Alexander Alles on Advocacy, Sustainability and the Future of ICCA

The appointment of Alexander Alles as ICCA’s new Senior Director of Advocacy and Sustainability marks more than a leadership transition. It signals a deliberate shift in how the global association meetings industry intends to position itself, moving beyond broad narratives around economic impact and towards a more evidence-based, policy-oriented, and accountable model of advocacy.

At a time when sustainability claims are facing increasing scrutiny and destinations are being challenged to demonstrate measurable value, ICCA is investing heavily in advocacy frameworks, professional standards, sustainability governance, and global partnerships designed to translate ambition into implementation. From Net Zero Carbon Events and EarthCheck to talent development, impact measurement, and destination capacity-building, the organisation is reshaping its role from industry association to strategic infrastructure for the global meetings ecosystem.

In this exclusive HQ interview, Alexander Alles discusses the structural challenges facing the sector in 2026, the growing political relevance of business events, and why the future of the industry will depend less on promises and more on credibility, measurable outcomes, and institutional alignment.
 

As the global meetings industry becomes increasingly data-driven, ICCA is positioning itself at the centre of intelligence and insight through initiatives like GlobeWatch. How are tools like GlobeWatch transforming ICCA from a sector association into a global intelligence infrastructure capable of informing advocacy decisions with governments and destinations? To what extent is this data being used as a tool for political influence and benchmarking in how destinations shape their strategies?

GlobeWatch, also known as the ICCA Ranking Report, fundamentally changes the role ICCA can play in public policy conversations. Our industry has traditionally relied on narratives like the value of hosting, the prestige, the economic uplift. Those arguments still matter, but governments now demand something more: evidence that is comparable, defensible, and ideally tied to national priorities.

GlobeWatch moves us beyond “rankings as headlines” into intelligence as infrastructure. It's a system that informs real decisions: where meetings are moving, which sectors are growing, how association patterns connect to knowledge ecosystems, and what this means for a destination’s competitiveness. For governments, this translates business events into the language of policy: trade, innovation, talent, research collaboration, and soft power.

It could be said that the Rankings Report is being used for political influence because policy is shaped by credible evidence. When officials see that high-priority subject areas such as medical research, energy, AI are convening internationally, those meetings stop being “events” and become platforms for economic diplomacy and knowledge-sharing.

Benchmarking is also evolving. The most sophisticated destinations are no longer asking “Where are we in the ranking?” They’re asking: “How do we strengthen our position in specific sectors? How do we build bidding capability? What policy levers drive growth?” GlobeWatch provides a shared baseline to answer those questions, and that makes advocacy conversations with governments far more productive, because we’re focused on outcomes and competitiveness, not just volume.
 

ICCA has been investing in initiatives such as the Young Professionals Forum, the Future Leaders Council, and various mentoring and capacity-building programmes. How do these initiatives fit within ICCA’s broader advocacy strategy for talent attraction and development? To what extent is preparing the next generation one of ICCA’s most effective ways of ensuring sustainable and structural transformation in the events sector?

Talent is not a “nice-to-have” for our industry. It is an existential issue. If advocacy is understood as enabling the future of international meetings, then the ability to attract, develop, and retain skilled professionals becomes one of our most strategic forms of advocacy.

Programmes such as the Young Professionals Forum, the Future Leaders Council, mentoring initiatives like ICCALift, and ICCAUni reflect three interconnected priorities.

First, workforce competitiveness: destinations and organisations cannot advance on impact, sustainability, or innovation without the right professional capability in place. Talent development is therefore a prerequisite for progress across the sector.

Second, industry legitimacy: structured learning pathways and leadership development strengthen the case for business events as a serious economic sector, one that merits attention in policy discussions and public investment.

Third, structural transformation: the next generation is increasingly values-driven. They expect purpose, inclusion, sustainability, and measurable outcomes. Supporting and engaging with that mindset accelerates change in ways that no single framework or policy intervention can achieve on its own.

Taken together, these initiatives function both as a talent pipeline and as a culture catalyst. The objective is not only to teach skills, but to shape how future professionals think about the industry: how they design meetings that deliver legacy, how they apply science-based sustainability criteria, and how they articulate value to policymakers and stakeholders.

