Conventa Daily 1

WELCOME
RECEPTION
SITE SUMMIT
EDUCATION DAY
MIHA POGAČNIK
LEADERSHIP PROFESSOR
WITH A VIOLIN
BEST EVENT
AWARDS
4
6
8
7
8 TH NEW EUROPE EXHIBITION FOR MEETINGS, EVENTS & INCENTIVE TRAVEL
THE CONVENTA EXPERIENCE
AT ITS 8TH EDITION
he leitmotiv of 8th Conventa exhibition is experience. We invite you to
experience the charm of creativity, adventure of the 6 senses (sound, taste, touch,
smell, feel, sight), the power of inspiring
new ideas and the subtlety of a personal
approach at the biggest meetings event in
the SEE region.
Tina Ramujkić
We want to share the „#conventaexperience“ with as many people as
we can, which is why we invited Aoife
McCrum, in charge of Social Media &
Digital Marketing at Soolnua, a boutique MICE consultancy from Ireland,
to help both us and our Conventa
guests become professional tweeters
and busy ourselves with social media
marketing, today‘s leading marketing
tool. At the moment we have just over
700 followers on Twitter, but after the
#Conventaexperience we want this
number to surpass the 1,000 mark.
You can help us achieve that.
Don’t miss the leading business-tobusiness event for NEW EUROPE!
See you in Ljubljana, at Conventa,
from 18 to 19 January 2017.
an unforgettable event. That is why we invite you to co-create the Conventa show,
with your positive energy, your creativity, your passion to learn and passion to
spread your knowledge, and make this
exhibition a true success on a personal
and business level not only for yourself,
but for others too.
WWW.CONVENTA.INFO
CONVENTA 2017
20. 01. 2016
T
T
Once again the Conventa team has been
striving all year round to organise an excellent trade show for every participant,
taking great care of all the little details in
order to exceed not only your, but also our
own expectations. We believe that creativity is the key to finding great solutions,
insightful ideas and therefore organising
he theme of this year’s Conventa
follows that of the Conventa Experience and the participants journey
through all the bodily senses. We
believe that this encourages better
thinking,more curiosity and a higher
level of interest for our products and
destinations. We also believe that an
experience can tell more than a thousand words. With perhaps a touch of
immodesty we would venture to say
that you are not really on the congress
map if you aren’t attending Conventa.
This is backed up by the record feedback
from all of the hosted buyers and by the
fact that 98% of exhibitors regularly return to the event. We, as the organisers,
have done everything we can to make
sure you leave Ljubljana with a smile on
your face and new business connections
in your pocket. We hope you really enjoy
your time here with us. Gorazd Čad
T
his year we broke yet another record, as we are welcoming hosted
buyers from 33 countries, and this
time from overseas too. Knowledge
was, is and always will be crucial in our
industry. Every year we introduce a top
knowledge component to the show for
the regional industry that is complimentary. This year we are also proud
to co-host the SITE Incentive Summit
in Ljubljana, enabling Conventa exhibitors to learn from the very best. Social
Media is a feature of our industry that
is gaining in popularity and becoming
a more important marketing and communication channel. We are proud to
partner with Soolnua, from Ireland,
to bring the region to a very new level.
Please do share all of your experiences
with us on social media by using #Conventa2016 and @Conventa2016, but
also on #conventaexperience. We have
invested all of our knowledge, our positive energy and our passion into making
this year’s Conventa another success.
Enjoy the moment and give your energy
to the Conventa experience 2016. You
can only really get it if you share it! Miha
Kovačič
WHAT‘S NEW IN 2016
„The only source of knowledge is experience“ Albert Einstein
Tina Ramujkić
As we said above, this year‘s Conventa is all
about experience, and in the words of Mr.
Einstein who said that „true knowledge
comes from experinece“, we at Conventa
encourage you to not only experience the
inspiring new stories and new ideas in the
classic way through meetings and lectures,
but to also let your senses be seduced by
the Slovenian culinary art, the excellent
Conventa coffee moments in Café San
Bernardino provided by the Bernardin
Group, and experiencing the genius of
music in lectures by classical concert
violinist and leadership consultant Miha
Pogačnik, who sees „art as a significant
force for productivity, creativity and organisational renewal“.
We are therefore also very happy to present to you the new initiatives for this
year, among them the newest being the
„Conventa Best Event award“, organised under the remit of „The Meetings Star
awards“ taking place at Cankarjev dom
on the 20th January, where a 3-member
international jury will evalute 17 different
events and will present the winning award
to the most „mind blowing event“ organised in 2015. The most important evaluation criteria for this are innovation and
creativity, but the expert jury will also
focus on other criteria, such as event execution, result of the event, excellence of
communication and sustainable policies.
bring best-in-class solutions, insights and
global connections to maximize the business impact of motivational experiences“
– are organising a conference in conjonction with Slovenian Convention Bureau, with a rich educational programme.
The lectures at the SITE conference are
also open for Conventa participants, so we
hope you will take the chance to hear some
of the following sessions:
• W hat Makes a Good DMC (Panel
Discussion)
• Fundamentals of an Incentive
Travel Programme
• Apps and Social Media: the real
Superpowers for Incentive Professionals
This year we have also recorded a higher
number of participants coming from
New Europe, namely from Turkey, and
at this point in time we are very proud to
announce that we have formed a new partnership with Turkish Airlines.
Every year the Conventa team wants to
overcome the formality of meetings by
emphasizing a personal approach and
creating a unique social platform for every
participant to enable them to have a better
informal business interaction. So, allow
yourself to step into a whole new dimension of after-work networking, where
relaxed and spontaneous interaction over
a glass of wine and good food will be the
rule of propriety, and take your chances to
meet new people outside the congress hall
and get more contacts and more personalized solutions, maybe even meeting your
future best friend in the process! :)
SITE - Society for Incentive Travel
Excellence chose Ljubljana as its priority destination to organise The Incentive
Summit Days
Another event in the „don‘t miss“ category
is taking place at the Grand Hotel Union
in Ljubljana on the 19th January, where
SITE - Society for Incentive Travel Excellence – one of the biggest global companies, comprised of 2,000 members in 90
countries and whose „vision and goal is to
Conventa Communication
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CONVENTA DAILY
Editor-in-Chief: Gorazd Čad
Design: Premedia, Andrej Juvan
Printing: F.Dvor d.o.o., Ljubljana
Circulation: 200 copies
Publisher, Production and Marketing:
Toleranca marketing d.o.o.
Štihova ulica 4, SI- Ljubljana
T:+386 (0)1 430 51 03, F:+386 (0)1 430 51 04
Conventa publications are printed on Xerox recycled paper, using environmentally friendly
multifunctional printer Xerox ColorQube with revolutionary solid ink colours Solidink. Conventa publications thus reduce the adverse effect of waste on the environment by 90%, while
cutting down on costs by 62%. As a sign of respect to the environment, we encourage you to
recycle … and consider the ways in which it can be reused.
www.conventa.info
Issue date: January 2016-01-20
Daily is free of charge for all participants of Coventa
EVENTS REPORT
PARTNERS ABOUT CONVENTA
“I love the format (small and boutique
with a personal touch- like our hotel) - we
met such a great range of Buyers in such
a short period of time. Buyers are experienced; meetings are relevant, dynamic
and straightforward. I’m part of Conventa
from the beginning and the event is more
productive than I could ever imagine it
will become. The networking and social
program are amazing and getting better
every year. With helpful, friendly staff,
very high standards of organization, and
excellent activities, this is the best MICE
event in this part of Europe. Definitely
worth the time out of the office!”
