At this year's annual general meeting from 18th to 20th April 2010 at the CCD Congress Center Düsseldorf the members of the European Association of Event Centres (EVVC) unanimously elected Dr. Ursula Paschke, Messe- und Congress Centrum Halle Münsterland as the new Vice-President.
The board election which was held outside of the regular cycle had become necessary as the former Vice-President Matthias Schultze, will assume management of the German Convention Bureau on 1st May 2010 and thus will lose his member status within the organization.
Paschke has already been active on the board of the EVVC since 2004 and since last year held the position of Assessor for Corporate Social Responsibility, which will now be taken over by Kristina Wulf, Eurogress Aachen. She represented the members of Work Group II (houses for 1,200-4,000 people in theatre seating in the largest hall) since 2009. Ilona Jarabek, Musik- und Kongresshalle Lübeck has now been chosen to chair Work Group II. In addition, Jonas Scharf, Congress Center Basel / MCH Messe Schweiz AG, has been appointed as the new international assessor of the Board.
Joachim König, President of the EVVC and Director of the Hannover Congress Centrum: “We wish our colleague Matthias Schultze, the former vice-president and new CEO of the German Convention Bureau all the best for in his new job. This is also because we're looking forward to continuing the previous excellent cooperation with the GCB and perhaps emphasize the one or other point and bring about new cooperation. The new board is looking forward to intensely and innovatively shaping the future of the association during the next two years. 11 new members from Switzerland are an especially positive signal for the International affairs department to set a new course and prepare more extensive measures and actions.”
Flashback: 2009 - a year of growth
A total of 27 new members, 16 new partners and 8 new associate members could be won for the EVVC last year - partly due to the work in recent years, partly due to short-term acquisition success of the Board and main office.
“These growth figures show that the EVVC is in touch with the latest trends. I am particularly pleased that the mix of different sectors in the supply industry, i.e. from our partners, is becoming more diverse and interesting and is thus helping the association become a broad reflection of the events industry, enabling the exchange of views and experience on different levels,” said König.
A further important theme of the last year and the annual general meeting in Düsseldorf was the development of the Corporate Social Responsibility and the resulting collaboration with Green Globe Certification. For several years, Green Globe Certification (www.greenglobecertification.com) has been able to gather experience in the certification of hotels and tourist facilities around the world and in the process examines all concerns about the sustainability of companies. A total of 125 criteria are currently being examined in the houses - together with the EVVC these criteria will now be complemented by more specific criteria of the events industry. The new label “EVVC / Green Globe” will therefore in the future be the only means of acquiring a sustainability certification specifically for event venues. So far, eight members of the EVVC are certified. At the annual general meeting the certification was awarded to the CCD Congress Center Düsseldorf, Congress Centrum Mainz, Karlsruher Messe- und Kongress GmbH and the Neue Weimarhalle.
Festive evening in the Station Airport with presentation of the EVVC Awards 2010
For the festive evening of this year's annual general meeting the host city of Düsseldorf had invited visitors to its Special Event location Station Airport, that offered an unusual view of an orphaned runway due to the volcanic ash cloud. The highlight of the evening was the presentation of the EVVC Awards 2010: In the category “CSR / ecology” the prize went to the Congress Centrum Stadtgarten Schwäbisch Gmünd for its project “Licht für die Zukunft (Light for the future)”. The Kultur- und Kongress Zentrum FILharmonie Filderstadt won the award in the category “CSR / Society & Social Affairs” for its patronage of the Karl-Schubert Werkstätten Filderstadt and the Lübecker Musik- und Kongresshallen GmbH won the EVVC Award 2010 for Best Own Events for Rocktower / Metalfestival”.
