Renate Dobler-Jerabek, Director Congresses & Events Reed Messe Wien GmbH

30/08/2010

“We have the support of the City authorities who, at a very early stage, have understood the benefit meetings can bring to a destination, money- and image wise.”

With its new meeting rooms added this sping, Messe Wien is a key venue in the Austrian capital city. Director of congresses & events, Renate Dobler-Jerabek analyzes the changes she has observed in the industry and the position of Vienna on the worldwide scence.

BWMN: How would you qualify the activity of Messe Wien in the last few months? Are the figures good?

Renate Dobler-Jerabek: Business from local companies and organisations is nearly back to normal, talking about volume of business. Lead-times have become noticeably shorter, clients are very cost-conscious and are looking for value-added proposals. International congresses have not been affected as such, as their planning is very long-term. Possibly the accompanying exhibitions may have felt an impact in terms of pharma companies buying less space or reducing sponsorships, however I do not have any concrete figures on hand to underpin this impression.

BWMN: The downturn led to changes in the clients’ needs and in the design of events, especially congresses. Did you have to face new expectations from delegates (format, duration of the event; a larger use of new technologies…)

Renate Dobler-Jerabek: There is a general trend towards change in the meetings industry which is mainly driven by new technologies. And the downturn has contributed significantly to the spread of these new tools as their application means that organizers can save money.

I would like to differentiate between corporate and association meetings.

Corporate shows a significant trend toward using new technologies in the pre and post-phase of an event as well as during the event itself, which encourages a higher involvement from participants at the stage when the meeting content is set, eg discussion forums on social networks to find out "what is hot and what is not" for potential meeting participants. Use of technology can also bring about a reduction of cost by:

- a, possibly, somewhat shorter duration of theevent, as certain meeting elements can be taken care of via web and socialforums.

- higher participation numbers through addedpersons who participate "on remote" ie via web sessions, speakers being presented not live but on screenetc.,

- less paper (information is provided as download,USB stick,

- etc.

Association meetings are by and large taking the same route as corporate meetings, however, in my opinion, at a somewhat slower pace- depending on the sector the association belongs to, of course.

BWMN: Are there ongoing or upcoming new developments at Messe Wien? (expansion project, green programme…)?

Renate Dobler-Jerabek: We have just completed a construction project in spring 2010, which has added 24 meeting rooms to our space portfolio. They are smaller in size but flexible insofar as we can combine two or three units in order to form larger rooms, when required. The rooms are located on the first floor of one of our exhibition halls, with a great panoramic view into the hall. Furthermore, the rooms can be accessed from the hall floor as well as via a separate walkway, also from the first floor of the Congress Center , which gives us additional flexibility in their usage.

BWMN: Vienna is ranked 3 ^rd in the last UIA ranking and 1 ^st in ICCA city ranking, how do you explain this long-term leading position? And how will Vienna continue to maintain these good ranks?

Renate Dobler-Jerabek: Of course, we hope we can defend this top position and we - as a destination - are working diligently towards a 6th term of being number one in the ICCA ranking!! The secret recipe sounds quite simple: First of all there is the city itself, which is a fantastic stage for any kind of meeting, and you don´t even have to build the back-drop, as it is already there- live and authentic; we have very professional suppliers for all kinds of meeting-related activities; there is a modern infrastructure, the improvement of which is incessantly being worked on; we have a great convention bureau and we have the support of the City authorities who, at a very early stage, have understood the benefit meetings can bring to a destination, money- and image wise.

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