Ines Windisch, Zentiva: We Were Coming Home to the Roots with our Zentiva Leadership Meeting 2018

26/08/2019
Ines Windisch, Zentiva: We Were Coming Home to the Roots with our Zentiva Leadership Meeting 2018

In the end of 2018, Zentiva held their Zentiva Leadership Meeting in Cubex Centre Prague. The event was awarded the “Corporate Event of the Year 2018” prize within this year’s Ambassador Awards Evening that is organized annually by the Prague Convention Bureau. We interviewed Ines Windisch, Head of Corporate Affairs, who was responsible for planning this event, about the details and why they chose Prague.

Why Prague, what was the final reason to held Zentiva Leadership Meeting 2018 in the capital of Czech Republic? 

The Leadership Meeting was the first meeting after Zentiva carved out in October 2018 from a bigger pharmaceutical company. Now with new owners and focus on branded generics and OTC medicines we were coming home to the roots of Zentiva where all started in the heart of Prague more than 530 years ago with the Black Eagle pharmacy. Prague offers great event locations and we have chosen a new location for a new company for our new start.

 

What did you want to deliver to the attendees during the event? Has Prague met your expectations in that respect? 

Besides the event we had two evenings where we were together as a team discovering Prague. As an Austrian I am familiar with the tradition and culture of Czech Republic and Prague, but what is really fascinating for me is how you keep old, historical things alive and connect it with modern things as well. We had a treasure hunt in Prague City Center discovering the history of our company and spent beautiful events in 2 great locations with good food.

 

Could you introduce and describe the event a little? What is the purpose of the event, how often is being held and who are the attendees? 

As said, it was the first event in a new company. We have invited the leadership team from various countries and functions to start our journey. We have followed up on that meeting by launching a new digital platform and we are now permanently connected with the group to drive the company. But digital communication cannot replace F2F meetings, so I am pretty sure, that events like the one we had are an important part of our journey.

 

Up to date audio/video equipment was used, what would you highlight?

We have decided for a modern location and for every event it is important for us to have something that you remember. We played a lot with music and light and produced a lot of small videos & animations where people could see themselves or get inspired for our future journey. Personally, I am a big fan of video walls, you can play so much with that.

 

Catering was conceived in an interesting way, traditional food out of 16 countries where Zentiva is established. Who came up with that idea? Was it difficult to realize this idea? 

The aim was to introduce Zentiva as a new company and show up with food from every country we are acting. Attendees were very proud to see “their” country corner and had a lot of good stories to tell in the breaks.

 

What is your experience with local suppliers?

I believe it is like everywhere there are good ones and then you have the stars. I like suppliers, who are listening to customer needs and then implementing with a lot of creativity and professionalism. In our special case when doing a first meeting we needed the WOW effect. We wanted that people are proud to work for Zentiva and that they are motivated for the future. To get this done you need only good ingredients, a good location, a good concept, valuable content and some big spoons of creativity.

 

Do you consider organizing more events like this in the Czech metropole?

As Czech Republic is the home country of our business the answer is definitely yes. We are focused on Europe and Prague is in the middle, easy to reach via plane, train and car (if you don’t take D1) ;-) and the balance between price and quality is good.

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