Committed to MultiPOD Brilliance
An IACC MultiPOD Meeting is a unique format, merging in-person and virtual, with one gold-star standard framework with venue brilliance at the heart of it. IACC offers groups the opportunity to stage live meetings in a distinctively different way.
IACC brings together the best informed, prepared and equipped venues. Working with experienced technology teams onsite and national technology partners, the best-connected cross-venue technology solution will ensure your MultiPOD attendees experience a rich connection with other attendees in other locations.
IACC has developed the concept of cross-venue meetings and has studied their characteristics, their advantages and limitations. IACC MultiPOD meetings held in IACC venues require a series of operational qualities, as well as a set of gold standards. You can easily search through IACC venues on our website: IACCmeetings.com/venues.
IACC MultiPOD Meeting Explained
An IACC MultiPOD Meeting is one meeting, with in-person groupings of participants in two or more different locations. Each location is referred to as a POD. Each POD is a proper meeting in its own right, at the same time, it is interconnected with the other PODs, allowing for full collaboration.An IACC MultiPOD Meeting is different from a webinar, where communication is from one central site to remote individuals or groups. In an IACC MultiPOD meeting, communication is between groups, while at the same time offering individuals the opportunity to interact with other individuals in a live meeting environment.
Watch the webinars on-demand: MultiPOD Explained to Venues and MultiPOD Explained to Meeting Professionals
“Meeting professionals are desperate for solutions that help participants engage with one another in regional ways. IACC MultiPOD Meeting approach removes the barriers presented by global travel restrictions on the part of organisations and governments and enables local events to connect with each other via technological solutions.”
– Jessie States, MPI
The meeting format offers the opportunity of unique participant experiences. IACC venues will assist with sourcing suitable advice on the program, to create engaging formats that will ensure the client achieves their meeting objectives. MultiPOD meetings require expert moderation/facilitation and lend themselves particularly well for groupwork that produces joint results through gamification and similar activities.
The IACC Difference
The added value comes from the live connection between the PODs, which could be anywhere nationally or globally, interacting through dedicated technology. Every one of IACC’s 400 certified meetings-focused venues, in 25 countries, are ideally placed to offer the critical ingredients of venue quality, knowledge and collaboration needed to host a meeting or conference over multiple locations.
IACC Certified Venues:
- Offer optimal acoustic & light levels in meeting rooms
- Have premium dedicated meeting rooms
- Offer comprehensive technology packages, often built into meeting rooms
- Have robust and high bandwidth internet
- Have an expert team providing AV/IT support staff services
IACC MultiPOD Meeting Pledge
In addition to already very high IACC certified quality standards which will ensure all attendees in all PODs have the same excellent meeting experience, IACC venues participating in this initiative have pledged to additional commitments to embrace key inter-venue collaboration and interweaving technologies, offering clients a solid framework and at the same time reduce duplication. View the Certified Venue Pledge
IACC MultiPOD Meeting: The Advantages
For Event Attendees:
- Convenience, less time traveling
- Reduced cost to attend through less travel, making the meeting more affordable and open to more to attend.
- The compact format allows for deeper relationship building between attendees
- Attendees gain a broad outreach to other locations – Offers a unique experience
- Both opportunities for live networking, as well as on-line networking with people further afield
- Easy interaction and co-creation, both in groups, between groups and between individuals
For the Meeting Professional Arranging the Meeting:
- Less travel, less time commitment for attendees
- Lower cost potentially as a result of reduced distance travel
- Potential for more attendees as a result of reduced cost, travel and time commitment
- Potentially less cost for presenters and speakers travel
- Avoids the complexities of health measures for larger group gatherings
- Smaller sustainability footprint
- Lower risk of food waste associated with smaller groups
- Broad outreach to other locations
- Offering participants intimacy in their own POD
- Easy interaction and co-creation, securing participant engagement
- Unique participant experience
- High quality standardisation between POD’s
- Embrace regional uniqueness of each POD’s location
- Easy multiple venue sourcing process supported by IACC
- Working with venue teams who are interconnected in the planning process
- IACC endorsed hybrid technology providers
- Venues collaborate with each offer the best hybrid meeting technology platform
- Venues collaborate on details such as event timings, break and mealtimes
- Ability to strengthen the ‘one-event’ concept through inter-POD audience participation and gamification
Arranging an IACC MultiPOD Meeting
Visit IACC’s dedicated web site and let us know the dates and POD locations required.
IACC staff will identify suitable IACC member venues and present these. A full RFP will be sent to those the client chooses for inclusion.
IACC staff will identify the level of technology services and support the client requires and take the appropriate action to either recommend venue staff liaison or a professional AV company solution such as PSAV / Encore, potentially including production.
The client will work directly with the venues and AV provider from this point, with IACC offering to support inter-venue collaboration as needed.
The client contracts directly with each venue and AV/Production Provider.
Is Your Venue Ready to Host MultiPOD Meetings?
Download the guidebook below and connect with an IACC team member when you’re ready to discuss your MultiPOD meeting needs. We look forward to helping you create something great.
Get by with a little help from your friends –
IACC is proud to support the multi-location audio visual and technology services of the following companies specialising in Europe and the Americas.
Europe AV/IT/Production Partner Abbit Meeting Innovators
Americas AV/IT/Production Partner Encore
IACC approved supplier, Electro-Media (EMD) provides technology consulting services tailored to the needs of IACC member facilities, globally. The ability to host and support hybrid meetings will be a high priority need in the short-term and will continue to be a component of meetings and events well into the future. Partnering with IACC, EMD has committed to supporting the IACC MultiPOD initiative to lead the industry in providing venues that meet this requirement. See what they can offer you: EMD MultiPOD offer (PDF)
