Vista 2021 goes virtual - conferences & conventions

(ATR) The 10th edition of the VISTA Conference will be held virtually over six days between November 18 and December 16, 2021.

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said the conference, designed to provide a platform for sport scientists and researchers to hear from and have dialogue with experts in the field of sport for athletes with impairments, will be a partnership with six leading universities.

VISTA 2021 will be led by KU Leuven, Belgium; University of Stellenbosch, South Africa; The Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden; School of Kinesiology; Western University, Canada; University of Pittsburgh, USA; and Yonsei University, South Korea.

The conference will address six themes at the heart of the Paralympic Movement: Ethics and Integrity (Nov. 18); Socio-Cultural Legacy (Nov. 22); Health and Medicine (Nov. 29); Evidence-Based Classification (Dec. 1) – Technology in Paralympic Sport (Dec. 14) and Paralympic Performance (Dec. 16)

Each theme will be presented by a different university, with KU Leuven as the main host. Each of the six online sessions will run three hours and will be reserved for Q&A and interaction with the audience. Keynotes, oral and poster presentations will be pre-recorded and made available online on Nov. 1 for viewing ahead of the sessions.

Sports scientists and experts in Para sport have until July 10 to submit abstracts for oral and poster presentations through the conference website www.vista2021.com.

An early bird rate of EUR 175 and a student rate of EUR 80 are available until Sept. 15 at www.vista2021.com. Participants can also sign up for selected themes rather than all six.

The conference is free for all Paralympians who participated in the Paralympic Games from Rome 1960 to Tokyo 2020. The registration fee is also waived for delegates from countries on the lower 50 percent of the UN Human development Index ranking 2020.

Virtual Launch Celebration for SportAccord

The 15th edition of the invitation-only IF Forum ends as the anticipation for the SportAccord World Sport & Business Summit 2021 in Ekaterinburg, Russia begins in earnest.

Ekaterinburg, Russia is hosting SportAccord in November. (SportAccord)

Immediately after the closing remarks of the IF Forum on May 25, a virtual launch celebration for SportAccord, which runs from November 7-12, was held.

Those who had already signed up as delegates, exhibitors or partners for SportAccord were able to join International Sport Federations worldwide by tuning in to the event, which wrapped up the IF Forum 2021 that was held virtually via the City of Lausanne in the Canton of Vaud.

“SportAccord 2021 will be an inspirational gathering. The IEC Ekaterinburg-Expo is a perfect host venue for networking and a fantastic space for the exhibition, the meetings and the conferences. At SportAccord, we are always trying to enhance the experience for delegates, exhibitors and partners, and it is fantastic that our friends in Russia share those goals for this important gathering for the global sports movement,” SportAccord and GAISF president Raffaele Chiulli said.

The SportAccord 2021 conference program will feature the newly launched InvestAccord, ArtAccord and MinisterAccord, plus the established CityAccord, HealthAccord, LawAccord, MediaAccord and Summit streams.

The Virtual Launch Celebration followed an IF Forum that provided delegates with perspectives from speakers including International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Melbourne Hosting Global Sport Summit

SportNXT, a global sport thought and leadership summit, will be staged in Melbourne, Australia on November 17-19, 2021.

The global sport summit will be held during the same week of the rescheduled Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.

Among those who have already signed on to take part in discussion via live video are World Athletics president and IOC member Sebastian Coe, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, International Cricket Council chairman Greg Barclay, and Megan Rapinoe, captain of the US Women’s National soccer team.

Australian sports and media leaders are also due to attend and participate, including high-ranking executives from the Australian Football League, Tennis Australia, FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, the Australian Sports Commission and Rugby Australia.

Other local and international talent will be confirmed in the lead-up to the event.

“The SportNXT vision is to create the Davos of sport. A unique opportunity to gather the best and brightest minds from around the world to share ideas about the future of the sports industry,” said SportNXT Chairman Eddie McGuire.

“SportNXT seeks to identify the challenges and opportunities playing out in the sports business landscape; plotting the responses required to maximize success in the future.”

Smart Cities & Sport will host a special free online session on June 24 on sport and tourism, two sectors hit hard by the pandemic.

The session, entitled “Sport Tourism (R)evolution: Shaping the Future”, will be held from 0900 to 1030 Central European Summer Time (CEST) and focus on how to use sport and tourism to boost economies in the post-pandemic world.

The dates and venue of the next Smart Cities & Sport Summit will also be revealed.

A Trio of IOC Members at Host City Americas

Three IOC members are among the speaker confirmations for the inaugural Host City Americas event next month.

IOC VP Anita DeFrantz (IOC Media)

World Archery president Ugur Erdener and International Equestrian Federation (FEI) president Ingmar De Vos signed on last week, joining IOC vice president Anita DeFrantz, who will deliver the keynote address.

Host City Americas, with the theme of Investing in Events, takes place virtually on June 29-30. It is expected to bring more than 1,000 people together, including IOC members, sports ministers, mayors, International Federations and Organizing Committee leaders.

The opening panel, Emerging from the Perfect Storm, includes Gabriela Ramos, Assistant Director-General of UNESCO and Al Kidd, President & CEO of Sports Events & Tourism Association (Sports ETA).

Current and former International Federation leaders are on a panel tackling the question of Can Private Investment Save Traditional Sports.

The 2021 edition of Host City will be a global, hybrid event held in Glasgow, Scotland on December 7-8. The format change is designed to build on last year’s first digital edition, combining the face-to-face interaction at Glasgow’s Technology & Innovation Centre with online connectivity.

Written by Gerard Farek