Professional Congress Organiser

A Professional Congress Organiser (PCO) is a company which specialises in the organisation and management of congresses, conferences, seminars and similar events. The company acts as a consultant to a professional association's, organisation's or other entity's organising committee, enacting its decisions whilst providing full service management, including but not limited to congress design, registration, site and venue selection and booking, audiovisuals, IT support, logistics, leisure management, marketing, printing and web services, sourcing speakers, funding and sponsorship, financial management and budget control, research, etc.

Many other companies offer PCO-related services including travel agents, public relations companies etc. However, the service offered by such companies is partial e.g. destination management. These differ from the PCO in that their core business is not professional congress organisation and, in some cases, they are not impartial due to the nature of their core business.

International professional bodies for PCOs are IAPCO , ICCA and MPI .
 
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