Leiden Convention Bureau at IBTM World
IBTM World is the leading worldwide event for the meetings, incentives, conferences and events industry, taking place yearly in Barcelona. At IBTM World, more than 3.000 destination- and high-quality suppliers were present to meet each other and network with more than 15.000 professionals from the sector from more than 100 countries worldwide. IBTM has one goal; to inspire the world of events to deliver exceptional customer experiences.
Leiden Convention Bureau employees Corine van der Ceelen and Daniël op den Buijsch attended IBTM World 2022 in Barcelona in November 2022. The LCB team was at IBTM to meet new people, network, and connect with other visitors and exhibitors to forge new partnerships and relationships.
With a delegation from the Netherlands, Leiden Convention Bureau had a stand at the IBTM World 2022 in Barcelona. Stand F30 was renamed to the Holland stand by the Dutch Bureau for Tourism and Congresses (NBTC), which ensured that it was clear that all participating organisations come from the Netherlands. An icon typical for that region represented every destination around the stand.
Leiden Convention Bureau made many appointments with event organisers and associations ahead of time. As a result, we met with more than 30 event organisers, many of whom are from scientific associations. Leiden, as a city of knowledge and culture, is excellently suited as a destination for events of these associations, so it’s good to see that they can find us too. At the fair, there was more than enough space for us to have conversations with destinations from the rest of the Netherlands and the rest of the world. Leiden’s presence at a fair like this can only benefit the city’s awareness as a destination for congresses!
The conversations we’ve led as Leiden Convention Bureau have been especially valuable because we were able to represent Leiden in a powerful, personal way at the event organisers. Leiden Convention Bureau knows the ‘product’ of Leiden as a congress destination well, which meant that we could pointedly represent the wishes of the organisers of Leiden as well as possible. We believe in the power of Leiden as a city of knowledge and culture, as the European City of Science 2022, and course, as a coastal city only half an hour away from the biggest cities in the country.
What stayed with Daniël the most from IBTM in general?
“From IBTM, personally, the thing that stayed with me the most was the one-on-one conversations I had with the different organisers. More often than expected, they had visited Leiden more than once and had become really enthusiastic by experiencing the city through their own eyes. The conversation about the match between their event, and Leiden as a destination, went one step further as a result, which meant we could really focus on how the existing science in Leiden already had a connection with the scientific field of that specific congress. These conversations really strengthened the feeling of pride we had towards our destination. I found that whole experience very beautiful!”
The conversations we’ve led as Leiden Convention Bureau have been especially valuable because we were able to represent Leiden in a powerful, personal way at the event organisers. Leiden Convention Bureau knows the ‘product’ of Leiden as a congress destination well, which meant that we could pointedly represent the wishes of the organisers of Leiden as well as possible. We believe in the power of Leiden as a city of knowledge and culture, as the European City of Science 2022, and course, as a coastal city only half an hour away from the biggest cities in the country.
What stayed with Daniël the most from IBTM in general?
“From IBTM, personally, the thing that stayed with me the most was the one-on-one conversations I had with the different organisers. More often than expected, they had visited Leiden more than once and had become really enthusiastic by experiencing the city through their own eyes. The conversation about the match between their event, and Leiden as a destination, went one step further as a result, which meant we could really focus on how the existing science in Leiden already had a connection with the scientific field of that specific congress. These conversations really strengthened the feeling of pride we had towards our destination. I found that whole experience very beautiful!”