Regional. Global. Digital.The megatrends in the MICE state of NRW

Piles of paper, huge amounts of plastic waste and traffic jams in front of the exhibition centre. The conference is over, and after me the deluge. Those days are long gone in North Rhine-Westphalia. For years now, the MICE industry has also recognised its social responsibility and is increasingly focusing on sustainability when organising trade fairs, congresses and conferences, cultural and sporting events. Most of the small and large venues in the country, such as the Eurogress Aachen, have signed up to the sustainability code of the German-speaking event industry and feel they have a "fair duty" to the environment and society. In their management as well as in their economic, ecological and social behaviour.

Eurogress Aachen was one of the very first congress centres in Germany to be awarded the Green Globe certificate by the European Association of Event Centres (EVVC) for its extensive environmental protection measures. The conference centre, which is located directly next to Aachen's city park, is representative of the many large event venues and small event locations in NRW that have invested in energy-saving air conditioning and lighting systems and developed innovative concepts for waste avoidance in recent years. They work with local and regional service providers for catering and rely on environmentally friendly mobility concepts. Thanks to their central location and a close-knit rail network throughout the country, conference participants and event visitors travel conveniently by public transport, thereby reducing overall CO2 emissions many times over.

In order to motivate even more businesses to act more sustainably and in the interests of future generations, Tourismus NRW has produced short e-learning videos on the topics of management, economy, resource consumption, procurement & waste management, mobility & accommodation and social issues. They explain simply and clearly how every company can get involved in environmental and climate protection and take responsibility.

www.tourismusverband.nrw/themen/business

Shaky video conferences are a thing of the past. The new live is called hybrid. Interactive, communicative and limitless. Face to face and virtual. Thanks to state-of-the-art technology and the highest hygiene standards, conference centres in NRW are ideally equipped for this future. In the large congress centres and small event locations, half and half becomes a professional whole. This is because they offer the real and digital framework for high-attendance business events such as trade fairs and international congresses, sporting and cultural events as well as for smaller conferences, meetings and product presentations in which participants from all over the world can take part and interact at the same time via tablet, smartphone, notebook or PC.

The World Conference Center Bonn (WCCB) and the CCD Congress Center Düsseldorf are among the top addresses when it comes to technological advances for hybrid events, such as those held in many cities in North Rhine-Westphalia. A fully hybrid setup has already been developed in Bonn, which allows conventional events to be combined with a wide range of web applications. The centrepiece of the modern congress centre directly on the Rhine is the former plenary hall of the German Bundestag. Here, too, social distancing is maintained while the speaker speaks to the conference participants in the hall from the old government bench and answers questions from Cologne, Koblenz or Kansas via video chat or livestream.

The CCD Congress Centre Düsseldorf will also become a broadcast studio for hybrid events, with flexible rooms equipped with professional image, sound and event technology that meets the highest security standards. At the same time, the events can be recorded and later uploaded and marketed as video-on-demand.

The future is also being shaped against a nostalgic backdrop in the MICE state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Here, new ideas are created behind time-honoured walls at conferences and seminars. And at digital or hybrid events, high-tech meets history. The Lenkwerk in Bielefeld, the Historische Stadthalle Wuppertal and the Stadthalle Mülheim an der Ruhr prove that heritage protection is no obstacle to sustainable and global business.

The neoclassical building directly on the banks of the Ruhr is regarded as the versatile grand dame of conference venues in the Ruhr region, with state-of-the-art energy and event technology. As with the Stadthalle in Wuppertal, whose opulent Great Hall boasts world-renowned acoustics, care was also taken to preserve the authentic charm of the historic building during the refurbishment in Mühlheim. Inside, both venues rely on green electricity and the energy-saving use of LED technology for events in the large ballroom or bistro lounge.

While the Historische Stadthalle Wuppertal's ornate columns and arches provide a magnificent backdrop for trade fairs and business meetings, concerts and celebrations, the setting at Lenkwerk Bielefeld is above all curvy and powerful. The event location in the former Luftwaffe clothing office, which was used as a supply depot by the British Army of the Rhine until 1992, is still young, but the age of the classic and modern classic cars on display here is impressive. It's not just car enthusiasts who go into raptures at the sight of the highly polished classics from Italy and historic 911s, British Bentleys and legendary Harleys in the historic event hall. The completely renovated building, equipped with state-of-the-art technology, forms the centre of Bielefeld's Lenkwerk City, a young quarter for new work in East Westphalia.