VLB Events: Every crisis also presents opportunities – Interview with Dr. Josef Fontaine

 VLB EVENTS

Every crisis also presents opportunities

So far, VLB has weathered the COVID-19 crisis relatively well. Contract analysis and research projects have remained stable. However, there have been negative impacts in the area of events and training. We spoke with Dr. Josef Fontaine, the VLB Managing Director responsible for this segment, about current developments and future plans in this business area.

Digitalization is also unstoppable in the event sector: Florian Schrickel during the recording of the digital presentation of his research project in the new VLB media studio  How have VLB’s activities in

the area of seminars and conferences developed so far this year during the COVID-19 crisis?

Fontaine: In February, we were still looking forward to a successful year of events. However, this business area came to almost a complete stop from March onwards due to COVID-19. We had to cancel four major conferences in Germany and three international events. We also had to interrupt the ongoing courses in our training and education center in Berlin, but, in the end, we were able to keep them going by quickly switching to digital teaching methods. From May onwards, it was possible to attend classes at our premises again, under strict conditions. Special thanks go to my colleague Gerhard Andreas Schreiber, who, together with our team, very quickly developed and implemented a comprehensive hygiene concept for VLB.

 Did training courses have to be

cancelled?

Fontaine: No. Our certified brewmaster course was completed in July as scheduled. The next course starts in January 2021 as a hybrid event. This means that participants can choose whether they complete the theoretical part of this training course inhouse in Berlin or from home. However, they will need to attend the practical part of the course inhouse in Berlin starting in May 2021. The German-language brewmaster course was also completed as planned, including the exams of the Chamber of Crafts. The fact that we have relied on a distributed learning concept from the very beginning of the course 2019/2020 has proven

to be a stroke of luck. We are very pleased that the 2020/2021 course just started with 23 participants. Our course for the master distiller exam has finally been finished successfully in October. So you can see that we were able to continue our training courses despite the pandemic, albeit under more difficult conditions.

 What are VLB’s plans for the

future? Are there any new offers in the inhouse courses?

Fontaine: We have been busy considering different concepts over the past few months. After a lot of deliberation, we have decided to enter the field of sommelier training as well. Together with our partners, Hotel Michelberger Berlin and Preussische Spirituosen Manufaktur, we will offer a two-week advanced training course to become a certified beer and spirits sommelier. This inhouse course begins at the end of February 2021. In addition, there is a new series of training courses under the title VLB Brewery Expert Course. The course teaches current brewing knowledge in a limited subject area with a strong emphasis on practical use. The first module will focus on beer filtration and will take place in December.

 Digital training courses are

very popular at the moment. What is VLB doing in this respect?

Fontaine: Previously, we were focused on offers in our training and education center. Due to the restrictions caused by the pandemic, we had to take a closer look at digital training offers. Established VLB courses such as “Micro Malting in Practice” and “Craft Brewing in Practice” took place entirely online. We have also successfully carried out online training courses and seminars for customers in Southeast Asia and South America. We are currently developing more digital courses. We will continue to view these as a supplement to our inhouse courses in the future and will therefore only offer these online seminars for a fee.

 What will happen with the

in-person conference events that VLB hosts?

Fontaine: We will be streamlining our conference program in Germany. Our first measure was to merge our Brewing and Engineering Conference with the October Convention. This will be renamed the VLB Annual Conference and, as of next year, it will be held once a year at different locations in Germany. And from a thematic standpoint, the VLB’s Beverage Industry and Beverage Trade forum will be integrated into our Logistics Congress, which shall continue to take place in spring. We will keep hosting our series of conferences in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, which have been very successful, as soon as the global situation allows us to do so again. VLB has created a new position for this purpose: as of 1 July, Roberto Biurrun has been in charge of sales of international VLB events. Following a survey of the members of our Technical Scientific Committee TSC (TWA), the future meetings of the technical committee will be held in a hybrid format – once a year in Berlin and once at the Annual Conference. The same applies to our General Meeting. Together with our Board of Directors, we will vote on an amendment to the Articles of Association on whether participation in our General Meeting will also be possible by electronic means in the future. Due to the latest severe pandemic developments though, the TWA meeting has exceptionally been conducted online only at the end of October. At the beginning of October, we were able to hold at least one in person event – the 18th IfGB Spirits and Distillery Forum took place in Graz (Austria). The 23rd Logistics Congress and our VLB Annual Conference in Leipzig unfortunately had to be cancelled. Both conferences are planned to be conducted as an online event at the beginning of next year.

 So VLB is planning digital

conferences?

Fontaine: As a matter of principle, we still prefer face-to-face events. In addition to the pure transfer of knowledge, they offer a great deal of additional benefits when it comes to networking. In my opinion, this isn’t possible to the same extent at online events. Nevertheless, we are not closing ourselves off to the trends. Virtual event formats give us the opportunity to address colleagues from the brewing and beverage industry, especially at the international level, who are not able to come to our face-to-face events. We see this as an opportunity to further expand our international network despite the restrictions imposed by the pandemic. We are currently building a virtual congress platform. The International Brewing Web Conference (IBWC) is our premiere in terms of digital congresses and will take place from 1 to 3 December. In the long term we want to effectively complement our inhouse events with our digital seminars and conferences. We definitely see significant potential there, and we want to continue developing this potential so that benefits VLB.

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