ICCA leverages ‘local influencers’ with big data search tool
The International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) has launched a new tool to help give destination marketing firms a competitive edge when bidding for association meetings.
Taking on board the philosophy of ‘it’s not what you know, but who you know,’ the Big Data Search program can access the databases of Google Scholar and Microsoft Academic Search to find subject matter specialists searchable by region or city.
By using a local expert in a specific industry, it can assist destinations in pitching more successfully for industry association meetings business.
The system was developed by firm Human Equation which used it on a project with ICCA member organization Tourisme Montréal.
The tool has been refined and is now available to all ICCA members.
"This exciting initiative with Human Equation presents a revolutionary new way of applying Big Data search techniques in the international association meetings market," said ICCA CEO Martin Sirk.
"ICCA is always looking for new ways to increase its membership value for its members, and when we got word of this project Human Equation immediately showed great interest in teaming up with us to make this tool available to all ICCA members."
Human Equation chief innovation officer Andrea Doyon says the Big Data search capabilities in locating local ‘influencers’ can save thousands of hours compared to traditional methods.
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