Prague Congress Centre: A Hub for Knowledge Exchange

Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, has always been a political and cultural centre of Europe and a crossroads of the most important trading routes. The city has a long tradition of hosting significant international meetings. In May, Prague was ranked among the top five most attractive European congress destinations in the annual International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) rankings and currently holds the sixth position worldwide.

Since March 2020, Lenka Žlebková has been the CEO of the Prague Congress Centre (PCC), and before that, she was the managing director of the Prague Convention Bureau for four years. When the Covid pandemic hit Prague in March 2020, she had only worked for a week in her new role as CEO at the congress centre. From one day to another, Lenka Žlebková had to start working as a crisis manager. On March 12, they had to shut down the congress centre, and everything changed.

“We were supposed to have a 20 per cent increase in revenue and really good results. Instead, we went straight into crisis management. Operationally, we had to cut back and rethink what we would do. We proposed to our government and the city that we could open a vaccination centre here. And so, we did. Over 110,000 people have been vaccinated here.”

The PCC management team managed to keep the company stable and retain every employee during the pandemic. They switched from face-to-face meetings to virtual ones, built a virtual studio, and focused on digitalisation and helping the city. By creating the vaccination centre on their premises, they proved their importance as a strategic partner for the city.

“And then, in 2022, just when we thought our business would finally return to normal, the Ukrainian–Russian war started. The Mayor called me after the success of the vaccination centre and said: ‘Lenka, we need you again. We need to open a refugee centre in the congress centre.’ I said: ‘Yes, when are the first refugees coming?’ The next morning, the city’s crisis management team of 30 people arrived. They looked at me and said: ‘By tomorrow, at 8 am, the centre needs to be open.’

“The refugees were to be put in meeting rooms and areas that would not affect our business. But the following morning, 2,000 refugees were waiting in front of the congress centre. And this was in March, and it was snowing. All these mothers and children, without bags, and everybody freezing. It was a very emotional and tough moment. We opened up, and put the refugees in the big congress hall. Because of this, we ended up not being able to organise any events for six weeks. We had to cancel two international events, one with over 2,000 participants and another with over 1,000.”

This year, the Prague Congress Centre finally hosted one of those big events they had to turn down in March 2022. According to Lenka Žlebková, it was resolved very well. Today, PCC’s business is going well, with over 260 events annually. Last year, the centre achieved its best economic result ever. The goal for 2024 is to repeat this result. The long-term strategy is to be in the premium segment of high-end service providers. Last year, the PCC reported record revenues, with a 15 per cent increase, reaching €24.1 million.

“A significant part of the business events we host at PCC are political summits. After a series of political events during our EU Council Presidency 2022, we welcomed the EU member state’s parliamentary presidents in April last year. Last October, we hosted representatives from forty parliamentary chambers from around the world for the Second Parliamentary Summit of the Crimea Platform.”

Furthermore, she wants to position the Prague Congress Centre among the most important European congress venues, develop the public area around the centre and push towards the construction of a new exhibition hall. She also wants to create a corporate culture that improves employee and client satisfaction and to elevate Prague’s status as a premium destination for European conventions, conferences and business events.

Lenka Žlebková is well-known in Prague’s convention industry as well as internationally. In addition to her role as CEO, she is actively involved in Prague’s convention sector as Vice President of the Prague Convention Bureau and Member of the Prague Convention Bureau’s Board of Directors. Through her various roles, she, for example, helped move the city from 19th to 10th in the ICCA global city rankings and played a key role in winning Prague’s bid to host the ICCA Congress 2017.

The long-term vision for the congress centre is to be among the top ten congress centres in Europe on top of maintaining its number-one position in the Czech Republic. Collaboration with the city and other stakeholders is crucial to make this happen.

“I strongly believe in partnership and cooperation within the destination. I called it strategic partnerships when we first wrote it into the PCC strategy. You need all the partners in the city, PCOs, and suppliers. The most important thing is to bring the meeting or event to Prague as a destination.”

Lenka Žlebková has been working on an expansion of the congress centre for the last 13 years. Meetings with over 5,000 delegates have always been challenging because the exhibition area isn’t big enough. For those big events, 10,000 square metres would be helpful.

The Prague Congress Centre is currently owned by the City of Prague as well as the Ministry of Finance, which wants to exchange its shares for other assets. Negotiations are currently underway, at the end of which, if an agreement is reached, the City of Prague will be the sole owner of the PCC. The budget permit is ready and valid, and the funds are allocated, which means that construction can begin once the situation is resolved.

“The new exhibition space will expand Prague’s infrastructure. The new multifunctional hall will be a place for fairs, exhibitions, sporting events, conferences and product launches. It will change the image of the whole neighbourhood. My next goal is to make this happen. All we need is the political approval.”

While waiting for a positive response from the city’s politicians regarding the expansion, work is underway to ensure that the congress centre is at the forefront regarding sustainability. All employees are working towards reducing the facility’s carbon footprint and eliminating the environmental impact of their operations. The Prague Congress Centre has undergone significant changes to enhance its facilities. For example, last year, a photovoltaic power plant was installed on its roof to support sustainability efforts by generating a portion of its electricity needs.