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Report – Frankfurt – IMEX 2009: With its new web presence, detailed convention brochure and extensive range of services, the Cologne Convention Bureau (CCB) is making its debut appearance at IMEX 2009, Germany’s number one trade fair for meeting & incentive trips taking place 26–28 May 2009 in Frankfurt am Main.
From now on, all the benefits and appeal of Cologne as a convention venue are published by the CCB at www.conventioncologne.de. An integrated meeting planner enables customers to search online and find the perfect solutions for their events; it’s also simple to save information on individual venues and service partners in PDF format or to print it out. All in all, this tool has put the Cologne Convention Bureau a step ahead of other German convention bureaus.
A specially developed partner model forms the framework of the successful collaboration between the CCB and the numerous venues and service partners in Cologne: There are now 41 venues and 31 service partners using the Cologne Convention Bureau as a central advertising platform. One crucial benefit for partner companies taking part is that it is easier for them to tap into new markets both at home and abroad.
The CCB’s new-look "Meeting Point Cologne" publication lays the foundations for uniform external communications. This extensive brochure on Cologne as a convention destination plus accompanying CD ROM expand on the new web presence and will be launched at IMEX. "We have brought all these products onto the market in time to coincide with the industry’s biggest trade fair. The streamlining mission of the CCB mean that Cologne not only presents a new, consistent "face" to the world as a convention destination, but also achieves an elevated market presence", explains Stephanie Franke, Head of the Cologne Convention Bureau.
Market research has a huge role to play in the work of the Cologne Convention Bureau. In order to highlight Cologne’s significant standing as a convention destination, the CCB has joined forces with the Europaischen Institut fur TagungsWirtschaft GmbH (EITW) to develop an online statistics tool. Since the beginning of this year, local conference and convention venues have been submitting their own event info online on a monthly basis via the "conference barometer". The EITW will gather additional data once a year, which will include asking potential customers for trends and preferences within the conference market. The results will be incorporated into an annual report, which will be published for the first time in 2010.
"The EITW is delighted to be partnered with the Cologne Convention Bureau and therefore to be able to use the conference barometer for the first time as an instrument for measuring the conference market in a "magic city". The EITW regards Cologne as a conference destination with potential. This view is backed up by the institute’s study of Germany, the "Meeting & EventBarometer 2009", where Cologne has further increased its popularity among event organisers," says Ralf Kunze, Project Manager for the Meeting & EventBarometer in Germany, Europaisches Institut fur TagungsWirtschaft GmbH.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
