Radiant winners at the Mice Award

On April 5, the Swiss Mice Awards were presented for the fifth time by the magazine "Mice-tip - organizing meetings & events" at the Conference Arena. The awards are given to locations and destinations that meet the criteria of extraordinary, innovative, investment-friendly, outstanding, unique or with that certain something extra. In short: locations and destinations that stand out and are the talk of the town. The Swiss Mice Awards 2018 were supported by the social insurance Hotela.

The 2018 winners in the four categories are:

Category Conference Hotels: Hotel Säntispark, AbtwilCategory Congress Centers: Congress Center BaselCategory Special Locations: The Blinker, ChamCategory Destinations: Arosa

 About the election procedure

3000 votes were cast in the online voting in March 2018 by the readership of "MICE-tip" and the newsletter "MICE-tip news" for the nominees in the four categories. The shortlist of nominees was previously compiled by a competent jury with representatives from the Swiss MICE industry. The result of the online voting determined 50 percent of the final result. The result of the jury vote was also taken into account to 50 percent. These two votes ultimately resulted in the winners in the four categories. In the event of a tie, the result or ranking within the online readers' vote was decisive.

This is how successful the Conference Arena was

The ConferenceArena impressed around 650 visitors with both its interactive concept with an attractive supporting program and its new location in the Stage One Event & Convention Hall in Zurich-Oerlikon. More than 70 renowned exhibitors from Switzerland and abroad presented innovations and news from all subject areas at the annual trade event for meetings, incentives, conventions and events (MICE), which was held for the sixth time.

The ConferenceArena sees itself as an innovative, professional and attractive platform for the MICE market. The organizers were able to demonstrate what this means in concrete terms "live" right at the start of the event. When a top speaker dropped out at short notice, thanks to their competent partners they managed to engage a replacement of equal caliber within a very short time - virtually overnight.And that is precisely what this trade event is all about: offering competent exhibitors from all areas of the meeting and event business an attractive platform so that they can position their high-quality offerings with the trade audience, event managers and corporate decision-makers. "The new interactive concept, which promotes communication between exhibitors and trade visitors, was very well received. In addition, we have received positive feedback from all participants on the new venue and the varied supporting program on site," says a delighted Roger Schaer, Managing Director of ConferenceArena. "We are doing everything we can to ensure that the next event, which will take place in spring 2019, will once again delight visitors and exhibitors."

Inspiration, networking, information, discussion

This year, the more than 70 exhibitors presented themselves around three lively action platforms called "Squares". There, trade fair visitors could be inspired by a wide variety of offers from the entire MICE world. In the Technology Square, visitors learned all about market innovations, the development of products and services, and the trends of the future. In the Networking Square, the focus was on informal get-togethers and meetings, joint activities and exchanges. In the Experience Square, on the other hand, the motto wasexperience, touch and marvel. Event locations and caterers could be found as well as artists, special locations and event agencies.

Top-class supporting program and "street party" to close the day

Moderated by the popular TV presenter Robi Köller, the trade visitors were offered a top-class and varied content program with international top speakers on the three Arena stages of the ConferenceArena. Among other things, the large audience heard from Christine Hoeft, an expert on "Emotions as a Source of Success", about the power of our emotions and why it is usually right to listen to our inner voice. Body language professional Sabrina Olsson explained what body language signals to the counterpart.With coach and speaker Manfred Ritschard everything turned around tactics, techniques and black tricks for successful negotiations. In his presentation "Dress for Success", Clifford Lilley, a well-known Swiss image consultant, demonstrated how a business outfit can be spiced up in no time at all and how important accessories are. He presented a study that differentiated how event organizers address their participants and where participants search for events. Afterwards, digital entrepreneur Roger Basler used a live example to demonstrate how events can be presented in an exciting way on various social media channels during the event. Together with Röbi Koller, the three Swiss tourism directors from Arosa, Basel and the St. Gallen-Lake Constance region then discussed the future prospects of Swiss MICE destinations.