Industry veteran, Paul Flackett, was taken by surprise at the ICCA Annual Congress in Cape Town this week.  Flackett thought all his duties as MC were over until Pat Delaney, Ovation, Martin Lewis, CAT Publications and Christian Mutschlechner, ICCA President, stepped up to present Flackett with the highly prestigious Moises Shuster Award.

This recognition of his contribution to the world of meetings and incentive travel over the last 25 years left the IMEX Managing Director delighted but virtually speechless. 

Moises Shuster was one of the founding fathers and Life Honorary President of ICCA.  A special award was established in 1998 to honour his spirit and dedication to bringing people together from all corners of the world.

The award is made only to those who have made an exceptional contribution to the meetings industry, whether or not an ICCA member.

Flackett, an avid Manchester United supporter was presented with 3 coveted tickets to the 2010 Football World Cup finals in South Africa. On presenting the award, Christian Mutschlechner said, "For the past 15 years Paul has been an inspirational leader in our industry.  But even more importantly he has been an enabler, a helper, a person who has brought others together and is always ready to give away knowledge and know-how to everyone from the most experienced to the youngest members of the industry."

Flackett is a well-known figure the world over thanks to a long career in the meetings industry. He first established himself as an organiser of conferences and events before joining EIBTM at its launch where he remained as Managing Director until it was sold to Reed Travel Exhibitions in 1997. By September 2001, having run his own consultancy in the intervening years, he jointly announced the launch of IMEX with Ray Bloom.

Paul has been a SITE (Society of Incentive Travel Executives) member since 1988 and gained the CITE qualification in 1994, becoming International President in 1995. In September 2000 he was elected to serve as a Trustee of the SITE Foundation and is currently serving as President of the Board.

Flackett has received several industry honours in recent years and was voted Meetings & Incentive Travel Magazine's Personality of the Year 1998.

The first Moises Shuster Award was presented in Tokyo at the ICCA General Assembly in 1998 to Pieter van der Hoeven, General Manager of the Adelaide Convention Centre and former ICCA President.  Since then Harry Baum, MBE, Virginia Lofft and, in 2002 outgoing ICCA President Tuula Lindberg, have also been honoured.