Sandi Kovačevič,
General Manager at Hotel Cubo
“The Conventa trade fair has greatly contributed to the recognition of Slovenia
as place to hold congresses and business
meetings. Conventa has been placed on
the European congress map as a ‘mustgo-to’ event, where more than one hundred providers of congress services from
South East Europe exhibit to clients from
across Europe. As an international business exchange, Conventa has become one
of the key business events of Slovenian
tourism, which places Slovenia at the top
of professionally staged events and thus
strengthens the image of the country as
an excellent host of important business
and tourist events. There is no doubt
that this event, which for a long time has
reached beyond the borders of Slovenia, is
the most important business and international tourist event in Slovenia’s congress
sector! ”
Maja Pak, Acting Director
of Slovenian Tourist Board
“Conventa, a junction of congress tourism
in Southeastern Europe, is a very important link in the promotion of Slovenia as
a congress destination. It is a combination
of business and networking among people
in one place and at the same time the
opening up of new opportunities for the
discovery of new and attractive destinations. These are increasingly looked for
by the organizers of meetings. Vivo with
our Center of innovative solutions D125
in Ljubljana takes part in Conventa and
shapes it from the beginning.”
Jerneja Kamnikar,
General Manager at Vivo catering
SINCE THE VERY START, LJUBLJANA TOURISM
HAS TAKEN ON THE ROLE OF A STRONG AND
LONG-TERM
Petra Stušek, Acting managing Director,
Ljubljana Tourism
Partner of the Conventa Show and its
organisers. With its concept and personal
approach Conventa has developed over the
years into a true experience, showcasing
the array of possibilities for holding meetings and events in Ljubljana, Slovenia and
the wider area of Central and Southeast
Europe. We recognise Conventa as one of
our most important marketing projects at
the destination level, by which both Ljubljana and Slovenia are strengthening their
brands and presence on the international
meetings industry market, and even wider.
In 2016 more than ever, Ljubljana will be
green all the way to its heart - as European
Green Capital! We are confident that the
many events and happenings connected to
this unique year will leave a special mark
on our city. Not to forget that our key partners are continuously striving to deliver
the best client experience with an understanding of what the power of personal
approach means in creating successful and
long-term business relationships. This is
also very true for the boutique Conventa
Experience!
Sarah Kavanagh@SarahMaeveKav
First stop Heathrow, next stop Gatwick!
@Conventa2016 here we come #Conventa2016 #conventaexperience
HOSTED BUYER EXPERIENCE
Helen Zhao, CEO at Global
Century Science Group
Why did you choose the
Conventa trade show
and did it meet you
expectations in 2015?
East of Europe is always
our focus for organising academic
events. With the unique cultures and
landscapes, Slovenia and the neighbouring countries are more attractive
to American and Asian visitors, as
well as other Europeans. Meanwhile,
in terms of the competitive price of
the hotels and conference packages,
this area will be our main market.
We felt that the Conventa 2015 trade
show was well organised and it did
meet our expectations to be one of
our event destination.
Why did you once again choose to
come to Conventa 2016?
Last year we joined the event just for
looking at the possibility to bring an
event into this region and this year we
will confirm the final destination and
select cooperators for our few further
events.
Gunilla Johansson, KTH,
Royal Institute of Technology,
Purchasing Manager, Stockholm, Sweden
Why did you choose to
visit Conventa 2016?
I visited Conventa in 2014
to get acquainted with
this part of Europe and to
meet exhibitors from the SEE region,
which is very helpful to us. I also got
the opportunity to meet other visitors
and get contacts from interesting destinations. The whole Conventa trade
show was very well organised: the
meetings, lectures, social events and
other informal arrangements. Plus I
absolutely love the city of Ljubljana.
Are you looking for a specific destination in the region?
I’m not looking for a specific destination, but you never know what destination might pop-up and impress me.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed and
looking forward on what I might find.
3
EVENTS REPORT
WELCOME RECEPTION, Grand Hotel Union
T
his year‘s Conventa Welcome reception
was once again held at the Grand Hotel
Union, where most of the participants got
the chance to meet or catch-up again with
colleagues and talk about topics of interest in a relaxed and informal setting. The
concept of the 8th Conventa trade show is
„experience“, in terms of experiencing the
event with all of our senses - including the
sense of humour, and because doing business can often be hard and serious work
the Conventa team teamed up with two top
Slovenian stand-up comics, Tilen Artač and
Jure Godler, to kick-off the 8th Conventa
exhibition in a humorous and entertaining
spirit. The duo quickly warmed up the audience with ingenious stand-up and music
stunts, after which the guests were visually
enchanted by the stunning performance
by aerial dancer Maruša Conič, loaded
with tricks and gravity-defying movement
on her aerial silk. The evening was then
spiced up with the Best Event Award, where
the best events in the MICE category and
other business oriented promo events were
all acknowledged. In short, the welcome
reception was all about laughter, relaxed
conversations, high spirits and an inspiring start to Conventa 2016. Tina Ramujkić
4
EVENTS REPORT
WE KINDLY INVITE YOU TO JOIN US AT THE OFFICIAL
RECEPTION AT CANKARJEV DOM, 20TH JANUARY AT 19.30
D
on‘t miss the Official Conventa
reception, better known as the
Conventa Networking dinner, held at
Cankarjev dom on Wednesday, 20th
January, starting at 19.30. A rich
cultural programme is guaranteed with
musical parody and stand-up performances by Tilen Artač and Jure Godler,
which will be followed by the Meeting
Stars Awards, organised by the Editorial
Board of Kongres magazine, where all
of the Best Meeting destinations will
be acknowledged. So, watch out all you
attractive destinations, hotels, convention
centers and congress halls – the awards
are about to higlight the best you have to
offer! But the party doesn‘t stop there.
After the official reception we invite you
to join us at the legendary Conventa afterparty in Cankarjev dom‘s Club, where the
4-piece band Victory will get your dancing
shoes shuffling as their performance is set
to be „a memorable experience that turns
every event guest into an enthusiastic
dancer“.
IMEX-MPI-MCI FUTURE
LEADERS FORUM
T
his year the Future Leaders Forum will
once again take place in Ljubljana on
the 19th January 2016, invinting the best
and brightest students from South East
Europe to listen to some of the leading
experts from the meeting industry. The
main purpose of the forum is to encourage
all young meetings business enthusiasts
to get first hand experience and a glimpse
of what it means to be engaged in a meetings industry career.
Over 120 Future Leaders forums have
taken place globally since 2003, with
more than 7,000 students participating in
the forums that are free of charge for all
students. Keynote speakers at this year’s
forum are among others: Patrick Delaney,
Managing Partner, SoolNua, Sara Skavron,
Knowledge end Events Executive at IMEX
Group, Tadej Klopčič, Project Manager at
iDMC Incentive&Destination Management Company and many more.
Besides the inspiring lectures, each year
students are also invited to participate in
creative workshops and this year the challenge is for students to work in teams and
come up with a concept for an incentive
trip for a fictitious or a specific client with
specific needs. The teams will present
their ideas to an international jury of industry professionals, where the best idea
will win an attractive prize.
Although the forum successfully closed
yesterday, another opportunity for exploring the charms and challenges of working
in the meetings business is open for all
students, as we invite them to visit the
Conventa show today and get even more
information on new meetings technologies, on who is who in the SEE region meetings business, and on what it takes to be a
top meeting plannner.
#conventaexperience
5
EVENTS REPORT
SITE CONFERENCE
THE EXCELLENCE OF SITE‘S INCENTIVE
SUMMIT EDUCATION DAY
For all of those who didn‘t participate yesterday at SITE‘s
Incentive Summit Education Day, let us remind you that the
Slovenia Convention Bureau was hosting one of the most important associations in the global MICE segment, the Society
for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE).
SITE chose Ljubljana as its priority
destination to organise The Incentive
Summit Days, which took place during the
18th and 22nd January 2016. This annual
education event „took the SITE Board of
Directors and Foundation Trustees to
a part of the world that was less known,
or completely unknown, to the majority of board members“, which gave them
a chance to experience the charm and
beauty of Ljubljana (and Slovenia) and also
gave them a quick insight into the various
incentive travel opportunities in Slovenia
and the region.
Everybody who participated in the lectures during the SITE incentive educational day had a fantastic opportunity to
learn from global incentive professionals
on why and how „Incentive travel is not
a luxury, but a necessity“, and could get
a better understanding on the incentive
travel basic concepts. Here are some of the
main topics presented and discussed at
the Education day:
1. F
undamentals of an Incentive
Travel Programme
2. W hat Makes a Good DMC for Incentives
3. P
erceptions and Expectations
About Incentives Around the World
6
We asked SITE‘s CEO
Kevin M. Hinton to
tell us his views of the
SEE region as a potential
incentive destination.
