the website
of the professional congress organisers
The International Association of Professional Congress Organisers (IAPCO), a non-profit organisation founded in 1968, is THE professional association for professional organisers, meeting planners and managers of international and national congresses, conventions and special events.
Our association is committed to raising standards of service among its members and other sectors of the meetings industry by means of continuing education and interaction with other professionals. With more than 100 members in over 35 countries, IAPCO members provide consulting and organisational services for clients to the highest standard. IAPCO members organise every year in excess of 5600 meetings worldwide totaling over 2.11 million participants and more than 0,5 million square meters of exhibits, thus representing an economic impact of over 3.43 billion Euros. If numbers matter, it really means that face-to-face meetings are an important component of the world economy. Meetings became, over the years, strategic tools for associations and companies in the marketing and communication mix.
PCOs have a role to play there: We, in IAPCO, want to further the recognition of the profession of the congress organisers in maintaining high professional standards of quality, by promoting the study of theoretical and practical aspects of international congresses, in identifying issues related to international meetings and by seeking and promoting relevant solutions to our members and other stakeholders in this industry.
IAPCO has lots of interaction with other organisations worldwide (JMIC, CIC, ICCA, IPCAA, HCEA) and has developed along the years its own educational programme. IAPCO’s Training Academy is recognized as one of the leading centres for education in congress organizing; with the annual Wolfsberg seminar, many regional and national seminars around the world and soon in 2011, its new MASTERCLASS. Education is part of IAPCO’s goals.
Therefore, there are lots of reasons for you, PCOs, to join IAPCO:
- get recognised because IAPCO is the quality association in our industry
- have a unique place for connections with other members and stakeholders in the sector
- education is in our DNA: take advantage of all training opportunities offered to the members
- share experience and knowledge
- raise your profile in becoming an IAPCO member: our education programme, our quality seminars, our self-assessment programme have set the standards for our profession.
- use the documents and guidelines produced by IAPCO for your own branding and promotion.
For you, members, there is also on this web, a members’ only section with lots of information. Integrate even more within your association by participating in all the activities and by developing, with us additional services you would like to see.
And there are lots of reasons for you, associations, corporate companies and other institutions to work with IAPCO PCOs: IAPCO is the universally accepted benchmark for quality within congress organisation and is the global branding of excellence for the meetings industry. Thus, IAPCO members offer you a unique quality assurance. Our membership criteria, our quality control system and now our new sustainability code of practice all help to make IAPCO a unique professional association FOR YOU.
Our world is changing; our activities in the meetings and exhibitions industry are evolving very quickly, the PCOs too: from logistics to consulting, from promoting to marketing and communicating, from data collecting to data managing, from providing services to providing the solutions, from delivering to measuring, the PCOs role has evolved along the years, adapting to the new world. This will carry on, thanks to the IAPCO’s members who more and more are demonstrating the added value offered by professional congress organisers.
IAPCO is leading the change.
Philippe Fournier, IAPCO President 2010-2012