Feeling brave? Try Parapenting

Ten80 have been hosting daily events throughout June that have truly made the most of Chamonix in the summer.  Daily, employees from an Energy trading company have been spoilt rotten, arriving in the morning the group are taken by guides to Col de Montets for a action packed morning. The activities along the way include shooting with .22 air rifles, archery with traditional bow and arrows, sawing a large log in half using a 2 man bow saw, and finally making a stretcher to carry one of the team to the finish line.  The groups then stop for a well deserved break at Buvet at the Cascade du Berard, where they’ve enjoyed a local Savoyard lunch, surrounded by the beauty of the mountains.

In the afternoon each guest can choose from a selection of activities (please look away now if you don’t want to be green with envy) including parapenting, golf, climbing and massages.  They then retire to a 5 star chalet, with its very own chef to cook an amazing evening meal coupled with great wine and spectacular views (especially from the hot tub).  Fancy spoiling your clients? Contact Ten80 Events to discuss how.

Test your aim with archery

Enjoy amazing views at Chamonixs Golf Course

• Cost
• Venue availability
• Ease of travel
• Variety of extra activities

Winter Conference Costs

There is less pressure on accommodation and flight availability which in turn reduces the cost of getting your delegates to the venue

Winter Conference Venue Availability

Because many other businesses book in the summer, this makes winter availability more economical and viable

Winter Conference Ease of Travel

Flights and transport to your venue during summer months is more costly and harder to arrange due to the larger number of holidaymakers during this time

Winter Conference Variety of Extra Activities

If you plan to offer your delegates activities during the conference, you can have a wide variety of options available from skiing to mountain biking to mountain helicopter rides and so on

Choosing a location and venue

Picking a place to hold your conference can be one of the most crucial decisions you make as this influences the cost of travel, the availability and also the potential activities that are available to you once on site.

Thinking ‘outside the box’ here can have dramatic effect on the success of your conference. What are your delegates expecting? What overriding impression do you want them to take away?

Consider for example a winter conference held in a mountain resort. Places like Chamonix, France are just an hour away from Geneva airport and offer all the accommodation and venue options you could want, from small 20 person venues through to 500 plus attendees. Also on hand are extra curricular activities such as skiing, glacier walking, rock climbing, husky sledding and parapenting to name but a few.

The combination of a conference which motivates your delegates by mixing education and information together with exercise and or a sporting event is one of the most potent methods of delivering your message and keeping your business a the forefront of their minds.

The secret to planning a successful winter conference is meticulous planning and total attention to detail. If you would rather not take on the management of all the details, think about hiring a conference organiser who can.

The ascent began on Sunday afternoon and headed to the refuge before a 3am start on Monday morning to reach the summit.   They snowboarded down the north front of Mont Blanc, in choppy powder and ended their mission at Chambre Neuf for some very deserved celebratory pints.  To find out more about the climb visit Tom and Charlies sites.  Ten80 want to congratulate the guys on such an amazing achievement.

Throughout the day we had presentations from great speakers.  One of the most popular talks was from WWF, providing scary statistics about the world’s carbon footprint and consumption levels, moving on to ideas about how we can help solve the problem.  Local’s could find out how to get involved in the community with CREA’s talk about research activities in the valley.  For those who had forgotten their geography GCSE  Luc Moreau was on hand to teach us all a little more about glaciers.  One of the last to present was Snow Carbon who promoted the use of trains to ski areas in their presentation, showing how the process can be made easy!

It was all finished off with some pints and recycled tunes at le Vert where people wore their old clothes and swapped to get a new outfit.  Perk of the job was having to sample le Verts Eco set menu with  locally sourced food,it was delicious and we toasted our organic wine to next year’s Eco Expo.

Highlights of the season were Ten80′s very own Charlie singing at Chambre Neuf, apres ski at la Fruitiere in Val D’isere, the amazing skiing in St Anton, the 80′s party at le Jekyll, shakey face pictures, and of course the heli-paret.

Italy over the weekend had some of the deepest snow this season, Sunday started with flat light but steadily cleared throughout the day.  It was ridiculously deep and heavy snow which took it out on the old legs.  We decided to go for a bit if a challenge and tackled the monster mogul run and finished the day with, perhaps the best find of the season, a JD and coke in a can reward.

Monday I got to test out a different board, the Burton Joystick, a member of the V-rocker family.  Get’s its nose up in powder, easy peasy to turn on the pistes  and a sprinkling of pop  made it a very fun ride, it even stayed pretty stable for the track round to Vallorcine.  I was spoilt rotten this weekend.

Over the years, many events companies have sprung up offering events from clay pigeon shooting to go-karting to golf tournaments. The trouble is that you really want your event to be unique and have that ‘wow’ factor yet none of the aforementioned events really stand out from the crowd.

Be more than ‘just another event’
Whether your company stages an annual event or you are about to plan your first corporate event, what you want out of it will be roughly the same.
You must ensure that those leaving the event do so with such a positive attitude that it will lead to increased sales, increased productivity, better performance or a range of benefits that affect your company positively.

But how to achieve this?
You must first consider what your budget is and do this on a per head basis. This allows you to set an overall figure for the event organiser and allow them to tailor a set of suggestions to your budget. A good event organiser will always offer suggestions that will meet your budget and also some ‘aspirational’ options that are a little over what you have to spend but may just give your event the ‘wow’ you were looking for!

Consider what distances you are prepared to travel, remembering that in these days of cheap airfares, it is often better value to fly to Europe than it is to get all your staff to travel independently to a remote UK location.

Use a firm who specialise in delivery of out of the ordinary events and don’t be afraid to use a company who are not based in the UK – many such companies are experienced in getting the very best and most varied entertainment available which, because they are not limited to activities traditionally offered in the UK can deliver a corporate event that far surpasses your expectations.

Tim Welch of Ten80 Events, based in Chamonix says;
“Two of our most popular events are Husky Sledding and Glacier Treks because they combine the thrill of excitement together with the bonding achieved by the accomplishment of a joint effort. We have found that many companies would rather take a short flight and then have all the possibilities of an environment like the Alps available to them rather than be tied to another weekend of quad biking in Kent!”

Don’t be afraid
It’s not unreasonable to expect to pay up to £1000 per head for a truly exceptional event (think 5* accommodation, personal chef and fully serviced VIP treatment) but compare this and all the loyalty you gain from it to simply paying a (taxable!) cash sum into your employees accounts which is so easily forgotten.

Visit Ten80 Events to find out more about exciting corporate events or organising a company conference. Ten80 Events is one of the fastest growing corporate event and team building companies in the Alps.

This year it’s hitting Mayrhofen in Austria for the fifth year running.  The line up is great with Doves, Fat Boy Slim, Editors and the as well as 2manydjs, Friendly Fires, Vitalic and De La Soul.  With talk of wardrobes leading to snowy DJ-filled worlds, a Forest party and Artic disco’s it sounds like Narnia on acid, and that is no bad thing.

Today has done wonders for the skiing conditions in Chamonix and we have more snow forecast tonight and tomorrow which means visitors over Easter will not be disappointed and seasonnaires can rest easy as they have while before they need to pack up their skis, boards and boots.

The red wine has been swapped for rose, bbq’s are being dusted off and après has  moved outdoors in the sun soaked afternoons.  Last year we had great skiing all the way through the spring, even with a late season powder day on April 30^th.  With guaranteed sunny skiing in April its well worth booking a ski trip just for the comedy goggle tan you’ll get.