Advocacy - IAPCO: The International Association of Professional Congress Organisers | IAPCO: The International Association of Professional Congress Organisers

IAPCO is the global voice of the meetings and events industry. IAPCO today represents 180 accredited businesses of professional congress organisers in 45 countries. Our mission is to promote the business events industry and its role in driving economic growth and development.

One of the ways we achieve our mission is through advocacy. We work with governments, industry associations, and other stakeholders to raise awareness of the value of business events and to advocate for policies that support the business events industry.

In recent years, we have focused our advocacy efforts on the following key areas:

Recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic: We have worked to ensure that governments and industry associations recognize the importance of business events to economic recovery and have implemented policies to support the safe and responsible return of events.
Sustainability: We are committed to promoting sustainable business practices in the PCO industry. We have developed a set of sustainability guidelines for PCOs and are working to raise awareness of the importance of sustainability among our members and partners.
Skills development: We believe that a skilled and qualified workforce is essential to the success of the PCO industry. We work to develop and promote training programs for PCOs and to advocate for policies that support skills development in the industry.
Unlocking Excellence: Helping our global industry and our members’ clients understand the benefits that come from working with an IAPCO accredited PCO. This new campaign was launched in October 2024 with the support of “endorsers” and industry from around the world. For more information: Unlocking Excellence – IAPCO: The International Association of Professional Congress Organisers | IAPCO: The International Association of Professional Congress Organisers

We are committed to continuing our advocacy efforts to ensure that the PCO industry can thrive and continue to contribute to economic growth and development around the world.

How you can help

There are several ways you can help IAPCO’s advocacy work:

Join IAPCO and become a member of our advocacy committee.
Attend IAPCO events and workshops to learn more about advocacy and how you can get involved.
Share IAPCO’s advocacy materials with your colleagues and networks.
Contact your elected officials and let them know about the importance of business events to your community.