Rhodes, Greece took the lead once again in hosting international conventions

The 45th ICCA Congress & Exhibition (International Congress and Convention Association) which took place at the Sofitel Capsis Hotel Rhodes & Convention Centre "Marika Capsis 2000" in Rhodes from the 28th of October until the 1st of November 2006 was ICCA's most successful gathering ever!

The attention of the International Meetings Industry turned to the island of Rhodes where hundreds of ICCA members from all over the world met in order to discuss the present and future of the Industry and its trends. ICCA is the greatest International link within the Meetings Industry and its members are the largest Professional Congress Organizers (PCO's) and Agencies in the world, as well as Tourist & Convention Visitor Bureaus (CVB's), Meeting Hotels, Convention Centres, Airlines and Audiovisual & Production Companies. ICCA counts up for more than 40 years of existence and numbers up to 770 members from almost 80 countries worldwide. This year's convention smashed the records in all terms of attendances and innovations:

- 826 delegates from 68 countries from around the world participated at the congress
- A record number of 287 First Time Attendees
- Highest accompanying guests attendance ever
- Highest new memberships ever: 48 new companies
- Highest sponsorship coverage ever
- 142 ICCA members participating on the business exchange programs.

Apart from the record-breaking attendance, the delegates will have several other reasons to remember this event. The Greek Local Host Committee together with the ICCA Head Office managed to escape from the established and given organizing boundaries of the congress. They brought out a new face to the Convention; a more interactive, modern and more technological one which managed to "speak out" to the five senses of the human body! For the first time a spotting device (spotme machine) was introduced to facilitate with networking and the exchange of business information. Shockfish's Spotme networking tool and LOG ON's Mobile Events Assistant were fanatically used by the participants and added a new dimension to their networking (736 participants registered to pick up a Spotme device!). The convention also displayed a cultural face as the days were split into thematic units, and these themes were used everywhere in the congress, from the social and F&B events to the background stage display at the plenary rooms. Some examples are the following:

29th October, Medieval Rhodes: In order to enhance the Medieval feeling of the day, the Local Host Committee arranged for the chapter meetings of that morning to be organized at the Medieval City of Rhodes, where 11 venues (which normally are not open to the public) were chosen, each one very different from the other: Mary of the Castle (a old church that today is a museum), 2 meeting rooms at the French Consultant on the Street of the Knights, D'Amboise Gate Halls (old prisons), Battle Preparation Room, Temple of St. George, Castellania, Prefecture House, a Turkish Coffee House, The hospice of St. Aikaterini. That same night, the welcome reception took place at the courtyard of the Grand Master's Palace, at the very heart of the Medieval City.

30th October, Ancient Rhodes: The Cat Night was based on the theme Gods & Goddesses.
31st October, Modern Rhodes: A gala dinner was organized during which a phantasmagorical aerial laser show was presented. The same night, the Minister of Tourism Ms. Fani Palli-Petralia spoke to the International Congress Community about the new programme set out by the Ministry for the future of the Greek Meetings Industry.

1st November, Aegean Traditional Rhodes: A special restaurants guide was offered to all delegates of the congress for their ''free'' night out in order to help them choose among the many nice traditional Greek tavernas at the Medieval City of Rhodes. The President of the Greek Local Host Committee (LHC), Mrs. Irini Varda-Capsis, Commercial Director of Capsis Convention Centres & Resort Hotels, the Vice-President of the LHC Mr. Panagiotis Podimatas, President of P.C. Podimatas Audiovisual S.A. and Tasos Hatziliamis, Local Host Committee Member and owner of Rodos Tours S.A., the official DMC of the Congress, gloriously presented Greece's new dynamism and modernism and showed its new convention infrastructure to the elite of the International marketplace, thus, projecting Greece as one of the best Convention destinations in Europe. The organization and execution of the convention was highly successful in regards to the infrastructure as well as the services provided, and all the delegates were impressed by the Rhodians' warm welcome. The Sofitel Capsis Hotel Rhodes & Convention Centre "Marika Capsis 2000" turned out to be one of the "strong cards" in the whole attempt to host the ICCA Convention in Greece. This venue is the largest Resort Convention Centre in Greece and one of the largest in Europe with a total conference capacity of 8.000 delegates in 100 multi-function meeting rooms (the largest plenary room seats up to 3.400 delegates in theatre style) and an exhibition area of 5.990 sq.m. It offers 691 guestrooms and is strategically located in front of the Ixia Beach, just 5' from the Medieval City of Rhodes and 15' from the Rhodes International Airport.

“The Congress and General Assembly in Rhodes were an outstanding success, both from the point of view of the level of delegate attendance and the quality of the programme. All who attended the conference also received wonderful hospitality and service from our Greek hosts.” Leigh Harry, ICCA President