event venues

What did you expect from the hybrid event organised by PCMA in Singapore earlier this year? Stéphane Leleu - The main objective was to observe how an international hybrid event was set up, taking into account the health constraints in force. The travel itinerary from Paris to arrival at the hotel, the day-to-day management of travel and interaction between delegates. In...

How did an events institution like Suntec cope with the crisis? Arun Madhok - We had a full schedule for 2020, all our spaces were practically sold out, and we were hosting a major motor show in January... We even celebrated Chinese New Year, and wished ourselves all the best for the coming months......

Tomorrow's events will either be hybrid or they won't be: that's the message that has been percolating through the meetings & events community for some months now. An ecosystem that is trying its hand at the virtual 100 % for want of being able to meet up 'in the real world', but which is clearly banking on the emergence of a compromise combining face-to-face and remote events,...

It's one thing to capitalise on the demand for hybrid events by acquiring new filming and broadcasting equipment. But we also need to be able to cover the 'physical' part of this 'phygital' dossier, and therefore welcome participants on site, in suitable conditions. That's why the Centre Expo Congrès in Mandelieu-La Napoule recently inaugurated...

What is the current state of the events sector? Nick Dugdale-Moore - It varies a lot around the world. Our sector was one of the first to be affected: from March onwards, more or less all commercial events were suspended around the world, because all the attention was focused on the fight...

Report Serge Barret - Photos Alain Parinet They've all been there: intellectuals, artists, lawyers, journalists, the upper and lower middle classes... In short, the whole of Fort-de-France has at one time or another sat down at one of the tables in the café of the Hôtel Impératrice, with its clearly liner-like architecture and balconies with rounded railings in their...

Saint-Etienne is demonstrating its ambitions in the exhibition and congress segment with a vast modernisation project costing almost €30 million. Managed by GL Events, the Parc Expo will see the reconstruction of Hall A (8,000 m²), the renovation of Hall B (6,600 m²), the fitting out of five new meeting rooms, the...

The news came down on 10 July: five years after its creation, BizMeeting has been acquired by its competitor Privateaser. "I had the feeling that BizMeeting had reached a key moment in its history," says Loïc Passemard, founder of BizMeeting and its new BtoB Vice-President. "In just a few years, we have built up a...

Golf and networking... A beautiful story of complicity which began in the middle of the 18th century in the first Scottish clubs, in particular those of Edinburgh and Saint Andrews, playful emanations of the first Masonic lodges. Reserved for men - exclusively for men - these clubs, which brought together the nobility and upper middle classes, were ideal for socialising. Today, the...

Networking around the same passion When was Club 42.67 created? Michel Geistodt-Kiener - We founded it in 2010 with three other golf enthusiasts and gave it the name 42.67, in reference to the diameter in millimetres of a golf ball! We are a subsidiary of the Ugolf group and have 128 members, the majority of whom are...

The acquisition of Fairmont, Raffles and Mövenpick, partnerships with SBE, Rixos and Banyan Tree, the development of Sofitel and Pullman: for the past three years, Accor has made no secret of its ambitions in the luxury and top-of-the-range hotel sector. As a mirror image of this strategy, the French group intends to use these prestigious establishments to consolidate its position...

Last April saw the opening of the Paris-Saclay Convention Centre. Why did you choose this location? Erwan Jouët - It's the first in Essonne! It's ideally located, at the heart of the Paris Saclay Massy economic hub. It's a fast-growing new district designed by Elizabeth de Portzamparc and Christian de Portzamparc, and the...

What are the major trends in the market? Béatrice Cuif-Mathieu - With changes in consumer behaviour, the market has had to adapt. Formats are becoming shorter and shorter, and participants expect a maximum amount of information as well as an experiential dimension. Quality is taking over from quantity. After ROI, return on investment,...

Coach Omnium, a research and consultancy company specialising in business tourism, lists nearly 200 establishments in France that can host major professional events, including 120 convention centres, 60 exhibition centres and around 20 multimodal establishments. This density of supply makes France one of the world's leading players in the MICE market....

The Hôtel Lutetia reopened its doors on 12 July after four years of renovation by Jean-Michel Wilmotte. Accompanied by a number of artists, craftsmen and architects from Bâtiments de France, the architect took care to preserve the spirit of the premises, while bringing in light. This has been achieved by creating a patio and...

COP 21, the climate conference held in Paris in 2015, set the goal of limiting global warming to below 2°C. Which, at the moment, is apparently not a foregone conclusion! The fact remains that we need to change our lifestyles as a matter of urgency, and we understand that the...

It was a spiritual and political centre of Brittany, the place where Anne of Brittany and Charles VIII celebrated their engagement in 1491. From 10 January, the Couvent des Jacobins in Rennes will be dedicated to business tourism. This transformation project, launched in 2009 and begun in February 2014 with the laying of the...

Does the recent creation of your post as Director of Innovation mean that Viparis is making a start on the subject? [caption id="attachment_62145" align="alignright" width="225"] Laurent Charon, Director of Innovation at Viparis[/caption] Laurent Charon - Viparis was already working on this subject, a bit like Monsieur Jourdain: without knowing it! So my job is to provide...

Private flat rental, concierge services, top-of-the-range restaurants with the possible takeover of Potel & Chabot: AccorHotels' new playgrounds are endless. Its strategy of diversifying its activities now includes events and the world of nightlife. The hotel group is preparing to buy the minority shareholding in...

Don't be fooled by its name: the Milan Pontoon, inaugurated on 30 March, is more reminiscent of a Venetian atmosphere than the Lombardy capital of fashion. And with good reason: at the foot of the pier, L'Armelle and Shana, two shuttles with a Riva look - those prestigious wooden boats...