Geneva International Association Forum 2020

The Geneva International Association Forum was launched by the ASSOCIATIONWORLD Foundation, in collaboration with the Geneva Convention Bureau and Congrex Switzerland, earlier this year.

The much-expected two-day event will bring together representatives of international and European associations, non-profit organizations, federations, professional societies, NGO’s and universities. Its primary goal is to establish an annual international leading platform for knowledge sharing in one of the world’s flagship host destinations for associations, Geneva.

Events of 1000+ attendees are allowed in Switzerland as of 1 September and GIAF will proceed as planned. Switzerland ranks #1 by COVID-19 safety and has introduced the new safely label by MySwitzerland on cleannes and safety.

Registration is now open, and the program overview is available online:
www.giaforum.com. The first exciting speakers will be announced upcoming week!

GIAF will include virtual / hybrid components to provide access to delegates from around the globe. Registration for virtual attendees will open in mid-July.
“Given the current regulation, we can register a maximum 60 attendees on a first-come, first-served basis. Luckily, GIAF caters for international and European based associations and organizations in Geneva, one of the global associations hubs. We believe that people will be mentally ready to come together in person again by mid-September, despite the safety measures that might still apply. Regardless of the Swiss government easing the regulations, the well-being and safety of our attendees, their families and their professional environments is utmost important to us. And, together with our venue and hospitality partner, we will ensure that the well-being, the safety, and the running of a risk-free event has priority. Life with restrictions becomes our norm and we all have to come to terms with that for a longer period of time. It requires us to organize ourselves according to the regulations if we want to see face-to-face meetings taking place again. And we are all eager to do so”, says Kai Troll, President of ASSOCIATIONWORLD and spokesperson of GIAF.
 
“The GIAF agenda is of course influenced by Covid-19 and the challenges that it confronts us with as association professionals. We want attendees to share their experiences, successes, downfalls. Together we will focus on finding solutions to our common challenges, move forward and look at the opportunities that arise from the situation we are in. We are all learning to adapt and rethink our associations and organizations”, Troll adds.

Program Overview
Speakers will be announced on a weekly basis from next week on. The program includes topics highly relevant to the moment in time covering the following four pillars:

• CEO IN ACTION:  Emphasis will be placed on association leadership such as CEO’s, Secretary General’s, Managing Directors, etc. who will share best practices and solutions focused on Membership Change, new required Membership Models, Finances, HR Governance & Board Development, Board Succession Planning, Leadership & Management, Organizational Development.

• COMMUNICATIONS / ADVOCACY / CAMPAIGNING: A reach-out to specialists in the fields of Strategic Communications, Advocacy, Campaigning and Lobbying and how Governments, Legislators, Institutions, High-level External Stakeholders with their calls to action can be influenced.

• INCOME GENERATION / RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT: Addressing experts working in the fields of Fundraising, Sponsorship Development, Exhibitions, Donor Development, High-Net-Worth Individual Donor Development, Foundation Funding, Corporate Business Development, Licensing, Diversification of Income Streams and/or other income generation-related topics.

• INNOVATION / SUSTAINABILITY: Covering the needs of professionals active in innovative solutions related to sustainability, such as SDG’s, Events, Technology, Digitalization, Environment, Health, Operations.

GIAF, as one of the very first events to take place after the imposed measures over the last few months, will be that opportunity to get back to business and kick off the association gatherings once more.

For general information and/or partnership opportunities, please contact:
hello@associationworld.eu or info@giaforum.com