VCEC President Leads International Convention Centre Education Program

Vancouver, BC (March 5, 2007) – AIPC – the International Association of Congress Centres – has just launched the AIPC Academy, a comprehensive industry education program designed to provide specialized training for congress centre management. Presiding over the Academy was Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre President Barbara Maple, who is also President of the Brussels-based organization representing 152 convention centres in 53 countries.

“The purpose of the Academy is to provide broad, industry-focused training which will help convention centre staff improve performance in their current positions, and prepare them for more responsibilities within their respective facilities,” said Maple. “Over the past year, we’ve worked hard to design a program that deals exclusively with convention centre management, and this is something which has never been available before on a global basis.”

Along with Maple, faculty members from worldwide centres including Hamburg, France, Singapore, Calgary, Washington State, and Brighton, UK delivered courses on building operations, financial management, human resources, event management, sales and marketing, community relations, and security.

“The first ever AIPC Academy has been a huge success in terms of worldwide interest; in fact, we were oversubscribed this year,” said Marianne de Raay, AIPC Secretariat. “Excellence in facility management is becoming increasingly important as demands and complexities continue to change and grow. As a result, we believe the program will become the industry standard for training in international convention centre management, and we look forward to it being an integral part of training in our sector for the years ahead.”

Based on feedback from students and faculty, the first AIPC Academy sessions will be fully evaluated in an effort to help shape the ongoing program. It will be offered by the association again next year in Brussels.

About the VCEC
Since opening in 1987, the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre has been British Columbia’s flagship convention facility — hosting more than 300 events and 600,000 delegate days each year, and generating more than $210 million in annual economic benefits. When its major new expansion completes, the VCEC will offer a combined total of nearly 500,000 square feet of function space and will serve as the international media and broadcast centre for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in 2010.