Bureau member Kim Kreling recently met with Andreas Kerstan, press chief, and Volker Wulff, organiser of the 2011 World Cup Finals to be held in Leipzig, Germany this spring. She was impressed with their attitude and professionalism and is convinced they will do all that they can to ensure the best possible working conditions for the media.
IAEJ information update
With five months to go before the World Cup Finals in Leipzig, I hope the following will give you an idea of how things are going to be writes Kim Kreling.
Leipzig has been a very well organised event during the last few years. The event manager Volker Wulff who is supported by an experienced team has been in charge of many successfully organized shows. Therefore there is good reason to expect that the final in Leipzig is going to be of the same good quality with very good working conditions.
Apart from a spacious press room that we have already known for some years there is a dedicated room nearby for press conferences with 200 seats. There will be lockers in the press center in different sizes, big ones for the photographers, small ones for personal things. Volker Wulff will also hire middle size lockers for laptops etc. There will be special fast lines for sending pictures for use by the photographers and free internet for everybody. There are no worries about Live results either as they are already a fixture at Leipzig.
A walk of a few minutes will take you from the press room to the main arena. Halfway to the arena you will find another working room for the press, next to the offices of the FEI. Directly opposite the main press center is the show office which easily enables us to get any additional information if we need it from either body.
Wulff says that there will be about 80 seats for the ringside press tribune with tables, but that area can be extended if necessary.
There will be TV monitors in the press center to watch everything that is going on in the arena. Additionally from Thursday to Sunday there will be a daily one hour programme on German television station ARD, which of course also can be seen in the press room.
I asked Wulff to think about a casual mixed zone for media and riders quite near to the arena, where you can have a coffee and meet and talk very easily. Wulff immediately agreed and will try to organise that.
Up to now there is one hotel in the middle of Leipzig for the media: Motel One. You can get more information by going to www.motel-one.com/de/hotels/hotels-leipzig.html. At the moment they are looking for a second media hotel. There is also a hotel very near the arena, but it is way out of town and the town is very nice, so this is why the organisers opted for a media hotel in town. They will organise an extra bus line for media, riders etc. for the time of the final as well as a car shuttle. It will be a ride of about 20 minutes from the hotels in the city of Leipzig to the arena at the exhibition halls.
Press chief Andreas Kerstan stated that there are already two media events planned.
The Accreditation process will begin in January. We will endeavour to keep you informed of any new developments along the way. If there is anything else you want to know ââ?¬â?? all you have to do is ask!
Kim Kreling, IAEJ delegate, Leipzig World Cup Finals