How we designed, planned and organised a show-stopping annual event for the Arcadis leadership team.

Understanding Requirements

Inntel have supported Arcadis with their conference and meetings enquiries since 2011.

When Arcadis wanted to bring their Leaders together for a memorable and engaging conference, they invited Inntel to design an experience that would unite, inspire and have a ripple effect throughout the rest of the business.

We carefully examined each detail of the client’s brief to provide a shortlist of several options we felt would both satisfy Arcadis’ requirements as well as align with their company culture and values. Arcadis embraced our original concepts and opted for our ‘wildcard option’ to hold their flagship event at the Center Parcs resort in Woburn Forest.

Creative Factory

Hot on the heels of bringing together five legacy businesses, this year’s theme was ‘We are Arcadis, ‘ which is why we suggested Center Parcs. The rural, lodge environment provided the perfect backdrop for networking, escape and creative thinking.

With MIND being Arcadis’ chosen charity partner, we arranged a mindfulness session with neuroscientist and leading mindfulness expert, Dr Tamara Russell, giving everyone useful, cognitive techniques that can be used in everyday life. What’s more, the idea of mental well being was echoed beautifully by the natural surroundings and use of outdoor spaces at Center Parcs, therefore adding immeasurable value.

The Center Parcs lodges provided luxury accommodation as well as relaxed and non-corporate surroundings for networking. On Day One of the event, Arcadis invited their own clients for a day of strategic thinking, team building and strengthening relationships in an informal and comfortable environment; the lodges proved the ideal choice.

Whilst we inspired collaborative thinking through networking-style breakfast and high-energy team building activities, simply walking together from their accommodation lodges encouraged the delegates to continue sharing ideas and conversation even outside their daily schedule.

Meticulous Management

We devised an in-depth project management plan to ensure all operations were managed both on time and budget.  We also assigned an Event Director who remained on site with Inntel’s senior events team from beginning to end to ensure each element of the event ran like clockwork.

These are just a few of the many touch-points we achieved:

• The great, versatile range of food and beverage options at the venue enabled us to select items that aligned with the event programme. With a busy programme of outdoor team building exercises ahead, the teams needed high-energy, healthy food that they could eat quickly in between activities. When you have to feed 180 people in 30 mins you need a quick dining service! As a result, we arranged a finger buffet of light, nourishing dishes during the day that delegates could quickly enjoy but that would also provide sufficient energy to fuel their brains and bodies for their physical team building activities ahead.
• Throughout the event, we deployed innovative, interactive technology to maximise engagement and create a seamless experience, particularly for Arcadis’ internal awards ceremony held on the final evening. At previous events, delegates had used manual voting systems which were clunky, and caused a delay as votes had to be counted by hand. We introduced an online voting system for quick, real time response which made the final evening all the more impressive.
• We also employed a cameraman to follow the groups throughout the weekend, capturing special moments and editing all the action on site to create a memorable montage video of the event. Imagine the amazement when we played the video during the final gala dinner!

Overall, our strong supplier relationships and fierce negotiation skills enabled us to secure exclusive rates and conditions, and save Arcadis over £20k on their total event costs. Furthermore, as all team building activities could take place onsite, we saved the client additional travel costs and whilst allowing for a more contained and exclusive event.

Final Touches

On the final evening, the delegates celebrated with a delicious gala dinner and employee awards ceremony to recognise Arcadis’ internal achievements from throughout the year. To add a further personal touch to the evening, we installed an impressive stage set with bold company colours that made an invaluable impact as people entered the room, and created the quality and celebrity of an exclusive awards evening.

Mission Debrief

Following the amazing success of this year’s Leadership Conference, Arcadis have invited Inntel back to work on next year’s event in June 2018.