The Reed Messe Wien Congress Center has been in full operation since January 2010, setting new standards for Vienna’s convention industry. Occupying a 15 hectare site, the new MesszentrumWienNeu exhibition and conference complex, of which the centre forms part, has four halls with a combined 70,000sqm of exhibition space, capacity for 25,000 conference delegates and parking for 4,500 cars. The venue is also served by a fair hotel and by two underground stations. Vienna City Council has invested a total of EUR 192 million in the project. Three new exhibition halls, and a combined conference centre and office block have been built, and an existing hall upgraded. All boast state-of-the-art technology. The exhibition halls are linked by an elegant 450m mall, while two new multi-storey car parks provide ample parking space. The facilities at Reed Messe Wien Congress Center are particularly ideal for conferences with large related exhibitions, and have the added advantage of being operated by Reed Exhibitions — the world's leading exhibition organiser.

Association Plus is a new resource offered by Excel to provide support in marketing Association congresses or conferences to potential delegates, with the ultimate aim of driving up attendance figures. The new package outlines the complimentary services that the ExCeL London marketing team offer, ensuring delegates fully appreciate their event experience in London. Once you have signed to bring your congress to ExCeL London, they provide a marketing team to attend your congress in the preceding year helping to increase attendance. +++++ http://excel-london.co.uk/ +++++

The Toronto Congress Centre (TCC), a division of Congress Centres Inc., added to its existing 1,000,000 sq. ft. complex, 30,000 sq. ft. pillar-free ballroom. The newly finished ballroom that joins The Toronto Congress Centre North Building, which opened in February of 2008, providing a perfect setting for meetings, general sessions, and exclusive galas. The modern clean design and the latest in brand lighting effects provided something very unique to its planner.

For the second time in succession the CCD Congress Center Duesseldorf has captured first place in the venue study carried out by HV-Magazin. Jointly with the CCH Congress Center Hamburg, the CCD tops the list of convention centres most popularly chosen to host annual general meetings throughout Germany. As in previous years, the latest study covers all 345 companies that belonged to the German stock exchange segment with the most stringent transparency requirements. All told, in 2011 the convention centre in the North Rhine-Westphalian state capital thus housed 16 ordinary general meetings. That so many companies hold their most important annual event in the CCD Congress Center Duesseldorf results from the venue's early specialisation in annual general meetings, its high technical safety standards and the expertise gained in this event segment, says DuesseldorfCongress CEO Hilmar Guckert.

This new venue will be located in a privileged and strategic setting, near the economic and cultural axis of the Paseo de la Castellana and the future financial city linked to the Chamartín Operation . The project consists in the extension of the Castellana to turn it into a new financial city and give Madrid the status of economic capital of Southern Europe. The goal is to attract international investors. The infrastructure will include a main auditorium, that will seat 3,000 spectators, and two smaller ones that will accommodate 1,200 and 800 viewers respectively, as well as a 15,000 m² exhibition area. The venue’s outdoor areas will be green spaces, road areas for maintenance and services, streets to improve access to the buildings in the complex and for infrastructural services.

This congress was special: once per year the ICCA World Congress brings the whole meetings industry of all continents together. The event is organised by the International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA) which unites some 850 congress centres, destinations, meeting planners and meeting industry suppliers in more than 80 countries. The top industry event of the meeting professionals implies particularly high demands and expectations since ICCA members have committed themselves to utmost quality in event organisation. The ICCA Board's decision was made at the IMEX exhibition in Frankfurt and was revealed one day after IMEX. One of the countries bidding for the 50th ICCA World congress in 2011 was Germany, the other finalists were Pittsburgh, U.S.A. and a joint effort from Abu Dhabi and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Martin Sirk, ICCA CEO said: ++ I think the three bids for our 2011 congress have been the strongest ever, but it was the truly exceptional standard of the Leipzig bid that led to the ICCA Board's decision. It was carefully focused on ICCA's business and development objectives, highly creative and involved a committed ICCA team from all over Germany. I am sure they will enable us to deliver a superb Congress ++

The Congress Division of Messe Berlin achieved very good business results in 2011. The International Congress Center Berlin (ICC Berlin), Palais am Funkturm and the exhibition halls hosted a total of 530 meetings and entertainment events with an overall attendance of some 240,000. An above-average proportion of out-of-town visitors were registered among the more than 210,000 conference attendees, with approximately 71 per cent (150.000 meetings participants) coming from outside Berlin. Many of the large conferences were accompanied by industry displays, occupying an overall area of 145,000 square metres on the Exhibition Grounds.