Do you need some fresh air, or are your teams out of breath? Now's the time to organize an off-site seminar.
That's the choice our customer made. His second good idea: to ask us to organize the event! And yes, we do have cool customers!
So off we went to organize this exotic seminar! Despite a few minor setbacks in the production of this event (our client became a father 10 days before D Day (Congratulations Dan! 😉 ), a strike warning on the day of the group's return to the capital, service providers on annual shutdown at the time of event preparation...), we were able to organize this beautiful seminar and take care of the smallest details.
Monday January 30, 6:09 am, participants board the train in Paris. The journey was longer and more costly than flying, but the reduction in carbon emissions was greater (see our article on the subject).
10:30 am Participants arrive at Toulouse Matabiau station. Our team is there to welcome them, along with the Toulouse office. After handing out their survival kit for the trip (tote bag in organic cotton personalized with the event colors, containing a water bottle, a snack for the trip, a personalized hat, a neck cushion and maps of the village and ski area), we head for Saint Lary Soulan, a very pretty resort in the Pyrenees.
All participants had privileged and private access to our website, where they could find a detailed schedule of their event. This reduces the need for paper printouts, and ensures that the program is always up to date in real time. We're always looking for new ways to limit our impact on the environment.
On arrival, the Mana team provides a luggage room with individual luggage tags in the event colors, then we guide the group to their table for the first convivial lunch of the seminar.
On the menu**
** we strongly advise you not to read the following 4 lines between 11:30 and 12:30, especially if you have a Pasta Box waiting for you at lunchtime. If this is the case, you can return to reading our article at 2:00 pm.
Cream of cauliflower soup, 64-degree perfect egg, Coûmes blue cheese emulsion and chestnut tuiles
Fillet of sea bream with olive oil and fleur de sel, crushed amandines with cébettes, root vegetables and vegetable coulis
Two chocolate tart, hazelnut crunch & salted butter caramel
Have we made your mouth water yet?
Well, the group enjoyed themselves. After coffee, it was off to the activity area for the afternoon's team building.
The raclette team and the fondue team faced off in a series of formidable events: ski relay for several, spider web in the powder, speed contest for cutting wood with a saw, shot-putting, tug-of-war and, last but not least, the inevitable snowball fight!
At the end of the afternoon, to relax the troops and warm up, there's nothing like a moment at the spa. The 4-star hotel we had chosen at the bottom of the slopes was also equipped with a spa, wellness area and outdoor pools. The perfect place to spend some quality time with colleagues.
Now that we're all refreshed, it's time for dinner!
8pm - We met the participants in the hotel lobby and drove them to a typical restaurant we had found for the occasion, perfect for the mountain evening ahead.
Welcomed with local aperitifs, petits fours and assorted paté Basque from Pierre Oteiza, they were then treated to a choice of Savoyard fondue or traditional raclette accompanied by charcuterie and potatoes. A vegetarian option was also offered, so that everyone could enjoy the moment.
And for those still feeling peckish, the evening's menu included a choice of three desserts: ice cream sundaes, blueberry moelleux and chocolate fondant. This time, everyone had their fill!
At 11 p.m., two teams take shape: on the one hand, the athletes head back to the hotel to be in shape for the next day, and on the other, the night owls who have been able to extend the mountain evening in the dance bars on the list we provided them with beforehand.
Tuesday 31st, from 7am to 9am, participants woke up with varying degrees of ease. Breakfast was served at the hotel with unlimited coffee, fresh fruit juice, pancakes, pastries and a savory buffet (cold cuts, cheese, eggs, bacon...).
9 a.m. - That's it, everyone's ready to tackle this new day: participants have checke out their rooms and now gather in the meeting room for a 1-hour briefing run by the client.
For our part, we had made sure beforehand that the room was ready to welcome them, and had carried out all the technical tests necessary for their meeting to run smoothly.
10 a.m. - The opening of the slopes and the start-up of the lifts remained a mystery right up to the last minute, due to the strike announced today. And even though our crack team had come up with plans B, C and even D, luck smiled on us and participants were able to get on with their activities.
Once the rental equipment had been received, personalized lunch bags were distributed to the sportsmen and women, and off they went! Some put on their skis, while others chose to discover the resort on snowshoes. To make the walk as pleasant as possible, we've prepared personalized guides with routes of varying levels of difficulty to the Lac de l'Oule.
2pm - It's time to return the rental equipment, and we meet the participants in the hotel lobby.
2.30 pm - Everyone is ready for departure, a bus is in place and the participants say goodbye to the station.
If the day had run its course, the Mana team would simply have handed out lunch boxes to participants for their dinner on the train back to the capital.
But as an event is above all made up of twists and turns, and a day on strike doesn't usually go down well with the SNCF, we found a hotel just opposite the Toulouse Matabiau station to accommodate the teams on Tuesday evening and enable them to leave independently by train on Wednesday morning.
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