2016 Meeting Trends According to One of Europe's Best Convention Cities

Glasgow does conventions better than nearly anywhere else in Europe. More than 4,600 readers of UK-based Meetings & Incentive Travel media group voted Glasgow City Marketing Bureau (GCMB) as the best British convention bureau in 2015 for the ninth consecutive year. Supporting the M&IT acknowledgement, professor John Heeley is director of BestDestinationMarketing.com and author of "Urban Destination Marketing in Contemporary Europe: Uniting Theory & Practice." He writes, “The convention department of Glasgow City Marketing Bureau — alongside Vienna Convention Bureau — is widely acknowledged by conference industry experts and practitioners as the best of their kind in Europe." In addition, Glasgow achieved a new annual record in conference revenue for the 2014/15 fiscal year, up 3% over last fiscal to $270 million. Because the destination marketing organization has been viewed as an innovator for so many years, it provides a good lens into best practices and what’s trending in the meetings industry heading into 2016. Conference Ambassador Program For Glasgow, the number one meetings industry strategy is showcasing local conference ambassadors who are experts within a specific business sector to attract conferences within that sector. Working as liaisons for the bureau, the local ambassadors are familiar with the language and nuances of any one particular industry. They also provide visiting conference planners with direct access to industry-specific thought leaders and resources in the destination. The practice of tapping a destination’s intellectual capital to help drive business to the destination is not new.