Fifty-three participants from 17 different countries came to Bolzano/Bozen in Italy to follow the 23rd ECM Summer School (29th August – 2nd September 2009).
ECM Summer School is an introductory training course designed for a wide spectrum of professionals working in all sectors of the meetings industry (convention bureaux, tourist offices, congress and conventions centres, hotels, airlines, DMCs, PCOs and Meeting Planners).
Although the educational programme contains core elements, which remain the same, the ECM Summer School doesn’t ignore current trends and latest developments of the meetings and tourism industry. Therefore the 23rd ECM Summer School was, for the first time in its history, organised in an environmentally-friendly way.
“At first we just wanted to focus on the form and organise the 23rd Summer School in an environmentally-friendly way to show how a green event could be run. Afterwards, thanks to the experience of EURAC and Pier Paolo Mariotti (Meeting Manager of the EURAC convention center), we decided to make it a part of the educational content too. Today 79% of organisers require sustainability, so it is becoming a very important subject. Given the success of this topic at Summer School in Bolzano, we know that in the future we would like to continue this green approach in both form and content”, says Elisabeth Hansa, ECM Summer School Course Director and Head of Marketing and Business Development, Congress+event, Messe Congress Graz.
“Green meetings are only possible in a territory that is favourable to them. Here in Bolzano, the “green” approach is very much in our DNA. We have a relatively small city, right in between the mountains so our resources are limited and we know it. Focusing our work on the domain of sustainable meetings and environmentally sustainable venues is only a logical result of our geographical situation,” explains Pier Paolo Mariotti, CMP, CMM, Meeting Manager of the EURAC convention center.
In its 24th year, the ECM Summer School will be hosted by the city of Tampere, Finland, from 28th August to 1st September 2010.
