With combined forces, Europe Congress seriously outdid itself into delivering the MICE experience of the year in Riga within the past few days. Participation satisfaction is soaring and the ‘WOW’ experience delivered to all during the two and a half days, will leave a long-lasting memory.
The boutique MICE B2B forum that creates business synergy through matching the needs of international event planners with the services of Central & Eastern European providers, kicked off on Sunday March the fifth. After having come from pre-event Fam trips, tours, or airport transfers, the welcome reception formed the official opening of the event. Welcome speeches were delivered by all event partners including the host venue, Radisson Blu Latvija.
The opening dinner took place in Riga’s most prominent Palace straight in the heart of the city, the Blackheads House. It is here where Meet Riga offered all event guests a fabulous evening with Latvian fine cuisine and some excellent performances. Monday 6 March and Tuesday 7 March, the two days known within the MCE concept as being the business days, were indeed full of networking (not business, it was just used) action taking place. All participating destinations and providers walked away with 35 matchmade meetings, in which they met their most likely next business client. This unique system assures the highest potential ROI for the involved providers and 100% interest from the event planners in their MICE services.
The program was, as usual, full of variety with coffee breaks, luncheons, networking sessions and of course the presentations of the various destinations. These presentations and a further keynote address were delivered by longtime partner the Meetology Lab. Jonathan Bradshaw once again delivered a wonderful demonstration, adding further values of these quality events.
Monday night offered a fantastic evening at the Historical Latvian Gas Tower where the Latvian Investment and Development Agency, as an event partner, offered an experience complete with dinner and a show. After the dinner the DJ took care of finding the right beats to match the dancing need that had occurred and so the evening lasted long into the night.
The annual MCE Central & Eastern Europe closed with words by the Managing Director of Europe Congress, Alain Pallas, the Director of Meet Riga, Aigars Smiltans and the Director of Sales and Marketing of the Radisson Blu Latvija, Andis Kielbickis. Further event partners such as Baltic Events & Tours, taking care of all transportation and tours, Turkish Airlines and Air Baltic, were thanked for their contributions before participants headed back home WOWed from this amazing two days experience.
Asking Aigars Smiltans for his event feedback: “MCE Central & Eastern Europe is a great platform for Central & Eastern European destinations and its MICE Suppliers. For MEET RIGA it was a unique opportunity to showcase our destination to the meetings industry professionals attending this high quality B2B forum in Riga. The organization by Europe Congress is absolutely flawless and this one-stop-shop event offers a great value for money with a great set of event buyers participating. The program is varied and entertaining, I have seen only very satisfied faces throughout the 2,5 days in Riga. All in all, this was a great experience!”
