After countless virtual meetings and conferences, 30 June 2020 marked the day when representatives of the Slovenian meetings industry met live. The 16th assembly of the Slovenian Convention Bureau took place at GR – Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre and was a test of organizing a live meeting in post-pandemic times.
The purpose of the assembly was to look back and analyse last year while planning for what’s to come. As an introduction, an overview of the successes of 2019 was presented, along with this year’s plans of the Slovenian Convention Bureau and their guidelines for the further development of congress and tourism activities in Slovenia. Local and international guests joined the event to discuss their thoughts on the current situation in the meetings industry. Dr. Marko Pokorn and Jaka Gornik shared their experience and ideas in-person, whereas Tom Reiser and Ben Goedegebuure held their presentations virtually.
Push-up Slovenia 4.0
The assembly participants had the opportunity to think about what they’ve heard and experienced and put it into a concrete marketing plan at the Push-up Slovenia 4.0 workshop. The interactive workshop was led by Gorazd Čad of Toleranca Marketing to tackle the questions and dilemmas of the COVID-19 crisis and get explicit ideas for how to adapt the business model and find new marketing opportunities. The workshop followed the design thinking principle and put the customer at the core. The logic behind is that one must completely understand their customer to be able to provide an appealing offer. The participants were split into 4 groups, each undertaking a specific MICE client profile. The conclusions of the four-hour workshop were innovative, out-of-the-box solutions, ready to be tested in the real world.
New council members
An important point on the daily agenda was also the appointment of 6 new council members of the Convention Bureau for the 2020-2022 mandate. The newly appointed council members, who will join Natalija Bah Čad, Toleranca marketing d.o.o. (2019-2021 mandate), Karmen Novarlič, STO (strategic partner representative) and Azra Botonjič, Slovenian Convention Bureau (CVB representative) are:
BOŽIČ Ana, GR – Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre
KRUŠIČ Tomaž, Intours DMC
HORJAK Boštjan, Liberty Adriatic DMC
SAJOVIC Milan, HIT Alpinea
STUŠEK Petra, Ljubljana Tourism
ŽNIDARŠIČ Matjaž, Sava Tourism
