This time Kongres Magazine turned to 8 experts in our industry to tell us more about preparing and eventually winning your own congress bid. Here are the winning strategy interviews we carried out:
Aileen Crawford, Glasgow Convention Bureau
“Every bid is individual and requires a strategy”
Every bid is individual and requires a strategy that aligns with the vision and mission of the society. In Glasgow, we have an experienced team at both the Convention Bureau and SEC conference center to offer advice and guidance to our clients when preparing a successful bid.
Roman Muška, Prague Convention Bureau
“A successful bid is a lot about communication and cooperation.”
To put together a successful bid is a lot about communication and cooperation among various parties. Since 2010, the Prague Convention Bureau has been running the so called Ambassador Program with the aim to educate potential congress ambassadors (local representatives of international associations) about the benefits of cooperation with the CVB and a PCO, in terms of putting together a competitive bid.
Elisabeth Pfoess, Salzburg Convention Bureau
“Every new bidding process is different”
First of all, we identify the requirements of the congress so that we can clearly meet their goals. We contact the national society and find out what level of expertise is represented in our country. When creating the bidding document, we make sure that it includes all relevant information, required from the association. The most important thing is that we act in a partnership way with the association.
Petr Brincil, Guarant International
“Preparing a successful bid is not a one-man-show”
It isn’t just graphical design that matters. We need, not only to have all possible support for the city and the state authorities, but also from the scientific community. This is very important and it is something that makes the difference and increases the chance to win. We are daily in competition with all other European congress destination and in the entire world. Therefore, we also need to concentrate on lobbying among all involved parties.
