Partner Article

The future of meetings revealed: GCB

The future of meetings was revealed by the German Convention Bureau (stand No. F50) at IBTM World, which took place 29 November - 1 December in Barcelona.

Using information from its Future Meeting Space project in conjunction with European Association of Event Centres (EVVC) and The Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO, the GCB shared with meeting planners how meetings and events can be recvonfigured to boost knowledge transfer.

This includes activities and formats to encourage delegate interaction and networking, as well as creative use of technology in order to embed knowledge.

The GCB team delivered further insight in a dedicated education session at the show – ‘Research and innovation: See the future of meetings today’.

Selected GCB partners – including hotels, venues and convention bureaus –joined the GCB at IBTM to showcase their offering and how they’re addressing the future needs of meeting planners. Some of these 49 exhibitiors included:

Leipzig - “Feel the spirit … do-it-at-leipzig.de” is the city’s slogan and reflects its spirit. Leipzig’s congress initiative unites around 50 suppliers, including conference centres, event venues, hotels, agencies and transport services. Meeting planners benefit from the excellent networks these suppliers have with university and scientific institutions, and with important representatives of local clusters of excellence in science and business. These primarily focus on the region’s excellence in medicine and biotechnology, on the automotive and logistics industries, and on energy and environment-related research.

Cologne – home to international businesses, 14 universities, outstanding infrastructure, hotels to suit every need and budget and a wealth of history and culture, Cologne is a first-rate meeting point for the international MICE sector. Meet the team on the stand and enjoy a popular local specialisty - Kölsch beer!

Maritim Hotels - The largest conference venue in central Berlin and its sister venue have the perfect package for planners keen to go green. The ‘Green Meeting’ package at the Maritim proArte Hotel Berlin and the Maritim Hotel Berlin incorporates sustainable elements such as fair trade food, regional produce and recycled meeting materials. With hotels designed specifically for the conference & incentive market, Maritim offers more than 40 years of experience in managing small, medium and large conferences in excellent city centre and resort destinations across Germany.

For more information and to tap into all the developments and tools for the Future Meetings space visit:

www.future-meeting-space.com

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Emma Ward .