2025 Conference

Friday 13th June 2025, 10:00 - 17:00

Vienna (city centre, 1st District), Austria

In-person and ONLINE

 

We Need to Remain Active!

Perhaps today, in all the geopolitical changes that we face and in all the backlash that LGBTIQ community is facing, we need to be active and bring people together more than ever! We think that any suppression always made people stronger, so will it we think be with LGBTIQ community. Patience is for sure needed before things will turn good again. This however does not mean an idle time. More than ever now, we need to be active. We need role models, executives, public officials to stand out and be vocal. As a community, we need to be united and speak the same language. If our ask is inclusion, we need to walk the talk and act inclusively too by bringing everyone to the table and helping others to understand our needs. It is a social acceptance that we ask for, but that has also an economical rationale, something many times forgotten.

 

The Program

The East meets West Conference does not only reach out to the many business professionals and LGBTIQ advocacy organisations we work with, but we offer a balanced program of key speeches, active panel discussions, specialists interventions and master type classes to everybody who is interested in the well being and strengthening of the LGBTIQ community. We are right now working on agenda details. What we can reveal right now are our high-level thoughts on the Conference program:

HIGH-LEVEL OUTLINE

  • 9:30 - 10:00 | Doors Opening, Getting in the Conference Mood and Early Networking Time

  • 10:00 | Official Opening, Message of the Co-Founders and Welcome from our Supporting Partners

  • The Look from the East and the Look from the West - the Reality Check of what is Happening Around the World right now

  • The East meets West Reality Check on Austria

  • Role Models, Corporate Executives, Public officials.. they all need to stand out and be vocal!

  • Economical Rationale of LGBTIQ Entrepreneurship

  • The East meets West Awards, Conference Closing

 

The Registration

Registration is required to attend the 2025 International East meets West Conference in Vienna. Registration will open in May 2025, but it is wise to pre-register already today!

East meets West understands that sometimes the in-person participation of NGOs or as an individual might need an extra support. Contact us under events@eastmeetswest.eu to find out more about our NGO support program.

As we are this year again in Austria and we will leave all participants with the possibility to support the crucial work of Austrian leading NGOs financially.

 

The Venue 

We secured a great location for our 2025 International East meets West Conference - downtown Vienna, a prime business location and of course, the TOP floor!

Soon we will reveal more to our 2025 venue.

 

In Austria, from Austria  

We again host our signature event in Austria, our home country. As you are used from us in our previous CEE events, we will feature again a local LGBTIQ reality check and bring you an updated and more correct picture of the daily LGBTIQ reality in Austria. In 2025 we will of course keep our high professional standard and focus on delivering real value to both our audiences, those in-person and those joining online. We will make streaming available to audiences across the whole world. We nevertheless recommend you join us in person in a real space for people to meet again.

By hosting our conference in Austria, and streaming the event to the whole world, we want to give a special attention to the Austrian LGBTIQ situation. By doing so, we also aim to create business opportunities for local LGBTIQ owned and operated businesses.

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Why to Join us in Vienna  

Vienna, the capital of Austria, offers a blend of imperial traditions, music, and endearing charm. A city that inspires with the old and the new alike, and always has a cosy place available in a coffee house or wine tavern. Vienna also has an active LGBTIQ community and is considered Austria's queer capital. Vienna is also a popular destination for international LGBTIQ travellers from around the world. The Vienna Tourist Board strongly believes in promoting diversity and equality and runs a great dedicated section on the official website. And if you prefer digital, an LGBTIQ guide in ivie App takes you to the most important locations that Vienna has to offer for LGBTQ people and their friends (LINK to ivie App).

The 2025 Vienna Pride March (Regenbogenparade)

Vienna Pride 2025 will take place from 31st May to 15th June. The highlight is the Pride Parade on 14th June, where more than 250,000 people are expected to celebrate and march together. The main Pride March event will again be accompanied by numerous other events that will take place both virtually and on site. More info.