Introduction
ICEN (International Corporate Events Network) is a global community created exclusively for in-house corporate event planners - the people behind the scenes delivering events that drive real business impact. Founded 12 years ago by Anita Howard, ICEN supports professionals who spend the majority of their time planning, marketing and delivering events for their organisations.
As a small but ambitious business, ICEN runs a diverse programme of around 20 events each year, spanning flagship conferences, awards ceremonies and intimate community gatherings across multiple countries.
“Our community are the people who organise events for everyone else,” explains Anita. “But they rarely take time out for themselves. That’s why ICEN exists - to break down barriers and build confidence.”
Events built on connection
ICEN’s events programme is designed to bring people together - not just professionally, but personally.
Many in-house planners are confident in their roles, yet naturally introverted. ICEN creates environments where attendees feel comfortable sharing experiences, learning from peers and building genuine relationships.
Across the year, there are three main flagship events: The ICENAWARDS and Conference, held in London, New York and Munich. As part of the event series, attendees have the chance to attend Leadership Suppers, mini get-togethers in regional cities (Liverpool, Zurich, Dublin, to name a few) – regular touchpoints that will help nurture the community and keep conversations flowing year round.
Maintaining this sense of community across a growing global programme requires the right technology behind the scenes, especially for a small team.
Cvent has allowed us to scale up quickly as a small organisation.
Scaling as a small business
As ICEN continued to grow, the team needed tools that would help them scale without increasing workload.
“We’re tiny,” Anita explains. “But very big in a different way.”
Cvent has played a central role in supporting that growth - helping ICEN manage more events, across more locations, without adding complexity.
“By using Cvent, it gives us back our time. We get Cvent’s support, they dig into the details for us and help us look at the bigger picture.”
ICEN uses a mix of Cvent products, including Onsite Solutions such as the Attendee Hub and OnArrival. This structure and automation allows the ICEN team to focus on strategy, partnerships and community building, rather than spending time lost in manual, time-consuming processes.
With guidance from the Cvent team, ICEN is planning an integrated approach to their events moving forward, consolidating all 20 annual events into one connected experience. The goal is to engage their community year-round, offering shared resources via the Attendee Hub to keep engagement high in between in-person events.
Anita and the team are excited about what's next:
“That’s where the power of the Attendee Hub App, it can really help us grow – if you interview me in a year, I will be raving about it!”
Advice for small organisations
Taking on a new tech-stack can be daunting. For other small event teams considering investing in tech, Anita’s advice is simple: “When you’re a small business, you don’t have time. By investing in Cvent we get time back and we get Cvent’s support.”
Small organisations don’t need to implement everything immediately. Start with core functionality and build over time to deliver sustained, long-term growth.
ICEN relies on sponsorship and partners for the success of their events, making professionalism essential. Having the support of a trusted tech platform helps to instill confidence - especially when serving the events community, where expectations and scrutiny are naturally higher.
Cvent are interested in the details that help us grow – this ultimately makes us look bigger to our community and sponsors.
As well as support directly from your Cvent team, there’s plenty of training in Cvent Academy and support in the Cvent Community and regular free Customer Success Groups to help you utilise your tech to the best of your ability.
Looking ahead
“If you’re an inhouse corporate event planner, you need to invest in yourself and your team,” Anita explains how she encourages the ICEN community not to be nervous, push to keep learning, growing and getting to know peers.
With events planned in Singapore and beyond, ICEN continues to expand its global footprint. With the team's commitment to tech, scaling is simple – automation and integrations are key to fueling that scale.
“It’s exciting times ahead,” Anita says. “And it feels like we’ve got the right partner alongside us for the journey.”
