Meeting management

Generating emotions and values, major sporting events are excellent motivational tools for companies. The choice is vast, and there's something for everyone.

Yan Dalla-Pria is a sociologist and lecturer at the University of Paris Ouest Nanterre-La Défense, and a speaker on corporate sport issues.

Less expensive and more reliable than in its early days, videoconferencing is gaining ground in the workplace. All that remains is to identify the solution best suited to your needs from among the ever-expanding range on offer.

In conjunction with the GIBTM (Gulf Incentive, Business Travel and Meetings Exhibition) summit held in Abu Dhabi on 25 March, the ICCA has published a focus on the region, showing that the number of international events in the Middle East has tripled over the last ten years.

On 8 May, the French branch of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) clarified its medium-term strategy and formalised its 2013 calendar. The focus will be on the convergence of the Business Travel and MICE sectors, with the ambition of developing a think tank dedicated to these issues.

Agnès Benveniste, Deputy Managing Director of Meetings at CWT Meetings & Events, takes a look at developments in the MICE (Meetings, Incentive, Convention, Events) market, and how supply and demand are evolving in this fast-changing sector.

At Univ'AirPlus on 28 August, the French association of travel managers presented its fourth White Paper, the first devoted to the MICE (Meeting, Incentive, Convention, Exhibition) sector. The aim of this document is to provide travel managers with an insight into a new field of action, and to help them better understand a heterogeneous market in order to optimise the synergies between business travel and meetings.

A source of savings that is still often untapped, spending on corporate events is beginning to be taken into account by major groups. This trend towards rationalisation should continue to intensify under the impetus of suppliers.

No long-term commitment, flexible spaces, shared services and fully-equipped offices. Business centres offer a whole range of benefits that companies can't ignore. Especially in times of crisis.

In 2007,260 business centres were listed in France, compared with 744 in the UK; 121 of these belonged to groups with more than ten sites and 120 were independent", says Frédéric Dathy, Chairman of Synaphe, the national trade association for business accommodation professionals. According to Synaphe, London business centres accounted for 2.1 % of the city's office stock, compared with just 0.7 % in Paris.