Organisers of the trainings appreciate specialised, appropriately prepared conference centres, focusing on organising a specific type of a meeting – says Katarzyna Bobowska, General Director at Adgar Plaza Conference Centre. From our observations it follows that the standard still is a training package for big groups. Nevertheless, the organisers more and more often are looking for the offers for the smaller number of people. To fulfil that need, we have prepared in our centre new packages, adjusted to smaller training groups.
Integration or training?
What are the factors for renting a room in a conference centre? First of all, it is cheaper than organising a trip for a group of employees. It also allows to make sure, that the training will not change into an integration meeting, which can happen during a trip. Conference centres also provide indispensable equipment, often high standard, which relieves the employer. It is often the better solution than using company’s conference room, because the environment of the employees changes, which allows them to better focus on the content of the training. The participants can distance themselves from the company’s everyday matters and better absorb given information.
From a different point of view, an integration of the employees during a work trip is not always a bad thing. It allows them to exchange opinions in less formal setting, expand their creativity and inspire each other. It does not guarantee that people will only focus on the contents of the training, but instead it can lead to creating new, innovative projects. For the small companies it is better to use their own conference centres, as it is cheaper. It also a less time-consuming solution.
Luxury in Poland
Conference centres are usually located in hotels, as an additional function. These rooms are not only used for the training of the employees, but also for conferences, lectures, seminars and galas. In the group of the most luxurious places there are, for example, Hotel Marriott and Hotel Hilton in Warsaw, also Holiday Inn, Chopin and Sheraton in Kraków.
Nowadays the demand is greater for more global objects, whose basic function will be organising high-quality space for trainings, conferences and galas.
In Warsaw, Mokotów district, there is Adgar Plaza Conference Centre. It offers small rooms for small audience meetings, as well as bigger spaces for the events having a lot of participants. The centre is equipped with modern multimedia gear, allowing for video- and teleconferences.
On Warsaw and Łódź markets there are conference centres belonging to Golden Floor company. People interested can go to three centres in Warsaw – GF Plaza, GF Sky, GF Atrium, and one in Łódź – GF Park. All are in the proximity of city centres and are equipped with modern, high-quality gear.
New centre in Kraków
In Kraków, modern ICE Congress Centre is being constructed. It is located in the proximity of Rondo Grunwaldzkie. It will offer over 36,000 m2 of conference space. In the object there will be, among others, an Auditorium (seating as many as 2,000 people), a Theatre Hall and Chamber Hall. The investor is Gmina Miasta Kraków. The cornerstone for ICE was laid on the 28th of October 2010. Opening of that multifunctional place is planned for 2014. Design studio Ingarden & Ewý Architekci is responsible for the design of ICE Congress Centre. Krzysztof Ingarden, author of the design, comments – Functional and compositional arrangement of the object makes use of the natural view values of the place. The centre will be a modern form with a big, glassed-in foyer. The form of the building, slightly wavy, dropping in the direction of Vistula, will allow it to smoothly blend into the embankment landscape. It will also harmonise with The Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology. Foyer, together with “the fifth storey” (the roof of the building) will be visible from the Wawel’s terrace. The participators of the congresses and concerts will be able to admire the city, at the same time being well-visible themselves. Total cost of the project amounts to over 357 million zł.
Each company has to individually consider, if renting a special place for employee training will be profitable. It is, however, unquestionable that if it will decide to do that, it will be able to find high-standard spaces, in the proximity of city centre.