< Previous“LVIV IS TRYING TO MOVE FORWARD” WWW.EVENTPOINTINTERNATIONAL.COM 20 INTERVIEW LVIV: HOPE IN WAR TIMES With a war in its arms, Ukraine is experiencing difficult times. But the country is resisting, trying to not stop living. And that was the spirit of the Lviv Convention Bureau at Conventa. Lviv is a city located in the westernmost area of Ukraine and, as it is relatively safe, it has welcomed more than 150,000 displaced people from other parts of the country since the beginning of the war. This is where the humanitarian aid centre is located, the biggest volunteer hub, it is the meeting point for diplomacy and the international press, it is there that many companies are trying to keep going. And it is also in Lviv that, even during the war, some national and international events take place. “Lviv is trying to move forward, trying to live. And, of course, our industry too,” said Yuliia Katynska from the Lviv Convention Bureau. When the war began, event professionals “transformed all their work and tried to use their skills to help people”. For example, they contributed to the logistics at the train station, when people arrived from other regions of the country, they tried to find them hotels, shelters, transport, city maps, food… “Our restaurants and catering companies came together and organised spaces for people to have hot meals”, said Yuliia Katynska, underlining the union between the entire MICE sector, an industry that tries to advance and organise different types of events, which go through areas such as health, diplomacy and volunteering, for example. Several diplomatic meetings (official meetings, round tables, forums) and medical events took place – small conferences and training sessions, in which Ukrainian doctors shared with other foreign professionals their experience in treating injuries caused by combat situations. And the same with journalists. “Ukrainian journalists explain how they fight Russian propaganda, what they are doing, what kind of social media they use, what kind of content… International journalists are interested not only in telling people’s stories, but also in understanding how Ukrainian journalists are dealing with this whole situation.” Even so, not everything is simple and sometimes in Lviv there are aerial alarms, when it is necessary to look for security shelters, even for these meetings. “People do their best to organise these kinds of things, even during war,” she said. “Opportunity to show the world who we are” More than nine months have passed since the start of the war in Ukraine and Yuliia Katynska speaks of exhaustion over this situation. But she also speaks of hope and faith in the president, in the soldiers, in the volunteers. “Ukrainians are united.” And the Lviv Convention Bureau is crossing its fingers in the hope that, after the war, everything will go back to the way it was in the meetings industry. “We have a huge opportunity here to show the world who we are”, giving those who visit the country the chance to “feel that we have the same dreams, that we have the same routine, that we want to live in a normal country”, she said. “I think they will love it!” Still, the recovery should still take “a year or two”. Many Conventa participants were curious to visit Ukraine and the convention bureau hopes that this will happen as soon as possible. For the MICE industry, Lviv has similarities with some European cities. According to Yuliia Katynska, Lviv does not have very large venues, but it has the advantages of being very walkable, historic, friendly and with several structures for the sector. The city has 1,500 restaurants and cafes (with different cuisines), 122 hotels (of varied ranges and for different types of groups), 110 venues for events (including a huge arena, suitable for various types of events) and 41 hotels focused on the meetings industry. During the war, two hotels even opened: the Best Western Plus Market Square Lviv and the Emily Resort. Regarding incentives, there are different types of tours that can be taken in the city and the transformation of areas for events. “We have factories that have been transformed in recent years.” Lviv also has a jazz festival, a retro festival, philharmonic, opera, exhibitions… “We also have a beautiful natural heritage. We don’t have sea, like Portugal, but we have many rivers, lakes and forests”, she pointed out. And around Lviv you can find a lot to explore. Experiences that Yuliia Katynska also hopes will be enjoyed by Portuguese tourists. The presence of the Lviv Convention Bureau at the Conventa is the living proof of hope. And what’s more, this isn’t a day or two deal. “We are talking about the future”, she said, stressing the importance of “keeping in touch with our partners” to build “a relationship for the future”. Lviv in 3D and augmented reality “Our Lviv is very beautiful…”, she said. And it is with this love for the city that citizens, companies and entities do everything to return to a normal life. And even to safeguard the heritage, in case the war destroys buildings and monuments, a work of scanning is being done, so that they are digitally safe. The use of technology to preserve and disseminate the memory and architectural heritage of Ukraine was something that Skeiron did when developing Pocket City AR, a project that consists of a set of three-dimensional postcards in augmented reality of the country and some cities. Apparently they are normal postcards, but the experience can be quite different and special. After downloading the app related to the project, it is only necessary to read the postcard with the mobile phone, through