ICPB – ICCA Workshop on ‘Bidding for International Conferences’ was held on 17-18 March 2017 at Hotel Pullman New Delhi. The workshop was held to update the ICPB members and other Industry stakeholders on how to make a winning bid for bagging International Conferences for India. The faculty comprised of experts from ICCA and from the Indian Industry – Mr. Noor Ahmad Hamid, Regional Director Asia Pacific, ICCA, Mr. Jason Yeh, Board of Directors, ICCA GIS Group, Taipei, Mr. Arjun Narne, Director, KW Conferences Pvt. Ltd, India, Ms. Priti Khanna, Chairperson, MCI Management India Pvt. Ltd, Professor Devendra K Gupta, Professor and Head, Department of Paediatric Surgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). In his welcome address by Mr. Chander Mansharamani, Vice Chairman ICPB elaborated on the objectives of the workshop and expectations from the participants. He remarked ‘bidding for an international conference is an exciting and challenging task. Bringing an international congress to your country can be a crowning achievement of a professional career’. ‘It not only raises the profile of a national industry but can also make a long-term impact on elevating benchmarks of performance in that industry, help build and maintain relationships with customers and ultimately provides economic boost to the sector.’ The program was inaugurated by Mr. Suman Billa, Joint Secretary Tourism / Chairman ICPB who emphasised on the importance of the MICE Sector for the economy and how such workshops provide the momentum to accelerate the process of bringing India firmly on the global MICE map. The workshop was designed for maximum of 40 participants from the different segments of the Industry and was attended by a full house of 40 participants. The program entailed informative sessions – Understanding the Association Market, Selling to the association market, Role of a PCO in bidding, Lessons learnt – An India association perspective by Professor Devendra K Gupta, Professor and Head, Department of Paediatric Surgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Case study of real bids, win or lose! and Panel discussion : Do’s and Don’ts about bidding : Moderator: Noor Hamid, Panellist: Professor Devendra K Gupta, Girish Kwatra, Arjun Narne, Priti Khanna and Jason Yeh, and also case studies, group work in the form of presentations by the different participating teams and assessment of each group by the faculty members. Presentation by the team number 5 was adjudged as the best presentation. Summarising the comments of the faculty, Ms. Priti Khanna, Chairperson MCI Management Pvt. Ltd. pointed out the areas that need improvement for making successful bid presentations to bring international conferences to India. Vote of thanks was delivered by Mr. Amaresh Tiwari, Hon. Secretary ICPB. Acknowledging the contribution of ICCA, faculty from the Industry, participants who attended the workshop and hospitality of the venue – Hotel Pullman The workshop concluded with distribution of certificates to the attendees for their successful participation. ICPB proposes to organise more such training programs during to the year to upgrade the skills of the man power engaged in the Indian Convention Industry.