We’d love to see more international meetings take place in Canada…
As the Chair, you can be assured that Sea to Sky Meeting and Association Management can help with everything you need to win your bid to host an international meeting in Canada. And then, from the moment the meeting gets awarded to final wrap up, we’ve got you covered. Don’t just take our word for it – read about Dr. Calisal’s experience as Co-chair of OMAE 2004.
Contact Sarah Lowis, Founder and Impact Officer to discuss your ideas on bringing your international meeting to Canada, and how Sea to Sky can help.
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SEG 2025 Conference: Sustainable Mineral Exploration and Development
Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre
Brisbane, Australia
September 25, 2025 to September 29, 2025
https://www.segweb.org/SEG-2025/SEG-Conference/SEG-2025/Home.aspx
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Annual Conference on HIV/AIDS Research
RBC Convention Centre
Winnipeg, Canada
April 23, 2026 to April 26, 2026
Why Bring a Meeting to Canada?
International meetings have many benefits, including financial, not only for the city and the destination where they take place, but also for the local and national organizations that host them. These meeting are highly sought after and the competition to win the bid is fierce. Working with Sea to Sky, you and your organization will benefit in many ways from hosting an international meeting. Here are just two of them.
Exposure
As Conference Chair, besides the tremendous personal satisfaction and sense of achievement from winning the bid, you will also accomplish:
- Increasing the exposure and elevating the stature for your organization and your career.
- Drawing the world’s attention to timely local, provincial and national topics and areas of discussions in your profession.
- Introducing your Canadian counterparts to your international association which could mean increasing its Canadian representation.
Social Networking
An international conference provides an opportunity to invite participants from around the world into your “home.” Local and national members of your organization benefit from the discussions and learning that take place in this broader context while international participants are introduced to Canada’s best and brightest. The benefits from enjoying a coffee with an international colleague are endless.
Sea to Sky’s Involvement
First Step: Building Partnerships
Establishing an alliance with Sea to Sky, in partnership with the local tourist bureau, the host city and the venue, facilitates the process of securing an international meeting and increases the success rate of winning the opportunity to play host.
Sea to Sky can assist you in creating these partnerships and can help with coordinating the preparation of the bid (proposal) to the international organization.
Sea to Sky, at no cost to you, will draft an action plan and budget and assist you, the city, and the venue with winning the right to host the international meeting.
Second Step: Managing the International Meeting
Once you have won the right to host the international meeting, your role will be to lead and delegate responsibility. You will want to assemble your team of volunteer committees and get to work!
Sea to Sky’s role is to assist you with as much or as little of the work as you require. We can help you create the big picture for the meeting (including strategic goal setting), establish the infrastructure and take care of all the mundane but necessary details upon which successful meeting are built. We can take on all or part of your meeting to help make it a success. Our list of conference management services is a long one!
Third Step: Celebrating Success
Your international meeting journey will be a team effort and when all is said and done, there will be lots to celebrate!
An Interview with an International Meeting Co-chair
Sea to Sky Meeting and Association Management has had the honour of working with deeply committed professionals who have hosted international meetings, and it has been a privilege to be a part of their conference management team. Below is a series of questions and answers regarding Dr. Calisal’s experience as a Conference Co-chair for OMAE 2004. We interviewed Dr. Calisal after winning Meeting Professionals International’s Category 1 Global Paragon Award in 2005l
Co-Chair: Sander Calisal, P.Eng., Professor Emeritus, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of British Columbia
Why did you decide to become a Conference Co-chair?
We all enjoy going to conferences and meeting researchers and learning new knowledge. Usually somebody spends lots of time and energy to make it possible. This time when I was asked to see if I can organize one conference for OMAE, I thought it was time to return the favor to researchers and organizers who did a lot before when I enjoyed the well-organized meetings. There was also some flag showing for UBC, Vancouver and Canada.
How did you manage to take on the role of Conference Co-chair and continue your fulltime job?
You cannot do all by yourself, you need to put together a team, and my background in team work and organization helped me a lot. We started as early as possible, identified key players, applied key management rules to be ready. It was not easy, but we were ready and we produced a very successful meeting. Professional help (from Sea to Sky) was very effective in addition to the local organizing committee’s extensive effort.
What was the return on investment and was all the effort worthwhile?
… I am sure UBC, Vancouver and Canada got a lot from the visibility. We kind of put UBC on the ocean mechanics and arctic engineering research map. We received increased graduate student applications and various applications from researchers suggesting joint research. I enjoyed the results a lot especially that it was the best attended OMAE so far in the records.
Would you do it all again?
Yes, I would do again with proper preparation and active team work.
About Sea to Sky’s involvement?
Sea to Sky’s professional work was instrumental in making OMAE04 one of the best ever attended OMAE conferences. For this they worked in harmony with the local advisory group and made extra efforts in marketing. Sea to Sky was very careful in budgeting and staying in budget. They provided excellent marketing services to attract the high number of attendees and hired very qualified professionals to run the various events of the conference. Sea to Sky contributed greatly to the success of OMAE04.
