The 18th International Congress on Vertical Transportation Technologies with the largest number of presentations ever – 50 papersELEVCON 2010, Lucerne, Switzerland

PreparationsAfter long considerations, and a positive reply from Schindler Switzerland, we decided Lucerne to be our 2010 venue. I arranged a meeting with Mr. Weinberger / Schindler in September 2008 to discuss details as well as to visit the KKL congress center as an option for Elevcon 2010. The KKL was actually the only option as we wanted to stay in Lucerne close to the Schindler headquarter. There was no hotel in this town that could offer us the space needed for Elevcon. Even though we usually like to book a congress-hotel, i.e. a site which combines accommodation and congress facilities we gave up in favor of the modern well equipped KKL congress center. This impressive building serves the city of Lucerne for all major events, concerts, conventions and festivals. It is located next to the “Bahnhof” – the main train station and is situated near the Lucerne lake.Because of its central location we found many 2-4 stars hotels within walking distance. From Zurich airport there is a direct train to Lucerne train station that takes people in an hour and 45 minutes to Lucerne with a stop at Zurich train station. The discussion with Mr. Weinberger was regarding details, mainly ideas for a tour and a dinner. For this purpose Mr. Weinberger eventually turned up with a great idea to have a boat ride to the other side of the lake where there is a wonderful facility for dinner. The nearby highest outdoor elevator is within walking distance to this place. Few weeks later we where able to mail the first call for papers worldwide and advertise it in leading magazines. The papers were collected and reviewed by Elevcon 2010 Chairman & Programme Manager Mr. Ami Lustig, ESL – Eng. S. Lustig, Consulting Engineers Ltd. and IAEE members of the board of executives Mr. G.W. Gibson, U.S.A., Mr. R. Howkins, Ove Arup & Partners, UK, Mr. John Inglis, OAM, IAEE President, Australia Dr. A.T.P. So, City University, Hong Kong, Mr. J. Stier, IAEE Administrative Board and Mr. S. Targit, Asray, Turkey.

Paper SelectionAs a result of the call for papers we received a very high number of paper proposals from Europe, Asia, Australia, and the US. The selection process was done by sending all abstracts to all committee members for grading, and papers with highest grades were accepted as speakers. Another group was recommended as poster-presentations and some were refused. This procedure ensures fair and reasonable selection. This procedure is orchestrated by Mr. A. Lustig, the programme manager.It was decided that the 3 day Elevcon congress would be held in one hall with no separations. This limited the presentations to about 30 papers in total and a certain number of posters. Such tough selection forced us to sometimes refuse papers of old friends and colleagues which is not an easy task. Once the selection had been done we were able to move to the next stage: to issue a 2nd call with the short abstracts of all speakers and simultaneously collect the papers for the book of proceedings – Elevator Technologies #18 book. This book had to be ready, printed and bind at least 10 days prior to the congress and then had to be shipped to KKL for distribution during the registration. The huge task of editing this book based on the ready for camera papers was done traditionally by the congress chairman Mr. A. Lustig.

Registration and LogisticsThe process of congress registration started immediately after the 2nd call was mailed. We usually expect 180-200 registrations, and Elevcon 2010 was no different. This procedure is handled by the IAEE secretariat, Mrs. K. Pust and managed by me in person. Meanwhile, final logistic matters were arranged. For this I had to visit KKL again. The logistic matters include hiring manpower, audio-visual equipment, printing badges, various forms, exhibition stands,

registration desk and preparations for lunches, coffee breaks and much more. All these items must be ordered in high quality and have to be well timed. Special attention had to be given to the exhibition stands, the ordering of modular systems, arranging the floor plan and have it approved by KKL, etc.

