hybrid

A little nod to Minority Report, or Black Mirror… When it comes to projecting ourselves into 2050, and discussing what the office of the future might be like, IWG has drawn a little from the science fiction playbook. Even if the workspace specialist is basing this on very concrete technologies, which could…

How would you describe the MICE business since the start of the year? Laurent Gabard - It's a crisis market, with a very strong focus on the average basket. This is stable, or even falling slightly. As far as Rejolt is concerned, our business is growing, with the arrival of new customers and a good dynamic. Over the last few weeks,...

After an abrupt shift to all-teleworking during the recession, the return to the office has not always been smooth sailing either... Many managers are still struggling to find the right balance between the office, the home office and third places. In this context - sometimes chaotic for HR management, but clearly...

How did the worklib project come about, and what are its ambitions? Charles Vestur - Worklib was created in June 2021. Very early on, we received investment from the Accor group, which is a minority shareholder. The Accor group wanted to develop workspaces in its hotels, as is the case...

What is the situation regarding the return of international trade show business to pre-crisis levels? Corinne Moreau - International trade shows are still 10 to 20% behind 2018. This is not specific to France either. The Germans, who are our main competitors,...

What place is left today for the virtual practices adopted during the health crisis? Perrine Edelman - We were told that nothing would ever be the same again, that there would be no more big events, no more major conferences, that people would no longer get together in the way they used to. I myself was a bit worried for a while...

As the Covid era draws to a close, how do professionals view the office? Having once been the rule, how is teleworking, which now occupies a variable geometry depending on the organisation, perceived? These are some of the questions addressed by Comet in its new study published on...

Substituting closer third places for home-to-work commutes, or even replacing them with outright teleworking: the logic has been gaining ground recently. And there's no doubt that it would tend to reduce the carbon footprint of those involved. All the more so in cities where employees prefer their cars to public transport...

Having emerged from the pandemic a year ago, events professionals have returned to near-normal activity as 2022 progresses, close to that recorded in 2019. The Palais des Festivals et des Congrès de Cannes, host of this year's Heavent Meetings show, is expecting to host 140 events this year for a total of...

Has the health crisis changed the way people relate to the office for good? It's hard to come up with a global answer, because habits differ so much from one market to another, and from one company to another. So TravelPerk surveyed 2,000 employees, equally divided between the UK and the US, last March. And if the impact of the Covid experience is not...

How did 2022 end, and how is 2023 shaping up? Marta Gomes - There has been a very strong upturn in the number of face-to-face events, with performances that exceeded our expectations. Attendance figures are also good. The year 2023 seems to be off to a good start on a number of counts, but we remain...

Regularly listed in the Top 10 of the Safe Cities Index, Seoul also plays a leading role when it comes to ranking smart cities on a global scale. Safe and connected, the Korean capital has an image that is both attractive and reassuring, particularly for event organisers... And with good reason: Seoul knows how to...

The plan has been known for several months, and on Tuesday Comet confirmed the imminent arrival of a new site within its Paris catalogue. The new Comet Lumière site will be located at 40 avenue des Terroirs de France in Bercy, "at the end of 2022", according to management. It will be housed in the eponymous building, presented...

What needs do you intend to meet with your new Connect'Team offering? Stéphanie Auxenfans - This is one of the consequences of the major upheavals in working patterns that we have been experiencing since the pandemic, which have been driven mainly by teleworking, the practice of which has generally continued. We have just carried out a customer survey in the spring, according to which...

When was the Hospitality project launched and what were its ambitions? Fabien Violet - We've been working on the Hospitality project for about a year and a half now. It's a kind of extension of the Comet Meetings business. Originally, we offered a network of city-centre venues dedicated to strategic meetings and events.

Can you summarise the status and role of Provence Côte d'Azur Events? Héliéna Brégand - Provence Côte d'Azur Events (PCE) is the regional Convention Bureau, set up as an association, bringing together more than 200 professionals throughout the region, from Avignon to Menton. All the professions are represented: event venues such as palaces, hotels,...

What is the role of French Event Booster? Jeanne Choffé - French Event Booster is an accelerator for several types of player: for start-ups of course, who we help to access the events market, to grow, create jobs and create value for the end user. But we are also innovation partners...

On the Côte d'Azur, as elsewhere, the concept of hybrid MICE has made a big impact in recent months. But in a destination blessed by nature, the question of the screen event may be posed differently... "There's no point in coming to Antibes to hold a digital event. There's no point in coming to Antibes to hold a digital event: you might as well stay...

Zoomtopia, the annual conference organised by Zoom, was held on 13 and 14 September. It was an opportunity for the remote communications specialist to take stock of the past few months, which have obviously been marked by intense activity linked to containment measures around the world. "Over the last decade,...

The digital strategy of the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès de Cannes is taking a new turn at the start of the 2021 academic year. Having officially joined the international Hybrid City Alliance network, the famous conference centre is now equipped with an infrastructure that embodies these new ambitions in concrete terms. The Hi5 studio was unveiled on 3 September last, offering...