Switzerland
A marriage made in Switzerland
RAMY SALAMEH FINDS A SUSTAINABLY STRATEGIC UNION AT LAUSANNE MONTREUX CONGRESS
he International Olympic
Committee (IOC) recently
inaugurated a new HQ in its
home city, the Olympic
Capital Lausanne.
The new building reflects a municipality
defined by sport and comes on stream in
the IOC’s 125th anniversary year.
Home to 50 sporting federations and
the IOC’s busy events calendar, Lausanne
is also busy evolving into an active MICE
destination.
The IOC’s new HQ is all about
‘Sustainability and transparency’, said
IOC President Thomas Bach in his speech
at the venue opening.
Lausanne Montreux Congress’ (LMC)
is the two-centre CVB set up two years
ago and has helped drive the destination
into the top 20 list of the Global
Destination Sustainability Index
(GDS-Index). Sustainability is a big part
of the over-arching strategy and LMC’s
Montreux Representative, Martina
Fuhrer, believes that, long term, many
sustainable initiatives drive savings and
rationalise costs for planners. “Part of our
remit is to help clients locate smart
destinations and venues, through our close
engagement with partners,” she says.
The idea behind the formation of LMC
was to combine efforts to attract more
congresses to both cities. “Combining
skills, knowledge and assets to boost
congress promotion is a very useful
initiative,” says LMC’s Lausanne
Representative Gerald Howard.
Indeed, there have been eight congress
wins already for 2020, up from six in
2019, as well as new bookings for
2021/22.
Lausanne’s soon to open ‘Vortex’
building will house athletes of the Youth
Olympics in January 2020’, before
becoming part of the University of
Lausanne-Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology eco-friendly student campus.
It is expected to provide a flow of
scientific, health and technology related
conferences for the on-site Swiss Tech
Convention Centre (STCC).
STCC is a new member of the Energy
Cities marketing alliance and has
photovoltaic window panels, underground
geothermal pillars and an auditorium
with automated walls and seating which
folds under the floor in minutes. It
recently hosted the Swiss
NanoConvention 2019.
“STCC is ideal for our plenary sessions,
because of quick changes of setup, spacious
foyer for lunch with highly visible digital
advertising boards,” says Sina Bartosch,
Event Manager at the European
Huntington’s Disease Network.
Another new sporting and event
complex, The Vaudoise Arena opening in
the autumn, will have 2,000 solar panels
on its rooftop and will complement The
Olympic Museum, one of LMC’s big four
conference centres and which overlooks
Lake Geneva.
Montreux and Lausanne are separated
by a 15-minute train ride and share
knowledge clusters of sport, culture,
health and life sciences, tech, energy and
social sciences.
The International Conference on
Document Analysis and Recognition
(IDCAR) 2021 is playing on the duality,
with its main business plenaries taking
place at Lausanne’s Beaulieu Congress
Centre while social activities will be held
in and around Montreux.
IDCAR delegates will visit Chaplin’s
World in Montreux-Vevey. Le Manoir,
Charlie Chaplin’s former home, which has
meeting space overlooking the 10-acre
estate, and its studio can host cocktails
and gala dinners.
The UNESCO-listed ‘Chillon Castle’,
Switzerland’s most visited historical site,
will also be on the IDCAR itinerary.
While Lausanne has been defined by
sport, Montreux has been defined by
Music and entertainment, home to the
world renowned Montreux Jazz Festival
and Comedy Festival and has UNESCO
listed sites offering incentive options.
The terraced vineyards of the Lavaux
winegrowing area, (UNESCO World
Heritage since 2007) offer event planners
the opportunity to take-over an entire
wine producing village for a delegate wine
tasting event.
The Montreux Music & Convention
Centre (2m2c.ch) has 18,000sqm of space
and is the beating heart of the Jazz
Festival.
The Belle-Époque Montreux Palace
offers 15 rooms and can host 1,200 people.
And the eight steamboats traversing Lake
Geneva are all available to hire for private
functions.
Two may soon become three: The
LMC initiative seems to be working well
enough for Geneva CVB to consider being
part of this strategic union, and could
spice up a marriage that is proving more
than a convenience for conferencing.
Above:
UNESCO
Lavaux
Vineyards
between
Montreux &
Lausanne
Below: 1 —
SwissTech
Convention
Centre;
2 — The
CGN Fleet
traversing
Lake Geneva
ISSUE 102
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CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD
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57