1. The SEE region is by now a well
known and an interesting destination
for incentive travels, but is not quite
established at the international level.
How do you see the South East European region, what are its potentials
and its advantages?
The region‘s potential is likely limitless
because of the regional access to the SEE
market, however globally the potential is
limited foremost by the challenge of accessibility and brand recognition. There are
limited long-haul/internatinal flights into
the region, yet at the same time, there are
multiple airports between which the driving distances are not very long. So, accessibility is both a limitation and a positve
attribute. It is also challenging for some
of us outside of the region to (literally)
know where you are located on the world
map. One more thing – how to pronouciate
Loob-liana? Or, is it Lyu-bly-ana? I can›t
wait to meet more people there!
2. It‘s more like „Lyu-bly-ana“ and my
compliments on your phonetic transcription:).
How do you see Slovenia in terms of incentive travels? What challenges must
we face and overcome, as an incentive
travel destination, to put our county
on the map of popular and attractive
international incentive travel destinations.
The SEE region is an emerging incentive
destination and we are exciting to have
incentive leaders from around the world
gathering there together for a week to experience first-hand this unique and very
intriguing and appealing part of the world. My perception is that your history is fascinating, culture is sophisticated, and the
culinary experience is luxury. These are
critical componennts of any leading incentive destination so i‘d say you have the ingredients; with improvide infrastucture/
accessibility and a strionger global brand,
you will achieve the potential that exists
for you.
3. How did you and other participants
of SITE Incentive Summit experience
Ljubljana as an incentive destination?
My experience here in Slovenia has been
every bit of what we call “incentive quality.” The genuine authenticity of the experience here is one of the most important
elementa of q unique travel experience.
The food and wine experience has been
exquisite and the sophistication of the
local and regional industry provides the
foundation for what will surely be a growing invective market and region in the
near and distant future.
Here are some of the adjectives and attributes our board members have expressed
based on their experience so far: Charming, Clean, Safe, Amazing Cuisine, Rich
History and culture.
CONVENTA AWARDS
BEST EVENT AWARD
The newest Meetings Star Award has acknowledged the best
events organised in 2015
We asked Katja Hamler, one of the
TedxLjubljana team members, to tell
us something more on how the visitors experienced the event.
1. Were you immediately inundated
with lots of applications and how did
your listeners/visitors experience
this event? Was listener attention
and speaker efficiency the same as in
other events halls or was it something
completely different?
The fact that the tickets were literally sold
out in seconds shows how big the interest
of attending this unique event was. However, we believe that this is a result of having a great panel of speakers and not only
because of the exclusivity of the event. The
proof of that is also the following sold out
TEDxLjubljana event held in Gallus Hall.
A
s part of the 2015 Meetings Star
Awards, Kongres Magazine, in collaboration with Conventa trade, created
a competition designed to truly celebrate
the very best event experiences in the New
European meetings industry.
An international Conventa Best Event
Jury was established, composed of the
following meetings industry professionals: Patrick Delaney (SoolNua, Ireland);
Bo Kruger (Moving Minds, Denmark) and
Johanna Fischer (tmf-dialogue marketing, Europe & India), who had to choose
from among 12 finalists and evaluate each
of their events based on Creativity, Innovation, Execution, Event Results, Event
Communication and Sustainable Policies.
The Best Event Award went to
TEDxLjubljanaSalon v zraku
(TEDxLjubljanaSalon in the air),
organised by TEDxLjubljana.
The idea for an event on a plane came
from a desire to achieve something that no
TEDx team in the world has managed up
to now. To this day the most original TEDx
events have taken place at archaeological
ruins, in a bowling centre, in the desert, on
a train and even on Mount Everest, but the
first one on a plane was ours – on the 24th
of September, 2015. And for the very first
time the world got to witness an event that
happened literally up in the air. “The flight
from Ljubljana to Maribor would normally
have taken only 15 minutes, but was turned
into an 80-minute flight, as the pilot took us
back to Slovenia via Split, so we had more time
to listen to four big ideas really worth spreading”, explained Katja Hamler.
THE SHORTLIST OF THE FINALISTS:
·· TEDxLjubljanaSalon v zraku
·· Combining an incentive trip to Dubrovnik with a CSR event in Bosnia
·· Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week
·· Vitranc in the Sky
·· NOTE2NOTE
·· 31st Slovenian Book Fair
·· BMW GRAND TOURER WORLD
PREMIER
·· P&G World Cup
·· EuroBasket 2015 Zagreb Corporate
Hospitality
·· Uavhengighetstur 2015
·· Secret Destinations
·· Zavarovalnica Triglav New Year‘s
Concert
Key challenges:
• finding
the right timing for the flight
• providing
the best sound and recording
conditions
• c hoosing the right speakers
•p
romoting the event
As mentioned above, the event’s biggest
challenge in the area of execution was to
ensure adequate sound and recording conditions, but not only did the TedxLjubljana
team adhere to the strict safety regulations, coordination of the availability of
air terminals and the sourcing of suitable
speakers, they also managed to perform
the event to a very high level, which reflected their high degree of technological
ingenuity.
2. Was the choice of 4 speakers random
or were you looking for special speakers and specific topics for this special
event that would further resounded
around the world?
Due to the strict safety regulations we had
to report in advance to Adria Airlines the
exact seating plan of passengers. We had
to determine the seats for the announcer,
cameramen, other technical team and
of course for the speakers. The speakers
stayed at their seats during the event and
when it was their turn to speak they put
on their microphone, stepped in front of
the passengers/audience and performed
their speech standing. We were lucky that
we didn‘t have any turbulence during the
flight, as this would interrupt the speeches, and we would have to wait for more
suitable conditions to continue the event.
3. Was getting the four speakers together for this one by chance or were
you looking specifically for targeted
speakers and tailored topics for this
special event that could further resound around the world?
Our team always goes the extra mile in order to gather the most interesting people
and topics that we know our audience will
love. For this very exclusive event we selected topics that are somehow connected
to global travelling, transportation or
have an important personal message. Our
first TEDx speaker was Marko Javornik,
who introduced us to the idea of using our
personal transportation as a service. Eva
Škufca shared with us her experiences
with studying and working abroad. Maja
Štamol Droljc told us a personal story how
she and her husband adopted two little
girls from Guinea-Bissau and Lucija Petavs
who gave us a brief insight about her work
as an investigative reporter.
7
CONVENTA EXPERIENCE
EXPERIENCE MUSIC AND ITS FORMATIVE FORCES
TO CREATE BETTER LEADERSHIP SKILLS WITH
MIHA POGAČNIK
We asked Miha Pogačnik to tell us a little
bit more about his ingenious method and
how it all began.
M
usic stimulates passion, affection,
devotion, reassurance and warmth.
To hear something you can remain passive, but to listen to something you have to
be active. Sound is important because of its
link with memory; music stimulates and
awakens memories of our past and at the
same time takes us into the future.
Miha Pogačnik, an internationally acclaimed violinist and leadership expert,
invites you not to admire the virtuosity
of the Bach sonatas, but to recognise its
inspirational power that creates a unique
resonance platform for solution-based
learning.
WHERE: Conventa Expert Corner
WHEN: Tuesday, 20 January 2016
at 2:20 pm Miha‘s lectures on active listening and
management learning accompanied by
classical music are a hit all over the globe.
Managers at IBM, Hewlett Packard, Mitsubishi, Matt and Nike have all listened to
Miha as he elegantly and in his own unique
way brings together art and economy
across different cultures and generations.
8
As an educated and trained classical
violinist, when and how did you decide
not to dedicate your life to being a
concert hall violinist, but instead to
exploring the potential of music in
the field of improving multi-layered
communication and business management?
