Associations World Congress 2018

At the Associations World Congress on 12 – 14 March, hundreds of association executives were educated and informed on best practice, benchmarking, governance and many other business-critical topics specifically tailored for International and European associations.  

The Congress, managed and organised by the Association of Association Executives (AAE) was held at an exceptional venue - Flanders Meeting & Convention Center Antwerp ‘a room with a ZOO’.  

More than 241 associations and over 500 attendees in total, heard from some of the best association speakers in the world, some coming from as far as Australia and South Africa and the headline keynote speakers delivered punchy messages to captivated audiences. 

Damian Hutt, Executive Director, AAE said 

“We’re very pleased with the outcome for this year’s Congress.  We had higher numbers of senior association executives attend this year, which is a testament to associations showing their commitment to  be educated, and grow their organisations by attending our Congress.”

Koen Kennis, Vice Mayor, City of Antwerp said:  

“We are happy that AAE chose Antwerp for its World Congress! Our city has the potential to be the ideal backdrop for conventions and meetings, thanks to its excellent MICE infrastructure, the presence of a world port, a distinguished logistics, maritime and chemicals cluster and a developing healthcare cluster. And we have an excellent connectivity with the rest of Flanders, Europe and the world. And on top of that, Antwerp is also a city which combines business and pleasure. It is a city with many different names and even more facets: the city of Rubens, the world diamond center, one of the international fashion capitals, a city known for its creativity and innovation. I am sure that the participants to the Association World Congress discovered that for themselves during their stay in Antwerp!”

Anja Stas, Chief Commercial Officer of FMCCA who opened the Congress says: 

“We have been so honoured to be hosting this event and having the opportunity to serve you the experience of our ROOM with a ZOO in Antwerp. Flanders Meeting & Convention Center is the only convention centre in the world with a ZOO on site that guarantees an immediate  CSR solution through animal conservation.”

During the Congress Dinner, winners of the International & European Association Awards were presented their trophies.  This took place at the Grand Café Horta in the Art Nouveau Hall as a ‘Flemish Masters Experience’ and was organised by VISITFLANDERS. 

The keynote speaker at the Awards was Ben Weyts, Flemish Minister for Mobility, Public Works, the Vlaamse Rand, Tourism and Animal Welfare and he commented that:

“Flanders offers numerous assets to associations. The Congress was the perfect opportunity to showcase our destination to international association professionals. In Flanders you find state-of-the-art convention centres right in the middle of beautiful historic city centres. So the question for association executives is not ‘Why come to Flanders?’ but ‘where have you been all this time?”

Elke Dens, Marketing Director at VISITFLANDERS also comments:

 “We were very proud to host the Associations Word Congress gala dinner. We took the opportunity to transform the audience into real Flemish Masters at our themed event. An introduction to our painters Rubens, Brueghel and Van Eyck, showed the delegates that artistry and craftsmanship are in the DNA of Flanders. We wanted to inspire them to see Flanders’ potential as a destination for their own conferences. The team at VISITFLANDERS Convention Bureau is always ready to assist associations in bringing their own events to our destination.”

associationexecutives.org

www.associationawards.org

www.fmcca.com