Whether you’re talking a work seminar, a reward or team-building trip, a new product launch or an event to acknowledge staff performance, where you actually hold your corporate event, plays a vital part in creating the right alchemy for a successful event.
Here are a few tips for making sure you get the best possible destination for your next corporate event in Provence or on the French Riviera.

1. Take into account event goals and the profile of participants

The choice of where you hold your corporate event should be in step with the various objectives that drive it. In fact, the nature of the chosen destination should be an important part of the overall message the company wants to put across to participants.
For a reward event or when teamwork is being recognized, the choice of a luxury hotel and an iconic destination like Cannes, Monaco or St Tropez would seem to fit the bill. For a new product launch that requires some big open spaces and quality technical support, high-capacity conference hotels in places like Nice, Marseille, Aix en Provence or Avignon might be better suited. Then again, if a real get-away-from-it-all event for some serious brainstorming in smaller groups is on the cards, a picturesque hotel in deep Provence, in the Camargue or the Southern Alps might be just perfect.

2. Keep transport simple

The shorter the duration of your event and the more scattered the places your participants are likely to travel from, the more complicated it can be to actually get participants to the seminar venue. If this is the case, destinations with frequent and economic air and rail connections are definitely better options - like Nice, whose airport offers direct daily connections with most French and European towns and cities, or Marseille, which has a major airport and is also accessible via fast train (TGV).
Destinations that are quite close to airports and TGV stations are also worth considering, as bus transfers can be quick and easy. This is true of Cannes, Antibes, Monaco or St Tropez that are all within easy striking distance of Nice’s international airport, or Aix-en-Provence and the whole of the Provence region that is reachable from the airport and TGV station in Marseille.

3. Make the most of a wide choice of accommodation and work-oriented spaces

While most destinations offer accommodation and workspaces for smaller groups during low season, only real business tourism destinations offer a wide choice of hotels and workspaces for bigger seminars and conferences in high season, especially in spring and autumn.

So if you’re planning to get a group of 150 to 300 participants together in one hotel, with catering and facilities to match, a number of business tourism destinations on the French Riviera or in Provence will fit the bill – in particular, Nice, Cannes, Monaco, or Marseille where there is a wide selection of conference hotels, 5 and 4-star luxury conference hotels and even lower budget 3-star hotels.
 
For seminars or conferences of 50 to 150 participants, cities like Avignon, Aix en Provence, Antibes Juan-les-Pins and many other places in Provence and on the French Riviera can provide all manner of solutions, from hotels in vibrant town centres to those in peaceful settings, tucked away in the back country.

4. Choose a setting that is conducive to organizing meaningful teambuilding activities

If, in addition to work-oriented meetings you are planning to include some teambuilding activities, to get colleagues bonding and communicating more, the choice of destination for your event should definitely include multiple options of locations for team building activities – like, sports challenges, cultural discovery workshops, fun and creative activities.
Combining coastal and mountainous regions, with a hinterland that proffers a multitude of landscapes and picturesque villages, the Provence and French Riviera area provides an exceptional, natural backdrop and an enviably extensive range of possibilities for incentive and teambuilding activities: a sailing regatta along stretches of breathtaking coastline; kayaking or rafting in the untamed landscapes of the French Riviera hinterland; fun discovery rallies on foot, by bike or in vintage cars to the historic cities of Nice, Cannes, Marseille or Avignon; fun Olympic-style games on the sandy beaches along the Var coastline ...

Taking into account your event goals, the number of participants, your budget and logistic requirements, Events agency Longtitude 7 can advise you about the destinations best suited to your event, in Provence, the Southern Alps and on the French Riviera. Contact our team to find out more!