Scan Magazine | Conference of the Month | Norway
Conference of the Month, Norway
South Norway’s biggest conference centre Q42 is not only the biggest conference venue in southern Norway, but also has state-of-the-art amenities and enthusiastic staff, who facilitate top class events, including big concerts. By Sunniva Davies-Rommetveit | Photos: Q42 conference centre Kristiansand
Operated by Kristiansand Kongressenter AS, Q42 is a conference centre blessed with very Scandinavian traits: cutting-edge facilities, excellent technological offerings and accomplished staff. A complex that also includes a hotel, restaurant, café and flats, the Kristiansand-based centre opened in November 2016, and welcomed 175,000 visitors last year. As well as being the biggest conference centre in Norway’s Sørlandet (between the oil town of Stavanger to the west, and Sandefjord to the east), it is also one of the most versatile conference halls in Norway. “We can be very flexible with the 88 | Issue 115 | August 2018
types of events we host — from evening banquets for up to 450 guests, to all-day conferences for up to 1,300 attendees, or concerts for up to 2,000 attendees,” explains Q42 chief executive Billy Øksendal. Having room sizes that vary from a capacity of between ten and 175 people and up to 1,300 is great for trade fair events, he adds, because large conferences such as these “often split into smaller groups throughout the day, for seminars and talks in more intimate settings.”
Unrivalled flexibility It is not only the versatility of Q42’s spaces that makes it stand out from the
crowd, but also its holistic approach to event management. “We’ve had great feedback from previous attendees about both our technological offering and our events management services,” Øksendal explains. This versatility is illustrated by the fact that the centre offers services as diverse as instrument rental for formal evening events and a language interpreting service for international conferences. Such tailored event management ensures that all events, whether large or small, run as smoothly as possible. Anything and everything can be taken care of by Q42 staff — from sending out invitations and providing essential information before the event, to administering ticket sales and registration on the day. This means that event hosts can “focus more on an event’s content, as opposed to the logistics of setting it up,” Øksendal adds.