Belgian Days 2020: summary

December 3, 2020

This year’s Belgian Days were unique. There were no tables for delicious snacks and Belgian beer. There was no glass ball in which we throw business cards at the entrance. There were no handshakes. Each participant connected to the Internet platform being home. All events were held online. Nevertheless, we are glad that we could sponsor the Belgian Days 2020.

Different than usually

During the Belgian Days, the Belgian Embassy was clothed in a fesitve outfit: black-yellow-red fabrics. The Belgian Days symbolically began with a concert of classical music where sounds of saxophone were coming from the balcony of the Embassy. One could watch it live on Facebook or stand under the balcony at a safe distance. The next events were organized on the Venture Cafe platform, which is an excellent alternative to a face-to-face meeting. We sat at virtual tables, we could check on sponsors’ stands, and from time to time leaders could get on a “stage”.

Belgian Days 2020 – events

The first event was a business mixer, where we had the opportunity to exchange virtual business cards. BNP Paribas showed how women change their company, and then the participants could see beautiful initiative of the Diversity Charter. A nice break were short interactive activities with the audience run by the reliable Mr. Krzysztof from Praxeo Group.

• Do you know that VGD is the Signatory of the Diversity Charter?

The next two days were dominated by conferences. The first one was the “E-Health” conference, where startups shared their successes in the field of telemedicine. Then the “From Virtual to Real Estate” conference made us aware of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the real estate sector. It turns out that this impact is surprisingly small. The real estate industry is doing quite well. A very interesting part of the conference was the speech of CFE Polska and StratoKit, when they presented an automation process of real estate activities. This is the topic that is very close to us because this year we have been also intensifying digitization at our company.

We support women in business

VGD supports businesswomen in their pursuit of success. Therefore, we decided to become the main sponsor of a business breakfast dedicated entirely to women. It was the perfect culmination of the Belgian Days, organized by BBC Business Women Club. The interactive workshop “Image building and communication”, which was part of the breakfast, was a fruitful experience. Substantial, full of tips and engaging exercises, it was an incredible inspiration. The host, Christian Dekoninck from Management Center Europe, is a charismatic man. He shared his experience and knowledge with us. If you do not like workshops because you feel embarrassed or stressed during them, you must definitely check out the interactive workshops by the BBC Business Women Club. They are always special events.

BBC Award 2020

However, the BBC Award 2020 competition touched our hearts the most, because … we won in the “Silver Sponsor” category. We are happy because we have worked the whole year to win it by taking care of:

• Corporate Social Responsibility
• sustainable development
• creating value for Belgian business.

More about it we will tell you soon in a separate article because we would like to share our presentation with you.

Belgian Days are always an opportunity to make new contacts and to nurture the existing ones. So many great people and amazing businesses that inspire to take action – all in one place. Thank you! See you next year!