Are you looking for a venue for your association conventions, association events or meetings? If so, Cologne is the right place for you. In addition to a multitude of conference hotels, event venues and convention centres that are ideal venues for your association conventions or similar events, in Cologne you can also find many suppliers that specialize in event planning. One of them is the Cologne Convention Bureau, which can give you strong support in every area of event planning.
Organizing Association Meetings in Cologne
Step by Step to Your Association Meeting in Cooperation with the Cologne Convention Bureau
Cologne is a Centre of Business & Science in the Rhineland
Major players from the fields of science and business congregate in Cologne. That’s how the destination's fields of expertise trade and industry, services and logistics, media and science have developed. These give you and your association the opportunity to make new contacts and gain insights into the innovative work being done in diverse segments of business and science.
Together we plan your association congress
In this video, we show you how the Cologne Convention Bureau can support you in planning your association convention or association meeting. In three steps, we cooperate closely with you to plan your association convention or association meeting in Cologne and its surrounding area.
1. Together with you, we create a suitable framework for your event
- Finding a suitable date — take advantage of our inside information
- Hotel & venue search: availability check, call for bids, on-site inspection and much more.
- Planning the social programme
- Helping you choose suitable event suppliers (including a PCO contact if required): technology suppliers, catering and much more.
2. After that, we help you attractively present your chosen options in your bid for the convention
(in accordance with the respective bidding process of the association meeting)
- Creating a bid book: Destination bid & scientific part including the event location and the supporting programme
- Creating a brief presentation
- A letter of recommendation to complement the scientific institution’s letter of intent
3. On the day of the event, you can be sure that everything will be just right - Thanks to our services
- Creating microsites, including branding, checking and block-booking hotel rooms
- Conference materials, convention bags or an information stand: texts, pictures, digital city maps for your participants
- Providing roll-ups & bulletin boards
- Communication support: selective social media support, event calendar
- Gifts for guests
In addition, you’ll benefit from additional location advantages and services of the Cologne Convention Bureau. Thanks to Cologne’s central location, your participants can easily arrive via train or plane. If your convention participants arrive by train and use Cologne’s local public transport system (KVB), they will benefit greatly from the use of the DB convention ticket and discounted KVB tickets. You can find more information about these offers at Arrival & Mobility.
Would you like to plan and implement your association event with sustainability in mind? Let us inspire you with the sustainable projects of Cologne’s meeting sector. Here you can find sustainable services offered by event locations, event centres and conference hotels.
Read our guide to event planning and find out what it takes to make your event a success.
As the organizer of an association convention, do you have any additional questions? If so, please feel free to contact us directly. We can discuss the details over a cup of coffee.
Stefan Freihaut
Convention Marketing
Association Meetings: Showcases for Our Customers
Smoothly functioning and successful association meetings and association events — whether they're large or small, national or international — are the Cologne Convention Bureau’s goal. In order to achieve this goal, we rely on the expertise we've developed over many years and our broad range of services.
This isn’t just theoretical — our know-how is grounded in practical experience. That’s demonstrated by the positive experiences of our customers from the science and business communities with whom we've cooperated to conduct successful association events in recent years.
Let our showcases impress you — and plan your next association event or your next association meeting in Cologne!
FAQ - Frequently asked questions
A bid book is a kind of application portfolio. In many cases it’s a key element of a city’s, scientific institution’s or association’s bid for a convention. The Cologne Convention Bureau (CCB) will be happy to provide its expertise and help you create a bid book for your bid for a convention in Cologne. The CCB will also help you present the city of Cologne, with an emphasis on its expertise in diverse specialist areas and the options for organizing and implementing your convention, with a uniform look and feel. The services of the CCB are free of charge, and they include support for all of your planning steps right up to and including the day of the event.
The letter of intent is a declaration by a national association or an association member that the author is bidding to host a convention at a certain destination as the “local chair.” In many cases, the writer of the letter of intent forms the introduction of the bid book. The letter of recommendation is an official promise to support this association’s plan. This letter of recommendation can be issued by companies and institutions relevant to the sector or by the Cologne Convention Bureau. Through this letter of recommendation the sender assures the “local chair” that the sender will provide individualized support for the organization and implementation of the association event or convention at the location.
Cologne offers many attractive venues for your association convention or association event. In addition to 54 conference hotels, the Maritim Hotel is suitable as one of our city’s largest conference locations and offers direct views of the Rhine. Cologne also offers a modern convention centre that will be expanded in the years ahead to form the Confex® hybrid venue, as well as the Gürzenich banqueting hall, which is our city’s oldest meeting facility, and other attractive options with a historical flair. The Cologne Convention Bureau will be happy to support you in your effective search for a suitable venue for your association event.