Please visit us at IMEX Frankfurt on Stand B440 for further information about these two educational programmes.
IAPCO in Paris, Inside the industry association's recent Annual Meeting
Welcome to IAPCO's website
As you may know our Association is primarily focused on two areas: a) to make sure that our profession is recognized at the highest levels and b) also to raise the standard of our activity worldwide, by training our members and assuring they provide quality service. We believe that the more people (direct clients, associations, pharmaceutical and trade companies, suppliers of the congress world and others) who are aware of this profession and work in direct contact with us, the better level of service they will all receive.
At IAPCO we have a criteria and requirements to accept new members, but we are more than happy to create links with those companies who will not become our members, for whichever reason. Just to mention one service, we have a number of publications that are at the disposal of anyone who would like to take advantage of them. We are also very committed to training our staff and also those companies and colleagues outside our membership who understand that we can help them by providing the right tools to become, or remain, good professional congress organizers, with the latest information in this field.
Training has been at the core of IAPCO’s activities ever since its creation back in 1968, and we show, year after year, that we still believe in providing training to anyone who wants to take advantage of it. In addition to our Annual Seminar at Wolfsberg (a classic in the PCO world!) we have been running The Meetings MasterClass since 2011, focused on high management of PCOs and other stakeholders in the conference world. This one takes place in Switzerland too. And, since we understand we have to be proactive, we also organize regional and national seminars, usually in locations further away from Europe.
Our Association has grown dramatically in the last few years, taking into consideration that the process of joining us is not an easy or fast one. However there is one element that has not and will not change over the years, regardless of the total number of members, and it is the quality assurance of its members. Each member has to go through a strict, independent, quality control system every year, to show that they are still in business and providing the level of service that the market expects from IAPCO company members. We are very proud of this system, and we are convinced that with this unique standard we keep our Association at the highest level in the meetings industry.
IAPCO is managed by a group of its members, who make up the Council elected by their peers. This Council dedicates long hours to the various administrative, political and educational aspects of the Association. I am very proud of serving as president of IAPCO during this current period and I would like you all to know that, together with my fellow Council members and those of the Training Academy, we want to serve and help our members, and also the conference community at large, with the passion, commitment and love we feel for our activity: professional congress organization.