Clara Fernández López

External Relations Manager of the Union of International Associations (UIA)

Since 1998, Clara is Lecturer in Media Sciences at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, Germany. In addition to wearing her hat as External Relations Manager of UIA, Clara is Board Chair of the International Youth Library Foundation, a role she has played since 2017. The global pandemic has had a tremendous impact on the meetings behaviour of international associations. Between March-October 2021, UIA conducted its Survey on Covid-19 Impact on International Association Meetings. Exploring that impact and finding out the consequences is the focus of the survey, which also aims to determine the shift in the needs, expectations and technological approach of association meeting planners.

Martin Sirk

International Advisor, Global Association Hubs Partnership

Martin Sirk runs the strategic consultancy Sirk Serendipity.  Major clients include Global Association Hubs Partnership, advising Brussels, Dubai, Singapore and Washington DC how to assist international associations in achieving their strategic goals, as well as tech start-ups, international associations and meetings industry companies, including the International Association for the Study of Pain, International Union for the Conservation of Nature, SITE, UFI, IMEX, and AI-driven interpretation company Wordly. 

His areas of expertise and interest include meeting design, association strategy and development, social and economic impact of meetings, destination marketing, networking theory, and the future evolution of the meetings industry. Martin divides his time between Amsterdam and California, when not travelling on projects.