You are posing a question to someone
who is entering “the fourth life” in just
one lifetime! The first one was indeed
playing a few thousand concerts in my
early career which was a great and valuable
experience. But in the mid 80s the world
situation, signalling the beginning of the
breakdown of opposing ideologies, greatly
stimulated my entrepreneurial nature
and I persuaded the almost 1,000 international audience of my newly founded
Chartres Festival (France) to travel with
me and fellow artists to Slovenia (Bled,
1984) and in the following years, until
the fall of the Berlin wall, to many cities
from Budapest across the continents to as
far as Lhasa/Tibet. The social movement
IDRIART was born and tens of thousands
from the West travelled with us artists to
meet the locals in the crisis areas in the
East, also later to the devastated Sarajevo,
Mostar and Dubrovnik in the period of
Yugoslavia’s breakdown. This was the innovation of my “second” life: laying the
ground for social transformation through
the resonant power of music and other
arts, motivating people of all walks of life
to pack their suitcases and travel with us
artists, engaging in trans-disciplinary and
intercultural dialogue and renewal. The
“third life” emerged in the early 90s when
the whole world seemed to be heading for
the only alternative monoculture of turbocapitalism. And I took the challenge by the
horns and the art-transforming-business
paradigm was born!
In an interview for a Slovenian media
channel you once said that “art is a
principle that opens up the possibilities
of transformation on all levels.” When
and how did you recognise the power
of the violin as a tool to create a specific platform where better communications conditions are created as well as
a higher sensibility for understanding
a fellow human being?
One of my passions has been playing my
violin in the magnificent cathedrals of
the world, searching for the ultimate
resonance, which I then finally found two
years ago in the King’s Chamber, deep inside the granite of the Cheops Pyramid in
Cairo. This was only the final touch, however, of the previous learning experience
of 200+ IDRIART festivals and “ploughing
CONVENTA EXPERIENCE
through” the leadership of some 150 global
corporations that confirmed to me the
revolutionary effect of the art experience
driving the “leadership initiation journey”,
of de-mixing and re-composing complex
human nature. But only if we learn how to
go way beyond just performing…
You say that companies and their
management systems lack the contrapuntal process. How do leaders and
managers learn about this process
during your workshops?
The greatest musical masterpieces draw
the magic out of the productive tension
principle, just as with a great love relationship! Imagine a company performing like
a symphony orchestra! I often invite my
clients to sit among the musicians of the
orchestra and then we discover together
what management “sounds like” if unfolding on the “resonance platform”…it is
lifted from the mechanical model to the
organic, inspired through the meaningful participation of everyone’s voice! And
what is the power which instantly propels
the “ego-heavy” musicians (or managers!)
to cooperation, mutual support and meaning? It is the genius of the masterpiece
which everyone loves to perform! We are
lacking such a “score” with its magic power
in our business plan. Vision, mission and
CSR usually don’t get far beyond being
stuck on the wall. The formative forces of
music restructure the most precious and
lacking modern commodity: the experience of time. This should be of interest
for the event industry: From ROI to ROT!
(Return on Time).
You’ve performed a number of workshops in the field of musical management for various world-famous companies and each workshop is unique
for its imaginative creativity. Among
others, you prepared a workshop for
Ericsson‘s marketing department,
where you thought out the basics of
management using the metaphor of
the Seven Samurai. By what principle
do you choose a musical theme for a
specific team, and how do you know
that the chosen theme is the right
one?
I have a friend who will surprise you with
this greeting: Take care,...and take a risk!
That is the secret of entrepreneurship. After receiving a good in-depth briefing from
a client I take good care of preparation, but
nothing ever succeeds without risking the
impossible… clients usually want to step
out of the established patterns straitjacket, and it doesn’t take much persuasion
to turn them into poets and painters on a
creative detour towards their corporate solution! My “interruptive method” reflects
the interruptive state of the modern world
economy - I play, paint, tell stories and act,
all at the same time, clients are thrown out
of the linear thinking, sparks are jumping,
and on the higher level, on the resonance
platform, their questions are re-formulated out of their own answers!
What will Conventa participants learn
from your performance?
ROT. If we, the organisers of events, dare to
capture the precious time of participants,
then we’d better make sure the experience
goes from the mechanic (transactional)
to the organic, magic and inspirational,
to the resonance-environment which
cannot be forgotten. Powerpoint transmitted information we tend to forget. An
art-permeated living experience becomes
the real force for the journey of deep and
lasting change!
…and the fourth life?...Terra Parzival…
KNOWLEDGE CAFE 2016:
CONTENT MARKETING IS THE KING,
CONTENT DISTRIBUTION IS THE QUEEN
F
or all of you who are closely connected
to the congress industry, in 2016 we
will once again carry out our popular
workshop in the field of content marketing, social media, digital marketing and
events in the congress industry.
Your lecturer, Gorazd Čad along with
guests, will focus on every participant, his
company and his own story in a way for
you to gain knowledge on an actual case
basis. You will have the chance to acquire
new information and some useful ideas at
the same time.
You will be treated to a programme that
will answer your questions on content
marketing, which you will be able to apply
to your own company.
Knowledge Cafe’s spring dates
Ljubljana 03. March 2016
Beograd 10. March 2016
Zagreb 07. April 2016
We will also show you some different success stories in the field of content marketing. More information:
[email protected]
This year’s Knowledge Cafe will teach you:
- How to write a congress story,
which your buyers won’t be able
to resist reading
- W hich content approaches and tools
for boosting sales actually work
- How to adapt your story to
different focus segments
- How to take on marketing in
social media
- W hich are the apps connected to
social networking
- W hat are the tools and techniques
of re-marketing
- How to write a good message for
the media
- How to measure and analyse results
- W hat are some good congress practices around the world
9
TOP 10
TOP 10 EVENTS IN THE REGION 2016
Festival
Festival
Conference
THE 9TH EDITION OF
ROVINJ PHOTODAYS,
ROVINJ 6 - 8 MAY 2016
SARAJEVO FILM FESTIVAL, SARAJEVO 12 - 20
AUGUST 2016
SMART CITIES - EXHIBITION AND CONFERENCE FOR SOUTH-EAST
EUROPE, 11-13 MARCH
2015, SOFIA, BULGARIA
Rovinj Photodays is the largest and most
comprehensive photo festival in Southeast
Europe. This all-year-round project is supported by the numerous cultural institutions and organizations, as well as several
key sponsors. The festival started in 2008
organized by Livingstone Association and
Astoria d. o. o. is this year taking place
from 6th to 8th May, 2016. The 9th edition
of Rovinj Photodays is again invinting the
whole International photographic scene to
participate at the International Competition of Contemporary Photography - 9th
RovinjPhotodays, 2016.
The Sarajevo Film Festival is an international film festival with a special focus on
the region of South-East Europe shining an
international spotlight on films, talent and
future projects from the region. High quality
programming, a strong industry segment,
an educational and networking platform
for young filmmakers and thus generated
presence of the international film industry,
film authors and media representatives
alongside a paying audience of over 100.000.
Sarajevo Film Festival is the leading film festival in the SEE region, recognized by both
film professionals and the wider audience.
The object of the international ‘Smart
Cities’ Exhibition and Conference is the
sustainable urban development and it is
focused on the South-East European market. Scope: energy management, smart
grid and storage, intelligent buildings,
lighting, ICT, e-mobility and smart transport, emergencies and security.
Conference
Sports event
Conference
TRANSPORT RESEARCH
ARENA (TRA) 2016 - 1821 APRIL 2016, WARSAW
(POLAND)
ROVINJ BEACH POLO
TOURNAMENT, 9TH - 12TH
JUNE 2016, ROVINJ
INORBIT 2016 - THE BIGGEST INBOUND CONFERENCE IN EUROPE,
10.03. - 11.03.2016, LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA
Transport Research Arena (TRA) is the
most important Transport research event
in Europe, gathering every two years key
stakeholders: researchers, experts, operators, industry and policy-makers.
#TRA2016 Conference will contribute
to innovation in sustainable mobility for
Europe, by bringing together all the stakeholders of the transport system. Efficient
mobility is a key issue for policy makers.
Enabling the free movement of people and
goods is crucial to economic prosperity
and quality of life. The main theme of TRA
2016 is: MOVING FORWARD - Innovative
Solutions for Tomorrow’s Mobility.
