Global Association Community Forum

Creating meetings that matter

5-7 September, 2022 | Lausanne, Switzerland


Meet our Moderator



Bo Krüger

Opening keynote: Sustainable meetings and events - A mystery that may never be solved

Bo Krüger is prize-winning and international renown Meeting Designer, moderator and keynote speaker. Bo is the owner of Moving Minds, a consultancy that helps clients design and facilitate better meeting and events. His main focus is on creating more meaningful, engaging and fun meetings both virtual, in-person and hybrid. 

Bo has previously worked as an innovation consultant at the Danish Institute of Technology and as a senior Management Consultant in Implement Consulting Group. He has worked in and with many associations and has experience from clients in more than 25 countries. He has written books on facilitation, gamification and creativity and won the Outstanding Achievement Award at the Danish Meeting and Events Awards. Bo is based in Copenhagen, likes kayaking, wintherbathing and bikes every day to work.

Meet our Speakers


 Tuesday, 6 September




Anders Billström
Opening keynote presentation: The Legacy of the World Transplant Games Federation

Anders is a Board of Trustee of World Transplant Games Federation (WTGF). He is co-chairing the WTGF Research Initiative and is serving on the games committee. Anders is working as an assistant professor at School of Business, University of Skövde, Sweden. His research interest is in business particularly n entrepreneurship and management.




Linh To
Opening keynote presentation: Purposeful Gathering: Worldchefs for Better Food Industry

Born in Vietnam, and trained in France, Linh uses her multicultural background to maneuver as the Project & Event Manager at Worldchefs, a federation of culinary professionals with member associations in 110 countries.
Since 2018, Linh has set up Worldchefs’ weekly educational events, reaching annually 860,000 people on average. She is also part of the core team behind the biennial Worldchefs Congress & Expo and Worldchefs international pavilions at F&B trade shows across continents. 

Working closely with chefs ignites Linh’s passion in food sustainability. As the global project manager of Worldchefs Feed the Planet, she works toward educating 300,000 culinary professionals and consumers in sustainable food consumption by 2030.




Guy Garside
Opening keynote presentation: Sustainability - what do your attendees really care about?

Associate Director & Guy has 10 years' experience leading international multi-method market research and social research projects. As part of Explori's agency team, he works with our global association, exhibition, and corporate clients to measure and improve their events using a wide range of data sources. He also leads Explori's Industry Research on Sustainability and heads up a Sustainability working group on the Exhibitions Think Tank Club.





Milda Salciute

Session: A regenerative approach to event management - in partnership with GDS

Milda has always let her passion for learning drive her forward in her professional and personal life. With 10+ years in the meetings and events industry, she has touched many areas in managing F2F, Digital and Hybrid events, always bringing sustainability & regeneration elements to the forefront. Her time as a meeting professional has led her to her current position as Changemaker and Event Manager at the GDS Movement where she is able to combine her passion for sustainability & events to support the mission of the GDS Movement. 

During her career, Milda was working as Strategic Project Manager at TNW (A Financial Times Company), navigating the ever-changing tech & start-up environment. Prior to that, Milda played an integral role in planning and implementing education and sustainability projects at the IMEX Group for their two leading exhibitions, IMEX America and IMEX in Frankfurt. 

Born and raised in Lithuania, Milda has travelled the world and lived in Norway, Denmark, and the UK. She currently lives in Amsterdam, where she fully embraces her love of yoga, sustainable living and volunteering opportunities that nurture her professional and personal interests.




Anna Abdelnoor

Session: A regenerative approach to event management - in partnership with GDS

Anna is the co-founder of isla - the independent industry body supporting the events sector transition to a more sustainable future. As the driving force behind isla, Anna articulates and leads the sustainability vision for the industry. Focusing on direct action, measurable targets, education and standardisation of the sector to accelerate and capitalise on global momentum to transform to a sustainable global society. Having worked with a plethora of agencies on large scale events for global clients, Anna knows just how capable the industry is in delivering huge projects under pressure and believes the same collaborative attitude is integral to addressing the climate crisis within the events sector.

Based in Berlin, Felix is a consultant to international clients from science, policy and industry, an advisor to several not-for-profit organisations, and former Executive Director of the Falling Walls Foundation. Check out the website.