the application. From here, the building or monument gains dimension and it is still possible to hear the description and history about it. The Lviv series consists of eight postcards, which feature the Lviv Theatre of Opera and Ballet, Dominican Church, St. Olga and Elizabeth Church, Potocky Palace, Boim Chapel, Emil Dunikovsky’s Villa, Monument to Taras Shevchenko and Monument to Mykhaylo Hrushevs’ky. There are also postcards from Ukraine, Kiev, Kharkiv, Odessa and Chortkiv. Maria João Leite* *The journalist was invited by Conventa WWW.EVENTPOINTINTERNATIONAL.COM 22 INTERVIEW BERLIN IS OFTEN DESCRIBED AS EUROPE’S HIPPEST CAPITAL © Nishta Trehun WWW.EVENTPOINTINTERNATIONAL.COM 24 EVENT BRAND ‘BERLIN’ BOOSTED BY ‘BESTIVAL 2022’ Is learning to Beatbox from a professional Beatboxer or using coloured tape to create art or watching DJ’s spinning their decks alongside contemporary dancers, relevant to a B2B MICE & Travel Event? The answer is unequivocally YES, especially when you are talking about the city of Berlin and the very experiential and innovative event format of ‘Bestival 2022’. Berlin is often described as Europe’s hippest capital; a place where citizens and ‘soft power’ fuse together to define their unique lifestyle. This liberalist culture, has long characterised Berlin, well before ‘soft power’ became a thing. So, Bestival 2022, was a chance to return to Germany’s capital and hope that the city’s core DNA had not been eroded in this post-COVID era. Berlin’s unique magnetism This core DNA has kept me returning to Berlin for more than a decade, collecting memories and experiences, such as visiting the legendary techno club ‘Berghain’ with nightlife guru Henrik Tidefjärd, owner of Berlinagenten.com, and delving into the darker side of Berlin’s tumultuous history, with a subterranean bunker tour led by Berliner-unterwelten.de. I have also witnessed the city through MICE tinted glasses, having attended Leica’s ‘Oskar Barnack Photography Awards’ at ‘St. Elisabeth’s Church’; a venue sitting within the verdant ‘Church Park’ of the Mitte district. Also, discovering the dining and dance incentives available at venues like ‘Spindler & Klatt’ or making music within the recording studio of ‘Nhow Berlin Hotel’, both located beside the River Spree. Among the 800-strong Bestival attendees from around the globe, we all shared a nervous optimism, that the Berlin of our past experience would still offer the same magnetic appeal, allowing each of us the ability to convince our audiences, clients and future delegates, that Berlin today, is not only open for business, but as innovative, diverse and dynamic as ever. Restarting events & tourism Bestival 2022 was designed to give attendees the ability to engage with the city on their terms, using experience-based content, myriad city partners and a Berlin Card offering mobility. The event is part of the larger “Restart” programme for Berlin’s event and tourism industries and was funded by the Berlin Senate. The Restart strategy already seems to be paying dividends: Burkhard Kieker CEO Visit Berlin commented: “Since June (2022), we are almost at pre-COVID levels concerning visitor numbers; 11million overnights and 4.4million guests, which still makes us number three in Europe, together with London and Paris”. Bestival was curated to represent the best-of-Berlin and which continues to make Berlin a globally attractive tourism destination. Participants were encouraged to create their own itinerary selecting specific areas of interest from the ‘five worlds of experience’: Sustainability/ Urban Jungle; Wild Berlin; Glamour & Lifestyle; Berlin Innovative; Arts & Music. “Bestival offered so many fun and innovative activities, such as fashion shows, interactive-games, wellness drinks and even boat tours. It’s an ideal platform to connect with contemporaries and to create a genuine bond and mutual trust” stated Nishta Trehun, Event Planner – kitty-party.de The city-wide event also presented an opportunity for Berlin to showcase various venues in action. The opening ceremony of ‘Bestival’ took place at ‘The Kino International’, a single-screen cinema, situated along Karl-Marx-Allee in the former East Berlin, designed by Josef Kaiser and Heinz Aust in 1963. On the opposite side of the avenue the legendary Café Moscow, another iconic landmark, hugely popular during GDR times, became the fulcrum of this year’s business festival. Café Moscow’s light-filled spaces and open atrium provided dedicated areas to interact with aspiring fashion design students, delve into the pop and street art scene with known artists and listen to several DJ sets all at the same time, across a single afternoon. Interweaving between the visual and sensory experiences, a range of lectures and discussions explored the challenges and opportunities faced by the industry, this included the potential of augmented reality, sustainable event planning and a panel discussion on ‘Clubs and their importance for the cultural diversity of Berlin’. Legendary nightlife Berlin’s subculture and party scene is truly important to the city, as it has become synonymous with Berlin’s reputation of independence, hedonism and reinvention. These were sentiments reflected in the club scene panel discussion with Katharin Ahrend of Club Commission Berlin and Pamela Schobeß, Managing Director of Club Gretchen. Berlin’s nightclub venues have always been innovators and emotion-makers, both experts agreed. Following the ‘Wild Berlin’ theme Leonie Garner, DJ & Media personality guided our group by boat (Berlinliquide.com) to the hottest clubs beside the River Spree. These clubs are more than