COVID-19
Travel information and updates
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The 11th
Panhellenic Conference of HAPCO & DES, entitled "Reconnect to
Accelarate", was held on 12-13 April 2022 at the Divani Caravel Hotel in
Athens.
The restart of the
in-person meetings and the strategy shaping the new framework for the future of
the industry, were the main topics of the conference. The Annual Meeting of
HAPCO & DES took place as an in-person meeting after two years of absence
and included sessions on significant subjects, such as:
• The power of
collaboration and synergies
• Sustainable
development
• New leadership
models
• Women and
Leadership
• Mental health
(how important is a pause before acceleration)
• Personal
development and evolution
• “Metaverse and
new technologies”
A particularly
important session was the hybrid round table with the participation of six
IAPCO members from Italy, Britain, Ireland, Greece and Mexico, and the IAPCO
CEO, where the representatives exchanged views on the impact of the pandemic in
each country and industry, the response and actions to address it, and the
future plans.
This international
working group (IAPCO Task Force of National Associations of PCOs) was created
through the pandemic crisis and is a live example of the importance of
cooperation and synergies.
During the HAPCO
Annual Meeting the important and critical juncture of the Ukraine war was
underlined, and the impact it is expected to have on the tourism and meetings
industry and humanity as a whole. A very important moment of the conference,
was the online live communication with the Lviv CVB representatives on the
situation in Ukraine.
The General
Assembly of the Association took place during the meeting and the new Board of
Directors was elected, appointing Sissi Lygnou as the new President. Sissi
Lygnou, has been a Board Member of HAPCO since 2007 and served as the Association’s
Secretary General. Since 2009, she represents AFEA in the International
Association of Professional Congress Organisers (IAPCO) and has participated in
numerous IAPCO committees and working groups, representing the international
body as a speaker and trainer. In February 2021, she was elected as a member of
IAPCO, the first member from Greece.
The new Board of
Directors of HAPCO & DES is as follows:
Honorary President
Irene Tolis, ERA
Congress & Events
President
Sissi Lignou, AFEA
Travel & Congress Services
1st Vice President
Panagiotis
Podimatas, PODIMATAS AUDIOVISUAL
2nd Vice President
Maria Papadaki,
EVENT MAKERS
Secretary General
Antonia
Alexandrou, CONVIN SA
Treasurer
Dimitris
Paliouras, GLOBAL EVENTS
Members:
Irini Toli, ERA
Congress & Events
Zenia Kerasidou,
MEGARON ATHENS, International Conference Centre
Costas
Karageorgakis, ETS EVENTS & TRAVEL SOLUTIONS
George Kiagias,
OPTIMUM GREECE
Maria
Papapanagiotou, KEGM Tourist & Conference Enterprises SA Congress World
Evangelos Pantos,
GRAND HYATT ATHENS
Alternate member
Thanos Marinoglou,
MD CONGRESS
HAPCO was
established in 1996, aiming to bring together and represent Professional
Congress Organizers (PCOs), DMCs, Service Providers and companies in the
Meetings Industry.
Source: HAPCO
IAPCO Edge,
IAPCO's top educational seminar took place in beautiful Lillehammer in Norway on 8th-10th March 2022, hosted by amazing hosts from Gyro
Conference, for the first time including a virtual component. AFEA CEO, Sissi
Lygnou, was member of the Faculty, alongside with inspirational speakers and
leaders in the Industry, such as Nicky McGrane and Mathias Posch. The virtual
room was perfectly coordinated by Sarah Markey-Hamm. The Faculty had the
opportunity to share their experience and knowledge with a very engaged
audience with in-person as well virtual interaction.
We all agreed on the need
for collaboration, teamwork, sharing, caring and often stepping out of our
comfort zone! At the same time, AFEA team participated actively in the seminar
with the presence of 3 team members, Lamprini Nikolidaki, Maria Paschalidou and
Mariel Bompa, in person and virtually.
Nothing can replace the energy of F2F meetings and people coming together and this factor contributed greatly to a very successful event. Thank you IAPCO!