The easiest measure of a city experiencing investment, development and change is to see how many cranes pepper the cityscape. In Ljubljana’s case there are more than ever, especially clustered around the rail and bus terminus.
Both are being transformed into a state-of-the-art mobility hub, featuring a business tower, retail area, five-star-hotel, and residences to create a new place for meetings, work, and city-centre living. This transformation will also connect two-parts of Ljubljana, currently divided by the station and will also meet the needs of a ‘new Europe’ between the Adriatic and the Alps, Central Europe and the Balkans.
Just like the city around it – Conventa – Europe’s premier regional B2B trade show for meetings, events and incentive travel brought a new-look and host venue for the event this year. The show also celebrated its 18th anniversary edition, with co-founder Gorazd Čad, alongside key stakeholder partners - Slovenia Tourism and Convention Bureau plus Ljubljana Tourism, marking the occasion under the theme ‘The Art of Meetings’.
The whole city as a venue
Conventa and partners, are never ones to rest on their laurels and continue to embrace change to ensure this MICE trade show stays relevant, on-point and in-person, whilst showcasing Ljubljana and Slovenia. Part of Conventa’s key ethos is quality over quantity, and ensuring that each edition of the show has new buyer faces for suppliers to meet with.
Gorazd Čad stated: “we had 561 hosted buyer applications this year, but accepted 200 and in-line with that we have developed our own AI tool to assess applications and match buyers who suit our region” adding “we always bring 70% of new hosted buyers for our exhibitors, this year it was 83%, plus a ratio of 1-to-5 and sometimes even 1-to-8 between exhibitor and buyer”.
2026, saw Conventa move the event from the ‘Ljubljana Exhibition & Convention Centre’ to the ‘Grand Hotel Union Eurostars’. A change central to this year’s theme of using the city centre as an open venue. The hotel’s art nouveau grand ballroom buzzed with business chatter, alongside two further halls.
Taking to the show floor, the representative of the Grand Hotel Union said “we are so delighted to be hosting Conventa at our heritage property, what better way to showcase it but to invite Europe’s most senior meeting and event planners into our property”
Making time to learn through education
Day one of Conventa is dedicated to their education programme, which this year took place in the vibrant setting of 'Center Rog,' Ljubljana’s latest creative hub. Housed in a repurposed bicycle factory, this striking venue boasts a 125-meter-long facade beside the Ljubljanica River.
Within its walls, nine production labs, studios, and co-working spaces keep alive time-honoured traditions with cutting-edge technology, cultivating an atmosphere where creativity thrives. This was the setting for SWITCH conference, which was laser-focused on the importance of sustainable event practises. A healthy crowd stayed on for the Conventa Trend Bar 2026 themed “Marketing Across Generations in the Event Industry.” This session initiated a forward-thinking conversation about the evolution of event marketing strategies for different audiences.
Creativity through an ‘Experience Crawl’
‘The Art of Meetings’ concept highlighted the virtuosity of connecting people, ideas and spaces by working across nine city venues, with six mapped-out for delegates to discover during the ‘Ljubljana Experience Crawl’; this new concept introduced for Conventa’s 18th anniversary was sandwiched between the official table-top meetings and the evening dinner networking opportunities alongside the famous ‘Meeting Star Awards’, which this year included a new category ‘Special Event Venues’.
From under the elegant entrance canopy of the Grand Union, delegates stepped-out together to experience a variety of unique activities and venues. Each venue a blank canvas for meetings buyers to view, assess and potentially deliver future events. Split into colour-coded groups the crawl highlighted how each venue is within a 15-minutes of the main square. These included the atrium of the Central Post Office, the Museum of Banking, the Muza Gallery, Neboticinik Tower and Nebo Show Restaurant.
At each venue various workshop activities included drumming, painting, photobooth and postcard writing, followed by an interactive pub quiz: “I really enjoyed this part of my Conventa programme, as it brings the city alive and allows me to discover unique event spaces which I may not have uncovered in any other format” said Cornel Dinu - Perfect tour.
Developing Conventa of the future
Gorazd Čad and his team often get asked “how will the show evolve next year or in the next 5-years?” and the answer given always relates to the collaborations and partnerships which have formed a strong bond, and pool of ideas which maintains Conventa’s relevance and longevity.
But there is another factor; what Conventa highlights in abundance is that creativity lives in the DNA of Slovenes. Within a compact country of just 2-million and land area of just over 20,000 square-kilometres it’s influences derive from its diversity, where Alpine, Mediterranean, Pannonian, and Dinaric regions converge and are further influenced by their neighbours Austria, Hungary, Croatia and Italy.
Delegates of Conventa get more than just a business trade show, they get ideas, inspiration and even real-world event sustainability case studies, but above all of this they are able to tap into a little of Slovenia’s creativity – a lifeblood that appears in the past through figures such as Jože Plecnik, the star-architect of his time, responsible for the beauty and aesthetic of Ljubljana’s majestic city centre.
And in modern times Ana Roš a Slovene chef, whose restaurant Hiša Franko, located in Kobarid, Slovenia, in the Soča Valley, was awarded three Michelin stars in 2023. This year buyers could choose from 11 post-Conventa fam trips and those who opted for the Ljubljana trip were treated to a 5-course meal at Ana Roš’ Ljubljana Bistro ‘Jaz’ on their first evening; another example of a venue and dining experience tailor-made for high-end incentives.
Gorazd Čad’s team of partners and collaborators, work from the same creative gene pool, which makes Conventa a show that is always over-subscribed each year.
“We create business opportunities, that’s the story of Conventa, meetings with respect” Čad concluded. Whilst this is a simple ‘MO’ there is much hard work and solid partnerships at the core of Conventa; a B2B trade show that encapsulates the development of Ljubljana and Slovenia – continually evolving and changing for the better!
