SPOTLIGHT ON

Ommegang Parade. 1 & 3 July, ending in the Grand’Place
The Ommegang (‘everything which revolves around’ in old Flemish) remains one of Brussels’ most important historic & cultural events. The procession includes no fewer than 1.500 amateur actors in period costume. It starts out in the Sablon and progresses majestically down to the Grand’Place. There, seated comfortably & in the company of distinguished citizens, trade guilds & clergy, you will witness a dazzling reconstruction of the festival organised for Emperor Charles V & his son Philippe in 1549.
www.ommegang.be



It's not only Rock 'n' Roll, Baby!, 20 June – 14 September, BOZAR
This story of art & music brings together for the first time a series of important works by musicians from the 1970s to the present day, including Patti Smith, Brian Eno, Chicks on Speed, Fischerspooner, Devendra Banhart, Pete Doherty…This exhibition, electrified by a unique collaboration with the Rock Werchter Festival, shows for the first time another history of rock.
www.bozar.be


REMINDER: Expo 58
Brussels is celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the 1958 World Fair. There are exhibitions, events & parties throughout the year. Time to rediscover Brussels’ strongest symbol, the Atomium (with its fresh new look & skin) and its exhibition of vintage Belgium from the Fifties.

Just next door, you’ll find something uniquely surreal & Belgian. ‘The Pavilion of Provisional Happiness’ has been built entirely out of Jupiler beer crates and there you can catch a showing of the historic film 'Expo 58' (until end of November).
www.atomium.be
http://blog.atomium.be

Starting 16 May (until 21 September), the Royal Museums of Fine Arts remembers the 1958 retrospective, 50 Years of Modern Art which brought together masterpieces from all over the world. An exhibition of documents, records & works by Vasarely, Appel, Jorn…
www.fine-arts-museum.be





For more info on all the different festivities:
www.brussels-expo58.be


LAST CALLS

By public demand this hit European exhibition, which started already in October last year, ‘It’s our History!’ has been extended until 12 May @ Tour & Taxis. Well worth combining some pleasure with your business…
www.expo-europe.be


Jan Fabre ‘The Borrowed Time’ @ Bozar until 18/05/08

&

Paul Klee.
‘Theatre here, there and everywhere’ @ Bozar until 25/05/08
www.bozar.be

• Over 55.000 meetings
• Almost 14 million delegate days
• A 4 billion Euro industry responsible for over 22.000 jobs

Looking for a job?
On the same day 1384 job seekers came to La Tentation for a special Brussels Job Day, dedicated to the Meetings Industry & organised by BECI (Brussels Enterprises Commerce & Industry) in partnership with BITC. Over 30 potential employers & industry associations were on hand to listen, look for new staff & give advice to candidates in on-the-spot recruitment interviews.

An interactive European site inspection
The VIP Day on the next Tuesday started with a Belgian & Spanish Tapas lunch at the HUSA President Park Hotel. Then more than 60 participants divided into 3 groups to take part in 3 interactive site inspections with the 3 different media partners – incentives (BBT Online), meetings (MIM Magazine) & events (RendEvenement).

The incentive group, for example, learnt to play blackjack at Grand Casino Brussels; to taste beer & play traditional Brussels pub games with Sterkmans Events at the Vaudeville; to make chocolate mousse at L’Atelier des Chefs and to brew Kriek & Gueuze at the Cantillon Brewery. The day ended in style with a buffet dinner at K-NAL.
In the words of some of the participants:


“The trip was really interesting- not only the Fair & the educational but all the different visits I was able to make. I am developing a sales pitch for the city, and now feel more confident to talk about it.”
Pierre Fortado, Prefenrendum, Paris.

“It was all well-organized with great professionalism & a nice welcome. I’m already thinking of organising an incentive for my sales team for September 2009.”
Massimo Cavedagna , Marketing Manager , Eurodent SpA, Italy.

“Thanks for this interesting & enjoyable stay…and a big bravo to all the team for their impeccable organisation. 10 out of 10…”
Cornel Simiu, Meetings & Events Manager, CapGemini, Paris.

