New date and location for Italian events show

Moving to Rimini, BTC, the Italian trade show for the meetings, incentives, conferences, events and business travel industry, will take place in July this year, rather than its traditional autumn date.

The BTC Advisory Board accepted buyer and exhibitor suggestions, which indicated a sharp shift in the events and conference season. November was seen as a month of intense activity for both corporates and associations. However, the beginning of July was identified as the most suitable “low season” period in which to look for new venues, services and suppliers before the pick-up in activity in the autumn.

The show has moved to Rimini not just because it is a pleasant seaside resort, but above all due to its position as one of Italy’s leading events destinations. The new venue for BTC is Rimini’s new Palacongressi conference and exhibition centre, designed by German architect Volkwin Marg, from GMP in Hamburg. Covering an area of 38,000 square metres, the centre will be completed in April and opened in May.

BTC organsiers hope the 2010 event will consolidate its position as a trendsetter for the meetings industry through the provision of high-quality professional educational content. The programme of conferences and seminars, drawn up in partnership with Meeting Professionals International, promises to be significantly upgraded. It will feature Italian and international speakers offering their views on the most topical issues for industry stakeholders, presentations of market research and surveys, and practical in-depth sessions. From this year, participants will be able to enrol online in seminars, which will then be entered into their individual diaries.

BTC’s successful system of pre-scheduled appointments, which allows buyers and exhibitors to build their own individual online diaries and select the people of greatest interest to them, remains in place. Again this year the Hosted Buyer programme will be reserved for a select group of Italian and international buyers, which will be qualified by the BTC team based on their potential for doing business with the targets indicated.

Pre-registration for hosted buyers opens on 4 February at www.btc.it