The Conventa Week 2021 is over - a reportage

The 13th Conventa trade show and 6th Conventa Crossover conference took place during the Conventa week between 24-27th of August in a hybrid from. Conventa is a boutique trade show that has established itself in the last decade as one of the key meetings industry events in New Europe, dedicated to business meetings, congresses and motivational trips.

Conventa is well-known for its personal approach to business, the great focus organizers put on attracting quality hosted buyers, and a variety of relaxed networking activities the event offers. Due to the specific situation, the event was held for the first time in August, which turned out to be a great decision, which made participants extremely enthusiastic about the very relaxed vibe of Ljubljana during summer. It is important to highlight that Conventa took place "live" in both 2020 and 2021. The local MICE industry in partnership with Ljubljana Tourism and the conference organizers proved to be reliable and resilient collaborators, able to adapt quickly and efficiently to new business reality, which sent out a clear sigal not only that Ljubljana is a safe destination but also that the meetings industry in general remains flexible during times of uncertainty.

This year, Conventa trade show was attended by 120 hosted buyers - international meeting organizers and about 70 exhibitors from the wider region.

Networking activities

Conventa is well known for its wide range of social programme activities and business networking opportunities. In addition to the GR - Congress and Convention Centre, this year's Show took place on the terrace of the Grand Hotel Union, which hosted the opening evening, and at the Ljubljana Castle, where the second evening gathering was held. During the event, three catering service providers took care of the culinary aspect of the Show - the Jezeršek Culinary House, Kaval group and Vivo Catering.

Pre-Conventa Ljubljana fam trip for 18 internationa buyers

Once again the Ljubljana Convention Bureau / Ljubljana Tourism in cooperation with local partners offered international clients the opportunity to discover Ljubljana as a congress destination. The tour was attended by 18 clients from 11 countries, who - over the course of 1,5 days - visited 5 congress hotels (Grand Hotel union, Austria Trend Hotel, 4 points by Sheraton Mons, InterContinental Ljubljana and Radisson Blu Plaza), the CD congress centre, four special event venues (the National Gallery, the National Museum, the City Museum and Ljubljana Castle) and selected restaurants (dinner in Strelec at Ljubljana Castle, lunches in Most and As Aperitivo).

The Conventa Crossover conference

The main topic of this year's Conventa Crossover conference, targeting marketing and events professionals, focused on upgrading the meetings industry in post-pandemic times, thus making both digital and live events more sustainable and flexibile. The main speakers were Colja Dams, director of the innovative marketing and event agency VOK DAMS, Jens Oliver Mayer from the Jack Morton agency, and Gundega Skudriņa and Mārcis Ziemiņš from Latvia, who both impressed the audience with their creative business models. Both are professionally involved in creating new event concepts, such as gastronomic installations and pop-up performances, as well as a special scenographic design for unusual events in the corporate as well as cultural and artistic sectors.

The head of the Ljubljana Convention Bureau, Jan Oršič took part in a special edition of Ljubljana Talks about all things MICE that he's been creating and presenting with Gorazd Čad, director of Toleranca Marketing, editor of Kongres Magazine and co-founder of Conventa. At the round table they were joined by three former directors of European CVBs - Miha Kovačič, the Slovenian Convention Bureau, Miloš Milovanović, the Serbia Convention Bureau, and Henrik von Arnold - Gothenbrug and Stockholm Convention Bureau. They exchanged their professional experiences and spoke about the new roles of convention bureaus in the new business reality.

This year’s Conventa was really special for many reasons, one of which being, as already mentioned, the fact that Miha Kovačič, one of the key players in the Slovenian congress industry, has recently left the Slovenian Convention Bureau after 16 years at its helm. The new director is Tadeja Pivc, who took over his position in September.

The 14th Conventa will take place between 23 and 24 February 2022. More on www.conventa.si.