“Just back in Geneva and I wanted to thank you for the invitation to the Brussels Meetings Week. The organisation was perfect. The idea of the themed site inspections was excellent as was the dinner venue. The catering was also superb.”
Patrick Mengelt, Vitalis Events SA, Geneva.

Business & pleasure @ EMIF 2008
The Brussels Village, complete with all its commercial & institutional partners, was once again a focus of attention - a place to do quiet business over a Léon beer at EMIF 2008 or on one of the many colourful Brussels stands.
And an evening of networking pleasure ended the first day at the Brussels Event Brewery with a drumming-in-the-dark spectacular, some traditional Belgian food and the welcome chance to sit down for a bit…

Making careers more accessible
BITC organised another successful Career Day for 80 students from seven top business & tourism schools in the Brussels Region. The theme centred on ‘Jobs in the Meetings Industry’. Speakers included the Presidents of 6 major industry associations – ABITO, ACEA, BAPCO, Horeca, Febelux, & Brussels Special Venues - alongside BITC & EMIF.

A great finale of awards
The Awards’ ceremony was held in true Oscar style at Claridge, complete with digital wallpaper & special techno effects, in the presence of two Brussels Ministers - Evelyne Huytebroeck (Tourism) & Benoît Cerexhe (Economy) and BITC President, Philippe Close.
Over 1.000 industry professionals took part in the voting for these 13 awards to recognise talented innovation in the Brussels meetings & tourism industries.

• Belgian Meetings Industry Award to Martin Lewis, Managing Director & Editor, CAT Publications for his great contribution to the industry. Martin Lewis is also the creator & organiser of the UK National Meetings Week.
• Best Brussels Incentive to the incentive house @dmire for their ‘Admire the Taste of Europe’ programme (see below in Original ideas for Motivation & Incentives).
• Best Brussels B2C Event to the event agency ALICE for the spectacular Electrabel Nights on the Grand’Place attracting over 300.000 people during Brussels’ Festival of Winter Wonders.
• Best Brussels B2B Event to the event agency GUAVA for ‘Dynamic cities need women’, the international forum for equality, organised for the Brussels Capital Region.
  

• New for 2007 to the Museum of Natural Sciences for its magnificent renovation of the Dinosaur Gallery.
• Best Projection of Brussels Image to the cultural association, Voir et Dire Bruxelles for their organisation of the Art Nouveau Biennial promoting Brussels both in Belgium and abroad as the capital of Art Nouveau.
• Best Cultural Event to the Royal Museums of Fine Arts for the superb exhibition ‘Rubens, a genius at Work’ comprising over 100 works of art.
• A Special Prize out of competition was awarded to the Atomium for the activities organised during its reopening and its contribution to the radiance of Brussels.

BITC also took the opportunity to thank numerous partners for their work in promoting Brussels - special mentions for MIM Magazine (supplement on Brussels), the Sheraton & Meridien Hotels (Brussels-London 1:51 event), Choux de Bruxelles (Midday with BITC), Microson (audiovisual equipment) & Electrabel (Festival of Winter Wonders).

N.B. Discover the fun & variety of all the different events behind the 3rd Brussels Meetings Week, courtesy of EventAttitude’s extensive photo report on: www.brusselsmeetingsweek.com

The winner of the Award for the Best Brussels Incentive 2007 (or team-building activity) was the Incentive Travel House, @dmire. They won with ‘Admire the Taste of Europe’, a programme they carried out for Puratos, a worldwide leader in the food industry.

On the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, @dmire created a pedestrian rally in Brussels on the theme of Europe. It comprised a series of tests & activities mixing fun, education & a strong element of surprise, which allowed the participants to discover something about the EU’s 27 individual member countries.

39 top Puratos managers – Belgian, British, Chilean & Spanish – took part in 2 groups in this discovery of the European Quarter. The European rally theme continued gastronomically into the evening as the participants went on to 5 restaurants of different nationalities, each for a different course in this itinerant dinner…

Our Congratulations to @dmire who will certainly be using Europe-in-Brussels again as scenario for more original incentives…
www.admire.be

Novotel is to build a brand new 239 room hotel right next to Brussels South Station. Principally aimed at the business traveller, it will open in September 2009.

