As the strategic partner of this year's IMEX - incorporating Meetings made in Germany - The Worldwide Exhibition for incentive travel, meetings and events, which will take place in hall 8 of Frankfurt Fair from 22 to 24 April 2008, the German Convention Bureau e.V. (GCB) will again be in charge of organising the "GCB Seminar Days Meetings Made in Germany - presented by IMEX & the German Convention Bureau".
15 free German-speaking seminars and one English-speaking lecture covering a wide range of topics are on the GCB's agenda. They will take place in the morning and afternoon and are intended for travel managers and event planners as well as marketing staff in private companies, associations and agencies who are in charge of organising conventions, meetings, incentives and events.
For detailed information on the German seminars and speakers, please consult
On 22 April 2008 from 9.30 to 10.30 a.m. one of the first offerings will be - particularly interesting for associations - Success Factor Emotional Member Bonding - How to Turn Members into Fans, organised by forum! Marktforschung GmbH, Mainz. Speaker Stefan Eser, executive and head of member research at forum! Marktforschung, will explain in his lecture what emotional member bonding is, how it occurs, what role the image plays and what an association can do to turn its members into fans.
In the afternoon, the programme will continue from 4 to 5.30 p.m. with Consumer Power, for example. Andreas Steinle of the Future Institute in Kelkheim will be calling traditional management and marketing into question by looking at the relationship between companies and their customers in a new light. With provoking theses he will show how customers take over more and more management tasks themselves - from pricing to advertising. As the head of the Future Academy, Steinle, who has a degree in communications management, is responsible for the Institute?s seminars and teaching activities.
The seminar on Event Organisation Law, which will take place on 23 April 2008 from 4 to 5.30 p.m., will deal not only with negotiating performance contracts or practices of performing rights societies but also with copyright law and possibilities of exploiting the event. The seminar will be conducted by lawyer Josef Limper, who specialises in media, business and fiscal law.
On the last day of the fair you can pick between three seminars in the morning and afternoon each. For example, The Opportunities of Web 2.0 - How to Document Events Effectively with Weblogs, organised by Kilroy PR from Kronberg from 3 to 4.30 p.m. Melanie Huber, owner of Kilroy PR communication agency, will present many examples of successful event blogs in her lecture. Apart from how to find topics she will highlight legal aspects and technical support, identifying risks and opportunities of keeping a weblog. Additionally, she will address the topics of success monitoring and assessment indicators.
For travel managers the GCB offers the following seminars, among others: How Ethical Can Tourism Be? Corporate Responsibility as a Corporate Strategy on 23 April 2008 from 9.00 to 10.30 a.m.; Business Trips - How to Make Travelling More Successful, Efficient and Sustainable on 24 April 2008 from 9.00 to 10.30 a.m., and International Travel Management from 3 to 4.30 p.m.
For the topics Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Climate-Neutral Meetings the GCB offers two lectures. Robert Büchel, director of Vitegro social sponsoring agency, will speak about the relationship between CSR and commercial success. He will highlight the internal and external impact of social measures and explain for what size company the integration of CSR strategies makes sense. For event planners the focus is increasingly on climate-neutral events. In their seminar Thomas Nowak, EventConsult Munich, and Jochen Gassner, 3C Group, will highlight whether this is a trend, marketing tool or necessity.
For seminar attendance the Convention Industry Council (CIC) awards points that are credited towards qualifications as a Certified Meeting Professional (CMP).
The German Convention Bureau (GCB) markets Germany as a destination for conventions, meetings, events and incentives both on a national and international level, and is the place to contact for anybody planning an event in Germany. Its over 240 members include leading hotels, convention centres and destinations, car hire firms, event agencies and service providers of the German meetings and conventions industry.