In that sense, cultivating change through the people who will eventually run the system is precisely what makes this approach capable of delivering lasting, structural transformation.
 

ICCA has been advancing its impact agenda through targeted education initiatives such as the "Impact Masterclass", designed to help associations and destinations better understand, measure, and deliver long-term legacy outcomes. How do you intend to close the gap between ambition and capability when it comes to designing events for measurable impact? Is the industry sufficiently equipped to deliver on the “impact and legacy” agenda?

The ambition is there. The gap lies in capability, and more specifically, in the absence of repeatable methodology. Where impact falls short, it is usually for a few consistent reasons: we confuse good intention with measurable outcomes, we fail to establish baselines or define success early enough, and we often treat impact as a communications exercise rather than an integral part of event design.

The Impact Masterclass is designed to address exactly that by making impact practical and operational: providing a shared language, a consistent toolset, and a structured approach. A central element of this is encouraging organisers and destinations to articulate a theory of change, what problem they are trying to influence, who the relevant stakeholders are, what activities lead to specific outputs and outcomes, and ultimately what constitutes legacy, supported by clear evidence of change.

Is the industry sufficiently equipped today? In parts, yes, but unevenly. There are pockets of strong practice and advanced thinking, but also many areas where capability is still developing. The direction, however, is clear: impact is becoming a competence rather than a slogan.

The next step is turning learning into implementation through practical mechanisms: templates, coaching, community case libraries, and shared measurement frameworks. The objective is not perfection; it is credibility and progress. The ability, increasingly, to demonstrate that a meeting did not simply “happen,” but contributed meaningfully to change in areas that matter.
 

"I believe the industry has reached a point where success needs to be defined with specificity rather than aspiration alone, and that is very much how I approach ICCA’s priorities for 2026."
 

As sustainability claims come under greater scrutiny, the need for credible, science-based validation has never been more pressing. What impact does the partnership with EarthCheck have on how ICCA validates the sustainability of its own events? How is this scientific foundation reshaping the credibility of the association’s advocacy narrative?

The sustainability conversation is shifting quickly from aspiration to accountability. The EarthCheck partnership is significant precisely because it responds to one of the industry’s persistent challenges: the need for credible validation grounded in science and transparent criteria.

Before addressing verification directly, it is important to be clear about ICCA’s position within the broader sustainability architecture of the events industry. ICCA was one of the founding members of the Net Zero Carbon Events initiative, the industry-wide pledge framework that defines how organisations across the global events sector commit to, measure, and report on their pathway to net zero. That founding role is not symbolic. It reflects an active contribution to shaping the commitments that the wider industry is now being held to, and it also brings with it a responsibility to demonstrate that those commitments translate into practice both for our members and for ourselves.

For ICCA events, the objective is not simply to “do sustainability,” but to prove it, improve it, and communicate it responsibly. Third-party verification helps reduce the risk of greenwashing and sharpens focus on what genuinely matters: emissions hotspots, supplier practices, waste systems, destination infrastructure, and behavioural design.

A concrete example of this approach is the achievement of zero food waste to landfill certification at a recent congress. That is not a slogan but a verified outcome, independently assessed. It required redesigning procurement and waste management processes, working closely with venue and catering partners to close the loop on food systems, and ultimately delivering a measurable result. This is what credible sustainability looks like in practice.

From an advocacy perspective, credibility is central. When ICCA speaks to governments and destinations about sustainability, it must demonstrate that it holds itself to robust standards, not merely encourages others to do so. A scientific foundation shifts the narrative from “we care” to “we can demonstrate measurable performance and continuous improvement.” That is the language policymakers and stakeholders respond to.

The memorandum between ICCA and International Federation of Exhibition & Event Services (IFES) brings together two globally influential communities, connecting the association meetings ecosystem with the wider events supply chain. How does ICCA plan to leverage this integration to drive more consistent standards, particularly in sustainability, innovation, and professional development, across such a fragmented industry? How is this shaping ICCA’s structural and institutional alignment?

