Full event calendar at Messe Wien Exhibition & Congress Center +++ Versatile event venue located in the world’s top conference destination +++ New gallery with meeting rooms in Hall B +++ Amenities around the Messe Wien going from strength to strength +++ 18th World AIDS conference to be held in Vienna for first time in July 2010 +++ Top-class trade events

VIENNA (18 February 2010) – The Messe Wien Exhibition & Congress Center posted record attendance in its sixth year of operations. In addition to dozens of third-party events, 2009 brought nine large-scale international conferences which together attracted a total of 60,000 people — including two attended by 17,000–18,000 delegates. The conferences centred on a vast range of topics, from medical issues such as respiratory disease, diabetes, geriatrics, surgery, Alzheimer’s and osteoporosis, through to public transport and media. In all these events accounted for at least 200,000 overnight stays in Vienna in 2009. “The Messe Wien and its Congress Center have done a lot to raise Vienna’s profile as an international exhibition and conference location. It is the only venue in Austria capable of hosting large-scale conference-exhibitions for up to 30,000 attendees,” said Reed Exhibitions Austria CEO, Johann Jungreithmair.

The Messe Wien Exhibition & Congress Center is operated exclusively by the Austrian subsidiary of Reed Exhibitions. Headquartered in Richmond, near London, Reed Exhibitions is the world’s leading privately owned organiser of trade and consumer events. Reed Exhibitions Messe Wien organises proprietary national and international trade and public exhibitions. It also hosts third-party events such as conferences, events, product launches and meetings of widely varying sizes, and provides technical support services. In 2009 a total of 669,093 visitors attended the 96 proprietary and third-party events at the venue. The events included 12 Reed trade exhibitions and 84 hosted tenancies. Most of the latter were large conferences, trade exhibitions, meetings, and events held by local and international companies and organisations.

Flexible facilities
Designed by star architect Gustav Peichl, the state-of-the-art Messe Wien complex is one of the most modern exhibition and conference centres in Europe. The halls are designed with flexibility in mind, and can be partitioned into smaller conference areas. Total hall seating capacity in the Congress Center is around 3,100. Capacity can also be expanded by extending events into the spacious foyers.

The 450 metre long mall connecting Foyers A and D, the three exhibition halls (A, B and C with a total of approx. 46,000 square metres [sqm]), the multipurpose Hall D (9,000sqm) and the Congress Center provides an attractive central area which is often used for catering and poster presentations, or as a meeting place. “It is the well thought-out infrastructure throughout the complex — both indoors and outdoors — that makes Messe Wien Exhibition & Congress Center so unique,” noted Johann Jungreithmair. This includes two multi-storey car parks, A and D, an underground car park and coach parking spaces, which together can accommodate up to 4,500 vehicles.

The Messe Wien Exhibition & Congress Center is suitable for events of all kinds. “From small political, business or cultural gatherings to large corporate and industry meetings, and international conferences attracting several thousand delegates, we have space for events of all sizes,” said Renate Dobler-Jerabek, Reed Exhibitions Messe Wien Director Congresses & Events. “There are many ways we can adapt the location to match organisers’ individual requirements. And it is precisely this flexibility that helps us stand out from the international competition,” she added.

New gallery with meeting rooms in Hall B
The addition of several new business rooms has increased Messe Wien’s attractions for potential tenants. Operator Reed Messe Wien and facility owner Wiener Messe Besitz GmbH (MBG) have created a gallery level with 24 enclosed, partitionable rooms in Hall B. Gallery B gives organisers just over 1,100sqm of extra space to play with. “The new facilities are ideal for related exhibitions. And for example, purchasing associations, procurement officers and exhibitors need somewhere separate from a trade show to hold talks, but still close at hand,” Renate Dobler-Jerabek explained. The free-standing steel structure in Hall B now offers this option, and the rooms' large windows allow users to keep an eye on the exhibition. It is possible to create a 160sqm space – the Lounge -for exclusive related events in the centre of the gallery simply by sliding the partitions out of the way. “The gallery enables us to offer our customers still better service and more convenience,” Dobler-Jerabek pointed out. .

