Could you imagine a crowd of ten million people?

It is equivalent to the population of some of the world's mega-cities such as Cairo, Rio de Janeiro and Beijing. The Berlin Olympic Stadium, which has a capacity of 75,000, would have to be sold out 133 times to attain this figure.

And now another comparison is available: an attendance of ten million at shows and events. That is the total number of congress attendees and audiences registered at shows held up until now at the International Congress Center Berlin (ICC Berlin).

On June 5th Prof. Glenda Halliday from Sydney was welcomed as the ten millionth person to attend an event at the ICC Berlin. The Australian scientist from the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute hadregistered for the International Congress on Parkinson's Disease, which attracted some 3,000 specialists to Europe's largest conference centre from 5 to 9 June.

The ICC Berlin, recently the recipient of the World Travel Award in the category "World's Leading Conference & Convention Centre", thus reaches another significant milestone in its eventful history. In the words of Berlin's Under-Secretary for Economics Volkmar Strauch: "Ten million visitors - this figure alone gives an indication of the quality of the many congresses and other events that have taken place here over the past 26 years. Berlin's international reputation as a congress venue would have been inconceivable without the ICC."

Raimund Hosch, Chief Executive Officer of Messe Berlin GmbH, handed the special guest a porcelain bear made by KPM and an illustrated book about Berlin. The head of the Berlin fair company commented: "This significant figure emphasises the leading international position enjoyed by the ICC Berlin, especially in the field of large scale medical conventions. Expenditure by out-of-town visitors to conventions provides the city with a substantial influx of additional purchasing power, which now totals 1.5 billion euros."

1.6 events with 1,046 participants each day

Since its inauguration in 1979 the enormous success enjoyed by the ICC Berlin as a venue for all kinds of events has cemented Berlin's place as one of the world's leading conference cities.

After more than 26 years of staging events the balance sheet is an impressive one. The total of 13,730 conventions and 1,622 shows producing a combined attendance of ten million, proves the ICC Berlin is certainly one of the most popular communications centres anywhere in the world. The above-average frequency of events and attendance figures reveal a daily figure of 1.6 events attended by 1,047 people on each of the 9,554 days.