Alpbach has been an important location for national and international congresses and meetings for 80 years. The Congress Center Alpbach (CCA) is the heart of it. The sustainable orientation is reflected with a new corporate design and clear focus.
The CCA is the hub for events and offers its customers comprehensive service. With in-depth expertise, the entire team provides the organizers with advice in order to make events in the Alpbachtal as sustainable as possible. In a creative development process, this “advisory role” of the CCA team was made even clearer. “In practice, this means that we not only support our customers in execution, but also provide comprehensive advice on event design. The trend is moving away from classic lectures towards communicative encounters,” says Kahn.
The best example is the annual “European Forum Alpbach”. This year, around 4,000 people met in the Alpbachtal in August, including 500 international students, to work on the future of Europe. Very creative formats such as “stage sessions” are implemented, which provide short, precise specialist input. The discussion is then deepened with so-called “chats” in smaller groups or “hikes”, i.e. thematic walks and hikes in the wonderful nature of the Alpbachtal.
New appearance makes philosophy visible
As part of the further development process, the CCA not only expanded its advisory role, but also renewed its entire brand identity. “The Congress Center Alpbach is a place for inspiring and lively encounters where sustainability in all its facets is the focus. Our brand profile and the new logo reflect exactly that. The initials ‘CCA’ symbolize two faces, two people who meet in the middle of nature. The choice of colors in green and beige reinforces this message and shows the close connection with the Alpbachtal,” explains Thomas Kahn.
The new brand identity is also presented through an innovative website: “Auf www.congressalpbach.com We offer our customers a quick and intuitive overview of the diverse options we offer. Technically, the website has been completely renovated and now enables even closer collaboration with our partners Alpbachtal Tourismus and Skijuwel Alpbachtal Wildschönau.”
In autumn 2024, the Congress Centrum Alpbach expects numerous event highlights that promote inspiring encounters and focus on innovative topics relating to sustainability, business, society and science:
- 38th Alpbach Financial Symposium, October
- Annual conference for small hydropower Austria, October
- 31st International Congress on Eating Disorders, October
- Arrow Forum Alps 2024, Oktober
- respACT – initiative group for sustainable business, November
- Lions Club cabaret “The Restaurant” with Rubey and Schwarz, December
What does the customer get out of it?
In Alpbach, guests quickly feel like they are part of the village, which gives events a special dynamic. Success is increased, knowledge remains anchored in the long term, and creativity flows more freely when external distractions are minimized – this makes success sustainable.
And the team at the Congress Center Alpbach has been focusing on the topic of “sustainability” for around 15 years, says Thomas Kahn: “It is firmly anchored in our corporate philosophy and many of our partners are taking this path with us. Where would it make more sense to implement sustainability and green meetings than in the middle of nature. It is important to us to approach the topic with common sense. It has to be practical.”
The CCA and the entire village are places for inspiring encounters. And that’s exactly what matters, because the world of events has changed in recent years. “At the physical meeting, participants want a good framework for personal exchange so that both new ideas and joint solutions can be developed and business relationships and collaboration can be created. We can offer this framework for lively and creative live formats,” says Thomas Kahn, managing director of the CCA.
Numbers, data and facts:
- On average, the CCA is busy with events on 150 – 170 days per year
- In the first half of the year, 50% of all events in the CCA were certified with the official “Austrian Environmental Label for Green Meetings”.
- The Alpbachtal region is one of the pioneers in Austria with 19 eco-label accommodations, 9 eco-label restaurants and the certified Congress Center Alpbach
- The “European Forum Alpbach” has taken place every August since 1945 and in 2024 had around 4,000 participants, including 500 international scholarship holders who were selected from 7,500 applications