Flawless organisation, excellent speakers, a record-breaking amount of participants and innovative sessions in a highly cultural and historic setting made the TAFISA 2015 World Congress an amazing event.
24th TAFISA World Congress Opening Ceremony in Budapest’s Vigadó Concert Hall, Thursday 15th October 2015
The early released programme was an appealing teaser. The announced venue – the Vigadó Concert Hall – hinted at a quite beautiful and prestigious event. Yet nobody could help but be in awe with the level of perfection attained during the Congress in Budapest: the excellent venue for the Congress was finely complemented with a great choice of locations for the related events such as the Ice Breaking Party at Troféa Restaurant, not to mention the culturally rich and historic Budapest city that participants had a chance to experience during the “Let’s Test Pest!” participatory sightseeing session and the “Hop on – Hop off Sightseeing Tour”. The climax was reached at the Gala dinner, taking place in the 5-star Marriott Hotel Budapest and featuring live performances by some of the greatest Hungarian artists. With such marvellous qualities, it does not come as a surprise that the attendance was record-breaking, boasting an impressive amount of over 400 participants from 71 countries.
Innovative sessions brought modernity to the Congress through programmes like the Language Tables, the House of Commons Debate, the World Café and various workshops, making for an active, interactive and participatory Congress for the attendees.
Participants were invited to join a table based on a language they knew and work together in this language to provide ideas, during the Language Tables session. Here, a Korean language table.
TAFISA expresses its gratitude towards the Hungarian host for an exceptional work in preparing for and organising such a remarkable Congress, setting the bar very high for future TAFISA events.
TAFISA would like to thank all members, partners and stakeholders for their constant support over the years.
Special thanks to the following prestigious speakers who brought top quality speeches to the Congress: TAFISA President Ju-Ho Chang, Honorary President of the Hungarian Olympic Committee and former President of Hungary Pál Schmitt, Minister of Human Capacities in Hungary Zoltán Balog, IOC Commission Chairperson Sam Ramsamy, EU Commissionner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Tibor Navracsics, Hungarian Olympic Committee President Zsolt Borkai, Indonesian Minister for Youth and Sport Imam Nahrawi, Hungarian Leisure Sports Association Attila Czene. UNESCO Philipp Müller-Wirth, IWG on Women in Sport Ruth Maphorisa.
These thanks are extended to the keynote speakers for their inspiring contributions: Richard Bailey, Transparency International Syliva Schenk, and NISB Marian Ter Haar.
The Vigadó Concert Hall by night