What Happens Inside Matters Outside: Lessons from the AIPC Conference 2026 in Bilbao

At Euskalduna Bilbao Conference Centre, the AIPC Annual Conference 2026 turned its attention to a convention-centre industry being asked to carry a much heavier brief: smarter use of technology, genuinely accessible spaces, stronger ties with communities, closer alliances across the destination and a clearer contribution to the cities they serve.

Our report picks out some of the conference's most thought-provoking sessions – from innovative leadership and destination transformation to the hotel–venue relationship, accessibility and the next generation of convention centres – alongside the ideas emerging from the Future Shapers programme and the AIPC Innovation Awards.

HQ Magazine Manager Manuel A. Fernandes reports from Bilbao
 

At AIPC's 2026 Annual Conference in Bilbao, the convention-centre community spent four days discussing subjects that would once have sat in separate compartments: artificial intelligence alongside accessibility; hospitality alongside workforce strategy; energy and sustainability alongside urban development; destination competitiveness alongside community value. The agenda was broad but not fragmented. Taken together, the discussions pointed towards a different understanding of what a convention centre is expected to do in 2026 despite external contingencies.

Having last attended the AIPC conference at Hungexpo Budapest in 2022, the contrast was striking. The industry had plenty to contend with then, emerging from the disruption of the pandemic and confronting an uncertain operating environment. In Bilbao, the conversation had moved into more complicated territories. Resilience remains necessary, but it is no longer an adequate description of the job. Convention centres are being asked to account for their contribution to cities, communities and economies in ways that reach well beyond the events on their calendars.

That made Bilbao the setting, director and main character of this script. A city whose own development has been shaped by long-term decisions about infrastructure, culture, investment and civic ambition provided an appropriate backdrop for a conference asking what convention centres might contribute to the places in which they operate. AIPC's programme was organised around Innovation & Transformation, People & Hospitality, and Legacy & Community Impact, but the most interesting discussions repeatedly crossed those boundaries.
 

Innovation was the First Test

Claire Hayek, a NeuroLeadership expert, gave a talk on Innovative Leadership, in which she examined the less glamorous side of bold thinking: the ability to maintain clarity, make sound decisions and keep teams on track when the pressure mounts. The following discussion, Innovation to Become a Convention Destination, took the question from the individual to the city, with case studies from Bilbao, Belgrade and Saskatoon respective convention centres. Jon Azua Mendia's account of Bilbao's transformation placed governance, economic strategy, infrastructure and collaboration alongside innovation itself. Kristina Milinčić, CEO of the Sava Center, suggested that an idea may be easy enough to produce, but the real test lies in creating the conditions for it to withstand competing priorities, institutional interests and the passage of time. In both cases, innovation was presented less as a discrete initiative than as part of a longer process of urban and economic renewal.

Community was another recurring thread. In How Can Communities Make Convention Centres Thrive?, Joyce Leveston of the Javits Center and Taubie Motlhabane of the Cape Town International Convention Centre explored venues as civic assets, looking at local engagement, talent development, stakeholder partnerships and legacy. It also raised the question of who benefits from the value created by a large convention centre. If the answer is solely the operator, the equation is narrow. A venue may generate business for hotels, work for local suppliers, visibility for a destination and opportunities for residents, whilst remaining formally separate from all of them. The most ambitious model is one in which these relationships are deliberately nurtured.
 

The Delegate Does Not Know Your Org Chart!

That tension surfaced again in Friends, Frenemies or Future Co-Creators?, moderated by AIPC President Julianne Jammers. Hotels and venues have plenty of reasons to work together, but also plenty of commercial reasons to guard their territory. The panel brought together perspectives from Kursaal Bern, bnetwork, Accor and Austria Center Vienna to examine service integration, commercial alignment, sustainability and destination-wide cooperation. For the delegate, however, those organisational boundaries barely exist. The journey is continuous: airport, transport, hotel, venue, restaurant, meeting and the city in between.

Jammers puts the human dimension of that journey firmly at its centre: “The most successful convention centres have always recognised that hospitality, delivered through people, is the foundation of their value proposition. When consistently executed at a high level, it becomes a powerful strategic advantage. Digital transformation is no longer a source of differentiation; it is an expectation. Technology is a capability, not a benefit in itself. The organisations that will lead the market are those that invest in their people, strengthen their service culture, and place both employees and customers at the centre of their operations. Ultimately, technology supports the experience, but people create it.”
 

Can the venue set the standard for the city?

