ICEF + WYSTC
November is always a month to look forward to at IH Berlin PROLOG as the •ICEF Berlin workshop, the premier annual gathering of education travel and international student recruitment professionals worldwide hits town. This year saw new records set, with 1,740 professionals representing 1,186 organisations from 96 different countries coming together at the •Intercontinental Hotel. Over three full days, and with 22,744 scheduled meetings, this was a unique opportunity to network, strike up new business relationships, renew existing partnerships and meet key industry figures.
The three-day event kicked off with a day of presentations and seminars covering a wide range of industry-relevant topics, trends, facts and figures. Then came two full days of pre-arranged appointments, bringing participants together to explore business opportunities, take the first steps towards fruitful business relationships and talk to people from all over the world working in the industry. An increase of over 12% in participant numbers compared with 2008 shows just how important this event has become.
IH Berlin’s Director, Uwe Stränger, attended the event along with Gerda Schlimmgen, our Booking Manager (you can check Gerda out at 2:35 in the video below.) With more than 40 appointments over two days, the schedule was never less than hectic. It’s a wonder that neither of them lost their voices and that they still had bags of energy for the (now traditional) post-ICEF party. Approximately 80 selected guests joined IH Berlin and nine other International House schools at Berlin’s •Funkturm for an evening of fine food, fine wine and socialising. Click •here for a slide show.
WYSTC Conference
IH Berlin PROLOG also had two representatives at the •WYSTC Conference in Manchester towards the end of September. Janka Duske accompanied Gerda Schlimmgen to the three-day event, which this year focused on innovation and new opportunities for the youth and student travel industry. Despite difficult economic conditions, more than 400 organisations took part in this series of presentations, seminars, workshops and meetings. Whenever the community of language travel organisations comes together, IH Berlin PROLOG is in the thick of things!