Tia Daniels

Session: Creating impact through legacy programmes 

Tia has more than 25 years of experience in the meetings and events industry, with previous positions stationed in the US and Denmark. Before her role at BestCities Global Alliance, she held roles as Director of Sales and Marketing at Konventum Hotel & Conference Center and International Senior Sales Manager at Bella Center Copenhagen. She also worked for MCI Copenhagen, where she led the COP15 Hotel & Guest Relations team through one of the city’s largest conferences in history with over 30,000 delegates in attendance.
Throughout her seasoned career, Tia has worked with a vast array of associations and corporations. She has also remained active within the MPI and PCMA communities, and regularly forges new connections at IMEX, IBTM and other industry events. 

Now, as Director, Business Development & Community Engagement for BestCities Global Alliance, Tia will focus on helping partners and clients develop experiences that leave a positive and lasting legacy in the world, working initially with the association market, but also raising BestCities’ profile in the corporate and incentive market. She will also ensure forward momentum on BestCities’ legacy commitments by working in collaboration with members and supporting key initiatives such as The Madrid Challenge, Copenhagen Legacy Lab, and Incredible Impacts Programme.




Frances van Klaveren, CAE

Session: Creating impact through legacy programmes 

Community Engagement Manager - International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) 

Frances van Klaveren joined ICCA as the Community Engagement Manager in January 2021, focussing on developing and engaging with the ICCA Association Community. Frances became a Certified Association Executive through the ASAE in 2020 and has 15+ years’ experience in international programme management, membership engagement and volunteer management, working for non-profit associations including the Society of Petroleum Engineers and the Biochemical Society in London, UK. 

Frances is passionate about working with association professionals and other stakeholders within the meetings industry. She also has a keen interest in regenerative and sustainable leadership and young professional engagement, and currently works on projects within ICCA including the Future Leaders Council and Net Zero Carbon Events.




Pragathi Tummala

Session: Creating impact through legacy programmes 

International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect  
Ms. Pragathi Tummala is a senior level public health expert and has been the Executive Director of ISPCAN, an international nonprofit organization for the past 7 years. ISPCAN has members in over 100 countries and is governed by a board and distinguished advisors made up of 20 global experts in the field of child abuse and neglect. In this time, the business model for the organization, the congress program, and member engagement has been re-imagined bringing maximum benefit for our front-line professionals. 

The headquarters is based in Denver, CO in the USA. Pragathi oversees all programmatic, web development, communication, strategic planning, operational and financial aspects of the organization. ISPCAN has a global membership program, conferences program, fundraising and partnerships program, and conducts marketing and resource development for a global network of over 1200 members. She oversees 4 regional resource centers located in Argentina, Saudi Arabia, S. Africa and India. Additionally, ISPCAN has 34 country partners and has active partnerships with many international agencies (WHO, Global Partnership, UNICEF, IPA, ISSOP, Plan International, ChildhelpLine International, Arigatou) for which they coordinate various programs.


Tuya Beyers


Gemmeke de Jongh

Session: Creating impact through legacy programmes

Gemmeke and Tuya are Association Experts at Visit Flanders Convention Bureau. They support local stakeholders (Professors, Experts, Entrepreneurs …) who excel in their field, to host an International Congress related to their specialty, with extensive support services for the bidding and organization of the congress. Equally they support International Associations to identify and approach the right contacts within Flanders’ key industries and academic world and help find the right match between associations’ demands and the conference venues on offer in Flanders. Visit Flanders Convention Bureau initiated a Legacy Track with and for conference organisers to realise long-term positive impact for the destination, the association and its members.



Session: Ignite© Rapid Fire Presentations

Esra Güler
Türkiye Tourism Promotion and Development Agency 


Maraika Geisterfer-Black 
European Association for the Study of the Liver 


Patrick Lamont
VisitScotland 


Eric Le Gal
Viparis 


Eelke Minks
World Forum The Hague 


Mirjam van de Kamp
Rotterdam Ahoy Convention Centre 


Jan Orsic
Ljubljana Tourism / Convention Bureau


Olivier Mathieu
Lausanne Montreux Congress


Jennifer Yau
ICC Belfast 


Zenab Mohamed
Abu Dhabi Convention and Exhibition Bureau  


Barbra Albrecht
 Switzerland Tourism




  Wednesday, 7 September


Felix Rundel

Session: Innovate Event Design

Felix Rundel is the co-founder of futurehain, a solutions studio at the intersection of science, innovation and society. Combining strategic concepts and creative meeting design, Felix’ work leverages the power of interdisciplinary collaboration to tackle the grand challenges of our time. 

Based in Berlin, Felix is a consultant to international clients from science, policy and industry, an advisor to several not-for-profit organisations, and former Executive Director of the Falling Walls Foundation. Check out the website.





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