Piotr Wilczek has a speech “Code of Practice vs Standards or Both?” during the Saturday session on 4th EFAPCO Congress in Brussels. This session has updated participants on developments around standards and professional recognition in the meetings and events sector and the future for these initiatives. The session was an opportunity for participants to debate on sustainable business in the meeting industry.

At the EFAPCO 2008 Congress in Warsaw, discussion focussed on the importance of standards to support ‘ethical competence’ and continuing professional development in relation to delivering the ‘right balance’ of services providing material benefit vs professional status.

In parallel, the launch took place in 2007 of BS8901 Standard on Sustainable Event Management subsequently revised in 2009. Also this year, the United Nations Environment Programme launched a global reporting initiative [GRI] on sustainable events. Again in parallel to these initiatives, meetings held in Krakow and Lisbon took forward discussion on the need for standards and professional recognition in the meetings and events sector.

Norms for the industry can go in different directions Which one should we take?
Shall we follow the example of organisations, whose exclusive goal is to manage international standards?
How about taking up the challenge and having the influence on developing international norms?
…maybe it’s better to concentrate on developing and implementing an internal, EFAPCO members’ “Code of Good Practices?
EFAPCO has representations in most of European countries through individual national PCO’s associations. It has the mandate and right to represent European meeting industry
…process of working out our norms could be a big success !
…the best idea would be: first to establish a working group
Conference in Kraków, in October 2010, could be a good opportunity to run such a Workshop

The European Federation of the Associations of PCOs has compiled an ambitious educational programme for its fourth Congress which took place in Europe’s “Capital City” from January 7 to 9, 2010. It was one of the first major international conference events to take place in the brand new SQUARE, Brussels Palais des Congres, a venue showcasing Europe’s future in the meetings business. The Congress was set to tackle two of the hottest challenges currently facing the future of the events sector: “Sustainability and Competitiveness in the Meetings Industry”.

Keynote speakers of a plenary session on “Sustainability: How to Implement it in Your Meetings” were Jan-Christoph Napierski, the man responsible for the sustainable organisation of December’s UN Climate Change Conference in Denmark and David Stubbs, Head of Sustainability for London’s 2012 Olympic Games.

An intensive series of parallel sessions, featuring similarly prominent personalities have looked at: PCOs, their clients and their suppliers; VAT in Europe for meetings prescriptors; Technology and new social media: who is in the driving seat? and Standardisation in the meetings industry.

http://www.efapco2010.eu

Feature with pictures for Conference and Meetings World, published in the UK by MashMedia: EFAPCO Comes of Age - Already
January 15, 2008

Over 150 delegates gathered in the genial Polish capital, Warsaw, to take part in the 3rd Annual Congress of the European Federation of the Associations of Congress Organisers. Taking the theme “Tomorrow is Today”, it represented a quantum leap forward in the Federation’s short life – in terms of Congress arrangements and the sessions content.

“We have come a long way in just three years,” said EFAPCO President Julio Abreu, “And we now seem to be regarded as a serious-minded and highly professional organisation, helping raise professional standards among PCOs and consolidating Europe’s position as the world’s leading conference destination. The superb facilities offered by Warsaw in general and by the InterContinental Hotel in particular also provided a great showcase of what Poland can now offer for international business events.”

Some 20 countries were represented at the Congress, from most quarters of Europe including Scandinavia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Russia, The Netherlands and Turkey, plus Canada and Algeria – along with some 40 EFAPCO members from the Federation’s nine member states.

The event attracted 15 international media and a strong squad of participants from the Polish trade and business press.

One of the most significant features of this year’s event, however, was the number of travel and tourism students from Poland who took an active part in the Congress.

“Poland’s comparatively young conference industry is investing heavily in its future development, not least because of the number of students who joined us for the business sessions,” said Abreu. “That was a fantastically encouraging aspect of our event and I know they will have learnt a great deal from a list of speakers representing the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the Finland Convention Bureau, the Professional Associations Research Network, international bodies dedicated to developing Europe-wide professional standards, international trade exhibitions like IMEX, EFAPCO Board Members and a great line-up of Polish experts. It is little wonder that business tourism is currently one of the fastest-growing sectors of the Polish economy.”

The day before the Congress, EFAPCO’s General Assembly approved the election of First Vice President Nicolas le Brun, from Belgium, as President for the next two years. When le Brun takes over in April, Abreu will become Honorary President and Irena Sokolowska from Poland becomes 1st Vice President.

The Assembly heard that EFAPCO now represents 800 individual companies within the European meetings and conventions industry, including 300 PCOs.

Nicolas Le Brun said EFAPCO’s future development would focus on recruitment of new national associations of PCOs and encouragement of their development in countries that, at present, do not have their own associations. Recruitment of new associate members was an on-going priority, together with further development of the Federation’s already active internal communications systems and marketing presence at Europe’s leading industry trade shows.

The Federation was also dedicated to further expansion of already well-developed links with the EU and its various institutions, with UNWTO, with other meetings industry associations and with European bodies working on normalisation and professional certification systems.