The 57th @ICCAWorld Congress took place in Dubai this year from the 11-14 of November. The four-day congress takes place every year with a programme of education, global networking opportunities and insights into the latest developments in event technology as well as business opportunities for meeting industry professionals. This year the Congress was the biggest ICCA had ever held outside of Europe, with 1,156 attendees from 70 countries who travelled to Dubai for the event.
In this blogpost I will look at some of the highlights from the Congress:

ICCA Charity Run ‘N’ Walk
The run was in support of the Noor Dubai Foundation, which is a charity that works to prevent blindness on a global scale through treatment, prevention, and education. It took place at the inspirational setting named ‘La Mer’ which features a nearby picturesque beach. As you can see from the photo below, @supergreybeard didn’t miss the opportunity to run at the Event!


Monday Morning wake-up call:
A series of informative and inspirational talks were given by speakers including: 15 year old Emirati Alia Al Monsoori, Dr, Gcina Mhlope and many more. The Session Recordings are available to watch on the website.
Women’s Awards
The awards honour the contributions and achievements women have made in Business Events. Ten women from across the globe were presented with awards by the ICCA President Nina Freysen-Pretorius.

Best Marketing Award 2018
The Best Marketing Award 2018 was awarded to @VisitScotland, followed by The Hague Convention Bureau and the Serbian Convention Bureau. Visit Scotland created a digital campaign with the tagline “Scotland, where Ideas become legend” which crowned them the winners. For more information on the award and the winning campaign, read the article: VisitScotland Business Events wins ICCA best Marketing Award at 57th ICCA Congress. Patrick Delaney was the chairman of the judging panel as well as the MC for the awards.



Global Destination Sustainability Index Awards
This award showcases remarkable sustainability initiatives of convention bureaus and destination marketing organisations from across the globe. Copenhagen was awarded the most innovative destination, followed by Gothenburg who won the leadership award and Goyang CVB were awarded the ‘most improved destination.’ For more Information on the awards read the article: https://www.iccaworld.org/npps/story.cfm?nppage=290743.

Farewell Dinner
The 57th ICCA Congress came to a close with the impressive Farewell Dinner which included a fireworks display set in the desert. This event was the celebration of the four

The next ICCA Congress is planned to take place in Houston, Texas, USA in November 2019.

If you want to share some tips on digital marketing or content, send me an email at mary@soolnua.com. I’d love to hear from you!
We also have a super cool website to show you the work and services we provide and it can be found at soolnua.com.
For all things meetings and events related, Padraicino is the man to talk to.