site.btaBTA's National Press Club in Sofia: Nearly 10,000 News Conferences and Events Hosted in 20 Years

On October 8, 2003, the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) unveiled its fully renovated National Press Club in Sofia, part of the agency's network of media centres in Bulgaria and abroad under the brand "BTA National Press Club". Since then, nearly 10,000 news conferences and events have taken place there.

After the construction of BTA's building in 1960, the hall on the fourth floor was used as a venue for gatherings, cultural events, and the award ceremony for Athlete of the Balkans. In 1991, the hall became a press club. It was fully renovated in 2003. This is where in 2006, online broadcasting of events began in Bulgaria.

The idea to build press clubs of BTA in all main geographical spots of Bulgaria belongs to Maxim Minchev, BTA Director General from 2003 to 2020. The goal was to have a place with contemporary information technology where businesses, power holders and organizations would have equal access to a forum and the media, to information.

Since then, the BTA National Press Club in Sofia has established itself as the preferred venue for news conferences of Bulgarian businesses, political, nongovernmental and branch organizations, state institutions and foreign representations, renown individuals from the fields of sport, culture and science from Bulgaria and abroad.

BTA has been gradually expanding its network of national press clubs, starting with Veliko Tarnovo in 2003. In the last three years, BTA Director General Kiril Valchev has unveiled 15 new press clubs in Bulgaria and 6 abroad. In the year when BTA turned 125, the agency boasts a total of 34 national press clubs.

Some interesting facts from the 20-year history of the BTA National Press Club in Sofia:

• The highest number of news conferences hosted in a month is 85.
• The highest number of news conferences hosted in a day is 7.
• The shortest news conference lasted less than two minutes.
• The most popular event, which attracted over 200 media representatives, was the first news conference given by the Bulgarian medics freed from Libyan prison in 2007.
• Among the strangest reasons for cancelling a news conference is participants getting arrested or taken for questioning.
• The most unconventional visitors were a pair of pigeons who joined the news conference of an environmental organization.
• The organizers of almost all protests and strikes in the last 20 years have presented the reasons for their discontent at the BTA National Press Club.