Keynote sessions to kick start the 2017 congress will be delivered by Cynthia Cherrey, President and CEO, International Leadership Association, Lodwijk Klootwijk, Director, European Golf Course Owners Association and Sarah Sadek, CEO, XYZ University.
In addition to the new features for 2017 unveiled last autumn, the Associations World Congress has revealed a streamed approach to content and sessions, designed to enable association leaders and executives to craft their own programme according to personal needs and preferences. Six separate content streams have been created, based on feedback from previous delegates on the types of content they are seeking at association events. The streams are:
- Strategies for Growth: How to Build Reach and Relevance
- Development Strategies for Exceptional Events
- Member Engagement: Putting Members at the Heart of your Strategy
- Leading your Sector: Thought Leadership and Professional Development
- Events: From Design to Delivery
- The Explosion of Video: Video Communications and TV Channel Strategy
Knowledge sharing is one of the key reasons association executives attend the Congress and this year the popular association success stories series has been given dedicated time in the programme. In addition, a series of smaller, focused workshops have been designed to help delegates build their skills by tapping into the experience of specialists. Sessions will cover topics such as social media; membership growth; sales skills; maximising your vital volunteer resources; and strategic planning in a chaotic world.
Damian Hutt, Executive Director of the Association of Association Executives, organisers of the Associations World Congress, says: “We have focused on creating a rich programme of content that addresses the wide variety of interests and experience levels of our attendees. Our aim is to enable our delegates to create their own experience and focus in on the most relevant topics to them.”
Christian Mutschlechner, Director of Vienna Convention Bureau, adds: “We are looking forward to an intensive exchange of ideas, networking and education for hundreds of association representatives – a unique peer to peer interaction which will produce a lot of new experiences including the discovery of Vienna as a leading meeting destination.”