10
After the polo events on the Brijuni islands ten years ago, the Polo Tournament
in Rovinj is the first and only polo event
held in this part of the world. “Our aim is
to organise a Mediterranean polo league in cooperation with Viareggia in Italy and Ascona
in Switzerland, famous tournaments on the
Ibiza and Mallorca islands, and in Cairo. We
also have an opportunity of cooperating with
Dubai, which has expressed interest in joining
the league”, said Uwe Zimmermann, the
chairman of the Organising Committee of
the Beach Polo Tournament.
Join hundreds of your fellow marketers for two days of phenomenal talks
on everything inbound! There will be
lectures covering a broad range of topics
from content marketing, search engine
optimization, performance advertising,
digital analytics, social media and e-mail
marketing and all the way to e-commerce
and conversion rate optimisation.
TOP 10
Conference
Congres
NETWORK CODING AND
DESIGNS CONFERENCE,
FROM 4TH TO 8TH
APRIL, DUBROVNIK
1 EU CONGRESS OF
MEDICAL PHYSICS,
SEPTEMBER 1-4, 2016,
ATHENS GREECE
This year‘s Network Coding and Designs
conference will take place in the Centre
for Advanced Academic Studies in the
medieval city of Dubrovnik, Croatia. This
COST Action on Random Network Coding
and Designs over GF(q) serves to foster an
international European collaboration on
this emerging field in Communications
Technology. It brings together experts
from pure and applied mathematics, computer science, and electrical engineering.
ECMP’s major role in the international
Medical Physics community has been to
gather colleagues from all over Europe and
beyond and to offer them an inspiring environment to define common goals in the
field of medical physics. ECMP provides a
unique opportunity for all participants to
exchange ideas and share their knowledge
and experience.
Conference&Workshops
Conference&Workshops
5TH RESONATE FESTIVAL, 12TH TO 16TH
APRIL 2016, BELGRADE,
SERBIA
THE BEST OF GLOBAL
DIGITAL MARKETING
LJUBLJANA, 22ND FEBRUARY 2016, LJ, SLOVENIA
Resonate is a platform for networking,
knowledge sharing and education. It
brings together artists, designers and educators to participate in a forward-looking
debate on the position of technology in art
and culture.Held each year in BelgradeSerbia, the festival lasts for five days and
provides an overview of current situation
in the fields of music, visual arts and
digital culture. Guest artists, lecturers and
other participants are chosen to represent
the cutting edge of the contemporary creative industry in the world.
ST
Anyone with existing responsibility for
developing digital advertising campaigns
and looking to take their knowledge to the
next level, Brand Managers, Marketing
Managers, Digital Marketing, are invited
to participate at this presentation of digital marketing case studies with excellent
business results. You will get in-depth
analysis of why these campaigns were so
successful and receive advice on how delegates can apply these winning practices
to their daily business. Don’t miss a lecture by Johanna
Fischer, managing director of
tmf-dialogue marketing in Europe
and India, 21 January 2016,
from 11.00 - 11.45
At GR - Ljubljana exhibition and Convention Centre, Urška hall
Learn what it takes to build up an efficient communication system that can
help you to stand out from competition
and allows many synergies and an
economic use of money and resources.
Use multiple channels for a worldwide
dialogue with the meetings industry
and the planners and see some case
studies from destinations or organizations who successfully apply content
marketing which is in-line with what
planners need and search for.
“CONVENTA APP”
This year Conventa continues its “user friendly”
approach by providing the Conventa App,
sponsored by Superevent, which enables our
guests to follow Conventa on-the-go, locate
exhibitor booths and get in touch with other
Conventa participants.
Johanna Fischer @Johannadialogue
10 minus - winter expedition to #conventa2016 #ljubljana - brrrrrrrr @SloMeetings @HugoSlimbrouck on our
way too!
11
CONVENTA GOING GREEN
BE SUSTAINABLE, IT‘S EASY!
1.
Take advantage of venues being
within walking distance in Ljubljana
and walk from your hotel to the event and
back. A member of Conventa team will
be there to accompany you. By choosing
to walk instead of taking the bus you are
helping Conventa show reduce carbon
emissions.
2.
Where possible minimise the amount
of waste and separate your waste
according to the ppropriate fractions.
3.
Carefully select conference and
promotional materials to be included
in your conference bag.
4.
W
e are proud that Conventa has succeeded in becoming fully committed
to reducing negative environmental impacts of the trade show. By implementing
sustainable practices, we managed to add
value for all participants and the local
community.But there always remains the
question whether the participants notice
and value the effort we put in our sustainable programme.
5.
Take advantage of the Conventa
mobile APP and help us continue
to reduce paper usage at the trade show.
Check your meetings in the palm of your
hand and download our one2one mobile
app!
It’s free and available for any Apple or Android smartphone.
Marko Delbello Ocepek
That’s why at Conventa 2016 a further
step in implementing green practices is
made. This time Conventa wants to engage
all participants in sustainable endeavours.
HOW?
The Sustainability Programme highlights
10 sustainable practices implemented
at the Conventa show and invites participants to follow these actions. The
Conventa team invites you to take part in
our sustainability programme and mark
sustainable measures you have taken.
You just have to follow some of 10 easy
sustainable guidelines. In today’s Daily we
have disclosed 5 of them, the rest can be
found in tomorrow’s Daily. Thank you for
being green!
All catering providers give preference
to locally-grown organic ingredients
and therefore reduce food miles and
support local economies. A small dietary
change can make a big difference. At
Conventa luncheon give preference to a
healthy vegetarian option and reduce CO2
emissions.
12
UNIQUE INCENTIVE IDEAS
HEROES OF EX-YUGOSLAVIA
2 NIGHT INCENTIVE / THE 48 HOURS THAT MADE HISTORY
Overview: Experience socialism as a
bit of European exoticism! If you have
never experienced socialism first hand,
this incentive programme offers you the
chance to see and experience Slovenia in
a completely different way. The journey
will reveal some of the most typical
features of the socialist period, during
which you will be able to admire its
architectural styles and see the way of
life once lived behind the Iron Curtain.
You will experience the 25th May, the
Day of Youth, and will be introduced to
the highlights of Yugoslav design as well
as culinary, lifestyle and motoring fads.
1. MOMENTS OF ZEN: Visit to Vila
Bled, Tito’s former residence
2. QUALITY TIME: Walking tour
through Ljubljana’s modern architecture
3. MUST SEE: Brdo pri Kranju, Tito’s
former residence
4. MUST DO: Admission to Pioneers
into Juniors in Velenje
5. OUR PICK: Miracle of Socialism,
Tito’s Velenje - life in the period of
companionship and “rebellion”
ITINERARY
DAY 1: Socialist realism
10:00 Arrival at Ljubljana airport
11:00 Bicycle tour of modern Ljubljana
An exploration of the urban streets, places
and buildings that reveal Ljubljana’s modern architectural character. It is Edvard
Ravnikar to whom Ljubljana owes her
modern look, as he was the first to apply
Le Corbusier’s architectural and urbanplanning principles to the city. You will
learn about the basic elements of modern
architectural aesthetics.
13:00 Rally of the non-aligned
We will then take our journey into oldtimers to set off on a historical drive to
the Technical Museum of Slovenia, where
we will admire the collection of Tito’s protocol vehicles. You will also get a chance
to personally see the Yugo, a car that was
derided by the entire Hollywood scene, but
that was actually a real “people’s” car.
16:00 Tito’s residence - Brdo
Our rally tour continues on to Tito’s most
favourite residence, Brdo. The property,
where he hosted politicians from all over
the world, was also Tito’s last residence - in
January 1980 he went straight from there
to Ljubljana’s Medical Centre, where he
died on 4th May.
20:00 Dinner at Vila Bled
At Vila Bled you will experience a wine and
culinary evening as it was experienced by
all the political guests Tito hosted in his
favourite residence. After dinner we will
watch the legendary movie “Battle at Neretva” in a room where Tito watched movies
with his guests.
DAY 2: Non-aligned movement
08.00 Breakfast at Vila Bled
A typical breakfast as Tito would have
preferred it is an excellent introduction to
exploring the hidden corners of the estate
that lies on the shore of the most beautiful
lake in the world.
