How is the ICCA ranking developed?

Who are the sources of the ICCA database?
The information comes from several sources: the ICCA members that send their summaries and calendars for the previous year; international organizations that report their past and future activities; Internet research on a daily basis with periodic monitoring of websites and social networks, as well as other resources such as the Union of International Associations (UIA), etc.
This database, remember, is a sales and marketing resource that allows ICCA members (1,126 companies and organizations) to seek association meetings that will probably reach their destination, due to the rotating nature of these meetings.

What are ICCA’s criteria? Association meetings must:
• Rotate between at least 3 countries and
• Attract at least 50 participants and
• Be held with a certain frequency (we do not register ad hoc meetings)

What proofs are required when a meetings is not yet (new) in the ICCA online database?
• The complete title of the event (not just abbreviations/acronyms) and the title must be supplied in the official language of the Series
• The corresponding event url,
• Indication of attendance figures: When the Series is new to us we need you to supply attendance proof for at least 1 event in the Series history. In case the event has been held together with another event, please supply attendance proof for the event in your submission only.
• Past/future events information to proof rotation (regarding future meetings: please check that the client approved publication in our database)

When one or more proofs are missing and in case of doubts ICCA holds the right to reject meetings without further discussion.

What is not regarded as association meetings?
Sole exhibitions/tradeshows, corporate meetings, games & championships are not loaded onto the database. We do not include governmental/political meetings and when in doubt, members need to supply ICCA with written proof regarding the bidding process.

Does ICCA accept meetings that are held more than once a year?
In case a meeting is held several times a year, the member needs to give a clear indication on whether or not a bidding process is involved. This means written proof from the International Organisation/Local Committee, etc. Very often we find that these meetings are not next editions of a meeting – rather they appear to be editions held next to each other, comparable to a road show. In principle we do not accept series that have more than 4 editions per year as they do not meet one of our criteria: ‘Meetings must be organised on a regular basis’. In case a meeting takes place more than 4 times a year, there is no clear pattern to be detected to enable our members to make informed decisions whether or not to bid for a next edition, for instance.

How does ICCA assign events to destinations?
Our aim is to be geographically correct, so if a meeting is held outside let’s say Amsterdam in principle the city will not get the credit, even though they probably were influential in getting the meeting there in the first place. Each year we ask the national convention bureaus to have a look at the cities we have identified and to come up with suggestions. Feel free to let us know which places you think we should reconsider and we will be happy to research this further, using Geonames, Wikipedia, etc.

What about submitting first editions of a new series?
In case a meeting was held for the first time, the member needs to give a clear indication (proof) on whether or not it will rotate in the future. Also, any first edition needs to have an indication (proof) of attendance. In case the first mention of attendance figures does not exceed 75, a delegate list is necessary to provide additional proof. The attendance figures in our database only reflect the registered delegates for educational sessions. Speakers and/or accompanying persons are not included in this number. They can be mentioned separately in the database but will not be a part of the calculation. All other first attendance figures need to be accompanied by a proof, immaterial of the type of proof. This could be website link, article, letter/email (please provide us with the full original letter/email) from the International Organization/Organising Committee, attendance list etc. Of course we will do our part in searching, but if we cannot find any proof of first attendance, then we will just need to reject the meeting. To assess the correct number sometimes is difficult, especially with an exhibition attached that attracts more people separately.

Does ICCA accept meetings that are held twice (or more) in the same country in a row?
When more than 4 of the most recent editions of a series are held in the same country, ICCA suppresses the series, unless it can be demonstrated through proofs that it will start rotating again in a different country. In all other cases the member needs to give a clear indication on whether or not it will rotate or return to the same country in the future. In principle we reject those meetings with the same country twice in a row when the history line does not contain 3 different countries, including the one that keeps returning.

Why does an event series need to move between at least three countries?
In this way the data is relevant from a marketing point of view for many ICCA members. Until we can verify rotation we won’t include a series, and, crucially, where we subsequently discover that a previously-accepted series does not really rotate then we need to remove that series from the database to avoid misleading our members that this is something they can bid for.

Why are governmental (Like EU & UN) meetings not included in the database?
Basically, it has to do with the decision-making process and the fact that meeting professionals can not submit bids for future editions, except in exceptional circumstances.

The ranking is the reference, but ICCA recognizes that the report covers only one segment of the meetings industry: those of international associations that rotate among at least three countries, have a proven attendance of at least 50 participants and are carried out in a regular. “The ICCA ranking should not be taken as an overview of the entire industry.”