Vienna — a leading conference destination
Vienna’s popularity and international reputation give it a major competitive advantage. Foreign organisers prize its role as a business centre, and its outstanding transport infrastructure, cultural attractions, architecture and lifestyle, as well as the high security standards, and the quality of the hotels and restaurants. In 2008 Vienna came first (this time in dead heat with Paris) in the International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA) conference destination ranking for the fifth time in a row, ahead of Barcelona, Singapore and Berlin. According to statistics published by the Vienna Convention Bureau (VCB), a total of 3,257 national and international conferences, and corporate events were held in Vienna in 2008 — 18 percent up on the year before. Of these events, 701 were conferences (470 international and 231 domestic) and 2,556 were corporate gatherings.

Nearby amenities
The decision to rebuild the Messe Wien Exhibitions & Congress Center triggered the regeneration of Vienna’s Second District, an area where a lot of building development is going on at present. As part of a comprehensive urban development project, several modern office buildings have gone up in the immediate vicinity of the Messe Wien. The new Vienna University of Economics and Business campus, being built on a site adjacent to the Messe Wien, is an architecturally ambitious flagship project which is expected to create synergies with the neighbouring venue. The groundbreaking ceremony took place in autumn 2009, and the project is due for completion by autumn 2013 to ensure that the campus is ready in time for the 2013/14 winter semester. The location will provide a campus-style atmosphere for the 22,000 students at Europe’s largest business university.

Messe Wien came still closer to the city centre in May 2008, when a new extension to the U2 underground line led to the opening of two new stations on site. The venue is now fully linked with Vienna’s excellent public transport network, and can now be reached from the city centre in a few minutes without changing. The Hotel Courtyard by Marriott Wien Messe (4-star) and Austria Trend Hotel Messe Wien (3-star plus) are directly opposite the main entrances. .

Packed calendar in 2010, including World AIDS conference
The big highlight of the 2010 conference calendar at the Messe Wien Exhibition & Congress Center will be the 18th World AIDS Conference, due to take place from 18–23 July. The event is the world’s largest HIV and AIDs conference. It is staged by the Geneva-based International Aids Society (IAS) — the world's leading group of independent HIV experts — and will this time be held in cooperation with the Austrian AIDS Society. The conference, making its Vienna debut this year, will bring up to 30,000 delegates and 2,000 journalists from around the globe to the city. The International Congress of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL), to be held from 14–18 April 2010, is another high profile premiere. This annual event has stopped off at 20 different cities since it began its life in 1966, the latest being Copenhagen in 2009. The EASL congress is expected to draw 7,000 delegates. The Tea & Coffee World Cup 2010 will be making its debut at the Messe Wien from 25–27 April 2010. This special event, to run concurrently with the Reed Alles für den Gast Wien catering trade show, will take the lid off each stage of the tea and coffee supply chain from harvest to cup. The Messe Wien Exhibition & Congress Center will also be hosting many other conferences, exhibitions and meetings this year. (+++)

Messe Wien Exhibitions & Congress Center – facts and figures

• Congress Center with up to 18 conference units (total of 6,969sqm)
• 3 exhibition halls (total of 46,000sqm)
• Halls A and C each partitionable into nine separate areas
• Multipurpose Hall D for exhibitions, trade fairs, conferences and shows (9,000sqm)
• NEW: up to 24 meeting rooms in the gallery level of Hall B
• 450-metre mall connecting the two foyers, Halls A to D and the Congress Center
• About 4,500 parking spaces (mostly covered)
• Hotel Courtyard by Marriott Wien Messe (4-star) and Austria Trend Hotel Messe Wien (3-star plus) in the immediate vicinity
• Two underground stations (Messe Prater and Krieau)

For more information please contact the Events Department, Reed Exhibitions Messe Wien on:
T +43 (0)1 72720 ext. 2301; congress@messe.at; www.messecongress.at