CEO Report June 2017 - Tad Zurlinden

So yet another EuRA Conference has come and gone and thanks to the 672 delegates who joined us in the great city of Warsaw.  It was a great event and a privilege to welcome so many old friends and record breaking number of new ones.  

This time of year is always one for reflection for the EuRA Board and team as we review the year that has gone and plan for the future.  It is with true sadness that we say goodbye to Anita Meyer and Klaus Kremers from the EuRA Board.  They have been a great President and VP respectively and the energy and commitment they have brought to EuRA has pushed the organisation into new and exciting directions.  However, I’m also delighted to welcome Andrew Scott and Stuart McAlister to the roles of President and VP respectively.  They have brought great creativity to the Board and will be at the forefront of the implementation of new initiatives.  I would also like to welcome new Board Members Isabelle Prémont of The Map Group and Pierre Jeronimo of Geneva Relocation; we look forward to their new ideas.

Warsaw was a venue that pleasantly surprised our delegates, it is a beautiful city with an incredible history.  As with any EuRA Conference there are always things we would like to improve and this year I am grateful to the many people who took the time to respond to our call for session submissions.  As a result, we had probably the strongest learning programme in our history with industry professionals sharing their expertise on a diverse range of topics, including quality control, mindfulness, key security, succession planning, mergers and acquisitions, risk mitigation, the time pressures of the digital age, the power of social media and of course our full-on Immigration Symposium.  One of the comments we received from delegates was that with so much great content as well as partner meetings and our MIM eduction programme, they were very much in FOMO (“fear of missing out”).  To counter this next year in Dubrovnik, we plan to more accurately identify the target groups for our sessions so people know what is most appropriate for their conference programme.

We are very much looking forward to welcoming our members across Africa and the Middle East to our Dubai Conference in November.  We have a great programme lined up looking at the challenges and opportunities for business and mobility in the region and some great opportunities to network and have some fun in the desert.  Our venue is the Jumeirah Creekside hotel, in the business district very near the airport and next door to The Irish Village, a great meeting place.   Our final night party is limited to just 100 guests and will take place in the stunning Palace Downtown Hotel on a terrace overlooking the incredible Fountains of the Burj Khalifa.  If you’ve been to the Bellagio brace yourself for the Dubai version.

If you have a topic you’d like to bring to our 2018 Dubrovnik event, the theme will be “Embracing Change |  Thriving or Surviving?”.  We won’t have the physical space to run as many sessions as in Warsaw, but we still have 12 opportunities for sessions outside of our Friday plenary programme, so if you want to bring a great idea to the Dubrovnik conference, look out for the call for submissions at the start of September.

Next year’s hotel is a stunning resort, in our opinion one of the most beautiful venues we have ever used.  There are 250+ rooms in the main hotel and another 200+ in the village Residences.  Check out The Leading Hotels of the World website for full details.  The Residences offer one bedroom villas sleeping up to four people and two bedrooms sleeping up to six.  These offer great value for money for colleagues attending together.  Also, if you want your own private meeting space, each Residence, one or two bedroom comes with a fabulous sitting  dining area and kitchen. Essentially they are mega suites and located in the hotel grounds, no more than a three minute walk from the main conference area.  There are other hotels nearby, but not within walking distance, but with rates starting at €145 we have secured an amazing deal, especially for a hotel of this quality and one part of The Leading Hotels of the World group.  I strongly advise early booking and the link will be online in July.  Conference bookings will be online in September.