PAST EVENTS

IBF Members’ Lunch

Thursday, 14th March, 2024

On Thursday, 14th March, the IBF hosted its second ‘speaker lunch’ of the year, again in V Zatisi restaurant, this time with one of the IBF’s most regular speakers, General Andor Sandor, as our guest. 

General Sandor is the former head of the Czech Military Intelligence Service and a recognized expert on security issues, terrorist threats and crisis management.  Just now, he is a regular on Czech TV, where he gives his opinion on the ongoing situations in both Ukraine and Israel, and we were privileged to have him join us to discuss these subjects, and others, at our lunch.  As usual, the Zatisi food and ambience was great and the discussion flowed well into the afternoon.

New Year’s Luncheon and Annual General Meeting

Friday, 26th January

The first IBF event of the year was our New Year’s lunch in V Zatisi which also incorporated the IBF’s Annual General Meeting.  More than 20 members and friends turned out to enjoy the usual great lunch and ambience of the restaurant and to take an active part in the AGM. As usual there was a great deal of lively discussion, in particular about the type of events that the members would like to see incorporated into the plan for the year.  Keep an eye on this website for news on some of these suggestions as one or two of them will definitely be carried out. 

IBF Members and Guests’ Lunch in conjunction with Prague City University

Friday, 24th November, 2023

On Friday, 24th November, the IBF hosted another of its popular Members and Guests’ Luncheons, this time in the back room of La Bottega di Finestra, owned by one of its newest members, the Aromi Group.  The lunch was hosted jointly by the IBF and one of its partners, Prague City University, and alongside some exceptional cuisine and Italian wines, guests enjoyed a short presentation by Dr Stefano Cavagnetto PhD, Dean of the University’s School of Business who introduced the University’s Industry Advisory Council, which grabbed the attention of quite a few of the IBF members. Being a Friday afternoon, the lunch ran on for some time (!), and proved so popular that we can be sure to host another event in the same venue in the very near future.

Annual IBF Residential Real Estate Seminar – ‘Atteming to solve the affordability crisis’

Thursday, 14th September, 2023

On Thursday, 14th September, the IBF hosted its annual residential real estate seminar, this time entitled ‘attempting to solve the affordability crisis.’. Held in one of the newly refurbished and very smart KPMG conference rooms, more than 40 IBF members and friends turned out to listen to a really heavyweight panel of speakers who were all, generally, a lot more optimistic than might have been expected.

The full-line up was:
Pavel Kliment, Partner, KPMG – Economic overview
Peter Višňovský, Director, Lexxus Overview of the residential market, in particular in Prague
Jan Adámek, Managing Director, Jan Reality – Overview of the residential market, in particular in the regions
Dalius Kaveckas, CFO, Baltic Asset Management – Co-living
Jan Nový, ESG Director, Progresus – Where affordability and sustainability meet
Lars Klett, Partner, UEPA – The recent changes to the construction law
Matěj Vyskočil, COO, Zeitraum – Rentals and student housing

All of the presentations from the event are available to IBF members upon request. Contact info@ibforum.cz for further information.

For sure we will hold another event next year, by which time it will be interesting to see how many of the predictions discussed have come true!

IBF Members’ Lunch

Wednesday, 26th April, 2023

On Wednesday, 26th April, the IBF hosted another of its popular Members’ Lunches, this time back in our favourite Zatisi Restaurant in Liliova 1, Prague 1.

As usual a good group of IBF members and their guests enjoyed some lively conversation as well as the wonderful food and ambience of Zatisi. For sure we will host another members’ lunch soon – most likely during the quieter summer period. Keep your eye on the website to find out more.

Second IBF Hotel and Hospitality half-day seminar

The second IBF Hotel and Hospitality half-day seminar took place on Tuesday, 21st February, 2023 in the wonderful theatre of the Hotel Fitzgerald in Karlin.

Doors opened at 08.30 which enabled the more than 40 IBF members and friends to grab a light breakfast in the bar area before taking their seats in the spectacular theatre. After a short welcome by the IBF Chairman, Jo Weaver, and a greeting by one of the owners of the hotel, Richard Jones, the presentations came thick and fast.

Michael Specking, the GM of the Hilton Hotel opened up with a fascinating insight into the workings of a hotel the size of the Hilton and the challenges it has had both during Covid and then the past year, particularly with the very reduced number of large-scale conferences that Prague is receiving right now, and the knock-on effect that that has had on the occupancy figures and room rates.

Michael was followed by David Nath, the head of the hotel section at Cushman & Wakefield, who gave a detailed presentation of the hospitality sector globally, particularly comparing figures from elsewhere with those being seen in the Czech Republic, and looking at the trends in travel and hospitality around the world. His talk was nicely balanced by that of Jan Adamek, the Managing Director of Jan Hospitality, who continued on a similar theme to David, but with a focus on Prague and the Czech Republic regions.

After a short coffee break, Stefano Cavagnetto, the Dean of the Business School at Prague City University, talked about the importance of identifying, training and supporting staff during these difficult times, when the common theme is that it is difficult to find good people to work in the hospitality sector, which leads to the importance of looking after those people that you already have.

Finally, Richard Jones gave an overview of the process that he and his partners went through once they had decided to buy the hotel, the difficulties that they went through, particularly when completing right in the middle of the Covid Pandemic, the reconstruction and the now ongoing operation of the hotel when the times are still difficult.

Whilst the original plan had been for everyone that wanted to stay on after the seminar to network and chat, nearly everyone took up Richard’s offer of a tour of the hotel, and finally, with some people leaving and others staying on for lunch in the hotel restaurant, the day was wrapped up, with the general feeling that this was one of the best events that the IBF had hosted for some time.

If you would like to see the presentations from this event, please contact info@ibforum.cz.

IBF Members’ Lunch

Wednesday, 9th November, 2022

On Wednesday, 9th November, the IBF hosted yet another of its popular members’ lunches in our partner, Zatisi Catering’s, lovely Zatisi Restaurant where, once again, the food, ambience and general good spirit of everyone attending made it a really great event.

A large group of both IBF members and friends enjoyed many different lively discussions and for sure these members’ lunches will be part of our diary of events for 2023. We will look forward to seeing everyone again then.

IBF Members’ Lunch

Monday, 5th September, 2022

On Monday, 5th September, the IBF hosted yet another of its popular Member Lunches, this time in the Crystal Room of our favourite Zatisi Restaurant. 18 of our members and a couple of our friends turned out for what was, as usual, a good opportunity for all of us to talk more about the ongoing crises that we are living through right now, as well as chat generally about our own work and what we are all up to in these difficult times. Interestingly, amongst stories of closures and redundancies, many of our members are also involved in some interesting new projects, which just goes to show how necessary it is to ‘duck and dive’ when things get tough. Find out more at the next Members’ Lunch, which will be announced on the website soon.