Talking of conference organising in Florence

The B.T.C. (conference tourism exchange) has just closed in Florence, once again having asserted itself as one of the greatest world-wide conference events. During the event, the Turismo Oggi prizes for outstanding quality in tourism were awarded. The jury, which included 25 representatives of the tourist world, selected Alpitour for their “Value Holidays” operation, the Jollyhotels chain for the hotel section, and Elena David – General Manager of Una Hotels & Resorts – as tourism personality of the year. The B.T.C. has established itself as a global fair, where the presence of traditional exhibitors is now being successfully integrated by the proposals of the other components which contribute to making a conference into an event proper: special exhibition areas have hosted an exhibition of accessory items, the show and entertainment area, the incentive house and congress organiser area, and the technology section. I wish to focus on this last aspect of conference organising. Technologies applied to conference organisation have recently developed enormously, and it is not infrequent that important events are simultaneously shared by people located in different parts of the world, by teleconferencing. The 11th of September has further rapidly modified behaviours, reducing travels to an essential minimum. A combination of these factors is going to provide a new boost to technology: a new conferencing model is probably going to develop, with locations chosen in the proximity of workplaces, and a web of connections making use of sophisticated systems for sound and image transmission. This new model will allow meeting participants to travel less and save on costs, also reducing time consumption and the concentration of people in the same places. Conference venues, in turn, will need to be equipped with reliable technological tools, and to revise their offers in terms of services and flexibility. The world of congress organising is a significant economic reality, which needs the capability to adjust – as it has always done so far – to the constant changing of society.