THE OBALKO 8 CONGRESS WILL TAKE PLACE AT THE END OF JANUARY – LIVE AND ONLINE

The eighth edition of the Czech and Slovak packaging congress OBALKO will take place on January 27–28, 2021, where it was moved from the original October date due to the coronavirus pandemic. Nearly all of the 44 speakers have confirmed their participation in January. This year, for the first time, the OBALKO congress will be hybrid, which means that the speakers will present live at the Aquapalace Hotel Prague in front of a limited number of participants (taking into account government measures that will be valid at the time of the congress) and the rest of the Czech and Slovak packaging market will participate online via live stream.

WHAT CAN YOU LOOK FORWARD TO THIS YEAR?

Joint morning program on the topic The Customer and Packaging

The congress will be opened by three “customers” – representatives of the main fields for the packaging market: Jana Volfová from ŠKODA AUTO (for automotive), Pavel Komůrka from Orkla (for FMCG) and a representative of Tesco Stores (for retail – the name will be specified at the beginning of the year). Then Ladislav Csengeri from GfK will present the results of a unique survey on households’ attitudes towards plastic packaging, sorting and recycling. Six key players from the retail and FMCG market will outline how they deal with packaging in their companies with regard to consumers in a panel discussion at the end of the joint block.

Three topical sections: Immerse yourself in the depth of packaging!

This year’s congress will again offer three topical sections. New this year is that the sections will not be parallel but will follow one other:

HOW CAN YOU PARTICIPATE THIS YEAR?

Watch OBALKO 8 from the comfort of your home or office

Nothing beats attending a conference in person, but we will do our best to duplicate the experience! The speeches will take place in the studio at the Aquapalace Hotel Prague, which means better presentation and interaction of the speakers than if everyone were talking into their webcams. Even if you watch remotely, you will be connected to the speakers via Slido – you can comment on their presentations live or ask them what you are interested in. And if the speakers talk about a certain package, you don’t have to worry about not knowing what they are referring to – you’ll have the package with you, because we’ll deliver it to you in advance.

Note: Unfortunately, due to the hybrid nature of the congress, we will not be able to provide simultaneous translation for this year’s edition of OBALKO. The presentations will be in the language of the presenters (primarily Czech or Slovak). We apologize for the inconvenience.

Possibility of physical participation according to the current epidemiological situation

Of course, we would like to welcome as many of you as possible to the Aquapalace Hotel Prague. We will inform you about the possibility of personal participation in the congress with regard to government measures that will be valid at the time of the congress. Priority will be given to participants who are already registered for the online stream and congress partners.

If you are with us in person at the hotel, you can trust that your safety will come first for us. Therefore, all participants will have to wear masks for the entire time indoors, except for the time required for refreshments. We will measure the temperature of each participant upon arrival. Sufficient disinfection will be available, and the premises will be disinfected regularly. Seating in the halls will be spaced to provide adequate social distancing between individual participants.

We are pleased that there is great interest in the congress OBALKO from participants and partners despite the difficult situation associated with the coronavirus. It is clear that you want to meet in person, learn, discuss happenings on the market, maintain and establish business contacts. We offer all of this at OBALKO.

However, we are also thinking about your safety, so we will follow these required and recommended safety measures:

• All participants (except speakers on the podium) will wear face masks at all times indoors, except for the time needed to consume refreshments.
• We will measure the temperature of each participant upon arrival.
• Sufficient disinfection will be available, and the premises will be disinfected regularly.
• Seating in the halls will be arranged with sufficient space between individual participants.

Please be assured that your safety comes first for us. Together we can make it through this difficult situation! We look forward to seeing you on January 27 at OBALKO.