A second Canadian city has joined the Hybrid City Alliance, a global coalition of destinations working to organize safe in-person and virtual events.
Edmonton is one of eight new members. Others include Antwerp, Belgium; Cannes, France; Durban, South Africa; Seoul, South Korea; Sydney, Australia; and Lausanne-Montreux and Zurich, Switzerland. They join co-founders The Hague; Geneva; the capital of the Czech Republic, Prague; and Ottawa, expanding the alliance’s reach to now include destinations across five continents.
“(We are) proud to be a founding member of the Hybrid City Alliance and to contribute to the safe resumption of in-person meetings around the world,” says Ottawa Tourism president and CEO, Michael Crockatt.
Launched in December of last year, the alliance brings together like-minded destinations to offer international meeting planners a simple, streamlined and transparent approach to engaging with multiple locations for hybrid and multi-city events.
Over the past few months, the alliance has conducted a series of focus groups. These sessions have sought the input of professional conference and event organizers to ensure it offers maximum value to clients, as well as the convention centres, visitor bureaus and other partners like technology providers, including event platforms and audiovisual suppliers. Output from these discussions will include a white paper, which is expected to be released in the coming weeks.
“The alliance is founded on the principles of inclusiveness, collaboration and competence as the member cities encourage, promote and facilitate the delivery of hybrid and multi-city events,” says Crockatt. “With a dozen cities participating from across the globe, we can offer seamless options for meeting planners.”
The alliance recently partnered with the International Congress and Convention Association to support its North American summit on March 30. This collaboration provided the opportunity for the alliance to share case studies of recent hybrid events, assist in facilitating workshops and demonstrate its members’ position as thought leaders and experts on the subject of hybrid events.
