Held from 9-10 September at the InterContinental Tverskaya Hotel in central Moscow, the two-day forum featured 50 qualified buyers from leading companies in the Russian and CIS markets and 45 global service providers.
The forum’s two day programme – including a total of 30 pre-scheduled, one-to-one meeting slots, and two educational sessions delivered by Winfried Barczaitis, in addition to a networking programme comprising coffee breaks and lunches – officially commenced with a round of welcome speeches courtesy of Alain Pallas and Asya Reyina, managing director and business development director, respectively, of Europe Congress, the event’s organizers, and Mathieu van Alphen, general manager of the InterContinental Tverskaya.
At the end of the first day of business, the InterContinental Tverskaya offered a reception on the 3rd floor, allowing for further networking and benchmarking opportunities, before buses arrived at the hotel to take all the participants to the evening venue. Known for its mystic ambiance, fantastic food and superb music, the recently opened Buddha Bar in Moscow proved to be an excellent choice to continue the evening.
Revina said: "This first edition of the event has been a great success. The local market has never seen an event of this kind and from the reactions of suppliers, destinations and meeting planners, we have obtained enough feedback to continue this quest and deliver a further improved version in 2014."
Giedre Kvedaravicien, executive director of the Vanagupe Hotel in Lithuania was also very enthusiastic: "This event has been one of the best investments we have made over the past years," while Evgeny Bylym, development director of the Russian meeting planner company Solby, stated: "We would like to thank Europe Congress for such a professional event with superb and very lively networking opportunities complementing the pre-scheduled meetings with key destinations and suppliers from all over the world."
The dates for the second edition of MeetingPlanners Russia in 2014 will be announced shortly.