social venues, they often represent Berliners need for freedom, self-expression and in some cases are developed into urban regeneration projects. This is no better encapsulated than by Holzmarkt cooperative (holzmarket. com), a citizen-owned and multi-faceted creative cultural centre, located by the banks of the Spree; a successful community project, providing an alternative to the capital-driven real estate market. Sustainable events Bestival 2022 rightly reminded us all of our collective ‘sustainable’ responsibilities, showcased by vegan or vegetarian catering throughout and a strategy from conception to activation, based around “Sustainable Meetings Berlin” criteria. The aim is to implement “Bestival” in a long-term and climate-neutral way. With this in mind, I selected to join mikes-sightrunning.de – a tour designed for business travellers and tourists, keen to see the landmarks of central Berlin via a running tour with a specialist guide, over a course of 6km, starting and finishing at the Brandenburg Gate. This was fitness on foot, boosting one’s mental and physical well- being whilst ticking off many of the city’s main tourist sites in just one hour. One of many advantages was the agility to follow the guide into courtyards, along river paths, even into alternative cultural hotspots such as a chocolatiers or to admire the impressive work of architect Jean Nouvel within Galeries Lafayette. Berlin is known as a place of openness, opportunity, individuality and these factors made it ideal to bring specialists from the event and travel world to ‘Bestival’. This was a ‘live’ event platform to discuss current industry challenges and future-focused initiatives to support Berlin’s MICE and travel sectors, but maybe most importantly of all, it was to evoke an emotional and creative connection with the city. “The choice of suppliers meant it was easy to schedule hotel/ site visits for properties across Berlin, alongside catering companies. As an event planner, I’m always hunting the right locations, so Bestival’s ‘Long night of the hotels’ evening where so many hotels opened their bars, bedrooms and MICE facilities to delegates, was so useful” Nishta Trehun concluded. Ramy Salameh WWW.EVENTPOINTINTERNATIONAL.COM 26 EVENT THIS IS CLEARLY NOT A GRADUAL RECOVERY – IT IS A BIG JUMP WWW.EVENTPOINTINTERNATIONAL.COM 28 OPINION WE NEED YOU! Coming out of the pandemic, the overall expectation was that business would come back gradually, allowing the convention centers teams to get back up to speed in a controlled way. Well, that did not happen. With Tesla-like acceleration, agendas were filled up with events, leaving little breathing space and putting pressure on teams. In an environment where it is difficult to find staff, this comes with specific challenges. On July 22nd, GL Events Group presented its H1 results. With over 50 venues worldwide, there results can be considered as a good indicator of what it happening in the world of convention centers. The results were impressive: Q2 2022 revenue levels outperform comparable periods in 2018 and 2019 and increased by 150% compared to 2021. In terms of number of events organized, GL is at 87% compared to 2019. At the same time, not all types of events are recovering in the same way. While corporate events are booming, international congresses and exhibitions are lagging somewhat behind. Geographically, China does not show the same signs of recovery as the other regions. But this is clearly not a gradual recovery – it is a big jump. Other big jumps can be seen in the labor market. The August figures of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics confirm that the big resignation is still ongoing in the leisure and hospitality industry: 9% (1,3 million persons) of its workforce changed jobs. And looking at the profiles most at risk for leaving: persons with a 5–10-year tenure, with women quitting at a higher rate. Finding staff has become extremely difficult. Sixty percent of AIPC members say recruiting and retaining suitable employees is extremely/very challenging – and it’s hardest finding mid‑level managers. 56% of members have launched special HR initiatives to attract staff. This contrast between high market demand and loss/lack of staff is increasingly leading to opportunity costs, as some convention centers simply need to refuse business, either to a lack of availability but also because the lack of staff does not allow to meet the service levels required. Unfortunately, there is no magic solution for this challenge. On top, the event industry is not the only one facing lack of staff and having difficulties in retaining talent. However, the event industry does offer a number of advantages, which are important for a new generation of professionals. When asked what would make them leave their job, Gen Z and Millennials will not give salary as top driver. Instead, the following aspects are in the top 5 (next to work-life balance and risk of burn out): lack of purpose, lack of challenge and lack of learning opportunities. These are typically things which the event industry is actually great at. Personally, I believe that the same level of effort which has been put into sustainability on an event industry level – via the Zero Carbon Events Initiative – should be put in making our industry attractive for upcoming talent. Especially because we will need those talents to achieve our ambitions when it comes to sustainability, the integration of new technology or delivering the next level of delegate experiences. Definitely something to discuss during the upcoming industry events. Sven Bossu CEO of AIPCNext >