The Prague Congress Centre will be One of only 10% of World Congress Centres which has Succeeded in Achieving the Certificate of Quality Management Meeting ISO 9001:2000 International StandardsThis certificate states that the goal of the Prague Congress Centre is the customer satisfaction. Over the past few weeks, the Prague Congress Centre has similarly convinced the auditors of the CQS certification organisation, a partner of the global certification network IQNet. The Prague Congress Centre will receive the certificate during the month of September 2005.
“We will stand on the same level as congress centres in e.g. Basel, Switzerland, or in the French cities of Lille and Nantes,” said Ondrej Špacek, Head of Sales and Marketing and authorised quality representative of the Prague Congress Centre. According to him, a trial stage of the ISO system implementation already markedly reduced the number of complaints and problems when delivering services to customers, such as providing audio-visual technology for the organisers of events, or the provision of food and refreshments. “The Prague Congress Centre focuses on fulfilling the real requirements and needs of customers. Implementing the ISO standards will mean improvement in services, and therefore greater competitive advantage and more satisfied customers. We are attacking the roots of the problems, not just sweeping away the traces,” as the Head of Marketing summarised the philosophy of the Prague Congress Centre. He added that the new management system delivered increased effectiveness, lower costs, clear allocation of responsibility, flexible substitution of personnel, and simplified training of new employees. “All this helps us to reinforce the trustworthiness of the Prague Congress Centre name, and we hope that as a consequence, in future we will compete more successfully to secure the organisation of important events for Prague and the Czech Republic,” added Ondrej Špacek.
Since the year 2000 Prague belongs to the foremost conference cities in the world. KCP has become one of the most modern centres in Europe and the only facility of its kind in the Czech Republic where it is possible to put on an event for more than 1.500 participants, including the spaces required for the independent activities of sections or groups.
Thanks to its ability to put on large events, the Prague Congress Centre brings into the Czech Republic, and thus also into Prague, approximately 450 million Czech crowns a year (15 million Euros) through the taxes it pays. Had Prague and CR not had the PCC building at their disposal, these assets would have ended up abroad. About 100.000 conference and congress participants come to the Czech Republic each year, spending on average of 2.92 days here and, while here, each spending approximately 220 Euros.
Today the Prague Congress Centre has 20 halls and 50 small salons for hire with a total capacity of 9,000 people. The space is not only suitable for events for more than a thousand participants, but also for a wide spectrum of conferences and smaller company events such as general meetings, training, seminars and press conferences.
Between 1998 and 2000 the original building underwent large-scale reconstruction, an important part of which was the securing of the asbestos fireproofing layer in such a way as to eliminate any possibility of carcinogenic materials being released into the air. At the same time, a new multifunctional building was built where the Holiday Inn PCC stands today. The rest of the building contains the offices and business premises of several dozen companies.
The main drive behind this reconstruction was the PCC’s hosting of the annual meeting of the IMF in September 2000. Throughout the course of the IMF and World Bank meeting 182 ministers of finance and central bank governors and 11.000 financiers from 150 different countries visited Prague. Over 2000 journalists from more than 100 different countries informed the world of the meetings and their progress.
Two years after the IMF WB meeting world media attention was once again concentrated on the PCC. On 20/21 November 2002 the PCC hosted the 2002 N.A.T.O summit in Prague at which 2500 politicians and army officials from 46 countries attended. Amongst these were 23 Presidents, 20 Prime Ministers, and 45 Foreign Secretaries and a host of many other important political figures.
Prague Congress Centre
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