Systemic change requires engaging the full ecosystem. Association meetings are not delivered in isolation; they depend on a complex supply chain that includes production, design, AV, logistics, venues, transport, and digital infrastructure. This fragmentation is one of the key barriers to achieving consistent standards, whether in sustainability, quality, or innovation.

The closer alignment with IFES helps connect ICCA’s association and destination network with the operational reality of delivery, enabling three practical shifts.

First, standard-setting through procurement: sustainability and quality improvements happen more quickly when expectations are embedded directly into briefs, RFPs, and supplier contracts, rather than treated as downstream considerations.

Second, shared professional development: aligning training and competencies across the supply chain helps close capability gaps and raises the consistency of outcomes across different markets and event formats.

Third, innovation diffusion: new practices and technologies spread more effectively when suppliers and buyers are part of a shared learning ecosystem, rather than operating in parallel silos.

Institutionally, this collaboration shifts ICCA from being primarily a convener of one community to a connector across multiple communities. That creates a more horizontally integrated position, which in turn increases the association’s ability to influence how standards are not only defined, but actually implemented in practice.

In addition, IFES serves as the implementation body of Better Stands under the Net Zero Carbon Events (NZCE) initiative, which aims to transition the industry from single-use to reusable exhibition stand systems. As a founding partner of NZCE, ICCA is committed to using this global framework as a practical mechanism to accelerate sustainability across the wider events ecosystem.
 

Signing moment between Jörg Zeissig, IFES President, and Senthil Gopinath, ICCA CEO at IMEX Frankfurt 2025  

As the complexity of international meetings grows, so too does the need for globally aligned professional standards, particularly for PCOs. How will cooperation with the International Association of Professional Congress Organisers (IAPCO) contribute to the development of global professional standards with a direct impact on the sustainability and environmental footprint of meetings? What role do event organisers play in driving that transformation?

Organisers, and PCOs in particular, occupy a crucial leverage point within the meetings ecosystem. They are the actors who translate strategic intentions into operational reality. An organisation may have the most ambitious sustainability strategy in the world, but if the organiser lacks the competence, authority, or practical frameworks to implement it through planning, supplier selection, and programme design, those ambitions will not materialise.

Cooperation with IAPCO brings together ICCA’s advocacy and destination perspective with IAPCO’s deep expertise in professional practice, competency frameworks, and education. This alignment is important because many of the most effective sustainability improvements are operational in nature: venue selection, energy sourcing, food systems, freight and logistics, delegate mobility, and the integration of digital alternatives where appropriate.

The broader objective is to establish greater global alignment around what “good practice” looks like for organisers, so that sustainability does not depend solely on individual champions or isolated initiatives, but instead becomes embedded as a standard of professional excellence across the industry.

Event organisers ultimately play the role of implementers and integrators. They manage competing priorities and operational trade-offs, ensure that measurement and accountability are built into the process, and translate sustainability from a theoretical ambition into something practical, measurable, and deliverable. In that sense, they are central not only to reducing the environmental footprint of meetings, but also to embedding long-term cultural and professional change across the sector.
 

"Is the industry sufficiently equipped today? In parts, yes, but unevenly."
 

The partnership between ICCA and the Asia-Pacific Incentives and Meetings Event (AIME) reflects a strong commitment to strengthening the Asia-Pacific meetings industry through advocacy, talent development, and knowledge exchange. How does ICCA balance this regional focus with its broader global advocacy strategy? Beyond Asia-Pacific, which markets does the organisation see as the next priorities for partnership-led influence?

Asia-Pacific is a powerhouse – economically, demographically, and in terms of association development. Collaboration with AIME strengthens advocacy efforts in a region where the pace of change is particularly rapid and where an increasing share of global convenings will take shape in the coming years.

The key, however, is ensuring that regional partnerships reinforce global consistency rather than fragmentation. ICCA’s role is to ensure that while programmes and initiatives reflect local realities, the broader standards, language of value, and sustainability expectations remain globally aligned. That is why partnerships are anchored in shared frameworks around impact measurement, capability building, ethical data use, and credible sustainability practices.

