The International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) recently released its latest top 20 rankings for cities. It’s always interesting to see which cities remain on the list and which are new. For example, Vienna kept its No. 1 status, Berlin climbed one place to third and Copenhagen took the biggest leap, moving into the eight spot. Beijing, though, fell out of the top 10 to land at No. 13.

We editors have been fortunate enough over the years to visit some of these cities, either for business or pleasure. Here we each offer some thoughts about one place in a highly ranked ICCA city that we particularly enjoyed experiencing. 

Michael Pinchera, editor, One+:

In Prague, requiring a relaxed experience to conclude what had been a strange day, I could have wished for nothing better than stumbling upon the Reduta Jazz Club. Wonderful music, cozy seats/couches, low lights, a friendly crowd—after a week of exploring the Czech Republic, this was a heavenly way to wind down. Note: The Reduta’s live music goes until midnight, but if you’re relying on mass transit don’t get too comfortable because that’s the same time the city’s subway stops running for the night. Plan accordingly. http://www.redutajazzclub.cz/

Jason Hensel, multimedia editor, One+:

The Bassy Cowboy Club is located in the Mitte neighborhood of Berlin, and it’s a place my wife and I stumbled across when the doorman asked if we liked to dance to 1960s-era rock. We would’ve had our red-blooded American cards taken from us if we said no. The club only plays music pre-1969 and frequently offers live music. From leopard printed wallpaper to disco balls hanging from the ceiling to a huge mural of Saddam Hussein watching you dance, Bassy is a great example of what I love about Berlin—taking the past, twisting it up and making it seem brand new. http://www.bassyclub.de/

Blair Potter, managing editor, One+:

Despite the dropping temperature—and Vienna can get quite cold in the winter—the high spirits of the crowd, a bag of freshly roasted chestnuts and a mug of spicy orange punch will keep you warm when navigating the Christmas markets of Vienna. The markets, some small (inhabiting a few side streets) and some massive (the town square by city hall), are located throughout the city, and they’re easily accessible on foot from many of the hotels and public transportation stops. You can enjoy a baked potato, pick up something handcrafted or just enjoy the sights. If you’re looking for a place where you can really absorb the holiday spirit, these markets are a must (especially when a light snow begins to fall). http://www.wien.info 

Here are the top 20 cities measured by the number of meetings organized in 2012:

• Vienna
• Paris
• Berlin
• Madrid
• Barcelona
• London 
• Singapore
• Copenhagen
• Istanbul
• Amsterdam
• Prague
• Stockholm
• Beijing
• Brussels
• Lisbon
• Bangkok
• Helsinki
• Seoul
• Buenos Aires
• Budapest

See how you respond to pressing urban challenges by playing Urbanology Online, an interactive game in which players "create" a city through a series of questions.

The game serves as the online companion to an interactive installation at the BMW Guggenheim Lab, currently in New York’s East Village.

By answering scenario-based questions involving education, housing, health care, infrastructure and mobility—players role-play for city transformation to build a city that matches their specific desires and needs. Based on their personal responses, the player's "Future City" is created and compared with other cities around the world.

It would be interesting to see a "Plan Your 'Future Meeting'" game. Do you know of any interactive meeting planning games?

The International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) has identified 9,120 events that took place in 2010, 826 events more than were identified last year and an all-time record. Partly this reflects the strength of the association meetings market despite the recent economic downturn; partly it is thanks to a record number of ICCA members sending in their calendar information to help identify new events.

“Some of this significant increase in numbers of association meetings in 2010 is certainly due to our continued investment in research and the great feedback from ICCA members, but it seems clear to me that we’re in the midst of an extended period of astonishing dynamism: 2009 and 2008 were similarly buoyant in terms of new association event creation," said ICCA CEO Martin Sirk. "This surely has to be driven by the acceleration of new scientific and technological developments and the need to discuss these complex changes face-to-face. Anyone who wants to understand what the information revolution really looks like just needs to consider how the association meetings sector is evolving.”

As has been the case since 2004, the U.S. and Germany are the number one and two countries respectively measured by the number of international meetings organised in 2010. The gap between the U.S. and Germany is shrinking from 137 to 81 meetings, compared to the 2009 figures. Spain, third country in the ranking since 2007, remains third. The U.K. and France both climb one place to respectively fourth and fifth at the cost of Italy, which now ranks sixth. Japan and China-P.R. both also climb one place and Brazil drops two places and is now ninth. Switzerland is a newcomer in the top 10.

The top five cities are the same as in the 2009 ranking: For the sixth year in a row, Vienna is the most popular city, even though it organized six meetings less compared to 2009, which means other cities are gaining ground on Vienna. Like last year, Barcelona, Paris, Berlin and Singapore make up the top five cities. Remarkable climbers are Madrid (jumps from 13 to six), Istanbul (from 17 to seven), Sydney (from 27 to 10) and Taipei (from 25 to 11). Copenhagen and Stockholm dropped out of the top 10 and Bangkok dropped out of the top 20. For Bangkok, political unrest can clearly be appointed as a cause for this drop. When creating a city ranking measured by total number of participants hosted at all meetings in 2010, Stockholm is third, which means it has hosted less but bigger meetings.

The full ICCA statistics report for 2010 will be released end of June. The 10 Year statistics report covering 2001-2010 will be published late July.