Upon the invitation of the Deputy Mayor of Municipality of Ljubljana Mrs. Tjaša Ficko, on the 22nd September 2011, Ljubljana hosted Mr. Dan Rivlin, the Managing Director of Kenes Group. The Kenes Group is one of the three biggest professional congress organizers in the world, specialized in organizing meetings in the field of medical profession. The distinguished guest was welcomed by the Mayor of Municipality Ljubljana, Mr. Zoran Janković, which gave our meetings industry the local political support and a fresh boost.

As part of the visit, the Slovenian Convention Bureau together with the Culinary House Jezeršek hosted a working lunch in the City Museum of Ljubljana, with Mr. Rivlin and the directors of all the major meetings industry providers of Ljubljana. It was an opportunity for Mr. Rivlin to meet with the representatives and also to share his well appreciated experience in the field of international congresses. Mr. Rivlin answered many questions at the working lunch, majority of them tackling the question on what does Ljubljana have to do to improve its success as a congress destination.

"Persistence is the major value in acquiring a congress,” said Dan Rivlin. "Ljubljana and Slovenia have a great potential in the field of meetings industry. It is important to know the role of the destination as a complete meetings offer. The offer has to be constantly upgraded and appropriately promoted. Your best promotion of Ljubljana as meetings destination is the events that have been so far successfully carried out. When choosing the destination, the Kenes Group gives priority to partnership cooperation at all levels, as well as we highly appreciate the support of public and political leaders at the level of Ljubljana and the country. The strategic partnership in meetings industry at the level of destination is of crucial importance in entering foreign market.”

The Academy Conventa, held a "Bidding Academy," on the 8 and 9 September 2011, in Ljubljana, led by the world renowned meetings and event organizer, director of L&I Communications Group and CPL Events, Mrs. Linda Pereira, highly experienced professional in the field of meetings industry, which in her words is not tourism, but business.

Participants coming from Slovenia and Croatia were representatives of hotels, local tourist organizations, DMC's, PCO's and convention bureaus. The topics related to event management, bidding, promotion, structure of the bid, presentation of the bid, practical examples of bidding and marketing strategies for a successful promotion in foreign markets.

In the words of the lecturer Linda Pereira: "It is necessary to find a successful marketing strategy that will increase business tourism to the benefit of our customers and businesses and thus contribute to economic growth of our destinations. In Slovenia, I see great potential and I wish that you would recognize it yourselves."

Linda Pereira, one of the leading organizers responsible for the events of the three Portuguese Presidencies to the European Union, the organization of EXPO '98 and EURO 2004, and many other international conferences, business conferences and prestigious events, impressed the participants by her professionalism and positive approach, thus demonstrating that loving her work gives her energy and strength to achieve major success on a world scale.

SLOVENIAN CONVENTION BUREAU AND THE INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS PLATFORM SDBP – BENELUX TO BE PRESENTED IN BRUSSELS

The Slovenian Convention Bureau and the International Business Platform SDBP – Benelux will hold a joint event on the 28 September 2011 in Brussels with the aim of presenting the two organizations to potential new business partners and clients of the Benelux region. The event is being organized within the Slovene Convention Bureau’s campaign Push up Slovenia 3, and it presents an opportunity for the interested business fora to recognize Slovenia as a meeting and incentive destination, as well as to obtain new contacts with Slovenian companies in the Benelux region and to meet with leading suppliers. In the interest of achieving the business, economic and tourism objectives, the event is being organized in cooperation with the International Business Platform SDBP – Benelux.

The Slovenia Convention Bureau is promoting an interesting CSR initiative: the adoption of bee colonies. In their words:

"Meeting professionals, eager to make a positive impact on society and the environment, are invited to join the BeBee socially responsible campaign. As one piece of the puzzle in mitigating the negative effects of the meeting industry, the BeBee campaign aims to increase the number of bee colonies. As Albert Einstein once said: 'If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live.'
By signing the BeBee petition, meeting professionals can support the aspirations of the Slovenian meeting community in preserving an honestly green destination of Slovenia. Thus, bee responsible and adopt a bee colony."

Published on the Plus Point, the official One+ Magazine Blog, by Blair Potter, June 29, 2011

After the great success of the first IMEX Challenge in Poland last year, it is evident that the meetings industry community is keen to give back – yet another time.

That is why Jon Bradshaw, Business Development Director of the IMEX Group, who manages the CSR project on behalf of IMEX, approached a few destinations potentially interested in hosting the second IMEX Challenge edition, and Slovenia with its capital Ljubljana was selected for 2012!

Three official partners – the Slovenian Convention Bureau, Ljubljana Tourism / Convention Bureau and Go.Mice congress & marketing agency, sided by the Slovenian Beekeepers' Association and Draga Centre, have created a meaningful project that will continue long after June 2012. The idea is to build beehives within the grounds of an institute for mentally and physically disabled children and adults. It is anticipated that they will be involved in the bees' upkeep as well as potentially create revenue from harvesting and selling honey. By pure coincidence, two of the school’s staff are registered beekeepers and are keen to assist in the future, too. Just as in 2010 the project will need to be completed in just 3 days and applications for dynamic and enthusiastic team volunteers are now being taken. If you would like to learn more about the IMEX Challenge 2012 project and join this great experience
and team, please drop by the Slovenia Stand, C 355, and note that the number of places is limited.

www.slovenia-convention.com
www.green.slovenia-convention.com

Slovenian Tourist Board and Convention Bureau Slovenia are introducing new promotional campaign and animation named 'Teleportation to Slovenia'.

