Seminars and meetings: the hotel as a source of inspiration

The hitherto conventional world of meeting rooms is no longer taken entirely seriously. While hotels have long since undergone their lifestyle revolution, seminar rooms have yet to follow suit. "If there's one place that's been left out of this development, it's the meeting room."It's all about meetings", says Xavier Louyot, Marketing Director of Pullman, the Accor Group's meetings brand. While functional and certainly effective, these professional meeting points still lacked a little extra soul, that contemporary spirit conducive to reflection.

And now there's a welcome touch of modernity where it was sorely lacking. "Of course, meeting organisers pay attention first and foremost to the basics: the quality of the catering, the service around the event and the comfort of the rooms, continues Xavier Louyot. Then there are the details, the design or the interior architecture, which no longer go unnoticed and which make all the difference. They create a positive atmosphere at a seminar, giving participants the impression that they are meeting in the right place at the right time."

Together with designer Matthieu Lehanneur, Pullman has chosen to take care of those little things that subtly contribute to the return on investment of an event. This is how a new concept of meeting rooms, which will be rolled out over three years, will appear in London by the end of the year, and shortly afterwards in the five Paris establishments currently undergoing a metamorphosis. "The meeting tables are inspired by the aesthetics of poker tablessays Xavier Louyot. We're also adding 'cabinets of curiosities' with cutting-edge technology and alcoves reminiscent of telephone booths of yesteryear, where two or three people can hold informal meetings in complete privacy."

Bye bye, bored rooms

Has the time come to say goodbye to those boring "bored rooms" as the Anglo-Saxons ironically describe them? A new generation of seminar rooms is emerging, giving the more traditional models a bit of an old-fashioned makeover. Brain Box at Radisson Blu, Think Tank at Scandic,? Eurek@ at Novotel, Creative Meetings at Le Méridien and Creative Space at the Hotel Alstadt in Vienna, among other concepts evocative of widespread brainstorming, demonstrate the determination of hoteliers to design inspiring new settings.

"Companies need to project themselves into the future and develop their strategies. We set the scene to encourage discussion and creativity."This is what Serge Trigano, the man behind Mama Shelter, the low-cost design establishments launched by the founding family of Club Med and Philippe Starck, the guarantor of an invigorating, offbeat spirit, says. The latest addition to the collection, which opened in Lyon in March, features five trendy 'workshops' with ceilings painted freehand by calligrapher Tarek Benaoum. One of these rooms has a library with comfortable sofas, a bar, table football, a dart board and a host of books strewn here and there. "When you're here, you feel intelligent"he continues.

This type of friendly, fun space for recreational brainstorming sessions has been on the increase recently. While Pullman has dedicated its 'chill out spaces' to relaxed meetings since its inception in 2007, Radisson Blu is now rolling out its Brain Boxes, one of the highlights of its Experience Meetings product launched last year. "It breaks both the traditional codes of a meeting and the hierarchical framework of companies. Everyone sits on the same level, not behind a table, but on a colourful Fatboy footstool to share ideas. You can also write on walls with a slate surface"explains Marion Gauthier, Rezidor's Sales Director for Western Europe and North West Africa. In the same vein, the IHG group is testing the Ideation Room at the Crowne Plaza in Amsterdam, one of the flagships of the British hotelier's business and seminar brand. "With its digital whiteboard and magnetic walls, this room is completely different from the others."says Brice Marguet, IHG's Business Development Director for France and North Africa.

Creative business

To stimulate creativity, the new generation of meeting rooms also play on flexibility, with furniture that adapts to the needs of the organisers. Launched by Novotel at the end of 2012 and designed for meetings of 10 to 30 people, the Premium room offers tables on castors with fold-down tops, and Herman Miller chairs, also on castors and, what's more, with shape memory for optimum back support. What's more, the table is no longer arranged in a U-shape, but in a crab claw shape to encourage communication and movement around the room.

Flexibility is also the watchword for the transformation of meeting rooms currently underway at Marriott's European hotels. Establishments in Munich and Amsterdam, ahead of Istanbul and Krasnoyarsk in early 2014, are this month unveiling spaces where businesses can give free rein to their creativity rather than feel constrained by a fixed set-up; all enhanced by the latest technology with video-conferencing solutions and intelligent whiteboards.

