Big interview
A trust made in Berlin
CMW MEETS MARCO OELSCHLEGEL, HEAD OF THE BERLIN CONVENTION OFFICE (BCO), VISITBERLIN
ead of Berlin’s Convention
Office (BCO) Marco
Oelschlegel started his
career at a conference
production company (Management
Circle) in Berlin, following tourism
studies in Germany and France and
internships in Budapest and Madrid.
His first project was working on a
C-Suite conference in Vienna on
investment in south-east European
countries. Among the first interesting
contacts was the Croatian Ambassador,
one of the conference speakers.
Oelschlegel also quickly learned how
to deal with complaints, thanks to the
Serbian embassy not being happy with
some of the politics surrounding one
conference session on Kosovo.
So, what other lessons from his early
career have served Oelschlegel well?
“Stay curious and create a network
without direct purpose – the breadth of
contacts will help you in your life in
different professional situations. And
knowing so many people with so many
backgrounds only enriches your
experiences,” he says.
With 2020 being exceptional to say
the least, the year has probably not
panned out as Oelschlegel expected
when he took over the top job at BCO
back in January 2020?
“Indeed, I remember the weeks before
I took over from my predecessor, Iris
Lanz, who carefully trained me for the
new role. Then, everything went in a
completely different direction, far
beyond any imagination or expectation.”
Ironically, his first business trip had
been to mainland China in January, just
before the pandemic took hold.
Fast forward
According to official Berlin statistics,
12m participants attended over 143,300
events in 2018. A decision to change the
methodology and then Covid-19 has
meant no update has been published,
although the BCO’s convention partners
indicate 2019 was possibly the most
successful year for MICE in the city’s
history. “We will provide new data in
autumn,” says Oelschlegel, who believes
Berlin’s enduring USP for international
MICE business has always been its
diverse hotel and venue infrastructure
and the easy access by train and plane
“The German
mentality for
doing things
accurately
and the way
German
politics has
managed the
crisis means
clients can
be confident
about holding
events in our
city ”
Left: Arena
Strandbar,
VISITBERLIN. Photo
by Philip Koschel
to the city. To this, he adds, “the
fantastic price-cost-ratio. Berlin
combines the best of two worlds:
German efficiency and a cool, relaxed
atmosphere. And, in times of Covid-19,
our mentality for doing things
accurately and the way German politics
has managed the crisis helps clients to
be confident about holding conferences
and events in our city.”
Oelschlegel admits the official
statistics don’t record how many
in-person events have been saved from
total cancellation but reckons the
number of events still scheduled to go
ahead this year will be approximately
10-15 % of a normal year’s total. Many
of the missing events events have been
postponed to 2021 or later, he says.
From 2 June Berlin put a limit of 150
people attending events, a figure that
rose to 300 from the 30 June, although
traditionally 80% of the city’s meetings
are for no more than 100 people.
“From September onwards that
figure rises to 1,000 and from October
to 5,000 people,” Oelschlegel notes,
adding that Germany’s 16 federal states
all have their own, separate regulations.
“The framework in Berlin is quite open
and allows for more than in other cities,”
he says.
“The MICE industry and its
associations in Berlin have been active
during the last months in lobbying for
their interests. We hope this will
remain so that our industry will be seen
and heard of in the future, too.”
On the conference of the future in the
‘new normal’ compared to the
traditional meeting format, Oelschlegel
has this to say: “At the moment, hybrid
events are key – allowing for the
broadening of the audience and also for
a back-up version should numbers of
live attendees decline.” He points out a
18 / CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD / ISSUE 18