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Berlin is beaming

24.10.2006

CIM No. 5 2006

Even "swallows fried backwards" are among the promises made to planners at Meeting Place -a showcase of the old and new, measured and speedy capital.

Brilliant. "What l llke about Berlin is that it's on its way to beeoming a metropolis but is still charmingly provincial," said Michael Czernik at the third Meeting Place Berlin Special Edition from 25 to 28 August 2006. Most of the 99 attendees from 13 countries agreed with the Berlin-based director of Dorint Sofltel Schweizerhof: "Berlin, the rising starl", said Sofie de Geyter, DM&S Events, Belgium. Claudia Wolf, GPH Event Agency, calls the capital the "City of Unlimited Possibilitles. A city you have to rediscover every time."
"This marketing event, which we are now staging for the third time, has already developed into a brand," said a happy Heike Mahmoud. "Cus-tomer interest is so Strang that we needed a waiting list this time. We didn't have a single no-show."Together with the BTM partner hotels and BTM partner agencies, the director of Berlin Convention Office (BCO) found Sponsors in Air Berlin and the Axica Congress and Meeting Cen-tre.The Programme was also a joint effort. Friday started with a casual get-together at Meilenwerk. Accompanied by rolls of thunder and live music the (male) guests' hearts missed a beat when they got to see vintage cars from the last decades, according to the BCO Slogan "Berlin makes your heart beat faster."The Carrera track was used for calming down and networking on the sidelines. "Over the comingtwo days you will learn a lot about Berlin äs an outstanding congress and incentive destination, about hotels, locations and Service providers, and how the BCO works," Mahmoud welcomed them.
"Everything goes, even if you want to have swallows fried backwards," said tongue-in-cheek Mirko Kahle, head of Kosmos, East Germany's old movie premiere cinema from 1969. He was one of the few to re-ceive spontaneous applause for his energetic presentation. In contrast, Joachim Barte! had tour participants gaping in disbelief at his only partly opened Admiralspalast. A typical brash Berliner, he chased visitors upstairs to the first floor and took them on a journey into the history of the building from 1850. As one of the very first entertainment temples, it was an "Admirals-Gartenbad", Ice Palace, mu-sical theatre, state opera house, thermal spa, and sometimes everything rolled into one. Since 2003 the huge building has been undergoing renovation work worth (initially) 20 million euros, on a private initiative. "Great that such initiatives still exist in Berlin. You almost get sick of all this post-modern architecture," said one amazed planner and another agreed: "It's really nice here!" Apart from the special venue tour, planners could also opt for a hotel or designer hotel tour, a meeting venue tour, or even a custom-made tour. On Saturday evening 38 exhibitors met the experts at Axica on Pariser Platz for a Show, Fair & Dine workshop. Sunday was dedicated to incentives: Velotaxis, Spree boat and Trabi tours showed the capital from unusual angles.The final highlight was Max Raabe and his Palastorchester on the Waldbühne outdoor stage: 99 planners, clad in plastic ponchos against the pouring rain, sang along at the top of their voic-es: "Mein kleiner grüner Kaktus..." (my little green cactus). "l'm very happy that Berlin has enough magnetism to make it attractive for international and national event planners," says happy PCMA boss Till Runte. "For the next Meeting Place Berlin from 14 to 18 June 2007 weil also come up with a very special Programme, to which we invite all planners. You can already register now." Iris Winkelkötter of American Express Germany is already all afire: 'The Programme is so varied and informative. You really got people in the
mood for more Berlin!"

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