In a recent feature, PA Life explained essential steps for hosting an event abroad. Nicole Holgate investigates some of the team-building activities to tackle once you get there.
Paris is a central business destination, thanks to its excellent worldwide transport links, yet it still manages to be considered one of the most romantic cities in Europe. Companies can combine these factors to create a truly memorable corporate outing.
If you want a traditional team-building day and need local knowledge, Paris-based companies such as Accortem and Maximillion provide the usual gamut of projects that covers problem-solving, music-making and all manner of exercises involving inflatables. They also have choices inspired by a more local flavour.
Surrounded by the galleries of Paris, Accortem’s artistic activities will get creative juices flowing and offer staff the added satisfaction of creating a sculpture or painting as a team. Maximillion can arrange eco-days, where participants get to know the area by taking part in a community challenge.Team-building projects range from parkland clean-ups and painting community spaces to essential building works and garden makeovers. Larger companies can be spread over different projects or whole businesses can work on the same project over a number of days, each adding to the last group’s work.
While in a country known for gastronomic flair, you may expect some amazing cuisine. So why not get your team, or even your boss, to create it instead? La Cuisine Paris provides almost every manner of cooking class under the sun, including French pastry, macaroons, lunch and dinner classes built around traditional French menus, baguette baking and even cheese tasting. There is also a lesson that covers how to cook from fresh market produce, and for those who don’t want to get their hands dirty, several city centre walking tours, all based around food.
For groups looking for something to accompany their meal, O Chateau wine bar is ideal. The venue offers tastings and classes to corporate groups, making use of more than 500 bottles available in its cellar. Your visit can also go far beyond the bar itself; O Chateau can arrange a blind tasting at a restaurant, in pitch black, alongside a competitive quiz, or as part of a cocktail party.
At Huntfun event organiser, the clue is in the title; it designs decidedly grown-up treasure hunts in any location in Paris. The ‘Eiffel Tower to Metro Dupleix’ treasure hunt will take you past famous attractions and places of interest such as the Eiffel Tower, Champ de Mars, La Poudrerie and Place Dupleix. All of the hunts are pre-written, so all you need to do is buy one and you’ll be provided with directions, clues, extra tasks, a map and the all-important answers. There are also fully interactive GPS treasure hunts for techie delegates who love their gadgets.
Disneyland also offers a large range of team-building activities and even a grown adult would have trouble turning down the opportunity to visit this world-famous theme park dedicated to fun. Its treasure hunt involves setting your delegates three intriguing puzzles to solve while exploring the park, from the white beaches of Pirate Island to the chilling ghosts of Phantom Manor and the twists and turns of Alice’s maze. There is also an ice rink, the Nex Game Arcade and a 27-hole golf course.
If your delegates are energetic but want something more cultural, try Discover Walks. It runs five tours: the left bank Latin Quarter tour combines romantic and intellectual sites, including the Sorbonne University and the Pantheon. Major Paris landmarks such as the Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower and Louvre are covered by a trip around the right bank. The Trendy Marais tour reveals where Parisians dress up, eat out and shop, while the Montmartre visit explores the artistic village within the city, once the home of Vincent Van Gogh, Edith Piaf and Pablo Picasso. Finally, you can see the secrets of one of the world’s most fantastic Gothic churches in an excursion to Notre Dame.
Don’t like walking? Then Yachts de Paris has the answer. Its eight boats offer a number of extravagant experiences messing about on the river Seine. It can accommodate groups of up to 400 for a convention, or carry larger numbers to an exclusive riverside event space. Meanwhile, smaller parties can take advantage of luxurious on-board lounges and the chance for a private dinner cruise while watching Paris go by.
So don’t limit yourself to business meetings; in a city known for its cuisine, culture, architecture and indulgence, make sure that you and your colleagues take time to enjoy some of the great experiences on offer.
A flying visit
Three years ago, entrepreneur Neil Laughton spotted a gap in the market when trying to fly economically to Paris.
He was stymied by the limited choices available for travelling and frustrated that people working in the home counties would have to travel an hour in the wrong direction (into London) in order to get back out again. His solution was Brighton City Airways.
The small airline runs four regular daily flights in the morning, mid-morning, afternoon and evening. These depart from Shoreham airport, just outside of Brighton, to Paris Pontoise Airport, 27 miles from Paris city centre and 22 miles from La Défense business district.
The unique selling point of Brighton City Airways is its flexibility; any other destinations for the airline will be decided by customers’ demand, although Laughton intends to run flights to Manchester, Bristol, Amsterdam and Jersey in the future. He explains that the service is not prescriptive – the main goal is to cut the time and stress of business travel.
For Laughton, the airline brings some of the romance back into flying; Shoreham airfield was where he originally learnt to operate a private aircraft. He estimates that travelling time to Paris is cut in half by the carrier, which allows boarding in a mere 15 minutes. The business also offers a highly personal service, thanks to its small numbers; due to the size of the airfield, the company is limited to 19-seater planes. This means that if flight times should change, customers will be contacted personally. Clients can also purchase tickets for a shuttle service at either end of the flight to take you to the nearest train station.
Corporate advantages are clear; for instance there is a group discount, subject to availability. Laughton adds that the payment scheme holds an additional appeal. Not only does the ticket not need to be paid in full until the last minute (passengers pay only a £20 deposit), but there is no charge to change the names on seats up until 48 hours before the flight.
A further aim of the airline is to become carbon-neutral. In terms of business acumen and ambition, it looks like Brighton City Airways is off to a flying start.