It will premiere this year at IMEX, Worldwide Exhibition for incentive travel, meetings and events. This campaign allows participants to Feel Slovenia right there on IMEX. We
encourage visitors to step in front of the green teleportation screen and pick their
props and gadgets. The props they will choose will take them to a specific destination in
Slovenia.

Discover the diversity Slovenia has to offer and wake up your adventurous spirit. Teleportation
starts at Slovenia's stand C 355, you are kindly invited to stop by.

www.slovenia-convention.com

“There’s a natural gem hidden in the midst of Europe. We would like to invite you to hold your
next meeting or incentive in Slovenia, but first we ask you to become involved ... and adopt a
bee colony.”

BeBee Campaign

Slovenia is a diverse country occupying a small area with pristine nature. The surrounding greenery, drinking water from the tap throughout the country, the exquisite taste of the local cuisine and richness of flora and fauna among others convince meeting planners to hold their meetings and incentives in Slovenia. To make the first step in reducing meeting industry’s negative impacts on the environment, the Slovenian Convention Bureau launches a socially responsible campaign »BeBee«.

“The BeBee campaign focuses on protecting bees that symbolise the diversity of natural
resources that depict Slovenia as a European biotic park” explains Miha Kovačič, Director of the Slovenian Convention Bureau. Bees reveal the level of environmental protection and symbolize the Slovenian vision of preserving nature. Furthermore, bees relate to the Slovenian uniqueness seeing that Slovenia is the only European country that has protected its indigenous species, the Carniolan bee.

The BeBee campaign aims to increase the number of bee colonies, slowing down the negative trend of loss of bee colonies. Accordingly, the Slovenian Convention Bureau became an annual patron of the Beekeeping Association of Slovenia and its Carnolian Bees Conservation Trust.“The Carnolian Bees Conservation Trust aims to protect Carnolian bees and promote the tradition of beekeeping in the Slovenia,” explains Boštjan Noč, President of the Beekeeping Association of Slovenia. In collaboration, the BeBee campaign will enable one beekeepers' club in a Slovenian primary school to set up a learning beehive to breed and keep the bee colonies.

The Slovenian Convention Bureau kindly invites meeting actors to take an active role and
support the aspirations of the Slovenian Convention Bureau in reducing environmental impact of the meeting industry and having a positive impact on the Slovenian beekeepers' clubs. To take part in the BeBee campaign visit www.green.slovenia-convention.com.

In addition to launching the BeBee campaign, the Slovenian Convention Bureau also introduces the Slovenia Green Meetings catalogue. The catalogue thoroughly presents the meetings and incentive offer of Slovenia, showcasing the four faces of Slovenia: urban cities, striking Alps, thermal spas, coastal resorts and the Karst. Special emphasis is placed on answering “How Green Is Slovenia”.

Conventa, the leading business-to-business event in the area of meeting industry in South East Europe, is in full gear. The fourth edition of the exhibition for meetings, events & incentive travel will be held from 18 to 19 January 2012 in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

From the outset Conventa has consistently grown and developed, gradually establishing itself as the most important gathering for the meeting professionals in the region. Conventa 2011 marked a significant increase in the number of exhibitors and hosted buyers, bringing together 139 exhibitors from South East Europe and 271 hosted buyers from all over Europe. On the basis of the questionnaire results, 92 % of the respondents agreed Conventa is important for their business. Moreover, 82 % of the attending exhibitors replied that it was very likely they will exhibit again in 2012. The feedback received after the trade show was extremely positive and Conventa is setting its goals even higher this time around.

300 selected hosted buyers from all over Europe will have the opportunity to pre-schedule
meetings with 140 exhibitors from Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Republic of
Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, Austria and Italy.
In this manner, Conventa will facilitate personal contacts between an international hosted
buyer and regional buyer community and the wide choice of meeting supplier businesses. As
Patrick M Delaney, director at Ovation Global DMC said: »As a professional meeting planner I'm being continuously asked for something different, value-centered, no boring meetings with supplier-partners who are flexible and who want to do business. I firmly believe that South East Europe can provide answers to many of these needs. Go there and check it out. I know you will be more than satisfied!«

For a first-hand experience of this emerging region in the world of meetings, selected hosted
buyers will have an opportunity to attend FAM trips to several chosen destinations in the
region. The selection of destinations for 2012 Conventa fam trips will be revealed at IMEX trade show.

For more information please visit www.conventa.info.

The Ministry of the Economy and the Slovenian Tourist Board handed out the Best Female and Male Tourism Manager Awards for the fourth consecutive year in 2010. The winners from a group of nominees were selected by the tourism community in a vote by e-mail, with the decision subsequently being confirmed by a jury of experts. We are proud to announce that the Best Male Tourism Manager in 2010 is Andrej Prebil, the general manager of Hotel Lev d.d..
Andrej Prebil assumed the challenge of managing Hotel Lev d.d. at the end of 2004. One of his first tasks was drawing up a financial and operational restructuring programme for the company. Under his guidance, the hotel has made great strides: it is in better financial shape, quality of service is up, extensive investments have been made and new offerings have been rolled out. A year ago Hotel Lev also adopted a new strategy focusing on environmentally-friendly operations. This way the hotel has shown that apart from high quality of services it also wants to develop social responsibility.