Holographic world première: Berlin at IMEX Frankfurt

Berlin, 15 May 2017 The visitBerlin Berlin Convention Office will be on hand at IMEX in Frankfurt from 16 to 18 May 2017 with a spectacular hologram. Visitors to the Berlin stand (No. F100/40) will be "teleported" from Frankfurt to Berlin.

"Berlin is one of the world's leading cities for conventions and meetings. Our original hologram made in Berlin let us present the city not only as a modern meetings destination, but also as a centre for innovation", says Heike Mahmoud, Director Conventions, visitBerlin Berlin Convention Office. “At IMEX, we and our partners will be showing how potential customers can benefit from our expertise, network, and services for their next event.”

The idea for the hologram comes from a Berlin start-up (Holo2buy.com). Through a bit of an optical illusion and using a holoporters placed on the visitor's smartphone, their portrait will be projected in 3-D onto their hands together with the hologram of Berlin. A special feature: visitors can take their person Berlin hologram as a souvenir. IMEX visitors can take their own animated holography or holographic business card home with them, allowing them to visualise themselves in Berlin again and again. The German capital is home to a very active and internationally successful start-up scene in many fields including the software sector. This technology is also the latest innovation in meeting formats: speakers can now speak at conferences by 3-D projection and be experienced almost as if they were in the room.

New partner hotels, locations, and service providers will also be on hand to inform visitors about the latest trends in Berlin. For the first time, bc&a, which just opened a new office in Berlin will be on hand. The company offers refunds of VAT at international conferences and other events.

New service for event planners: convention.visitBerlin.com

The BCO is also presenting a new website at the IMEX: convention.visitBerlin.com. It offers a variety of tools that make it an essential tool for event planning. The Meeting Guide Berlin is integrated into the new site. This extensive search enginelists some 360 offerings which event planners can select from for optimal, easy planning of their next meeting, convention, or incentive.

The new convention.visitBerlin.com site also offers a convention kit, comparable to a shopping basket on e-commerce sites: planners can put the information they need to plan, organise, and execute their events into the kit and then download it directly for later reference. They have access to an extensive selection of Berlin-related images and texts, restaurant recommendations, convention statistics, and presentations about the German capital, among other highlights.

Also new is the Meetings Calendar that lets users filter events by scheduled dates and industries through 2020. The calendar also contains selected Berlin highlights for the coming year. The new “Berlin Meetings” blog provides inspiration and practical tips for event organisers.

Another completely new service from the BCO is the Berlin Speakers Pool which helps event organiser find suitable high-calibre speakers, local experts, and moderators for their programme to further ensure successful and inspiring events.

Particularly valuable and helpful is the extensive network of the visitBerlin Berlin Convention Office, organised as visitBerlin Convention Partner e.V. and visitBerlin Partnerhotel e.V.

News from Berlin

The visitBerlin Berlin Convention Office will also have the latest news from Berlin at IMEX. For example, the new multifunctional hall being built by Messe Berlin which will further strengthen the city's position in the international competition for conventions and trade shows. With a planned meeting space of 10,000 m², the hall will be perfect for large conventions. It will be completed by autumn 2018. An expansion is also happening at the Estrel as a new 46-storey tower is being added to allow the hotel to offer an additional 814 rooms and additional meeting space. The tower will open in 2020 or 2021.

There's also a special new address in Berlin culture: the recently opened Barenboim-Said Academy is a new cultural highlight in Berlin ideal for entertainment offerings as part of meetings. The centrepiece is the 360​​° concert hall designed by star architect Frank Gehry. Guests can sit very close to the musicians. Key works from the past three centuries and contemporary music will be on the schedule.

For more information on Berlin as a destination for conventions, go to convention.visitBerlin.com.