09:00 Made in Socialism
The most famous Slovenian trademarks
blossomed during the socialist period.
We will take you to the birthplace of one
of the most renowned trademarks in the
world, the Elan skies, after which we will
continue our journey in an old-timer bus
to visit Tito’s Velenje, a monumental city
that best represents the former Yugoslav
economy and vision.
11:00 Velenje - Experience socialism
The city built by the graft of hard working men will reveal itself to you in a very
unique way and you will be a unique part
of creating a complete impression of it: if
you belong to the younger generation you
will acquire important knowledge in better understanding socialism’s heritage,
whilst for others it will revive memories
of the days growing up either in a socialist
society or in a world with socialism as a big
part of it.
14:00 Underground adventure
After this we will for a short time put on
a mining helmet and delve beneath the
surface of the earth to set off on the interesting path of the once active galleries
of the Škale cave, which are today part of
the museum. As part of a teambuilding
programme you will learn about the traditional mining values of comradeship,
solidarity and unselfish aid.
17:00 Socialistic foodism
Tito was considered a great esthete and
indeed some kind of a “socialist foody”. He
admired the beauty of the Logarska Valley
and therefore loved staying at Pension
Plesnik there. He especially appreciated
the famous local sausage that kings, presidents and former political elite have also
loved for its exquisite taste. On arrival
to the Logarska valley we will treat you
to the legendary sausage, “the Savinjski
želodec”, and prepare you for the evening
teambuilding exercises.
18:30 ‘Slovenia, my country’
We will then continue the evening with
the photo safari, where you will look for
the traces of marketing history. You will
shoot a continuation of the famous advertisement, “Slovenia my country”, which
was recorded right in the picturesque
Logarska valley.
20:30 Nostalgic Cockta bar in Hotel
Plesnik
We will end our tour with a cold buffet,
introducing you to some typical culinary
and some food and drink brands that continue to impress consumers in the region,
a typical example of one such socialist
brand being Cockta, in which you yourself
will have to prepare your own winning
cocktail.
DAY 3: Departures
09:00 Transfer to the airport, with the
possibility to extend the stay in the wellness centre.
GETTING THERE: Airport Jože
Pučnik Ljubljana
ACCOMMODATION: Boutique hotels:
Vila Bled in Hotel Plesnik
EAT AND DRINK: Brdo estate, Vila
Bled, Hotel Plesnik, different locations
on the road as well world-class culinary
strongholds.
GATEWAYS: The programme includes
visiting some of the most beautiful
tourist icons of Slovenia, which in the
past delighted both visitors and the top
politicians of socialism.
We start in the European Green Capital,
continue in the Alpine pearl, experience
a plot in the currently most beautiful
Slovenian town of Velenje and witness
a disentanglement in the picturesque
Logarska valley.
CONTACT US: Blue Ljubljana Office, Štihova
ulica 4, SI1000 Ljubljana, T: +386 (0)1 430 51 03,
F: +386 (0)1 430 51 04, E: [email protected],
W: www.meet-blue.com
13
CONVENTA FAM TRIPS
SURPRISING THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW
ABOUT LJUBLJANA, MARIBOR AND ZAGREB
LJUBLJANA
MARIBOR
ZAGREB
NAME LJUBLJANA
No one really knows where the name
Ljubljana came from. There is suggestion
is comes from the Latin word Aluviana,
due to a massive flood the city once succumbed to. This might have led to it being
a derivative of the word Laubach, which
means “marshes”. One of the more sentimental suggestions comes from the Slavic
word for beloved “Luba”. No one is really
sure though so it’s open to interpretation.
OLDEST VINE IN THE WORLD
Home to the oldest vine in the world. Rich
wine culture and excellent cuisine, from
modern culinary delights to authentic
traditional Styrian delicacies.
CITY OF MUSEUMS
Zagreb has more museums per capita than
anywhere else in the world, giving it the
nickname of ‚the city of museums‘. The city
boasts a museum of Croatian architecture,
history, ‘Croatian Naive Art’, ethnography,
and art – but there’s one museum in particular which steals the spotlight - a truly
unique Museum of Broken Relationships,
devoted to mementos from relationships
of all kinds.
ACTIVITIES AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
The Drava plain, wine-growing hills and
slopes of Pohorje delight hikers, bikers,
skiers and adrenaline freaks, as well as
urban cyclists and pedestrians.
FRANCE PREŠEREN STATUE
The unveiling of the statue of France
Prešeren in 1905 caused much public controversy due to the nude muse above the
poet’s statue.
AMAZING TASTE
Croatian cuisine is diverse and exciting
– and the Dolac market, affectionately
called “the Belly of Zagreb”, is a gastronomical experience to be reckoned with.
FOOTBALL CLUB MARIBOR
FC Maribor are the most successful club
in Slovenian football history, winning 11
Slovenian First League titles, eight Slovenian Cups and three Slovenian Super Cups.
THE TRIPLE BRIDGE
At the making of The Triple Bridge contribute numerous people from Ljubljana,
asked to help by hand polishing the 648
bridge balustrades, made from a mixture
of sand and cement.
14
SAFEST PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
That‘s right, Zagreb hosts the world‘s safest public transportation system, with no
passenger injuries in over a century.
CONVENTA NEWS
AUSTRIA TREND HOTEL
LJUBLJANA GOES HAND IN
HAND WITH A NEW SPORTS
CENTRE – GYM24 AND GLOBAL
SPORTS CLINIC. We proudly announce the opening of a new
sports centre with a fitness gym and sports
clinic at our property. Our hotel, with 214
rooms, 11 meeting rooms, restaurant and a
Spa, has now completed its offer with Gym 24
and the Global Sports Clinic.
A
fter several experiences with sports
events and after hosting many of
world’s best-known sports teams, we
decided to take things one step further:
we extended our own services with a
brand new and modern Gym and Fitness “Gym24” - and a Global Sports Clinic, the
first such clinic of this kind in Slovenia.
The 1,200m2 of cardio equipment and
strength building machines, a sports hall
for guided exercises and a 30m running
track, all open 24/7 and with an indoor
HOTEL CUBO
After establishing a position of the leading
boutique hotel in Ljubljana and Slovenia with
the CUBO hotel, the CUBO group expanded
its operations.
connection to a garage, are just some of the
highlights that make our “Gym24” different. The guests that have used it so far have
been very nicely surprised and are very
happy with the new services in our hotel.
Our business and congress guests are
especially pleased with the 24/7 opening
hours, as they usually have very tight
working schedules.
The Global Sports Clinic offers services
to athletes, business guests and anyone
who is interested in guided training. They
offer complete measurements and analysis
of the human body, as well as post-injury
training and rehabilitation. All of the
equipment is of the highest standard and
every service is lead by very experienced
doctors, trainers, physiotherapists and
nutritionists.
W
hile hotel CUBO is in the center of
Slovenia’s capital, the new hotel is in
Bovec, in the heart of the Alps, surrounded
by pristine nature. Its location makes it an
ideal starting point for nature lovers and
adrenalin sports fans. The new hotel is
currently undergoing a major reconstruction and is expected to reopen in January
2017.
While guests now feel like at home in
CUBO hotel, they will also be able to feel
like in a boutique hotel in their new homes.
The CUBO chain is building a group of ecofriendly hi-tech villas close to Ljubljana,
next to the Smlednik golf course. If you
would like to own one of the villas, check
thewww.ensovillage.com.
VISIT THE CD CONGRESS
CENTRE
W
hile attending Conventa 2016 do
not miss the opportunity to explore
the CD Congress Centre – an architectural
gem as well as Slovenia’s cultural monument and main congress centre. Facts: 22
halls, accommodating from 20 up to 2000
attendees, meetings and special events
location, 4000 m2 of exhibition space,
centrally (downtown) located. In-house
technical equipment and capable team
available to assist you with any requirements. Find further information at the CD
Congress Centre Conventa stand or simply
check its promotional video at www.cdcc.si/congress.
15
INTERVIEW
PASSIONATELY TAKING JOB AS A LIFESTYLE
Saša ZOR, Director of MICE Sales, Sava Turizem d.d.
nia and Bled on the world congress map.