Riding the wave of virtual offices, Marriott, with its Workspring concept, and Starwood Hotels, with its Tangent at Westin spaces, have also turned their attention to small meetings, again with new modular rooms. The Workspring space, being tested at the Marriott in Redmond, near Seattle, is a vast collaborative business centre made up of five studios and communal areas with natural daylight where business travellers can meet in threes or fours over a coffee, leaning against a high table. But the space also lends itself to meetings of up to 75 people to work together in a creative spirit. In the same vein, many Westin establishments around the world offer their clients Tangent spaces, rented by the hour, for intimate meetings, but resolutely technological thanks to the interactive media:scape offer developed by Steelcase.

The future that is taking shape today corresponds above all to the working habits of generation Y, hyper-connected and ultra-autonomous. With the emergence of this new wave of business travellers, these are probably only the first steps towards 100 % high-tech seminars. "We have a work plan for the next few years to give events more scope for interaction. The presentations of slides and slides and more slides that you have to endure for two days are over, says Ludovic Dupont, Vice President, Meetings and Events Distribution, Accor Group. Participants should no longer be spectators, but players in their meetings, using all the technological channels available to them, and in particular smartphones for live polls, exchanges on social media, Twitter comments, etc."Already, the Andel's hotel in Berlin is offering its guests, for 16.66 euros, an application that allows them to post the seminar agenda and list of participants, share documents, photos and videos, and interact live during the seminar on a tweet wall. A significant advantage of this application is that it relieves both organisers and participants of all the paperwork inherent in this type of event.

So much for the 'work' part, a necessary but not sufficient component of meetings and seminars. Because every seminar also has a 'fun' element. Just as much as communicating the company's objectives or disseminating its new strategy, the value of professional meetings always rests on two Anglo-Saxon-sounding pillars: team-building and networking. Two eminently human values, which the development of videoconferencing solutions within companies has not yet overshadowed. "The importance of bringing managers together internally, motivating the sales force and meeting customers is set to increase in the coming years."says Ludovic Dupont.

A time for pleasure

While in crisis-hit Europe, the trend is towards efficiency and local meetings, in Asia the situation seems to be different, more festive. The IHG group has noted that its resorts are becoming increasingly attractive as venues for business events, with less time spent in seminar rooms and more informal sessions and ancillary activities: half a day at the spa, a visit to local communities, etc. The British group has also noted that 20 % of requests are for seminars that combine work and leisure in the truest sense of the word, embodying the very current expression of 'bleisure', a contraction of business and leisure. In effect, the time devoted to meetings takes place in an urban, highly professional establishment, before seeing everyone move to an enchanting resort. The warmth of the discussions is enhanced and the guests, most of whom have travelled a long way, will take away with them the memory of an idyllic stay with a very local flavour.

Of course, it's quite rare to find such a range of activities combining luxuriant nature, dazzling white sand and blue lagoon seas close to Europe's major cities... However, when it comes to attracting organisers, establishments on the Old Continent have more than one argument to put forward. For example, in the Paris region, the luxurious Trianon Palace in Versailles, which has a conference centre covering almost 1,000 m2, offers visitors the chance to explore the château's grounds on a Segway ride through the groves and fountains designed by Le Nôtre. The hotels close to Chantilly make the most of their accessibility from Roissy airport, but above all of their green surroundings for outdoor activities. The Dolce hotel, for example, offers dragon boat battles on the Grand Canal of the Château de Chantilly, or a very chic introduction to polo.

Between the mountains and Lake Geneva, the Evian Resort, which in 2014 will complete a three-year renovation plan with the opening of a new conference centre and the ongoing transformation of the Hôtel Royal following that already completed at the Ermitage, is also built on a solid foundation. "Companies are looking to retreat from the world for a moment of peace and quietexplains Samuel Berne, the resort's Sales and Marketing Director. With two hotels, a casino, thermal baths and a golf academy set in 20 hectares of ecocertified parkland, the resort is almost self-sufficient, with a multitude of activities on offer. And with ski slopes in winter and rafting in summer just around the corner."Further south, the Dolce Frégate Provence relies on an ever-boosting cocktail: blue skies, the Mediterranean and two 9- and 18-hole courses where aperitifs golfques are organised, team-building activities lasting an hour and a half that combine a swing with a glass of champagne. A little extra for motoring event organisers, the hotel group's preferred target with its 'Let's Launch Together' offer: winding coastal roads and the Paul Ricard circuit to test their racing cars.