Beyond Asia-Pacific, ICCA sees several regions as strategic priorities for partnership-led influence:

• The Middle East, driven by rapid infrastructure development and ambitious economic diversification strategies;
• Africa, where there is significant potential for association growth and long-term capacity building;
• Latin America, supported by strong sector communities and opportunities for deeper regional integration;
• South Asia, where scale, talent, and growing international influence are reshaping the global meetings landscape.

The underlying principle is straightforward: ICCA prioritises markets where advocacy can help unlock enabling conditions for long-term growth whether through policy support, skills development, stronger professional standards, or enhanced international competitiveness.

Capacity-building and education are emerging as key levers in turning sustainability commitments into tangible action at destination level. To what extent is sustainability training developed with the GDS-Movement accelerating real behavioural change among destinations? How do you see practical guides from certified partners translating into meaningful action on the ground?

Training only has value if it changes decision-making; what people specify, procure, measure, and ultimately report. The strength of working with certified partners such as the GDS-Movement lies precisely in the practical and systems-oriented nature of the training. It connects ambition to the operational levers that destinations can directly influence.

Behavioural change becomes visible when destinations begin addressing the more demanding aspects of sustainability: embedding sustainability criteria into bid strategies, establishing baseline measurements, collaborating with venues and suppliers on data collection, and committing to transparent reporting practices.

Translating guidance into action generally depends on three key mechanisms:

• First, local ownership: sustainability cannot simply be outsourced. Teams need to internalise the knowledge and develop the competence to apply it consistently within their own organisations and destinations;
• Second, operational tools: practical implementation requires templates, checklists, procurement guidance, and shared measurement frameworks that make sustainability actionable rather than abstract;
• Third, accountability loops: progress is accelerated when destinations work with clear targets, transparent reporting, peer benchmarking, and processes of continuous improvement.

ICCA’s role in this context is to help transform learning into community practice ensuring that destinations do not simply “graduate” from training programmes, but actively apply what they have learned, share experiences, and demonstrate measurable outcomes in real-world settings.
 

With a strong foundation of partnerships and frameworks now in place, the focus is increasingly shifting towards execution, impact, and measurable outcomes. What are the key challenges ICCA faces in 2026, and what concrete projects or actions are already on the agenda? More broadly, what metrics or milestones should ICCA and the wider industry be looking at to assess whether meaningful progress is truly being delivered?

Let me be direct: I believe the industry has reached a point where success needs to be defined with specificity rather than aspiration alone, and that is very much how I approach ICCA’s priorities for 2026.

The challenges are real. Sustainability claims are under greater scrutiny than ever before: accusations of greenwashing are no longer hypothetical reputational risks, and with increasingly stringent regulation emerging across different markets, they are also becoming legal and compliance risks. Advocacy, meanwhile, is still too reactive, often relying on narratives that governments may find compelling in principle but insufficiently evidenced in practice. At the same time, although frameworks now exist for impact, sustainability, and professional standards, adoption remains uneven across regions and throughout supply chains that are still developing their capabilities.

My focus for 2026 is therefore centred on execution across two key fronts:

The first is strengthening ICCA’s advocacy infrastructure so that it becomes evidence-led, systematic, and scalable. This means establishing a clearer advocacy framework with defined themes, messaging, stakeholder mapping, and escalation pathways, while also equipping regional directors with practical tools that enable them to engage governments confidently and consistently in collaboration with headquarters.

The second priority is turning sustainability commitments into demonstrated performance. ICCA is currently developing internal sustainability processes that involve all departments, beginning with the events team, and introducing a Sustainability Event Management System (SEMS) approach. We also intend to publish our sustainability policy transparently on the ICCA website. By the end of next year, the objective is to establish a proper baseline year covering not only events, but ICCA’s wider operations as well. Sustainability cannot remain a conversation confined to headquarters; it must become operational, measurable, and embedded at regional level.

Ultimately, the objective is to position ICCA as an organisation capable of sitting alongside any government, in any region, and making the case for international association meetings with confidence, evidence, and credibility; while at the same time equipping its members to do exactly the same.
 

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Published by Meeting Media Company, the publisher of Headquarters Magazine (HQ) – a leading international publication based in Brussels, serving the global MICE industry and association community.