AECC nominated for ABPCO Excellence Awards

The AECC in Aberdeen has been nominated for one of the categories of the 2017 ABPCO Excellence Awards.

The North-East’s largest conference and exhibition venue is vying for the Best Industry Partnership award alongside Shocklogic and VisitBelfast.

The awards – put together by the Association of British Professional Conference Organisers – will take place at Harrogate Convention Centre on Friday 8^th December.

The full short-list is as follows:

Best Conference by an In-House Conference Organiser – Macmillan, NCRI and RCN
Best Conference by an Agency Conference Organiser – Bioscientifica, MCI and Hampton Medical
Best Industry Partnership – AECC, Shocklogic and Visit Belfast

Therese Dolan, joint-chair of ABPCO, said: “The Excellence Awards are now well and truly established in the industry’s calendar. The quality and number of entries continues to grow each year as association professionals recognise the calibre of the awards and prestige of winning or even being shortlisted.”

“The quality of entries this year is the best to date. The shortlisting process was incredibly challenging as there were so many examples of best practice, creativity and high-quality events. I very much look forward to the presentations and seeing the final winners on the day.”

An independent panel selected the shortlisted candidates – and during a lunch each entry presents details of their event, demonstrating best practice and expertise. Winners are then selected through peer voting amongst those in attendance.

Last year’s winners (pictured below) included Royal Society of Medicine (BeyondBORDERS), Conference Partners (EuroScience Open Forum 2016) and SECC (RCN Congress).

Ahead of the Excellence Awards and Chairmen’s Lunch, a dinner has also been arranged which will take place the evening before at Betty’s Café Tea Rooms. Those interested in attending the Excellence Awards should visit https://www.abpco.org/abpco-chairmens-lunch/

ABPCO is also hosting a roadshow event at the University of the West of Scotland in Paisley next Tuesday. The ABPCO & University of the West of Scotland Roadshow will feature a morning session covering Academic Conferences and partnerships between University, PCOs, University events teams and city Convention Bureaux. There will be a presentation by Professor Craig Mahoney, Principal and Vice Chancellor of the University of West of Scotland who will present on his experience of successfully bidding to host the European College of Sport Science in Glasgow.

The afternoon session will feature a discussion panel and Q&A with PCOs and industry experts including, Bronagh Bell, Greg Carew, and Celia Lloyd.

“We are excited to be heading up to Scotland for our Roadshow hosted by The University of the West of Scotland,” said Heather Lishman, Association Director, ABPCO. “The UWS is uniquely placed to deliver events and conferences across the west of Scotland, with its multi’campus setting they can offer a varied range of options.”