AIPC Support for Member Advocacy 

AIPC carries out ongoing research and analysis on many aspects of international convention centre management and markets in order to allow members to be well informed about how their industry is evolving and enable them to relate their own activities and priorities to what others are doing around the world. Member centres can in turn use this information to build their own business cases and market assessments and as part of their reporting to their owners.

But while centre managers are the undisputed experts in their own operations and markets, owners may from time to time want the benefit of a broader industry perspective in order to put their facility into context with the global industry and to overcome a natural tendency to believe they need to enhance the advice they are getting from their own management. This is particularly the case today when many government owners want to understand how their centre fits into the broader context of an overall economic development strategy, which is an urgent priority for most governments in these challenging times with a struggling global economy.

In this regard, there can be concerns about the quality and objectivity of the information and advice owners solicit from outside "industry experts" who may not in fact have either the hard information or the broad perspective that will best serve the interests of either owners or managers.

For this reason, AIPC will from time to time accept requests from member centres to make presentations to owner and / or community representatives that address the current state and prospects of the global industry. The objective of these presentations is to provide an "arms length" perspective that can support management's own initiatives to inform owners and communities as to the role and value of their centre's operations in supporting the local economy, and are based on conclusions reached through the research and observations gathered through extensive interactions with centres and markets world-wide.

Such "Industry Perspective" presentations have been carried out for a variety or groups ranging from individual centres and destinations to national or international industry groups or organizations, and have proven to be a successful and credible way of reinforcing key industry messages in a specific country or community. Their purpose is to generate a greater appreciation for the critical role that centres play in supporting and growing the economy and to support the communications and government relations activities maintained by members of the industry themselves.

AIPC members, either individually or as a regional group, may make a request for such support and each request will be considered and wherever possible addressed.