GPC With Simply Outstanding Results
Engaging the community across the globe in a new and relevant way to each stakeholder, it has already started to reshape the world of mediation across borders. How do these events make a difference – they are structured around conversation and data.
Geneva, Switzerland, October 25, 2016 – Over a year ago, Kenes Group, a leading Professional Conference Organiser (PCO) and Association Management Company (AMC), entered into partnership with the International Mediation Institute (IMI) for the coordination of the international IMI-hosted events entitled Global Pound Conference (GPC) Series 2016-17. Now, after seven successful GPC events in Singapore, Lagos, Mexico City, New York, Geneva, Toronto, and Madrid, the event series has made a statement in the mediation and arbitration world.
The goal of the GPC series is clear – to improve access to justice and the quality of dispute resolution around the world through a number of connected events across the globe. But how can one hold events in different regions and cultures, and actually achieve this goal? Many would first imagine the usual structure of an event – gathering as many people as possible in a room and inviting the same top-notch speakers, who would just give a presentation to the audience with very little feedback. When the International Mediation Institute partnered with Kenes, the event series focused on how they can become a vehicle to growth for each country, region, and each stakeholder in attendance. The winning formula came with only two ingredients – limit the events in size so that the conversation will drive the events, and gather all the data from each event in order to transfer knowledge and best practices globally.
The results – simply outstanding. Each GPC event gathers representatives of users of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) i.e. companies and individuals, advisers to those users (lawyers and law firms), providers of adjudicative or non-adjudicative services (ADR organizations and solo practitioners), and other ‘influencers’ (including government institutions, academics, and other experts). All these people participate, not just attend the event. They respond to “core questions” that all delegates of the GPC series answer, as well as some other more local and specific questions. These responses are made available to the participants in real time to deliberate and then engage in a panel discussion with representatives of each stakeholder. The aggregated results will yield robust data reflecting on regional as well as global insights into how the two compare and which are the areas to develop in the future.
The original hope of the organisers was to hold approximately 15 meetings in various countries. Since then, interest in the GPC Series has grown tremendously, with over 40 events being organised in over 31 countries. This is an important milestone also for Kenes, as this is a prime example of Kenes’ unique ability to initiate, develop, and fundamentally build a meeting from the ground up, translating it into a viable conference brand. Kenes assisted in detailing a strategic plan, creating an event model that is logistically duplicable across the globe, and mostly guiding all the local organising committees with the event execution. With the trend of international and global events moving to more locally relevant events, the GPC Series clearly shows how to make a bridge between the two – keep the regional or local relevance, while benchmarking and raising the conversation globally.
About IMI
Headquartered in the Netherlands, International Mediation Institute (IMI) is a non-profit public interest initiative to drive transparency and high competency standards into mediation practice across all fields, worldwide. IMI is the only organisation in the world to transcend local jurisdictions to develop global, professional standards for experienced mediators, advocates and others involved in collaborative dispute resolution and negotiation processes. IMI also convenes stakeholders, promotes understanding and disseminates skills, all in a non-service provider capacity. Promoting a better, less adversarial access to justice, IMI programs and standards add value to the quality and transparency of conflict management, thereby facilitating consistent, credible, and ultimately more satisfactory outcomes to those who desire it most – the users. For more information, visit the website at: https://imimediation.org/.
About GPC
The Global Pound Conference (GPC) is a series of events around the world to shape the future of dispute resolution and improve access to justice. The seminal event that led to the birth of modern dispute resolution systems was the Pound Conference in St Paul, MN, USA in April 1976. Named in honour of Roscoe Pound, the reforming Dean of Harvard Law School in the 1920s and 30s, the theme of the original Pound Conference was: Agenda for 2000AD – The Need for Systematic Anticipation. Professor Frank E.A. Sander of Harvard Law School proposed that alternative forms of dispute resolution should be used to reduce reliance on conventional litigation, and overcome reluctance to use other dispute resolution options. The 1976 Pound Conference is credited with having sparked many changes in the US justice system in the decades that followed, including the creation of the “multi-door courthouse” to provide more procedural choices to disputants. The Global Pound Conference Series aims to build a global conversation around developing dispute resolution techniques in the tradition of the original Pound Conference. Visit www.globalpoundconference.org.
For more information, contact:
Magdalina Atanassova
Marketing Communications Manager
Email. matanassova(at)kenes(dot)com
Contact Kenes Group