As a destination, Vienna reaps the benefits of hosting the 110,000 international participants expected to visit the Austria Center Vienna this year.
The quality drive initiated by Managing Director Susanne Baumann-Söllner is bearing fruit. Modernisation work throughout the building, an increased focus on digitalisation and a motivated team working in close cooperation with long-standing partner enterprises are all essential for high-quality organisation and management of events. More and more new customers are coming to the Austria Center Vienna, while satisfied clients keep on coming back. Companies such as PORR and Deichmann, as well as a host of international congresses such as the European Society of Radiology and the European Geosciences Union General Assembly, are among our regular customers. As things currently stand, Austria Center Vienna is expecting around 110,000 international visitors this year.
Place to meet and share medical research findings
The international Alzheimer’s & Parkinson’s Diseases Conference (AD/PD), which will bring around 3,000 specialists to Vienna at the end of March, and the international Conference of Nuclear Cardiology and Cardiac CT in May are just two of the new events brought to the capital by the Austria Center Vienna team. And at the end of June the venue will welcome 1,000 steel experts for the newly acquired European Steel Technology & Application Days (ESTAD). The autumn will get under way with the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology (ISUOG) World Congress. And at the start of November the Congress of the European Society of Gynaecological Oncology (ESGO) will bring more than 3,000 participants to the Austria Center Vienna.
The aim is to build up similarly strong partnerships with the organisers of these events as the venue maintains with its other customers. “Thanks to the fantastic support provided by our event managers and partner enterprises at the venue, we can now refer to many of the new acquisitions made over the past couple of years as regulars. I cannot say how pleased I am about that. Event organisers that come back time and again – that shows how successful our strategy is,” confirmed Baumann-Sö
Satisfied customers keep on coming back
In addition to the European Congress of Radiology (ECR, more than 20,000 participants) and the European Geosciences Annual Assembly (EGU, more than 13,000 participants), 2017 will see the return of the high-profile International Breast Cancer Conference in March. Last at the Austria Center Vienna in 2015, this year’s Seite 2 von 3 international gathering is expected to attract around 4,000 delegates. The European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS) with 4,000 participants is another regular customer. Hosted by the Austria Center Vienna for the third time in 2017, it has already confirmed that it will be returning in 2021.
Following on from its last visit to the Austria Center Vienna in 2009, the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) Annual Congress will return to the venue this year with 6,000 medical professionals. The organisers of the Annual Congress of the European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM, 5,000 participants) were won over by what the centre has to offer and have confirmed that they will be returning in 2020 after the 2017 conference. These events are joined by numerous corporate events and annual general meetings hosted by international and domestic companies, all of whom rate the Austria Center Vienna highly as a venue thanks to its wide range of meeting spaces: “It’s great to see that all of the investments in infrastructure which we have made over the past few years are starting to pay off. International congresses are making full use of the range of versatile spaces, which we have constantly been adding to over the past couple of years. 2016 saw the addition of 600m² of space right next to the lobby, which is the ideal choice for all kinds of gatherings and innovative meeting formats,” noted BaumannSöllner
Top congress organisers to meet in Vienna
Working in partnership with the Vienna Convention Bureau, the Austria Center Vienna has managed to bring the renowned Associations World Congress to the Austrian capital in 2017. The training and networking conference for international associations provides the ideal setting for Vienna to showcase its strengths as a destination. It is also a golden opportunity for the Austria Center Vienna to present itself to top-level decision makers and consolidate the city’s status as a leading congress destination in future.
Quality drive to step up a gear in 2017
Extending the contemporary look and feel of the venue will again be a priority in 2017 with the Hall N refit and modernisation of the foyer cafés on three levels. Markus Feichtinger took over as head of the Event Management team at the end of 2016, having already spent 12 years at the company.
Susanne Baumann-Söllner is extremely positive about the new-look team: “As our long-serving sales manager, Markus Feichtinger knows the Austria Center Vienna like the back of his hand, and he is fully aware of our customers’ needs and requirements. His dedication is an incredible source of motivation for the whole team. Thanks to him and Ronald Wittenberg, who is responsible for coordinating our event technicians, we are ideally placed to meet the challenges of the upcoming congress season.”
