1 2008 - February

Meeting Newsletter for Germany

Dear Readers,

Welcome to an exciting new meetings and events year 2008! We have lots in store for you over the coming twelve months:

First of all, we would like to invite you to accompany us on the second part of our tour of highlights in the land of ‘Business & Science’ - to path-finding innovations and exciting discoveries of our researchers and developers and to future-oriented projects in the fields of environmental protection, energy efficiency and Green Meetings.

In addition, we also feature two new monthly rubrics in this newsletter: ‘German Stars’ presents you with Innovation made in Germany. Momentous discoveries and influential ideas, which both today and before 500 years, have changed the world we live in. The brochure ‘German Stars – 50 innovations everyone should know about’ from the Partners for Innovation initiative (see: www.innovationen-fuer-deutschland.de) features an overview of how great ideas are conceived and born and which clever intellects and persons were involved and which global meanings these innovations have or have had up to this very day.

In the rubric ‘GCB-Team Member Tip of the Month’, we present you with locations which very much impressed us – from a service, ambience, design or total concept aspect. These are purely personal and subjective recommendations. So we are already looking forward to your feedback!

In this regard we would also especially like to offer our sincerest thanks to our Preferred Partners for 2008: Maritim Hotels and Leipzig Tourism and Marketing GmbH and to our Members in Focus: the Karlsruhe Fair- and Congress GmbH, MCI Germany, the Regio Stuttgart and the Sheraton Düsseldorf Airport Hotel. Their pro-active support keeps us innovating and on our toes!

Last but not least, we promise you lots of fun in this leap year 2008. This year’s GCB motto is: ‘High Tech – Simply Fun’. We will present you some of the funniest ideas and most unusual locations for your meetings and events that Germany currently has to offer, from the northern bays and coastlines to southern Lake Constance and mountainous Alps.

Wishing you an enjoyable and informative read,

Your, GCB-Team

• IMEX - Incorporating Meetings made in Germany
  “And the winner is…” – GCB German Convention Bureau elects German Wild Card winners
• GCB-Team Member Tip of the Month
  Sofitel Aachen Quellenhof
• News
  Institute of Business Travel Studies founded at the Worms University of Applied Sciences
  KölnKongress - Facts and figures about 2007 - Outlook for 2008
  Broich Premium Catering: Outlook 2008
  
• German Stars - Innovations made in Germany
  Chip card - Pocket-sized computer
• Congress
  ICC Berlin nearly booked up for 2008
• Hotels
  Sofitel: Re-Inventing French Elegance In Luxury Hotels
• Offers
  ArabellaSheraton Grand Hotel
  Vital meetings in the Radisson SAS Hotel, Rostock
  
• Personalia
  New Director takes over at ICM in February 2008