Prague, March 2012: Prague, Czech Republic hosted the annual MCE CEE 2012 being completed with great satisfaction of all participants. The event was designed to highlight the huge potential that the Central & Eastern European (CEE) region offers for business meetings, congresses, incentives and exhibitions. More than 100 hosted buyers made their way to meet up with the 60+ solution providers as hotels, DMCs, congress centres and airlines from the CEE region for business introductions and direct deals. The total number of participants, including media, partners, etc., at the MCE CEE 2012 was 234. Prague Convention Bureau was one of the main partners of the event.
“We were happy to support this unique opportunity to promote Central and Eastern Europe. Prague and entire CEE region has a lot to offer to the congress industry and the MCE CEE congress helped to exploit its potential even more,” said Director of the Prague Convention Bureau Lenka Žlebková.
From Sunday 12-02-2012, the event kicked off with registration and a short cocktail welcome reception at the Corinthia hotel Prague. A short and refreshing Prague castle walk led the participants to the impressive Lobkowicz Palace which awaited all the MCE CEE participants. Mr. William Lobkowicz himself welcomed everyone in an entertaining speech after which the first networking gala dinner event took place offering superb food, Lobkowicz wines and beers as well as amazing Prague city views.
Monday 13-02-2012 offered a keynote by Peter Antoni, Kuoni DMC, introducing the Central & Eastern European region as the upcoming meeting and incentive destination. Several of the participating Convention Bureaus explained in short presentations their unique highlights. After the networking coffee break the one-to-one meeting sessions took off. In a buzzing conference room, fast yet dedicated interactions proofed their added business value. After lunch the stage was ready for two more keynotes. Edgar Valdmanis introduced nowadays networking and Jonathan Bradshaw inspired all towards great heights with his science behind meetings topic. The second round of one-to-one meetings saw even greater focus and sincere interest from all to get to know each others’ business potential to come to create upcoming business deals.
The social and networking evening events took place in Francouzska restaurant, one of the world’s most beautiful Art Nouveau architectural highlights: Prague’s Municipal House. After the welcome drink a sublime three course seated dinner with awesome wines followed. Later the entire MCE CEE crowd moved to Prague’s Hard Rock Cafe.
This event venue which is among the three largest Hard Rocks in Europe and is a steady MCE CEE event partner proved yet again to be an ideal venue for business events and parties as well. The last official day of the event, Tuesday 14-02-2012, started fresh with yet another keynote of Edgar Valdmanis related to negotiating skills, after which Meeting Management was addressed by the shining Judith Huisman. The third and final round of one-to-one meetings showed the eagerness of completing the exchange of crucial business information and upcoming deals. After a final networking lunch Magdalina Yarichkova also showed – besides her dedication for more sustainable event industry – how one can stay fresh and fit during meetings. The last and closing keynote was Ilan Geva’s, the conference chairman, explaining the latest in the trending topic of Social Media. Goodbyes were warm, hearty and much thankful, showing yet again that Europe Congress’ concept of coming to an excellent business mix of networking, socializing, education and dedicated business one-to-one meetings puts Central & Eastern Europe in the spotlight for business MICE events.
