Philadelphia’s convention “World Cup” has arrived22nd January 2026 | published by Conference & Meetings World SHARE

Gregg Caren, CEO of the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau, speaks with CMW’s Iain Stirling about bringing PCMA Convening Leaders back to the city for the first time since 2006, why he calls it Philadelphia’s “World Cup” for the meetings industry, and how the city plans to leverage its 250th anniversary celebrations and FIFA World Cup matches to drive convention business for decades to come. IS: Gregg, it’s great to catch up with you again. I think it’s been about three years since we last spoke, and here we are finally at PCMA Convening Leaders in Philadelphia! You mentioned yesterday that you’ve worked incredibly hard to get to this point. What does bringing PCMA Convening Leaders to Philadelphia actually mean to you and the city? Gregg Caren: We’re hosting the FIFA World Cup and all these other major global sporting events, but in terms of the bread-and-butter business that drives our tourism economy for Philadelphia, this is our World Cup. I literally started my role at the beginning of COVID, so I knew the impact that was taking place in our hospitality community – 100,000 people out of work. When I applied for the job, I made it my mission to bring this event back to Philadelphia, having last been here in 2006. What it means to me is extraordinary. This event comes in during a quieter time for us, but the impact it can have on our future bookings is extraordinary. I think San Diego reported probably close to half a million new room nights booked or anticipated to be booked by having hosted Convening Leaders just a couple of years ago. That’s the impact it can have on a city. We’re in a business that’s not short term – we’re in a business that talks in terms of decades. We’re booking events now into the mid-2030s. So, for us to have essentially what becomes a familiarisation trip for 4,000 of our closest friends from around the world in the business events industry, it represents a huge opportunity to showcase our venues, our city, and our access. Hopefully that will turn into leads and contracts. IS: And this is one of PCMA’s largest conferences I believe, which speaks volumes too. GC: I won’t speak for them, but rumours are murmuring that maybe we’re breaking some records or prior attendance numbers. I think that’s a testament to one of our major benefits – where this venue and city sit on the eastern seaboard, the density of population from Boston to DC, with us sitting right in the middle. Someone asked me earlier today if attendance was looking low because we did a lot of last-minute social media pushes. I said no, attendance was looking strong. But we know we’re in a place where that social media push can affect somebody sitting in an office in New York City, DC, or even Boston, and on a day’s notice, they can decide to register and come to the meeting. That’s a benefit not a lot of other major cities have – less than a day’s notice to get you to where you want to be for a big event. IS: There’s a strong international presence as well. GC: Absolutely. Look, as you know, I sit on the PCMA board, and I think we as an association have done a great job of expanding with PCMA EMEA, Latam, and APAC. The association itself has become as global as it wants to be. When I look around the board table, I see people from Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong, Mexico, Canada, and the US. More importantly, when we look at the makeup of the association and that proximity where we sit, we have an extraordinary Philadelphia International Airport which services us both domestically and internationally. While we are a major hub for American Airlines, we may not be their largest hub, but we are their number one transatlantic hub. That means somebody like you can fly here directly from Dublin, and there are probably 14 or 18 other points of entry where Europeans can come straight in. And of course, that’s part of the OneWorld Alliance as well, which gives us access to European and Asian markets that a lot of other cities may not have. It’s a big deal for an event like this. IS: Apart from connectivity, what makes Philly stand out compared to other American cities, especially on the eastern seaboard? GC: It’s a few things. Number one, we’ve been named as America’s most welcoming city. My first thought when I heard that was it has to do with hospitality and brotherly love. But it’s not – it actually is a testament to who we are as a city, as a people, and as a policy. We truly are the City of Brotherly Love. We truly are a fully embracing city. We have about 95 or 100 nationalities represented within the city of Philadelphia, which means we’ve got culture, we’ve got cuisine. We even had our own club league for soccer, the Philadelphia International Unity Cup, and that club league had 93 countries playing in it – just local club matches put together by our former mayor. We’re the most walkable city in America, according to USA Today. All these things layer on top of each other. But last and most importantly is the combination of history, culture, and authenticity. You don’t have to look very far to find either a venue for an event that you won’t find anywhere else in the world, or 50 places to go as an attendee during your prized off-hours – to see the place where the Declaration of Independence was signed or where Rocky ran up the steps, or visit the Barnes Foundation for one of the best post-impressionist art exhibits. It’s unbelievable what we’ve got here in this very tight package. IS: And obviously, the US is 250 years old this year. Are there a lot of activations going on this year to celebrate this milestone? GC: A lot of activations, yes. 250 is young as a pup in the UK, of course, but 250 is a big deal for us. Our mayor has been very intentional about our 250th celebration. This is not just the birthplace of America, but the birthplace of Western democracy. When we talk about the City of Brotherly Love, I used to think years ago that was a slogan by an ad agency, but it truly is the name given by William Penn, from two Greek words – philia and adelphos – which literally translates to brotherly love. Our mayor, the 100th mayor of Philadelphia and the first woman mayor, said in her first weeks in office that the 250th celebration needs to be felt in every neighbourhood in this city. We’ve got a lot of neighbourhoods, so it’s very intentional for us not just to focus on the historic district or the convention center, but to engage the Gayborhood, Chinatown, Northeast Philadelphia, South Philadelphia where our Sports Complex is – every neighbourhood in the city. It’s been done in two very intentional ways. One is we’ve got 52 weeks of firsts. There are so many things that were first in Philly, like the first post office, thanks to Ben Franklin. Every week of this year, we’re celebrating a first in America that happened in Philadelphia. In addition to that, this expanded celebration of our national Declaration of Independence – the semi-quincentennial – is targeted towards 4th of July. But that bullseye spreads out for a month and throughout the entire year, celebrating not only our nation, but our city and our people. IS: You mentioned in the press conference that the medical sector is a key economic sector for Philadelphia – about 40% of your business, is that right? GC: That’s right. It’s 43-45% medical and academic meetings. IS: Is it a sector you’re trying to grow further, or are you looking at other vertical markets? GC: I always say it’s probably less about growing the percentage than baking a bigger pie. We have other sectors we’ve been doing very well with more recently, particularly corporate events. It’s an area we didn’t have as much focus on in the past, and I think part of it is both the expansion of this building with the largest ballroom in the northeast of the US, and our increased hotel package with more four and five-star products has given us a new entrée to the corporate sector as well. So, I don’t necessarily want to make life science and bio a larger percent, but I’d be fine if it was the same percent of a much bigger pie by growing our other sectors. IS: What are the other sectors that are quite strong? GC: We have three business development divisions at the convention and visitor’s bureau. One