On October 5, 2010, the annual solemn IMA award ceremony was held in the imperial premises of Hofburg Vienna during the trade fair access 2010.
The person honoured this year has been working in leading positions in the Viennese and Austrian convention industry for more than 20 years: Christian Mutschlechner, Director of the Vienna Convention Bureau and since 2009 president of ACB - Austrian Convention Bureau, the umbrella association of the Austrian convention Industry.

The honorific speech was held by Peter Baierl, Executive Director of the European Society of Radiology and IMA awardee himself. In a very humorous and spirited way, he recognized Mr Mutschlechner’s success and described him as an easy boss who enjoys cultural events and the time with his family.
After the award had been handed over by the IMA board members Christine Opitz and Gabriele Stanek, the many guests – amongst them Dir. Johann Jungreithmair, CEO of Reed Exhibitions Austria - had intensive talks with the awardee at the booth of I.M. Austria.

Christian Mutschlechner
An important aim of Mutschlechner as president of the Austrian Convention Bureau is to unite the entire Austrian convention industry under the roof of the umbrella organization, and to raise the awareness of Austrian congress providers for the national and international convention industry. He strives to establish the convention industry as a separate industry and in the broader sense as part of the knowledge industry. In 2009, he was able to record an important success, namely the publication of the first statistics of conferences in Austria.
Besides his efforts for the Austrian convention industry, he served as president of the ICCA - International Congress and Convention Association - and has received several awards, amongst others the JMIC Unity Award 2010.

I.M. Austria had, as in the last years, an own booth at access 2010 (4 to 5 October 2010). There, a big number of professionals, mainly Austrians, informed themselves about the services the members of I.M. Austria offer, looked for advice for their exhibition and event projects and took a copy of the Service book with them. They also showed big interest in the new edition of the Service book for the Exhibition, Event and Congress Industries, to be published in February 2011.