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The Story Behind #CrossWorlds

Our Stories. Our Crossings. Our Future.

The 2026 ICCA Congress is built around a simple proposition: the most valuable thing that happens at a global meeting may be the connection nobody planned. In Panama City, a crossroads of the globe, people from different industries, disciplines, cultures and professional worlds are invited to meet beyond their usual circles and discover what becomes possible when their stories intersect.

The Crossings We Bring,

The Crossings We Choose

Every delegate arrives in Panama with a story. It may be a professional challenge, a personal turning point, a new ambition, a hard-won lesson or a question they have not yet found the answer to. The Congress starts from those individual journeys and asks what can happen when they meet.

The theme, CrossWorlds, turns the idea of a meeting into something more active. Delegates are not simply gathering in the same venue or listening to the same speakers. They are being encouraged to cross into unfamiliar perspectives, connect with people they might not otherwise encounter and allow those conversations to change how they see their work and the world around them.

Panama City gives this story a natural setting. The country is widely associated with the Panama Canal, a passage connecting oceans and global trade. At the Congress, that idea becomes a human metaphor: what are the barriers between us, what can create a passage through them, and what might we build on the other side?

The Congress narrative is deliberately personal as well as professional. It recognises that people are more than their job titles and organisations. Everyone has a story to tell, and every story can offer a point of connection.

  • What Makes this Congress Different
  • The Co-Curators: Six worlds shaping one Congress
  • Panama City: More Than a Host Destination
  • The Opening Session: a Live Demonstration of CrossWorlds
What Makes this Congress Different

ICCA is presenting this as a first-of-its-kind format for its Congress, bringing multi-modal programming, cross-sector co-curation and a strong emphasis on networking into one experience.

  • A new multi-modal Congress format: the programme is designed to let participants choose their own path through different topics, conversations and learning experiences, rather than experience the event in one uniform way.
  • Connection is a design principle, not a break between sessions. Around 60% of the Congress experience is dedicated to networking and opportunities to connect, making interaction central to the format.
  • Six Co-Curators from beyond the traditional meetings and events industry help shape the programme, bringing in different disciplines, networks and ways of thinking.
  • The Congress uses formats that invite participation, including an opening ritual built around delegates’ own experiences, technology-enabled collective reflection and Sharing Hubs that bring participants into smaller conversations.
  • The aim is to make unexpected encounters possible: to help people move outside familiar professional circles and connect ideas, people and sectors that do not always meet.


The Co-Curators: Six worlds shaping one Congress

The Co-Curators are central to the CrossWorlds story. Rather than relying only on voices from within the meetings industry, ICCA has invited six organisations from different fields to help shape the programme and bring their own questions, expertise and networks into the room.

The six Co-Curators are IEEE, UN Tourism, CAF, UNRISD, the World Economic Forum (WEF) and AC Forum. Together, they widen the conversation across technology and engineering, tourism, development finance, social development research, global economic dialogue and association communities.

On the opening mainstage, each Co-Curator is invited to introduce the world they represent, the question they want delegates to consider and the crossing they hope becomes possible in Panama. The format is intentionally not a conventional panel: each perspective has space to stand on its own before the programme invites delegates to move between them.


  • IEEE: technology, engineering and technical communities.
  • UN Tourism: global tourism policy, development and sector transformation.
  • CAF: development finance and regional development across Latin America and beyond.
  • UNRISD: research and policy perspectives on social development.
  • AC Forum: the association community and the role of associations in convening expertise.


Panama City: More Than a Host Destination

Panama is not simply the backdrop for CrossWorlds. Its identity as a meeting point for routes, trade, cultures and people makes it an apt setting for a Congress about crossings.


The Panama Canal offers a powerful example of creating passage where geography once presented a formidable barrier.

That idea comes to life in the opening programme through Ilya Espino de Marotta, Administrator of the Panama Canal, whose keynote is framed around overcoming barriers and crossing what seems uncrossable. The session then shifts from the canal as an engineering and human achievement to the connections delegates can create with one another.

The host country is also present through a welcome from Panama’s President, José Raúl Mulino, and a cultural performance. The wider Congress impact programme adds another dimension through activities focused on local communities, Panamanian cultural heritage and practical sustainability.

The Opening Session: a Live Demonstration of CrossWorlds

The Sunday opening, “The Crossings We Bring, the Crossings We Choose," is designed to make the Congress narrative tangible rather than simply explain it.

Movement and live music introduce the idea of worlds meeting and recombining before ICCA leadership sets the global context for the industry.


