At the Year-End Press Conference for 2009 on 14 December, Norbert Bargmann, Managing Director of Messe München GmbH reported on business for the year 2009 at the ICM – International Congress Centre Munich. He said:
 
"In the past business year, 2009, the International Congress Centre Munich achieved a number of important successes. It not only received two coveted Conga Awards, which are regarded as the Oscars of the conventions sector, but in 2009 it was also named the Number One congress centre in Germany. And the renowned European Society of Cardiology (ESC) once again chose the ICM as the venue for their cardiologists' congress in 2012. Europe´s largest medical congress would therefore be taking place in Munich again for the third time in succession, following 2004 and 2008."
 
Despite the global economic turbulence the ICM had put in another peak performance in 2009: Around 130,000 visitors and specialists had come from all over the world to attend a total of 136 events in the ICM. Even in the difficult market environment of 2009, occupancy levels at the ICM – International Congress Centre Munich had been continuously high, thanks in particular to the long-planned scientific congresses and conferences that had been held at the ICM in conjunction with the leading trade fairs of Messe München GmbH.
 
 
A large part in this success, continued Bargmann, had been down to the ICM strategy of network marketing: In particular joint activities between the ICM, the City of Munich and other partners in the Munich congress sector had given added strength and seriousness to bids to host international congresses in the city. The joint bid book of Munich´s tourist office, airport, hotel sector and the ICM was impressive proof in customer presentations of the unique benefits of the congress destination of Munich.
 
As Bargmann pointed out, "this networking in the area of marketing was used to exemplary effect in the successful ESC bid, as Munich´s hotel trade have at this early stage now made a commitment to reserve an allocation of around 15,000 hotel beds for the congress in 2012. The fact that Munich will again, after 2004 and 2008, be turned into the 'Cardiologists City' between 25 and 29 August 2012, has strengthened Munich´s pole position considerably on the international meetings and conventions market. This third vote of confidence by the ESC is ample proof that Munich and the ICM have now taken their position on the Mount Olympus of the international congress world!"
 
Bargmann stressed that in parallel with the extensive marketing activities, the ICM had been working on continuously improving the quality of its services and offering. The new ICM technical services company, Neumann&Müller, for example, appointed in July 2009, ensured transparent service structures and innovative services, which were highly valued by the customers. Christian Müller, the new Director of ICM Technical Services, kept a close eye on maintaining the best possible match between customer requirements and the services offered at the ICM.
 
Bargmann reviewed the events held in 2009 in the ICM: In the first half of the year, the centre had hosted high-calibre events such as a 'kick-off' meeting by Deutsche Telekom AG, the Annual General Meetings of BayWa, Epcos, Hypo Real Estate, Infineon, Linde, MAN, Münchener Rück and Wacker, the Congress of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Chirurgie, the Tetra World Congress 2009 and the international congress of the fast-growing trade fair Intersolar 2009.
 
The highlights of the second half of the year had included the World Congress 2009 on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, large corporate events by SAP (International Utilities Conference) and Fujitsu (VISIT), the German Dentists' Convention, the annual convention of the Deutscher Wirbelsäulengesellschaft and the Medientage München.
 
As Bargmann reported, the ICM had also convinced its customers in 2009 on the themes of environmental protection and sustainability. ICM customers such as the leading software producer, SAP, for example, had explicitly praised the dedication of Messe München and the ICM to ecology and sustainability, through its efforts as regards modern environmental technology, sophisticated waste-disposal concepts, the exploitation of solar energy and in the green design of the exhibition centre.
 
At the SAP International Utilities Conference in autum this year, another contribution to the theme of climate protection had been made in the form of offering the organiser the opportunity of using green energy, i.e. electricity generated exclusively from renewable sources like water, solar or wind. Stadtwerke München, a local electricity company, had been involved here in providing this special Naturstrom rate. From spring 2010, the ICM will be able to extend this service to all its customers.
 
In his concluding remarks, Bargmann gave a short review of the events coming up in the ICM in 2010: In addition to the 2nd Ecumenical Convention, there would be a congress by the European Psychiatric Association (EPA 2010) and an annual convention of the International Society of Nephrology (2010 ERA-EDTA/DGfN Congress). Also the world´s leading robotics conference, the International Symposium on Robotics (ISR 2010), being held in conjunction with the largest German robotics conference, ROBOTIK 2010, both of them taking place within the framework of the AUTOMATICA trade fair at the start of June.
10/P/bue