A Tuesday, mid-November 2022, quite a bit going on in the Grand Hall. The technicians are installing everything for sound and vision, and the booth builders have already arrived. Now banners are being put up, signposts are being positioned and large-format signs of the association, whose congress starts the next day, are being hung. It was no coincidence that Carsten Neugrodda, Managing Director of KVD, Europe's largest professional association for decision-makers and talents in service, chose the Grand Hall.

The KVD, headquartered in Dorsten, invites visitors to a trade show and congress every year, in 2022 for the first time at the Zollverein World Heritage Site. "We stand for trends and future models. More and more companies are moving away from being pure product providers to a service-based business model." Actually, just like the Grand Hall, he adds. The industrial hall eventually evolved into a full-service event venue, he says. "With the story behind it, the change from history to the future, we bring the theme of the convention even closer to our guests." The KVD will be back next year, that much the managing director can already say. "We experience an unusual location here and a team that we could rely on 100% from the beginning."

Uniform design for a better overview

Neugrodda points to the uniformly set-up booths. "In consultation with the Grand Hall team, all the booths are roughly the same size and have the same design." This shows off the hall's industrial charm - and visitors have a better overview of the companies presenting themselves. If you look closely, you'll notice cozy little seating areas and bar tables between the individual exhibition areas. And, deliberately somewhat hidden behind old industrial witnesses in the form of compressors, a chill-out coworking area. A smart concept that enables short distances - after all, the KVD Service Congress 2022 is all about networking. This culminates in the networking evening that follows.

On the first of two days of the event, around 350 specialists and executives are milling around in the hall, many of whom were already there for breakfast. Behind the scenes, the caterer's team, on site since 7 a.m., is routinely putting the finishing touches on the lunch. Wraps are arranged, salads put together, berries placed on the desserts. Dinner will be taken care of later by the next shift. Speaking of shifts and short distances: Those who don't live in the Ruhr region or simply don't want to drive anymore can stay overnight at "Friends," for example, the neighboring design hotel at Zollverein.