Furthermore, since Sava Hotels & Resorts
is the largest tourism company in Slovenia with 14 hotels in a portfolio, I am
often facing the challenge of how to adopt
value-chain thinking, provide potential
clients with a reliable promise according
to the expected delivery and to achieve
the revenue targets - all at the same time.
Q: What is the most positive thing
about the meetings industry?
I may have contracted a permanent “MICE
virus”, as I am passionately taking my
job as a lifestyle. Every day is filled with
dynamic variety, challenges and the opportunity to build strong relationships.
It is also the traveling that drives me in
the sense of constant personal and professional development together with the
freedom to be creative and to implement
daring out-of-the-box ideas as practical
solutions.
Q: What have been some of the challenges you have faced over the past
years?
The MICE industry in general is quite
challenging as it consists of various key
players from a cross section, plus it is
driven and influenced by the micro- and
macroeconomic environment. On top of
that, I am the kind of a person who always
strives for better results and higher quality so from my perspective, the challenges
are always there. I like to look on them
as an opportunity to respond to a given
situation differently than usual and to
test whether a more “adventurous” move
would also bring us a better outcome.
To be more specific, the past 4 years
have been determined by placing Slove16
Q: What is you strategy for developing MICE business?
First of all it is necessary to define a MICE
profile for the destination where you
work – or in my case where Sava operates
with its hotels – by scanning its strengths
and weaknesses, especially evaluating the
venue and accommodation possibilities,
analysing the infrastructure, predicting
the seasonality, connecting with the local
community… With such an in-depth understanding of the destination and your
product, you have the weapon to build a
strategy on how to penetrate the demanding MICE market. Setting ambitious but
realistic goals and targets on the short
and medium term is essential for effective
marketing planning.
If we take a look at Bled - we have a wellestablished image on a local market that
we have to upgrade on the one hand and
on the other a world congress map to place
ourselves on – different situations requiring different approaches. Marketing is an
investment if done smart, targeted, with
great content and in connection with specialized partners.
Q: Where are you positioning your
marketing efforts this year and the
next?
Besides being present at the most important congress fairs, our strategy will
still include targeting the markets we
have a good transport connections with.
Workshops, sales calls, acquisitions, the
organization of business breakfasts and
other direct sales activities still play
very important role when gaining new
business, although FAM trips providing
clients with first-hand experience have
the highest conversion rate. Equally important is content marketing, which helps
the destination to build its own persona
and create a buzz - this is no longer an
option but a must. Strategic partnerships
with reliable marketing sources, including
Kongres magazine, tend to come up with a
great input/output ratio. And as meetings
are getting more tech-savvy than ever
before, we will strive to exploit as much
of it as possible.
Q: What attractions does Sava turizem offer for those in search of innovative incentives?
International meeting planners are looking for that emotionally-charged wow
factor, which would rationally discourage them from choosing established and
verified destinations rather than holding
their next event and encourage them
instead to hold their next event in, for example, Slovenia. In Bled, our central MICE
destination, we put in a great deal of effort
to enrich events with extra accompanying
programmes, depending, of course, on the
profile and on the message conveyed. A
positive atmosphere at an event results in
satisfied participants and, consequently,
in a satisfied customer.
In collaboration with Olympic rowers,
we have therefore prepared programmes
where participants compete in eights,
rowing to Bled Island and tasting the
well-deserved potica. We also successfully
use the proximity of ski resorts, providing
winter incentives or inviting the participants to attend the curling league at our
ice rink with a view. At the same time,
Bled is a destination of eco-mobility; our
guests are thus encouraged to walk and
use bicycles, Seagways, carriages, electric
vehicles, etc.
Culinary programmes, such as the
“chef’s table”, where participants help
prepare gourmet meals and eat them in
the hotel kitchen, have been a real hit
recently.
Or perhaps the astrological programme
in forest villas, where participants attend
a candlelit barbeque dinner by the fire and
look into the future predicted by the stars.
Those who prefer historical programmes are advised to participate in the
“from villa to villa” programme, which
represents a fun way to get to know the
brightest jewels of Bled. And much more...
Sava is proud to have a dedicated and
specialised MICE team with rich experience and referential knowledge; each
organiser thus has a right hand that helps
him create a winning story.
Q: Where would you like to see Bled in
two years’ time
In two years’ time I would definitely like
to see progress concerning the image
and outside appeal of the destination,
meaning the renovation of hotels to offer
higher accommodation standards, offsite re-arrangements, maybe the opening of some high-end evening lounge, …
together with the current focus regarding
integral culinary projects, sports events
INTERVIEW
and activities. Two years is not enough
to place Bled on the world congress map
but we can definitely take a step closer by
working hand-in-hand within the community, emphasizing the local heritage
and investing in our products, services
and smart marketing activities.
Q: On a personal note, what would be
your ideal event to host in Bled?
If I could construct an ideal event and
place it at Bled, it would definitely be a
high profile corporate one with a sustainable note where the DNA of the client
would completely match the DNA of the
destination. I imagine a highly developed
multinational company with a sufficient
budget but also exacting demands to
encourage our hotels to boost the quality
standards. Having eminent delegates on
board would also create multiplicative effects and cover all the important media.
The nature of the event and the budgets
would allow us to exceed the expectations
within the culinary and other accompanying services. Out of the box conference
venues, gala evening themed events and
a range of activities in connection with
nature would also require smart strategic
partnerships and tight cooperation with
the local community. ONE-ON-ONE WITH SAŠA ZOR:
Q: What time do you like to be at
your desk?
I am quite an extravert who enjoys
socializing, networking, meeting new
people, exploring the market… so my
favourite time is definitely away from
my office. But despite being so passionate about what is going on in the
outside world, I find productive time
at the desk crucial in order to meet
with my colleagues, sharpen the saws,
plan more strategic moves and to do
the needed paperwork. I can also call
myself very privileged working within
a group of 14 hotels, so my office can
be in the alpine gem of Bled one day,
ancient Ptuj another or the charming
Prekmurje on a third.
Q: What’s your management style?
The basic principle I follow is that
we are all firstly human beings and
secondly employees struggling for
the same company goal. That leads
to believing and treating my team as
professionals, delegating the responsibility and giving them the chance
to stand out. When anybody makes
a mistake, own up, learn something
from it and move on. Real-time feedback seems crucial to me as it leads
to continuous improvement. I am
very results driven but they are only
achievable when working together
as a team so adopting a management
style that suits the needs and characteristics of employees is the only way
to do it in my opinion.
wisely to develop the employees’
confidence, encouraging fluid twoway communication and recognizing
the team’s achievements, my advice
would be not to forget to play. We are
working in such an amazing industry
with numerous possibilities to grow
personally and professionally, so
sometimes encouraging a team to reflect that feeling, smile and have fun
is the best tactic.
Q: What’s on your reading list?
Depending on how I feel at the particular moment, I like to have several different books on my night shelf
ready to read - from relaxed romance
boosting the imagination to more
educational books about personal or
professional development.
Recently I just finished a very powerful book entitled “Start with Why”
by Simon Sinek, exploring what separates great companies and great leaders from the rest. The author suggests
using a “Why” concept to be more
innovative, successful, influential
and profitable. “Why Slovenia and why
Bled” are also the top priority issues
to focus on when we are confronting
potential clients. The book “Start with
why” is actually very applicable to the
hospitality industry itself, pointing
out that only seeing what most others
can’t see and providing things clients
would never think of asking for makes
the difference between the best and
the average. CONVENTA
EXPERTS
CORNER
PROGRAMME
Short (15 minutes) presentations
hosted by convention bureaus, meeting
providers and spcial guests are held
throughout the two Conventa days.