The point was given a practical dimension by John Sage's Accessibility as a Strategic Advantage for Convention Centres. The Founder & CEO of Accessible Travel Solutions has experienced these obstacles first-hand and asked delegates to consider accessibility as a complete journey, not a compliance exercise. A person with a disability does not encounter a destination in isolated components: difficulties can emerge at the airport, on public transport, in a hotel or at the venue itself. The subsequent accessibility tour of Euskalduna made that point unusually tangible. What might have remained an abstract discussion about inclusion became a physical inspection of how a convention centre accommodates people with different mobility and cognitive needs. It also exposed how accessibility is often discussed as a feature of a building when, in practice, it is a test of how well a destination works as a whole.

The same logic applies to destination impact. In How Events Impact Destinations and Their Positioning?, Yurdana Burgoa of Last Tour and Irene Chan of AsiaWorld-Expo examined the contribution major events can make to reputation, investment, local business and community pride. The event itself may occupy a few days; the relationships, knowledge, spending and visibility attached to it can have a much longer life. This is where the convention centre starts to look less like a container for events and more like an intermediary between different interests in a city. Jammers expressed that vision with particular clarity: “The building itself is only one part of the equation. Equal, if not greater, attention should be given to identifying and mobilising the partnerships within the community that will contribute to its economic, social, intellectual, and environmental future.”
 

The Next Generation Is Already Here

By the final morning, the physical proposition was being reconsidered too. The Next Generation Convention Center: Economic Catalyst, Community Connector, Cultural Destination examined how convention districts are incorporating hospitality, entertainment, culture, retail, public space and mobility. The venue becomes part of an urban environment that has to work on ordinary days as well as event days. While senior leaders debated how today's centres should adapt, emerging professionals were being given space to tackle the problems they will inherit. The AIPC Future Shapers programme brought another generation into that picture. Ten emerging venue leaders spent five months working across continents before arriving in Bilbao to pitch two concepts developed around real challenges facing convention centres. Team Future Ready proposed Venue IQ, a platform designed to capture operational and client feedback and turn it into usable intelligence for venue teams. Team Growth Lab, meanwhile, proposed Convention Center Hospitality Excellence Certification, a standard conceived to raise service standards, improve the client journey and give venues a structured way of embedding hospitality excellence into their operations. 

Better technology, greener operations and more sophisticated buildings all have their place. What matters is what they enable a convention centre to contribute to the city around it. Jammers has a longer view: “I would hope that, by 2035, people will say the greatest achievement of today's leaders was transforming convention centres from venue operators into strategic partners in community and destination development. Over this decade, the most successful centres will have moved beyond measuring success solely through attendance and economic impact, focusing instead on their ability to drive innovation, attract and employ talent, foster collaboration, and create lasting benefits for their communities.”
 

The Next Idea May Already Be Inside

The Innovation Awards offered a more grounded view of what change looks like inside a convention centre. Eight finalists presented projects spanning circularity, immersive technology, waste management, sustainability, health and new approaches to venue use (check out the two RAI Amsterdam projects in our upcoming HQ #126). The shortlist brought together projects spanning circularity and waste recovery, immersive technology, sustainability and health, alongside inventive approaches to making better use of existing venue space.

Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) provided the clearest example. Its Agile by Design, Sustainable by Choice project took underused parts of an existing building, including the former Press Centre, and converted them into contemporary meeting rooms and flexible event spaces. The venue expanded its offer without expanding its footprint, turning an existing constraint into a commercial and environmental opportunity. The project won both the Jury Award and the Delegates' Choice Award. The judges recognised the business case; the delegates recognised its practical relevance. In a conference where innovation was repeatedly linked to pressure, resourcefulness and long-term value, KLCC's solution offered a refreshingly simple proposition where the next piece of capacity is already sitting inside the building.
 

Bilbao offered plenty of evidence for that trajectory, but also a useful warning against easy conclusions. No single convention centre can solve a city's economic, social or accessibility challenges. Nor can technology compensate for weak partnerships, poor service or an incomplete understanding of the visitor journey. What venues can do is occupy a more deliberate place in the machinery of a destination: convening interests, opening doors, creating encounters and helping translate international business into local value.

The next AIPC Annual Conference will take that conversation further west, in a very special setting. From 27 to 30 June 2027, the association will meet at the St. John's Convention Centre in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. After Bilbao, the geography changes but the ambition travels with it: convention centres becoming active contributors to the places they serve.
 

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