History

EASTLOG 2020 is the 23^rd edition of the largest conference event for the logistics and transportation industries in the Czech Republic. Its history reaches back to the mid 1990s, when the retail trade magazine Zboží&Prodej, published by ATOZ Group, held the first such event, simply titled “Logistics Conference”. It is interesting that this event, which was soon after rebranded as EASTLOG, was the first logistics project for ATOZ, even predating the launch of the flagship publication for the ATOZ Logistics group, Systémy Logistiky, first published in 2000.

The EASTLOG congress expanded along with the logistics market in the Czech Republic, eventually growing from a one-day conference into a three-day congress by 2003. The event was regularly held in the fall, but it was moved to its now-traditional spring slot with its relaunch in 2005 under the guidance of ATOZ Group’s new general manager, Jeffrey Osterroth, and its new Event Manager, Irena Šašková (now Seibertová), who was previously the project manager for the congress. The event moved to the Hotel Diplomat in 2005, and its new evening program, the popular Logistics Business Mixer, strengthened the networking aspect of the congress.

The expanding congress could no longer fit in the Hotel Diplomat, and so in 2007 it moved to the much-larger TOP Hotel. The enormous congress hall at TOP Hotel allowed us to launch a new concept of stands at EASTLOG, the Business Arena. The growth of the congress, however, was slightly slowed by the economic crisis, which began in earnest in the Czech Republic in 2009. As the market transformed, so did EASTLOG, now under the guidance of Jaroslav Smíšek, the new ATOZ Logistics Group Manager. Jaroslav successfully transformed the congress and shifted the focus of the event to the conference program, providing like no other event on the market the independent information and inspiration that logistics professionals needed to manage the economic recession.

The final major transformation of EASTLOG took place in 2013 and coincided with the move to Aquapalace Hotel Prague. The flexible conference space of this modern hotel allowed us to break up the afternoon program into smaller workshops focused on different aspects of the logistics and transportation industry and therefore better suit the needs of the individual participants: TRENDLOG, TRANSLOG, HRLOG, ITLOG, E-SHOPLOG, PRODLOG, AUTOLOG, etc. These afternoon sessions are slightly different each year depending on the situation and trends on the market, but they have quickly become the informational lynch pin of the EASTLOG congress. The business aspect of the congress was also strengthened in recent years with the addition of the speed-dating program BIZLOG, while the ever-popular excursions to logistics platforms on the second congress day, now called SEELOG, have remained a key part of the program.