Over 300 events professionals at the MEET GERMANY SUMMIT Rhine-Main
Frankfurt am Main, 3 September 2026. Over 300 event professionals from corporates, agencies, venues, convention bureaux and associations gathered in Frankfurt on 26 and 27 August 2026 for the MEET GERMANY SUMMIT Rhein-Main. The two-day event focused on personal networking, practical insights and the launch of two new community formats for the industry.
The event was hosted by Depot 1899 in Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen. Around 50 providers from the MICE and events sector showcased new venues, concepts and solutions there, alongside keynote speeches, a community talk in small moderated groups and a masterclass on the topic of predictable capacity utilisation. Topics discussed on stage included psychological safety within teams: speaker Natascha Kneissl from the Studieninstitut für Kommunikation explained how a trainee found the courage to openly voice her concerns in her day-to-day work, and how this specifically strengthens trust and the ability to take action within teams.
The SUMMIT was supported by regional partners from the Rhine-Main region: the Frankfurt Botschaft, the Frankfurt Convention Bureau and Hessen MICE Net welcomed the guests. Alexandra Antwi-Boasiako hosted the programme. Encore provided the event technology, whilst Rent.Group took care of the furniture and decoration.
At the same time, MEET GERMANY launched two new formats for year-round exchange: the Corporate Event Circle for corporate event managers and the Venue Marketing & Sales Inner Circle for venues and hotels. Both are designed to connect peer groups beyond the individual SUMMITS. “Exchanging ideas with other venues is incredibly valuable,” says Stijn Oude Vrielink, one of the initiators of the new Venue Circle. “Somewhere out there, another venue may have already solved the very challenge you’re currently facing.”
The VDVO e.V.’s Captain MICE Future Young Talent Award was also part of the programme: At the pre-pitch event in Frankfurt, Uwe Krohn from MICE DESK prevailed over Stefan Wagner from Instant Event with his AI-powered software for event enquiries and heads into the final on 24 November 2026 at the Festsaal Kreuzberg in Berlin with momentum on his side.
“For us, it’s all about making the right connections,” says Tanja Schramm, Managing Director of MEET GERMANY. “Two days in Frankfurt have once again shown just how much can be achieved when people take the time for one another.”
Next stop: SUMMIT NRW in Dortmund
The next stop for the industry is the MEET GERMANY SUMMIT NRW on
30 September and 1 October 2026 at the German Football Museum in Dortmund. There, too, trade visitors can look forward to a packed programme: the FORUM featuring around 50 selected partners, a TOUR of venues across the region and a NIGHT at the Phoenix des Lumières.
The highlight will be the keynote speech ‘No Empty Seats’ by Kevin Arenja (KplusA Communications), who will demonstrate how events in 2026/27 will attract, inspire and engage people. Henning Harfst will host the morning’s proceedings, whilst Melanie Piorek (BOOMMM) and Jens Krause (JKR-EVENTS) will open the event with a presentation demonstrating how AI can be used to create effective content for events in a short space of time. Sabine Mayer from treibhaus – AgenturCampus für KreativKonzeption – will present the Corporate Event Circle, which will kick off the evening before, on 29 September, as part of a pioneer session for corporate event managers. Dortmund Economic Development Agency (Michaela Franzes) and Tourismus NRW e.V. (Veit Lawrenz) will also be sharing the latest opportunities from the region at the FORUM’s opening session. In the afternoon, Dr Ulf Zinne will demonstrate in his PodSelling masterclass how podcasts can be used to build trust before making a sale.
Those who attended the event in Frankfurt will see some familiar faces again in Dortmund: Stijn Oude Vrielink and Ute Doering will continue their masterclass on predictable occupancy rates, this time alongside other venue and hotel representatives from North Rhine-Westphalia. The Captain MICE Future Award is also making the trip; the next pre-pitch will take place on 30 September in Dortmund. Stolzenhoff Catering will be providing the catering, whilst Event Rent GmbH will be handling the furniture and décor. On the second day, the TOUR will take participants through the Ruhr region, from the Hansa coking plant via Revierpark Wischlingen to ELORIA and Topgolf Oberhausen, with direct discussions with the local hosts.
Tickets for the SUMMIT NRW are available free of charge to our readers using the code “pr26”.
The SUMMITS are also supported by national partners such as InvitePeople, FastLane, Silutions, SPORT SPEAKER, Swoofle, Bloxibit, Employee Shuttle, Video.Taxi and TRUST Promotion.
About MEET GERMANY
With 2,600 network partners and more than 27,000 event planners actively planning and booking events, MEET GERMANY is the largest network in the events industry in the German-speaking world. For 15 years, MEET GERMANY has been bringing together event planners, venues, destinations and service providers both in person and online, through SUMMITs in several regions of Germany, membership schemes, the MICE magazine and the Marketplace platform.
Under the guiding principle [Re]Thinking How We Meet, MEET GERMANY combines regional SUMMITS with a year-round digital community, live MeetUps, masterclasses and specialised, members-only Circles.
The focus is increasingly on making targeted use of the network’s scale: to provide a broad overview and to create smaller, curated spaces in which specific topics can be explored in depth and developed collaboratively.
The next SUMMITS in 2026
30 September & 1 October 2026 | SUMMIT NRW
FORUM: German Football Museum, Dortmund
NIGHT: Phoenix des Lumières, Dortmund
4 & 5 November 2026 | SUMMIT Baden-Württemberg
FORUM & NIGHT: Mercedes-Benz Museum, Stuttgart
Further information, programmes and registration:
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