A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually denotes an embassy or high commission, which is the main office of a country's diplomatic representatives to another country; it is usually, but not necessarily, based in the receiving state's capital city. Consulates, on the other hand, are smaller diplomatic missions that are normally located in major cities of the receiving state. As well as being a diplomatic mission to the country in which it is situated, an embassy may also be a nonresident permanent mission to one or more other countries.
Worldcon, or more formally the World Science Fiction Convention, the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), is a science fiction convention. It has been held each year since 1939. The members of each Worldcon are the members of WSFS, and vote both to select the site of the Worldcon two years later, and to select the winners of the annual Hugo Awards, which are presented at each convention.
A meeting is when two or more people come together to discuss one or more topics, often in a formal or business setting, but meetings also occur in a variety of other environments. Meetings can be used as form of group decision-making.
An inspection is, most generally, an organized examination or formal evaluation exercise. In engineering activities inspection involves the measurements, tests, and gauges applied to certain characteristics in regard to an object or activity. The results are usually compared to specified requirements and standards for determining whether the item or activity is in line with these targets, often with a Standard Inspection Procedure in place to ensure consistent checking. Inspections are usually non-destructive.
Event management is the application of project management to the creation and development of small and/or large-scale personal or corporate events such as festivals, conferences, ceremonies, weddings, formal parties, concerts, or conventions. It involves studying the brand, identifying its target audience, devising the event concept, and coordinating the technical aspects before actually launching the event.
A convention, in the sense of a meeting, is a gathering of individuals who meet at an arranged place and time in order to discuss or engage in some common interest. The most common conventions are based upon industry, profession, and fandom. Trade conventions typically focus on a particular industry or industry segment, and feature keynote speakers, vendor displays, and other information and activities of interest to the event organizers and attendees. Professional conventions focus on issues of concern along with advancements related to the profession. Such conventions are generally organized by societies or communities dedicated to promotion of the topic of interest. Fan conventions usually feature displays, shows, and sales based on pop culture and guest celebrities. Science fiction conventions traditionally partake of the nature of both professional conventions and fan conventions, with the balance varying from one to another. Conventions also exist for various hobbies, such as gaming or model railroads.
Business tourism or business travel is a more limited and focused subset of regular tourism. During business tourism (traveling), individuals are still working and being paid, but are doing so away from both their workplace and home.
Green conventions or green meetings are conventions which are conducted in ways which minimize the environmental burdens imposed by such activities. Green event planners apply environmentally preferred practices to waste management, resource and energy use, travel and local transportation, facilities selection, siting and construction, food provision and disposal, hotels and accommodations, and management and purchasing decisions. The practice is known as "event greening" or "sustainable event management".
The Events Industry Council (formerly known as the Convention Industry Council (CIC)) is a non-profit federation of more than 30 U.S. and international organizations involved in the meetings, conventions and exhibitions industry. The Events Industry Council's member organizations represent more than 103,500 individuals and 19,300 firms or properties across all sectors of the industry.
An incentive program is a formal scheme used to promote or encourage specific actions or behavior by a specific group of people during a defined period of time. Incentive programs are particularly used in business management to motivate employees and in sales to attract and retain customers. Scientific literature also refers to this concept as pay for performance.
A destination marketing organization (DMO) is an organisation which promotes a location as an attractive travel destination. DMOs are known as tourist boards, tourism authorities or "Convention and Visitors Bureaus". They primarily exist to provide information to leisure travellers. Additionally, where a suitable infrastructure exists, they encourage event organisers to choose their location for meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions, collectively abbreviated as MICE.
The World Travel Monitor (WTM) / European Travel Monitor (ETM) is a worldwide tourism information system detailing the foreign (outbound) travel behaviour practiced by a country’s respective resident population.
The Seoul Convention Bureau, or SCB, exists to promote Seoul to the global leisure travel convention and Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions (MICE) industries.
Business Events Sydney, formerly known as Sydney Convention and Visitors Bureau, markets Sydney and New South Wales as a destination for Australian and international business meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions. On average, Business Events Sydney secures 70 international events and welcomes 60,000 delegates per year.
The American Bus Association (ABA) serves as a trade association for motorcoach operators and tour companies operating in the United States and Canada. With its headquarters situated in Washington, D.C., the association has a membership comprising approximately 1,000 companies engaged in bus operations or bus-based tours, alongside around 2,800 organizations representing the broader travel and tourism industry. Additionally, several hundred suppliers of buses and related products and services are affiliated with the ABA.
The Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region (COPPeR) is a certified nonprofit arts organization located in downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado and serving El Paso and Teller counties. In February 2014, Andy Vick replaced Christina McGrath as COPPeR's executive director. COPPeR receives funding from the city of Colorado Springs and from various grants. It acts as an umbrella artistic service, "the lead entity for centralizing and coordinating information about cultural services in the Pikes Peak region of Colorado." COPPeR conceptualizes itself as an adhesive that unifies the greater arts community to make arts and culture more dynamic and powerful than any one organization. COPPeR invites and engages residents and visitors to draw them into the local arts scene; it advocates for all of the arts; and it builds the cultural community to create a regional brand.
The Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) is a public organization established by royal decree in 2002 to promote Thailand as a destination for meetings, incentives, conferencing, exhibitions (MICE).
The meetings, incentives, conferencing, exhibitions (MICE) industry in Thailand is one of the major branches of tourism in Thailand, contributing an estimated 0.58 percent to Thailand's GDP in 2012.
According to Robert's Rules of Order, a widely used guide to parliamentary procedure, a meeting is a gathering of a group of people to make decisions. This sense of "meeting" may be different from the general sense in that a meeting in general may not necessarily be conducted for the purpose of making decisions.
Thessaloniki Convention & Visitors Bureau—known as TCVB —was the first such bureau that operated in Greece. It was founded by the Thessaloniki Hotel Association (THA) in 2000, operated as a non‑profit organization and was active until 2009. The main goal of TCVB was to establish the city of Thessaloniki as an internationally recognized conference city and a popular destination for incentive travel.
