I attended the MGI Central European Circle Meeting in Heidelberg, Germany, on 20 and 21 April, writes Trevor Brueton of Muras Baker Jones.

The two-day event was hosted by Frank Scheffner and Christian Hoffmann of SHP Scheffner & Hoffmann. Around 30 delegates attended from Germany, Austria, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Switzerland,
with just myself attending from the UK.

On the Friday evening, after a pleasant drinks reception in the conference hotel, the party walked through the cobbled streets of Heidelberg to take the cliff railway to Schloss (Castle) Heidelberg.

The schloss is perched on a hill 300ft above the city and the views from there are breathtaking. After photographs on the terrace we enjoyed our evening meal in the castle. The informal nature of the evening was ideal for delegates to meet, network and exchange ideas and opinions openly.

On Saturday morning, after a short introduction by Frank Scheffner and Christian Hoffmann we received an overview of the Central European Circle from Dr Dietmar Cramer, the outgoing circle leader.

Guy Parmentier and Patrick Huybrechts, of Parmentier Guy BVBA, Belgium – who had joined MGI just two weeks earlier – and I were introduced to the meeting.

Clive Bennett, MGI’s international marketing director, then gave a talk on activities in MGI Europe and elsewhere, as well as the marketing implementation plan.