The focus then turns to the people in the room. In an interactive ritual, delegates respond to questions about where they come from, what they do, what they have experienced and what they hope for. The intention is to look beyond job titles and reveal the varied experiences carried into the Congress.


A technology-enabled segment invites delegates to share the challenges, needs, hopes or transitions that brought them to Panama. Responses are synthesised to create a collective picture of the community, showing how many individual starting points can sit within one room.


The opening moves from the Panama Canal and the challenge of overcoming barriers to the six Co-Curators, who introduce the different worlds represented in the programme. It culminates in a fireside conversation with Erin Brockovich, interviewed by Tim Leberecht, on agency: noticing what others overlook, building allies and continuing to act when change is difficult.


The message to delegates is practical: meet someone unexpected, enter a world you do not already know and stay open to having your own perspective changed.

What Makes #CrossWorlds

Unique

CrossWorlds:

A Theme with Purpose

More than a theme, CrossWorlds is the organising idea behind the Congress, challenging delegates to step beyond familiar perspectives and explore new ways of thinking.

Every Story Opens a New Perspective

Every delegate brings a unique story. The real value emerges when experiences, ideas and perspectives meet, creating opportunities for mutual understanding and discovery.

Panama: Where Worlds Meet

With the Panama Canal connecting oceans and cultures, Panama City provides a fitting backdrop for a Congress built around crossings, connections and the exchange of ideas.

Six Co-Curators, One Cross-Sector Vision

Six Co-Curators bring perspectives from beyond the traditional meetings industry, helping shape a programme that connects sectors, challenges assumptions and opens new possibilities.

60% Connection, 100% Opportunity

With around 60% of the Congress dedicated to networking, connection is built into the experience, giving delegates more opportunities to exchange ideas and build meaningful relationships.

Beyond Connections: Creating Lasting Impact

The ambition goes beyond bringing people together. Through new ideas, future collaboration, local community engagement, cultural heritage, sustainability and legacy, the Congress aims to create value that lasts beyond Panama.





Beyond the Stage: Impact in Panama

People, Planet & Legacy

The Congress impact strategy is organised around three connected pillars: People, Planet and Legacy. The stated ambition is to create value beyond the four days of the event through community engagement, cultural preservation, sustainable event operations, delegate wellbeing and programme content focused on outcomes.

Celebrating Panamanian Culture

Local activities include Panamá Verde, which explores waste and recycling challenges and local circular-economy solutions; Clandestino Lab, where recycled plastic is transformed through design; and a Congo mask experience focused on Afro-Panamanian heritage and cultural preservation.

The Gift of Love: Supporting Local Communities

ICCA’s Gift of Love initiative will support Fundación Casita de Mausi, which provides accommodation and support for people travelling to Panama City for cancer treatment. The programme invites delegates to contribute practical items or purchase a personal care kit.

Sustainability in Action

Sustainability measures outlined for the Congress include at least 50% vegetarian food offerings, prioritising local ingredients and producers where possible, avoiding single-use plastics where practical, and prioritising rental and reuse over producing new one-off materials.



Second Life for Lanyards

At the 2026 ICCA Congress, sustainability is reflected in the small actions that can make a lasting difference. Through the Lanyard Recycling Programme by Cintillos, attendees have the opportunity to give their event lanyards a second life, helping to reduce waste and extend the useful life of materials that might otherwise be thrown away.

Connections That Create Lasting Impact

These activities give journalists a way to explore whether the Congress’s idea of connection extends beyond delegate-to-delegate networking to include local communities, culture and environmental responsibility.

CrossWorlds: A Defining Moment for the Global Business Events Industry

The 65th ICCA Congress brings global leaders, six influential Co-Curators and fresh perspectives to Panama City for a unique experience built around meaningful connections, cross-sector collaboration and lasting impact.


The 65th ICCA Congress is more than a global industry gathering. It is a prestigious opportunity to be part of a defining moment for the business events industry, bringing together international leaders, influential organisations and fresh perspectives in a format designed to challenge convention.


With its pioneering multi-modal experience, six distinguished Co-Curators and networking woven into the heart of the programme, CrossWorlds invites delegates to go beyond the expected, forge meaningful connections and discover opportunities they might never have encountered otherwise.


Set against the extraordinary backdrop of Panama City, the Congress combines global influence with local culture, community engagement and a commitment to lasting impact. For anyone shaping the future of business events, this is an opportunity to exchange ideas across boundaries, broaden horizons and help shape what comes next.

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