HQ #126 / Skills that Travel: Building Trusted Credentials for a Global Workforce

As the global meetings industry looks beyond attendance figures and conventional measures of scale, HQ #126 explores how knowledge becomes influence, how events acquire significance beyond their immediate audiences, and how the people delivering them are navigating a profession shaped by learning, mobility and constant change.

Under the theme Education, Credentials and Careers, this September Edition examines the forces redefining professional relevance, institutional purpose and the contribution meetings can make to the places and communities that host them. The edition opens with powerful conversations featuring Ignacio Deregibus of the International Water Resources Association, Dorian Kronenwerth of JMIC, and Deanna Varga of Mayvin Global, exploring the relationship between knowledge, policy, advocacy, governance and organisational resilience.

Throughout the issue, HQ also scrutinise the evidence behind a changing meetings landscape. The UIA International Meetings Statistics Report 2026 provides a compelling picture of the sector’s scale and composition, while jwc’s Kai Hattendorf considers how destinations can move towards a more strategic model of development in which business events contribute to wider territorial ambitions. Elsewhere, the Hotel Leadership Conference 2027 turns to the future of hospitality leadership, while Stress Matters examines the pressures shaping careers in an industry that rarely seems to switch off. Together, these perspectives place professional development alongside the wider questions of relevance, resilience and impact.

Cumulatively, destination storytelling remains at the heart of the edition. visitBerlin Convention Office reveals how science, government, business and civil society can be connected through a more integrated convention model, while Tokyo Convention & Visitors Bureau explores the meeting point between technology, accessibility, culture and human connection. Euskalduna Bilbao and RAI Amsterdam offer further perspectives on how venues can engage with their cities and communities, demonstrating how the meaning of a meeting can extend well beyond the event itself. Across our reports and association insights, from India Association Congress and the Poland Convention Bureau to IAPCO, CityDNA and Kenes Group, the same question returns in different forms: what does the industry leave behind once the meeting is over?

Discover HQ #126, a September Edition that looks beyond the familiar metrics of meetings to examine the knowledge, people, places and institutional connections giving the industry its wider significance.