Vienna's contemporary locations
Vienna has a new, smart event location since spring 2022: Ariana is located in Seestadt Aspern, one of the biggest urban development projects in Europe, which can be reached from the city center by subway in only 20 minutes. The venue offers individually combinable event areas for conferences, congresses, trade fairs, corporate events, and private parties. A total of 1,300 square meters of floor space are available. The various areas are suitable for events ranging from 100 up to 830 visitors. Apart from a large divisible banqueting hall of seven meters in height and a modular space concept, the plans also include a lobby, a VIP lounge, and two covered forecourts for receptions and break-time chats. The topic of safety and security comes high in the scheme of things, with the event spaces enabling compliance with the latest hygiene standards. Consideration has also been given to the safe planning of visitor flows and the increased need for space in all ancillary rooms. Lessons learned from the pandemic also flowed into the plans: an ultramodern ventilation system with special filters ensures healthy air inside the complex. Ariana opened in April 2022.
Ariana (German only)
HOFBURG Vienna: digital dynamics
Of course, Vienna's classic venues for conferences, meetings, and events are also catching up in terms of technology. Vienna's most traditional congress center, HOFBURG Vienna, has been using sophisticated technology for hybrid events of every kind for many years already. Since the start of the pandemic, the location, which has been a regular venue for meetings of world politics since the Congress of Vienna in 1814/15, has expanded its offering. A new event streaming studio offers even more flexibility for sending special moments from Vienna to the world. At the press of a button, adjustable production booths enable the highly dynamic staging of talks and panels that emotionally grip virtual participants – all in the historic ambience of the magnificent ballrooms, which means a unique setting.
Messe Wien: high-speed with WiFi 6
In autumn of 2020 Messe Wien upgraded its digital infrastructure and now has WiFi 6. The modern high-speed network allows simultaneous WLAN use for up to 25,000 people with a data transmission rate of 200 Mbit/s, thus creating the ideal conditions for digital and hybrid meetings. Messe Wien offers free access to the new WiFi 6 to all participants of events and trade fair visitors.
Austria Center Vienna: virtuoso in the virtual
As the event venue of the European Congress of Radiology (ECR) with over 28,000 real and virtual participants, the Austria Center Vienna (ACV) is one of the top locations in Vienna. Thanks to the ECR, the ACV already has almost ten years of experience as far as the hybrid presentation of congresses on a huge scale is concerned. The ACV was voted the world's best congress center for this IT infrastructure in 2016. But the ACV went one step further in 2020. New virtual studios create infinite possibilities for exciting hybrid events. High-quality LED walls are available in all 24 halls and 180 meetings rooms. They offer a dynamic background and create a lot of attention through diverse effects. In the green screen studio, innovative topics can be impressively supported: content can be variably recorded, but it is also possible to edit it afterwards in this virtually designable space. A virtual living room also offers a relaxed setting in which to create an intimate atmosphere. The possibility of live broadcasts was also expanded in order to appeal to external speakers.
Finally, the Austria Center was also spatially extended: the new hall - the donauSEGEL - offers creative spatial solutions for up to 2,000 people on a total area of 4,200 square meters. The new reception area in the main entrance was completed in th spring of 2021, and a further milestone of the modernization project – the Panorama Walk – was completed at the end of March.
Marx Halle: historic and super-fast
The historic Marx Halle in the 3rd district has been refurbished to technical perfection. A cattle auction hall at the time of the monarchy, today the hall offers sufficient space for meetings, congresses, and a wide range of art, cultural, and entertainment events on a total area of 20,000 square meters, divided into four heatable studios. Since the beginning of 2021, it has been considered the "fastest event hall" in Austria due to its IT infrastructure. Thanks to the new equipment in the Marx Halle, data speeds of up to 10,000 Mbit can be achieved – that's 100 times faster than the old system. To achieve this, 14 network nodes, 68 WLAN access points, 172 data points, 2.2 kilometers of glass fiber cable, and 8.5 kilometers of copper network cable were installed in the heritage-listed building. Every technical wish was fulfilled. And in a few years from now, something really big will happen just a stone's throw from the Marx Halle. The Wien Holding-Arena, a multipurpose hall for 20,000 visitors, and thus the largest hall in Austria, is being built just down the road. Construction starts in 2024. The opening is scheduled for 2026.
Marx Halle (German only)
Many other locations in Vienna also have the technical equipment and know-how required for implementing hybrid meetings. You can find information on hybrid events, service providers, and best practice examples from Meeting Destination Vienna here.
