Amsterdam will again host IoT Tech Expo Europe, which takes place at RAI Amsterdam on 19 and 20 October 2026 as part of the wider TechEx Europe cluster of co-located events. Registration has opened, with free exhibition access and paid delegate passes for the conference programme.

The French listed events group GL events has completed the acquisition of MCO Congrès, thereby strengthening the healthcare sector within its trade fairs and congress division. The transaction was finalized on July 28, 2026, meaning the Marseille-based company is now wholly owned by the Lyon-based group.

A new advocacy movement, called The Athens Promise has launched today to support existing efforts and further unite the meetings and events industry behind one clear message: the work of business events matters, and the world needs to understand why. 

Nearly four centuries after Christiaan Huygens helped lay the foundations of planetary science, his hometown of The Hague will welcome researchers from more than 40 countries for the 20th Europlanet Science Congress (EPSC), Europe's largest annual meeting dedicated to planetary science. Taking place at Amare from 6 to 11 September 2026, the congress comes to the Netherlands for the first time.

The one technique that makes every meeting better costs nothing, requires no training and fits any room layout. That is the proposition with which Maarten Vanneste spends three hours challenging an international gathering of meeting and event professionals. His message is as simple as it is uncomfortable: drop the Q&A, and let participants talk to each other about the subject.

After years of disruption, the business meetings and events industry has stabilised, but it now operates under greater cost pressure and growing demands around visibility and demonstrable value. That is according to the 2026 Global Client Survey published by corporate meetings agency BCD Meetings & Events. Organisations are shifting their focus from expanding programmes to optimising them, with every event expected to perform better and deliver more strategic value.

The dividing line between managing business travel and business meetings is blurring rapidly. According to new research by Business Travel Show Europe, 60.5 percent of corporate travel buyers are now jointly responsible for both travel and meetings; an increase from 50 percent in 2025. This shift points to a broader wave of consolidation within the field, driven by cost pressure and the need for greater control over expenses.

The accessibility measures at the 2025 edition were already so thoughtfully designed that they earned consultant Marianne Dijkshoorn of Welkom Toegankelijkheid & Evenementen a Golden Giraffe Award for sustainability. During a guided tour of the third edition at Rotterdam Ahoy — on 30 and 31 May 2026 — she shows how the bar has been raised even higher this year.