Location:
GR - Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre, Marmorna Hall
WEDNESDAY, 20 January
12.20 - 12.35
Presentation of Sarajevo Tourism
and Congress Centre Sarajevo
Semir Efendic, Mayor of the Municipality Novi Grad Sarajevo and Mirela
Bubalo, Associate for International affairs and Communication, Municipality Novi Grad Sarajevo
14.20 - 15.00
Musical Resonance Platform: Strategic environment for the event
industry, from ROI to ROT
Miha Pogačnik, world renowned classical concert violinist and leadership
consultant
15.05 - 15.20
Winning meetings and incentives
with smart PR – an update on
Meetings PR and communication in
the meetings industry - teaser
Johanna Fischer, managing director of
tmf-dialogue marketing in Europe and
India
15.25 - 15.40
Why cross-cultural competence
matters in the hospitality industries
Daniel Tschudy, Speaker, Coach & Hospitality Consultant
15.45 - 16.00
Trends in the meeting industry
you need to know about in 2016
Fiona Pelham, Speaker, collaborator,
innovator for sustainability, Sustainable Events Ltd
Q: What would your key management advice be?
Beside the generally known management practices, especially delegating
17
FLY TO NEW EUROPE
GROWING IN AVIATION
We spoke to the directors at Graz and Ljubljana airports about the
importance of good accessibility in meetings industry.
ness goes hand in hand with growing the
non-aviation business, making a further
increase of non-aviation business another
important strategy.
Q: What can you tell us about new airlines coming on stream?
In 2015 SWISS started a daily flight to
Zürich, the major Swiss transfer airport,
and since the end of June Turkish Airlines has been flying four times a week to
Istanbul, which offers the opportunity to
take advantage of many onward connections to the Near and Far East and Africa.
Airberlin added six flights to Berlin, which
improved the service to the German capital, so now there are two daily flights from
Berlin to Graz and back from Monday to
Friday. The flights are operated once a day
at the weekend.
Mag. Gerhard Widmann, Managing
Director of Graz Airport
Q: What is the business plan for the
next year and how are the projections
in respect of business levels and passenger numbers up to 2020?
In 2015 the development of Flughafen
Graz was excellent and compared with
2014 there was a passenger increase of
more than 7%. We hope that the positive
development in passenger figures will
last for the next year, but because of the
many challenges in European aviation it
certainly will be at a lower level.
Q: How important is the congress/
business tourism segment in the overall structure of passengers?
We don’t have accurate information
about the share of the congress/business
tourism segement in the structure of our
passengers, but Graz is a town with many
congresses and – more important – of a
highly qualified industry (the auto cluster,
for example). More than 80% of our passangers use scheduled flights, the lion’s
share of them being business passengers.
Q: In which areas do you think your
airport will grow in future years?
To keep the quality and quantity of flights
at same level or higher is one of our basic
strategies. So growing the aviation busi18
Zmago Skobir, Managing Director of
Ljubljana Airport
Q: What is the business plan for the
next year and how are the projections
in respect of business levels and passenger numbers up to 2020?
The business strategy to 2020 foresees
moderate but reliable traffic growth. Thus,
in 2020 we will reach the number of 1.8
million passengers with an average annual
growth rate of over 4 per cent. At the same
time, we expect changes in the structure
of traffic in favour of increasing the share
of foreign carriers. When forecasting the
number of aircraft movements, the average annual growth will be of 1.5 per cent.
Cargo traffic is expected to grow at an
average 2.9 per cent per year.
Q: How important is the congress/
business tourism segment in the overall structure of passengers?
Extremely important, as 60% of our passengers fly for business purposes.
Q: In which areas do you think your
airport will grow in future years?
Because of its specificity (the main airport in the country and also the regional
airport) Aerodrom Ljubljana can’t rely on
the development of only one type of air
traffic. In terms of reducing business risks
and depending on the size of the market
and passenger flows, we will be developing
all kinds of air transport: regular domestic
and foreign passenger air carriers, such
as charter traffic, low-cost carriers, general aviation and cargo traffic. At the same
time Ljubljana Airport will be developed
as a hub for Southern Europe and as an
entry point to Alpe Adria for intercontinental traffic.
Q: What can you tell us about new airlines coming on stream?
Two new scheduled airlines are coming to
Ljubljana Airport. LOT Polish Airlines will
operate five flights a week to Warsaw from
1 March, while Greece’s Aegean Airlines
will serve Athens twice a week from June.
We will continue with our attempts to
establish regular connections to the destinations that are not yet covered – Spain,
Italy, Northern Germany and Scandinavia
in particular. But the result is not only in
our hands; it depends on market potential
and the joint success of Slovenia as a tourist destination.
ABOUT CONVENTA
Reliable transfer partner for
all directions you’ll travel
Innovative and comfortable demand-responsive shared and
private transfers for competitive prices!
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Comprehensive care for passengers from the arrival at the airport to the location of the event.
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Partnership without obligatory quota and contractual risks!
Assured arrivals regardless of the weather and traffic conditions. 24/7 support centre.
Full support for GoOpti key clients and comprehensive organization of the transfers with no limit of the
number of passengers, pick-up and drop-off locations.
On-line platform for easy bookings, overview, management and control of your transfers.
Vienna
Get your custom GoOpti offer!
Munich
Want to find out how can we solve transportation
Salzburg
needs for your event? Contact us!
Graz
Slovenia: +386 (0)1 320 45 30
Italy: +39 045 786 15 15
Klagenfurt
Croatia: +385 1 3000 500
Maribor
[email protected] I www.GoOpti.com
Bergamo
Milan
Brescia
Trieste
Vicenza
Verona
Parma
Modena
Genoa
Ljubljana
Udine
Padua
Ferrara
Bologna
Venice
Zagreb
Portorož
19
ADVERTORIAL
SLOVENIA HAS WON FIRST POSITION WITH
LJUBLJANA’S LOLITA ICE CRAM
14. September 2015
S
lovenia is not only an insider tip as a
compact meeting destination but also
number 1 on the World ICE-CREAM Index. Since September 14, the world knows
that Slovenia has won first position with
Ljubljana’s Lolita ice cream.
Not just a fresh destination for meetings,
not just a fresh air in boutique design (see
Lolita’s vibrant contrasts) but also with a
very particular green touch to it: Ljubljana
has been recently awarded with the prestigious title of European Green Capital
2016 and was included in the Global Top
100 Sustainable Destinations List. The
locally grown products and the ice cream
make the city a fresh and healthy overall
experience.
Dada Jerovšek, Director at Kaval Group,
shared: “Lolita’s Ice-cream is homemade,
from natural Slovene ingredients with no
chemical preservatives. We use just what
is fresh, natural. When prepared one has
to eat it in four days, which has never been
a problem. My favourite are fruity tastes
because it is like the taste of the fruit itself
just in a cold version. Most precious for me
20
is the blueberry ice cream prepared from
the blueberries which were growing in our
beautiful green Slovene forest, were picked
in the early morning and in the afternoon
they already spoil and seduce you in the
best Lolita’s ice cream. Delicious. There is
just one problem…. your teeth are going to
be blue afterwards. But it’s worth it!”.
At Conventa there will be ice cream degustation area where all visitors could taste
ice cream prepared form all Slovenian
ingredients.
Source and more information on the Slovenian Convention Bureau website.
Contact info:
PATISSERIE LOLITA
Cankarjevo nabrežje 1, 1000 Ljubljana
[email protected]
Tina Ramujkić
FIRST DAY
21
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ABOUT CONVENTA
CROSSOVER - A MARKETING EVENT
TURNED UPSIDE DOWN
Europe’s Leading Out of the Box
Event on Meeting Design, Marketing
and Innovation
Grand Hotel Union, Ljubljana
July 4 - 5, 2016
Expect more engagement,
more authentic experience and
more live interaction in:
- Crossover Caffe
- Marketing Ring
- Innovation Bar
- Case studes Bar
- Chit Chat Corner
WE ARE NOT AFFRAID
TO BE DIFFERENT!
Organiser: Conventa / Toleranca marketing
Crossover is a fusion of our events Inside
Meetings, Travel Zoom and Conventa
Academy transformed into new format.
www.crossover.si
23
Tina Ramujkić
CONVENTA 2016
CONVENTA 2016 SUCCEEDS DUE TO
Organizers:
Official partners:
International partners:
Download official
Conventa app here:
Wireless LAN network (Wi – Fi)
GR - Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre
Wireless access:
SSID:
GR
WPA2 – network key:
11110000