Also opening in September 2009 is the long-awaited & renovated SQUARE meeting centre at the heart of Brussels. GL Events recently appointed a commercial team to start selling these 10.000m2 of flexible meeting space, suitable for every type of event – international conferences, European summits, work meetings, product launches, company parties, formal dinners, fashion shows, film premières…you name it, SQUARE can do it…
Contact commercial managers, Marie Tuteleers & Paul Koots for all the latest news.
www.square-brussels.eu

In May & June Cityscape, the striking wooden sculpture in uptown Brussels will be the venue for numerous corporate events…..under a welcoming 500m2 transparent structure and sun-filled terrace with a view over Arne Quinze’s work of art. Cityscape comprises 4000m2 of open space.
www.cityscape.be

Brussels Special Venues, the association which groups together a collection of 18 unique meeting spaces in Brussels, has just launched a new website. It’s clear, colourful and designed for the event organiser who needs to feel the atmosphere of a potential venue and make quick decisions. Take a look for yourself…really professional.
www.venues.be

The historic Porte de Hal Tower, near Brussels South Station, has been renovated and reopens in June. The first two floors will house a permanent display of the history of this emblematic building, and the third will be for temporary exhibitions & events. Porte de Hal is administered by the Royal Museums of Art & History.
Info on all the new activities taking place is available online from 2 May.
www.mrah.be

Sortilege will put a spell on you
Try a new form of incentive this summer…created for aspiring explorers.
It’s an open-air adventure in a medieval setting, complete with medieval characters, in the ‘Val des Béguines’ to the north of Brussels.
Devised as a family game, this 3 hour trail of tests, surprises & trials is easily adapted to corporate & association team-building. Group catering is also available. For details, contact event agency, Windbag – they have 25 years experience in creating successful events.
www.sortilege.be


A mousse incentive....
A great recipe for chocolate mousse for 6... made last month in record time during the Brussels Meetings Week by the VIP incentive organisers group at L’Atelier des Chefs. On this occasion charismatic Chef Benoît Vernailllen used bananas & spicy ‘speculoos’ biscuits as the base, instead of Pink Ladies...


What you need:
200g black chocolate
80g sugar
6 eggs
60g butter
2 Pink Ladies (apples!)
60g more sugar for the eggs

What you do:
• Peel the apples & dice them into small 1cm pieces.
• Put the sugar in a pan and make caramel, add the apples & half a glass of water.
• Simmer until the water evaporates completely.
• Allow to cool and put the mixture in glasses.
• Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie with the butter.
• Separate the yolks of the eggs from the whites, whisk the whites adding sugar & beat the mixture into a smooth shiny meringue.
• Fold in the yolks, then add the melted chocolate & mix carefully.
• Pour over the caramelised apples & put it in the fridge for an hour before serving.

And very delicious it was...with a quick cup of coffee after so much hard work....and fun
www.atelierdeschefs.com

• In Berlin@ Brussels Day, 15 October 2008
• In Barcelona@ EIBTM, 2-4 December 2008
  

Or at our new offices in the heart of artistic Brussels.
We will be part of Brussels Info Place (BIP), a dynamic new tourism & meeting complex which will open in stages over the coming year in 4 renovated historic buildings on the Place Royale. The 1st part comprising BIP Info (Visitors Centre), BIP Bookshop, BIP Food & Drink (cafeteria) will be officially inaugurated during the symbolic Iris Festival on 10 May and open for business the following day.
The Convention Bureau team look forward to welcoming you here…

BIP will present & promote the Brussels Capital Region. There will be an interpretation centre bringing together all the major cultural tourism associations opening in November; a government conference centre; an educational centre and a hotel development. Watch this space…
Click here to read the press release

We are here to convince you to hold your next meeting or event in Brussels… naturally!

We have up-to-the-minute information on www.brusselsinternational.be, as well as a wide range of attractive and practical printed material for you & your clients.

We are also completely neutral. We offer independent advice and can put you in contact with DMCs, PCOs, hotels, venues & other suppliers - according to your own particular needs
– all free of charge.

Brussels International – Tourism & Congress
(As from 28 April)
Rue Royale 2
B-1000 Brussels
Tel: +32 2 549 50 50
Fax: +32 2 549 50 59
mice@brusselsinternational.be
www.brusselsinternational.be