Looking Ahead to the 2018 Annual Meeting

With the 139th INTA Annual Meeting drawing to a close, what lies in store for the 140th meeting, which takes place in Seattle, Washington, USA?

The 2018 INTA Annual Meeting will be held from May 19 to 23 at Seattle’s Washington State Convention Center, which is conveniently located in the city center and close to many hotels and restaurants.

Co-Chair of the meeting, Dr. Axel Nordemann (Boehmert & Boehmert, Germany), says: “Seattle is a close-knit and walkable city, so it should be easy to travel to meetings and events.

“We’re planning some cutting-edge content, to bring back the Saturday concert, secure an engaging keynote speaker, and arrange opportunities to meet new colleagues and friends in what Pacific Northwesterners call ‘The Evergreen City.’”

The pre-sale for the event ends today, May 24, and registration will re-open in January 2018.

Seattle on the Map

INTA hosted its 131st Annual Meeting in Seattle at the same Convention Center in May 2009.

Why choose to host the event in Seattle again? 140th Annual Meeting Co-Chair, Dana Northcott (Amazon, United States), explains that “in the past few decades, Seattle has quietly grown from a far-flung port city to being nationally recognized as one of the most livable cities in the United States.”

“It hosts a critical mass of advanced technology, agriculture, manufacturing, and international trade, and a wonderful quality of life and international outlook given its location in the Pacific Rim.”

A number of high-profile companies have helped place Seattle on the map. For example, Amazon’s global headquarters are in Seattle’s South Lake Union district, not far from the Lake Union waterfront and the new Museum of History and Industry.

Starbucks opened its first store in 1971 in Seattle’s historic Pike Place Market.

Other companies which bring Seattle to prominence include Boeing, Microsoft, Amazon, Nordstrom, Costco, Expedia, and several others that have shown that “high-tech mixes well with evergreen trees, the sparkling Puget Sound, and Olympic mountain ranges, lakes and rivers,” Ms. Northcott says.

A Broad Focus

INTA has a dynamic and interesting set of topics for all its Annual Meetings, and the 2018 event promises to have an “exciting compilation of topics to be discussed,” Dr. Nordemann says.

“Some sessions will be U.S.-focused, and many will be international. We will have regional updates for Europe, Latin America, Africa, India, Japan, China, and South East Asia, including Australia and New Zealand,” he adds.

Ms. Northcott explains that the sessions will focus on “advertising and product placement, licensing, trademark litigation and fair use, current developments in trademark legislation and jurisdiction, and include overlapping IP rights such as copyright, design, and unfair competition law, to name just a few.”

“The role of the Co-Chairs in Seattle is to work with an incredible project team to develop content for the conference program,” Dr. Nordemann says.

“We’re looking to secure a dynamic keynote speaker to engage and inspire the INTA community. I wish we could promise perfect conference weather, but it’s best to bring an umbrella,” Ms. Northcott adds.

What else goes into chairing INTA’s Annual Meeting?

“It is mostly work which relates to developing content and coordinating the project team, reviewing session proposals and suggestions for speakers,” Dr. Nordemann explains.

He adds that the aim is to make the conference program as “interesting as possible, but also innovative.”

They also hope to include music and other entertainment in the Convention Center, for attendees to enjoy between sessions and meetings.

“We are reserving at least one session slot for a ‘hot topic’ which may evolve only in the weeks before the Annual Meeting starts,” he adds.

Attracting the Crowds

“For the 2018 Annual Meeting, we are shooting for more than 10,000 registrants, which is roughly the number of attendees we had for Orlando, San Diego, and Barcelona,” Ms. Northcott says.

“The more people that participate, the better the discussions and connections are,” she adds.

Dr. Nordemann concludes: “Seattle is one of the most perfect locations for an INTA Annual Meeting, and a great place to travel to. It will be more than worthwhile to come and join us there.”

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