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Third Meeting Place Berlin

28.11.2006

TagungsWirtschaft No. 7 Nov. 2006

Capital demand

Originally destined to be a two-yearly event, the third edition of Meeting Place Berlin was designed to satisfy enormous demand for the city on the River Spree. At the invitation of Heike Mahmoud, head of the Berlin Convention Office (BCO), 99 international meeting planners explored the German capital, also enjoying a Trabi safari and a Max Raabe concert.
The "waiting list during the last event was simply too long," is how Heike Mahmoud, head of the Berlin Convention Office (BCO), sums up the huge success of the last Meeting Place Berlin. But "you can't stage such a customised function with any number of participants". So at the end of August another attractive programme was put to-gether in a "Special Edition" by marketers Berlin Tourismus Marketing GmbH (BTM) in assodation with the BTM's partner hotels and the BTM Berlin partner agencies. Besides the Professional "Show, Fair & Dine" workshop in the axica congress and event centre on Pariser Platz square, planners could also get to know conference and design hotels, meeting facilities and exceptional event locations on various site inspection tours. In the Axica congress centre 38 exhibitors brought their Professional audience from 13 countries up to speed on the capital's varied conference and convention facilities and on a range of hotels in Berlin still virtually unrivalled by any other big European city in terms of their price competitiveness.
The closing day of the event presented the hosted buyers with an embarrassment of incentive riches. On a Sightseeing tour on board a historical ship, a trip with a cycle taxi and a "Trabi safari" in the classic twin-stroke-engine Trabant from GDR days, planners were able to gather new ideas for their Berlin programmes. Even visitors who thought they knew the capital like the back of their hand were surprised by the organisers with "unknown territory" on a Sightseeing tour especially for intimates of Berlin, The ultimate climax of the incentive day was a concert by cabaret artist Max Raabe and his Palace Orchestra in Berlin's open-air Waldbühne, to the accompaniment of continuous heavy rainfall. Wrapped up in rain ponchos and thoughtfully provided with waterproof cushions, not only Ger-man-speaking meeting planners were thrilled by gems of music history from the 1920s.
"Berlin is one of the most attractive cities in Europe," Manuel Roldan from European Conference & Incentive Services in Barcelona decided after the event. Iris Winkelkötter from American Express was also impressed by the show. "The programme was varied and informative and succeeded in whetting the appetite for more of Berlin." With this assessment the event planner is in both very good and very abundant Company. Germany's number one destination for city breaks is equally unmatched as a host of meetings, conventions and incentives. In the rankings published by the International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA) the German capital has made eight places good on the twelfth position it held in 2001. successfully defending its fourth placing after Barcelona, Vienna and Singapore for the second time in succession. More than 89,000 events with over 6.9 million participants took
place last year in the former "Divided City". A key role in the city's headlong rise to an event metropolis has been played by the Hotels, which have boosted the number of beds from 63.000 in 2001 to around 85,000 at present. A substantial share of these is provided by business properties whose technical outfitting also makes them suitable for larger functions and meetings. BCO supremo Mahmoud also deems "the extremely good value for money by international Standards a crucial factor" in the unchecked demand for Berlin. The next Meeting Place Berlin takes place from June 14 to 18 2007.

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