No World Congress in Prague

Six candidates made it to the final semifinal round, the outcome of which was decided by the WFH Executive Committee in Canada: Canada, the USA, Mexico, Scotland, Ireland, and the Czech Republic. Two had to be eliminated; at this year's July congress in Paris, delegates from all member countries will vote on the definitive hosts, always choosing between two candidates. The committee members decided in recent days to send the USA (Miami), Canada (Montreal), Mexico (Guadalajara), and Scotland (Glasgow) through to the Paris vote. Prague and Dublin were eliminated.

The official letter states that all candidates did a perfect job, that the decision was extremely difficult, but that it is what it is. The Chairman of the CSH Council then received a few personal lines from WFH President Mark Skinner expressing regret over the decision, as Prague had submitted an excellent bid. That is nice, but of little consolation.

The decision is somewhat surprising, mainly because both rounds were expected to feature a contest between cities from America and Europe. According to behind-the-scenes information, everyone assumed that in 2016 an American city would win and two years later a European one -- in the interest of alternating continents, since the current congress is in Paris and the next one will be in Melbourne, Australia. As things stand, Glasgow has it virtually assured, because it would be difficult to hold the congress in the Americas two years in a row.

For our Society, this is a tremendous loss. Not only for reasons of prestige, but also financial ones, because such a mammoth event, attended by around 4,000 delegates, brings the host federation considerable economic benefit. Perhaps another time then; this October, a European-level congress (EHC) will take place in Prague, which is also not bad.

The Society Council would like to sincerely thank two institutions that played the lion's share in preparing the bid: the Prague Convention Bureau and the congress agency Czech-in. Both organisations invested considerable effort and financial resources, which have now come to nothing. But that is how the congress business works, and the risk is significant.

Once again, thank you to everyone involved for the dozens and dozens of hours of work -- it is certainly not the end of the road.