Let's get Phygital

Riga was on the brink of announcing itself to a wider conference audience when the pandemic struck but its meetings industry adapted quickly to the situation. Angela Antrobus reports...

Like most cities, the Latvian capital Riga was hit badly when live events were halted and organisers had to act swiftly to switch them to either 100 per cent digital or, in many cases, hybrid meetings.

“In Riga we call them ‘phygital’ events,” says Aigars Smiltans. “And, taking into account that the local Latvian meetings market is rather small, it managed to adopt the new safe meetings requirements rather easily.”

He is head of meetings and events at the Investment and Tourism Agency of Riga, formed last year to attract foreign investments and international meetings and events. For the previous 10 years he was director of MEET RIGA, a department of the Riga Development Bureau, and when that closed it made sense to keep the name MEET RIGA for the new convention bureau.

Smiltans is proud that for the past two years, using the phygital format, Riga was still able to host the annual Riga Conference organised by the Latvian Transatlantic Organisation since 2006 to promote Latvia’s NATO membership. Meet Riga assisted by running LinkedIn campaigns to boost the number of virtual attendees and viewers.

Similarly, the 5G Techritory Forum took place in Riga in 2020 and 21. A record 2,589 virtual participants and 250 speakers from over 100 countries joined the four-day event last November with moderators based in the Radisson Blu Latvija Conference & Spa Hotel.

“We also managed successfully to host the European Emergency Number 112 Association meeting last year with just over 400 delegates from 40 countries in the Radisson Blu Hotel and 300 more joining remotely through digital platforms,” says Smiltans.

He adds that Riga is a perfect destination for phygital events because of its central time-zone location, connecting east Asia during its evening, all of Europe during the day and America in the morning.

Riga hosted an important meeting of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs last November, a first for Latvia, selected to underscore the solidarity that exists between NATO and its Baltic Allies.

The venue chosen was the Atta Centre which only opened in 2020 and now the largest convention centre in the region. Still to reach its full potential, the 22,700 sqm multifunctional business complex offers 29 conference rooms, an office centre, co-working space and restaurant and can accommodate up to 5,500 simultaneously. In its largest configuration across three rooms, over 3,000 can be seated theatre-style.

Among other notable venues, Teikums offers modern event spaces fully equipped for groups of up to 1,000 people. The H20 6 Quarter has a total capacity of 1,200 and comprises rebuilt technical support hangars which can be converted into different sized spaces. The Radisson Blu Latvija Conference & Spa Hotel has 15 meeting rooms, the largest seating 1,000 people.

Smiltans is running MEEET RIGA singlehandedly at the moment but he’s determined to establish Riga as a credible international meetings destination. The universities attract talent in fields from linguistics to aviation engineering and, in cooperation with Latvia Convention Bureau, he’s created an Ambassador Programme to educate and encourage local academics to invite associations to hold events in Riga.

Riga International Airport is the largest in the Baltic States, the city’s hotels offer 13,500 beds and many people speak several languages. “Riga is the destination of great value for money,” says Smiltans. “We have reliable suppliers and meetings and events personnel who will go that extra mile for their clients!”

Contact
Aigars Smiltans
Head of Meetings & Events
Tel: +371 2572 7845
Email: [email protected]
www.MeetRiga.com