The AccommodationOn the Sunday prior the opening I had to be in Lucerne, to check weather all details were in place. The following day delegations started to arrive, the set up began and we started to get ready for Tuesday – the final setup and on site registration. I was warned that June is high season in Lucerne and there might be a shortage of hotel rooms. I was thinking that in an emergency situation any hotel nearby Zurich train station might do, as it is only 60 minutes to the KKL, but such emergency did not occur. We reserved many rooms in advance in 2 hotels: The Schweizerhof, 5 star luxury hotel and Ameron Hotel Flora ****, which is just around the corner of KKL.The majority of congress participants preferred the Flora Hotel which is closer to KKL and much cheaper, therefore we had to cancel our blocked rooms at the Schweizerhof 45 days prior to the event. The Flora Hotel proved to be a very good choice and was very convenient. Also the assistance from the hotel management was great. Accommodation rates usually cause a problem. When we block rooms up to two year before the event we can not block at "bargain price". Hotels simply refuse to make financial commitments at such an early stage. They offer a low rate but sometimes, before the event, if the hotel is not full booked "sell" blocks of rooms to Internet sites at very low price. In such case, sometimes one can book a room in the same hotel in the last moment cheaper than our proposed rate. There is of course a risk – that in the last minute rooms will simply be not available. We, as responsible organizers, must block rooms, even tough we know that maybe the same rooms maybe cheaper at a later date. Our only and main concern is to ensure that all delegates will have proper accommodation. The CongressThe 2nd June came and the congress opened. Elevcon 2010, the 18th world congress of the International Association of Elevator Engineers in Lucerne, presented an outstanding list of proposed presentations and posters by leading experts from allover the world within the vertical transportation industry.

Timetable2 June 2010 Opening sessionSessions AM and PMExhibition AM and PMEvening welcome reception

3 June 2010 Sessions AM and PMExhibition AM Evening tour followed by dinner sponsored by Schindler

4 June 2010 Sessions AM and PMExhibition AM

The evening Welcome reception, 2 June 2010 This was probably the largest failure during Elevcon 2010. Originally this welcome reception was planned to be on the terrace of the KKL. But in the 'last minute" I had 'cold feet" thinking it

may rain (and so it did eventually!) and moved this event to the Ameron Flora Hotel where most delegates stayed anyhow, As much as we believe Swiss people are punctual etc. – the staff members of the hotel badly disappointed us. The Ameron Flora Hotel reserved a small space suitable for maximum 90 people (not over 120 as agreed and ordered in advance) and served only small quantities of snacks, white & red wine, beer, etc. As a result the welcome reception this year by far did not meet the high standard of past Elevcon congresses, even tough the hotel kitchen made last minute efforts to serve more drinks and snacks.

2nd evening tour & dinner sponsored by Schindler, 3 June 2010 The 2nd evening was way better. It all went according to plan and the Schindler representatives did a great job by arranging a wonderful tour and dinner.For the second evening we had planned a tour to a lift installation followed by a dinner sponsored by Schindler. All participants and registered accompanying persons were invited to participate in this special event. We left at approx. 15:00 hrs from Lucerne by boat, and took the funicular to go up to Bürgenstock, where we saw the Hammetschwand lift which is Europe's highest outdoor lift and travels a vertical distance of 152m in less than a minute. We than went up by lift to Hammetschwand and returned to the lift station from where a short walk brought us to the Bürgenstock Hotel. Participants who did not wish to hike were able to stay at the hotel area and enjoyed an aperitif. We returned from our small excursion at around 19:30 hrs for a wonderful dinner at the hotel.

IAEE Books : Elevator Technology – book of proceedingsWe produced the Elevcon 2010 Elevator-Technology #18 with 464 pages, the heaviest book ever. The proceedings of Elevcon 2006, Helsinki - Elevator Technology #16 was the first book of proceedings breaking the record over 400 pages. Elevator Technology #17, Thessalonki 2008 had already 448 pages. These new heavy books caused a new logistic problem: heavy shipment, and need of a congress bag large and strong enough to carry it. Due to these issues, we printed a relative small reserve for post-congress sales. The mailing cost is high and therefore we offer these new publication andt limited edition for 140€ a book. This book can be obtained from our website. www.elevcon,.com

Post CongressWe collected comments from delegates as well as opinions and practical ideas for the future. Some of the ideas were:Book of proceedings: - To add a CD (PDF Format) to the book with all articles (this was rejected due to possible copying).- To indicate references to the page numbers of the book of proceedings (table of contents) also in the programme.Workshops: At a workshop the convenor must not talk for more than 10 minutes. Workshops should be more of a roundtable discussion.Poster session should include a short overview before the actual poster session starts.Welcome reception: Welcome reception was not according to the high number of participants!Compliments:• All-in-all: good congress.• Thank you for this Congress.• Thanks for organizing this Elevcon in Lucerne. It was great!!!• Thanks to all people involved!• Very good time keeping.• Very good! Congratulations!