You know what it’s like: as an association planner, you get invited to famtrips and all you see is hotels, meeting venues and food. This is done with no spirit more often than not unfortunately. Well, that was not the case at all in Berlin in July when Messe Berlin got representatives of 17 international congress industry associations to come and take a look behind the scenes at the World Congress of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH). Words Rémi Dévé
Messe Berlin Site Experience. That was the name of it and it says it all. Dr. Ralf Kleinhenz, senior vice president at Messe Berlin, explains it this way: “Site visits are the old thinking. We wanted to offer a genuine site experience. By making convention organisers, our potential customers of the future, experience a behind-the-scene tour of a major international event held in the many rooms of the CityCube Berlin and the infrastructure on the grounds, they were able to gain a direct impression of the venue and what makes Messe Berlin and the city so attractive.“
This was the very first ISTH congress to be held in Germany after 63 years. According to Thomas Reiser, executive director of the ISTH, the CityCube Berlin is a beautiful and well-designed building and ideally met the special requirements of the event. “The CityCube Berlin and neighbouring exhibition grounds represented a modern and attractive venue and the team was highly professional, which enabled us to perfectly realise our plans and ideas.” he said.
He also praised the work done by Berlin-based PCO KIT Group: “They belong to Messe Berlin, so they know both the city and the venue inside out. They took care of the registration, housing, social events, the whole exhibition execution and finanicial management, under our guidance and control and that worked very well. The clearly understood the needs and challenges of a Society like ISTH.“
But what about the legacy that a congress like that wants to achieve? “The legacy that we want to leave behind is maybe less defined than others. We bring many physicians and scientists together so that they can exchange knowledge and best practice and take those back where they come from. We try to make the Congress very accessible. Germany is such an important scientific medical community and it was very smooth to achieve this. ” Reiser explained.