PREDSEDOVANJE EU 2008 EU Presidency 2008 PREDSTAVITEV ...

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Conference Towns in the Spotlight Some at Home and some just over our Border The concept of the conference centre is rooted in a paradox of the late twentieth century. On one hand, we can see that the possibilities of the electronic exchange of information have already called the traditional pattern of work into question but, at the same time, we can see growth of global events that bring people together due to their common knowledge or professions. From a social viewpoint, the need for meetings and direct contact is greater than ever before. Sir Norman Foster, a renowned British architect from the Foster & Partners studio, created, among other things, a meetings venue project in Valencia and the Scottish Exhibition and Convention Centre in Glasgow. This is also happening in our region Contemporary communication technology is leading us more and more towards work in isolation but, contrary to this, inquiries for new venues for direct ‘faceto-face’ discussions are getting much stronger. Conferences and expert meetings are today an international industry and meeting venues are an important acquisition for places entering the competitive environment of the global market. As they vie for the attention of potential meeting planners, numerous destinations can boast new or improved/expanded meeting infrastructure. Investment into new meeting venues or proposals for future ones have resulted in an almost world-wide pandemonium in the last decade and we should be especially aware of its development in Asia. The old continent is not static however, despite the fact that we have seen a slight decline for some years in the total share of international meeting events. Quite close to us, a new medium-sized meeting venue opened in the centre of Salzburg a few years ago, while the construction of larger meeting venues is planned in the near future in Zagreb and Budapest. The search for the definition of a ‘conference town’ And what exactly is a ‘conference town’? Can something as complex as a ‘conference town’ simply appear? I remembered that the European Federation of Conference Towns (EFCT), which recently merged with European Cities Tourism (ECT) and now bears the name of European Cities Marketing, could offer me a possible definition. Upon its establishment a good sixty years ago, the EFCT set up a conditional membership prescribing that a city must offer appropriate meeting space for at least 300 people set up theatre-style, either in a meeting venue or hotel. It should also have high quality overnight accom modation for the same minimum number of participants, good traffic access, experience in the area of business tourism, the liberal ability to cross a national border and should include references of at least five implemented international meetings. If I touch on the history of specialist ‘auxiliary organisations’ for marketing the meetings facilities of cities, which originated at local level before national level, I should mention as a point of interest that the first convention bureau in the world was set up in Detroit back in 1896 when a group of local businessmen realised how profitable organised group meetings were for their region. The United States surpassed Europe in this activity for several decades, with Europe finally awakening in the 1960’s, initially through investment in infrastructure. The Finnish (originally Helsinki – Finland, 1974) and London (1980) convention bureaus are among the oldest and things got moving a lot later in Slovenia – in Ljubljana, just over a decade ago but with effects only felt at national level three years ago. Google rules! As I was pondering where to find a definition of a ‘conference town’, I typed the terms ‘city for congresses’, ‘city for conferences’ and ‘city for meetings’ into Google, merely out of curiosity. Limiting the search to Europe, a slew of quite similar introductory descriptions of numerous destinations appeared, describing all their distinctions, with almost identical descriptions in the case of two cities. In any case, we see expressions such as ‘ideal, first-rate, excellent... city for conferences / congresses / meetings’, which offers 44