Arty and VIP cocktails

Urban establishments also know how to create memorable moments in their own way. In the chic, very Parisian setting of the Royal Monceau, a 99-seat cinema lends itself to animated 3D video game competitions, where even the strictest of managers can feel the freshness of their adolescence returning. Of course, in a more traditional vein, companies can hold presentations or product launches here before lunch or dinner at the Michelin-starred restaurant La Cuisine, whose heavy drapes can be pulled back to create private areas. This gives participants the feeling of being among friends, without being completely removed from the city's atmosphere.

Unfortunately, executives in a hurry often have to make do with an airport-taxi-hotel round trip, without really knowing whether their meeting was actually held in Paris, New York or Bangkok. For all these busy professionals, InterContinenta, like many luxury brands and establishments, is committed to giving them a taste of the city where they are, through incentives that are both VIP and local. The Insider Collection catalogue includes a Coca Cola break in Atlanta or a mille-feuilles workshop in Paris, a football team-building in Buenos Aires or a waltz lesson in Vienna. For cocktails and dinners, the brand's hotels also offer the possibility of privatising art galleries or prestigious venues such as the Wellington Arch in London or the JFK Library in Boston.

As part of their study day packages, Les Méridien also include a private visit to a partner museum such as the Palais de Tokyo in Paris or the New National Museum in Monaco (NMMM). Because it often takes art and daring to surprise business travellers who are used to meetings and seminars. "That's why we're always on the lookout for new events.explains Audrey Terai, Seminar Sales Manager at the Château de Montvillargenne hotel in Chantilly. I recently fell in love with the mobile tablet rallies.

It's technological, so it's in tune with the times, and as everything is set up an hour beforehand, we're not dependent on the weather.." In practice, whether indoors or outdoors, participants have to look for famous paintings that have been given a humorous makeover. Once they have found them, they are presented with a challenge. "The aim is to answer a general knowledge question or, more funnily, to replay a scene from a cult film and immortalise it using the tablet."she says. Although it's nothing new, cooking remains one of the hottest activities at the moment, riding on the success of the TV shows Masterchef and Top Chef. Certainly because this team building activity, as well as being fashionable, puts into action important concepts in the professional world: consultation, task sharing and teamwork. Not forgetting the demand for quality, because let's not forget: even if a professional supervises the exercise, the participants ultimately taste their own creations...

Around the table

And these group cookery classes are based on another key point: in France as elsewhere, the table is a unifying element. According to the hoteliers, it is even the memories of the gastronomic moments of the seminars that the participants will take away with them. "Basically, the seminars have changed very little in fifteen years, says Christophe Charolles, General Manager of the Hilton Orly. Of course, technology has evolved, and the lapel microphone has replaced the HF microphone. Our rooms, recently renovated, all have natural daylight and a view of a green area, even at Orly where you can see the rabbits running on the grass. But afterwards... the needs remained more or less the same. Where the difference lies is still with catering."To set itself apart, the Hilton Orly creates endless strawberry tarts - over six metres long - for its sweet breaks, and for the savoury side, buffets "around Paris" where miniature bites revolve around reproductions of the Arc de Triomphe or the Ile de la Cité.

In the evening, tapas dinners or, weather permitting, barbecues, chic picnics or cocktails on the terrace are particularly conducive to socialising. But as well as providing entertainment, the groups are also thinking about their participants' waistlines, with catering concepts that take into account their nutritional requirements, such as Eat Well, Work Well at Crowne Plaza and Brain Food at Radisson Blu. These programmes are an asset that organisers are not unhappy about. "This avoids the traditional drowsiness of the early afternoon. We worked with nutritionists to redefine the menus in order to keep the meeting dynamic. With more fish and less meat, vegetables and less 10% of added sugars"explains Marion Gauthier. It's true that you almost forget that managers are there first and foremost to work...