IAPCO members enjoyed a bumper year of growth in 2007 according to the results of the latest IAPCO annual activity survey.

Last year was an excellent year for PCO activities, with 18% growth in the meetings and exhibition business managed by IAPCO PCOs.

Between them, IAPCO members organised almost 4000 meetings, attracting 1.798.000 delegates, and featuring approximately 492.000 m² of exhibition space – in every way, a huge increase in activity compared with in 2006.

IAPCO members retain more than 3000 staff in full time employment with an equivalent management budget of 1.2B€.

The survey showed that an increasing proportion of IAPCO members organized more than 100 events last year – 22%, up from 15% in last year’s survey. This growth in members’ activities matched the growth of their clients.

Furthermore, given that every delegate spends approximately €1,620 in attending an event, the survey demonstrates that the economic impact of the meetings managed by IAPCO members is of the order of €2.9 billion – the equivalent of 14 Airbus A380s, 2 more than last year!

The nature of IAPCO members’ business had not changed from 2006, with the events comprising 49% association, 41% corporate, and 10% governmental meetings. However, the latest survey does demonstrate the increasingly global nature of IAPCO members’ activities, with 65% acting as international and/or national Core PCOs.

This highlights the continuity in members’ business, reflecting the trust in which IAPCO members are held by their clients, and is probably the result of stringent application of IAPCO’s Quality Policy over the past four decades.

Finally, the survey showed that IAPCO members are increasingly forming strategic partnerships with their clients, with 56% of members declaring that they also act as association management companies (AMCs).

The method used by the survey was the same as last year: number of national and international meetings managed, and with or without an exhibition;  a meeting as such must have at least 300 participants and a participant is classified as anyone who passes through the registration process.