contemporary and versatile venues for a variety of events and a wide selection of three to five star accommodation, a cultural experience, varied cuisine, easy access – including from abroad, experienced meeting planners, interesting shopping possibilities and good entertainment, all for a reasonable price... Among cities possessing at least a few of these characteristics we find such names as Amsterdam, Bergen, Trondheim, the Hague, Valencia, Leipzig, Gothenborg, Glasgow, Turin, Basel, Helsinki, Bilbao, Reykjavik, Geneva … and Ljubljana. A quick look at conference towns in Slovenia – in the past and today We put our capital among the three pioneers of Slovenian conference tourism, with Bled and Portorož. Ljubljana, of course, has the status of veteran, for the first important event the city hosted was the Ljubljana Congress of the Holly Alliance back in 1821, when key European leaders made their political settlement after the defeat of Napoleon I, aiming to prevent the expansion of the ideas of the French Revolution. The interesting aspect of the event was that it lasted four and a half months, with representatives of ten nations attending it. Nobody would object to such a congress even today, for it not only left political agreements in its wake, but also a number of streets, larger squares and inns bearing its name – the latter in memory of the emperor’s love. To focus on central towns in Slovenia, while future issues of the magazine will focus on the coast and the Alps, only three meeting destinations really stand out. In addition to Ljubljana (I can't help myself, the city is in my blood), there is also Maribor, the second largest city in Slovenia, and booming Nova Gorica near the Italian border, arising after World War II and which could in jest be called the Slovenian Las Vegas for its strongly developed casino and entertainment activities. A strike into the essence? It is not my intention to list all the conference facilities, advantages or deficiencies of these places in detail for each has its own attributes and features. Ljubljana is certainly the most recognised internationally, which entered the arena in 1981 with the construction of Cankarjev dom as its central cultural and meeting venue. In this period it managed to create a very solid image for itself as a destination for international scientific and expert meetings, though with a partial halt in the years after Slovenian independence. Through events in 2004, it managed to win a place for the first time among the 50 ‘top international cities’ in the lists of the ICCA and UIA international congress associations. The construction of newer hotel conference venues has made the offer inviting for an increasing number of corporate meetings. The market positioning of the renovated Gospodarsko razstavišče (Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre) has given the city another meeting venue with a different functionality also suitable for larger inter-governmental events such as those hosted by Cankarjev dom, which has also been partially ‘rejuvenated’. Slovenia has so far hosted international congresses with over 2,000 participants, which about represents its upper limit and it breathes Globtour je podjetje za destinacijski management in »incentive« agencija, ki ima več kot osemintridesetletne izkušnje v turizmu. Visoko strokovno in inovativno osebje prijazno pomaga in strokovno usmerja vsak segment dogodka. Kontakt: Matjaž Triplat Globtour Bled (04) 574 18 21 E-mail: globtour.bled@globtour.si 45
Page 1: REVIJA SLOVENSKE INDUSTRIJE SREČAN
Page 4 and 5: Kratke novice REVIJA KONGRES - REVI
Page 6 and 7: Short News The regular annual meeti
Page 8 and 9: Novice soustanoviteljev V hotelu Pa
Page 10 and 11: Co-fonders News Hotel Park successf
Page 12 and 13: 12
Page 14 and 15: Na Gospodarskem razstavišču zaklj
Page 16 and 17: Kolumna: Srečo Peterlič Smo obuti
Page 18 and 19: Predsedovanje Evropski uniji 2008 B
Page 20 and 21: ki se odvijajo v času predsedovanj
Page 22 and 23: lahko ponudil ustrezno pomoč. Oben
Page 24 and 25: predsedovanje, odvijali tudi drugi,
Page 26 and 27: venues and services - including for
Page 28 and 29: we all hope. As Mr Krajc says, most
Page 30 and 31: It is already clear that the 2008 t
Page 32 and 33: Predsedovanje EU - Finska Oh, kakš
Page 34 and 35: EU Presidency - Finland Oh, what a
Page 36 and 37: Kolumna: Matjaž Kek Kdo potrebuje
Page 38 and 39: Column: Matjaž Kek Who needs who?
Page 40 and 41: Kongresna mesta pod žarometom Malo
Page 42: ta 1981. V tem obdobju, z delno pre
Page 47 and 48: Mi to znamo. Smo mednarodno uveljav
Page 49 and 50: Slovenian Convention Bureau Congres
Page 51 and 52: By Tony Carey, CMP, CMM Proving you
Page 53 and 54: Avtor: Matjaž Žnidaršič (matjaz
Page 55 and 56: Case Studies Author: Matjaž Žnida
Page 57 and 58: Planning Corporate Events Choose yo
Page 59 and 60: Technological Trends Communications
Page 61 and 62: Srečko Koklič Culinary Trends It
Page 63 and 64: The Web and Event Organisation Is Y
Page 65 and 66: Organizacija kongresnih in incentiv
Page 67 and 68: strokovnih, gospodarskih ali intere
Page 70 and 71: Marketing in the Meetings Industry
Page 72: economic contributions, articles in
Page 75 and 76: Meeting Statistics Slovenian Meetin
Page 77 and 78: Hotel Robotrade je vodiln
Page 80: * HOW DO LJU DO? * KAKO SI KAJ? www

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