IAPCO Emerging Leaders Programme – APAC

 Created to empower emerging leaders across the Asia-Pacific region, the IAPCO Next Gen Leadership Programme offers accessible online learning and mentorship to help shape the future of the meetings industry. 

Launched in 2024 with the support of New Zealand International Convention Centre (NZICC), an IAPCO Partner, the initiative features the Jan Tonkin Scholarship, named in honour of IAPCO’s former President and Chair of the Training Academy. Each year, the scholarship awards one outstanding participant the opportunity to attend the IAPCO Annual Meeting and General Assembly joining global business events leaders. 

The Emerging Leaders Programme, now in its second year, is a unique learning opportunity for members who want to develop their leadership skills and capabilities. In partnership with New Zealand International Convention Centre (NZICC), this programme is delivered through a series of online education workshops organised by the IAPCO Training Academy.

Applications can be submitted either by an IAPCO employee or employer.

Applications are now closed for the 2025 programme. Please return to this page for updates.

Hear from Jan Tonkin herself and Stephen Noble, IAPCO Council Member and Chair of the Training Academy, as they reflect on the programme’s early impact.

Five years into her career and already a PCMA '20 in their Twenties' honoree, Shimal Jaykant, Conference and Events Manager at Medican Conference Partners, is precisely the kind of emerging talent the Jan Tonkin Scholarship was created for.

Named after former IAPCO President and former IAPCO Training Academy Chair Jan Tonkin and supported by the New Zealand International Conference Centre (NZICC), the IAPCO & NZICC 2026 Jan Tonkin Scholarship is presented annually at the IAPCO Annual Meeting and General Assembly to recognise exceptional leadership promise. This year's presentation – the second edition – took place in Athens, where Shimal received her certificate on stage from IAPCO President Sissi Lignou and Stephen Noble, Chair of the Training Academy, before addressing delegates with a gracious word of thanks.

Her application stood out for its intellectual honesty as much as its ambition. Having completed the IAPCO Emerging Leaders Programme, she described a shift from leading through effort – ‘doing, fixing, pushing projects forward’ – to leading with intention: shaping team culture through trust, clear ownership and feedback that raises standards without eroding dignity. In her day-to-day work managing peers of a similar age, she reframed decisions in terms of shared outcomes rather than personal opinion. The result, she noted, was a team that ‘stays aligned even under pressure.’

‘I want the learning to travel further than me.’

Her vision for the APAC region is equally compelling. She anticipates a high-tech, high-touch future in which AI manages logistics quietly in the background, whilst the true differentiator remains face-to-face connection – ‘especially in a region as culturally varied as ours.’ She aims to design medical and association congresses that feel genuinely human and locally attuned, and to mentor the next generation of APAC talent.

Shimal arrived in Athens not as a passive attendee but with a structured plan: identify capability gaps, seek targeted conversations with senior IAPCO members and return home with a concrete action list for her team and local network. It is an approach that reflects the ethos she expressed so plainly in her application: ‘I care about doing this work with excellence and with integrity, even when no one is watching.’ In an industry built on trust, IAPCO has found a worthy recipient for 2026.