Co-founder of Meedex and creator of Rencontres Pro, Nicolas Godard is currently also president of the CETA (Club Evénements et Tourisme d’Affaires). All of which highlights the fact that he has his finger on the pulse of the events sector in France. And participants at the latest “Rhône-Alpes Business Class”, held on 28 January in Paris, will certainly not contradict this fact since all of the exhibitors cited the quality of visitors to that event, jointly organised with Rhône-Alpes Tourisme, as one of its main successes.

A serious rugby fan, and keen to try for a conversion, Nicolas Godard has decided to organise the first “Rencontre de l’Evénement en Rhône-Alpes” to be held in Lyon – this year on 3 and 4 June. The workshop will be held in the setting of La Chapelle de la Trinité.

“There will be 50 exhibitors, mostly representatives of events companies, accommodation and transport providers plus corporate buyers from large companies and associations with responsibility for events organisation,” explains the organiser. “We would also like to widen our target market by inviting tradeshow and convention organisers. This event will be the Rhône-Alpes’ version of the “ Rencontre de l’Evénementiel” which takes place in Cannes on 22 and 23 April and of the “Rencontre des Acteurs de l’Evénement ” in Le Touquet, planned for 7 and 8 October. Our aim at each event is to promote the host destination whilst at the same time bringing together Paris-based events organisers and top quality suppliers”.

The meeting will start on the Thursday morning and follow the principle of pre-booked appointments, in similar fashion to the operations mounted by Atout France. The appointments will continue through Thursday afternoon and Friday and should all be high quality contacts, as the invitees selected by Rencontres Pro have already indicated an interest in the destination. Most of them are events and meeting organisers handling groups of between 50 and 300 people.

This is just the sort of event that the majority of Rhône-Alpes suppliers can attract, whether city-based or ski resort. According to Nicolas Godard “ the Rhône-Alpes is a real MICE (Meeting, incentive, conference, events) destination due to its accessibility, especially from Paris, its urban facilities that are ideal for business tourism and its mountains and natural environment that are perfect for incentives. We certainly plan to hold this event again in the future and I’m also hoping to extend an invitation to Swiss contacts so that they can come and discover the Rhône-Alpes as well as invite Swiss venues to exhibit”.

“ Rencontre de l’Evénement en Rhône-Alpes” stands out for the high quality of its visitors, all selected and invited directly by Rencontres Pro. The same goes for the exhibitors who have all been chosen according to the information provided on their application forms. It looks as if the concept works – 100% of the exhibitors present at the Paris workshop in January will be at the Lyon event on 3 and 4 June. So that the exhibitors can better promote their product, a post-workshop eductour follows on from the event…

Exhibitors already signed up : Bureau des Congrès de Lyon, Sofitel, Château de Bagnols, Courchevel Tourisme, Les Trésoms, Takamaka, Mondial Events, Évian Congrès, Aix-les-Bains, Axotel, Royal Parc Évian, Megève, Pierre & Vacances, Center Parcs, Plaza Futuroscope, Options, Novelty, Partance.

Top buyers : Agipi, Arthur Boss Company, CNP Assurances, Com’1 Evidence, Compagnie Meeting, DFCG, Indiana Tourisme, Intra Muros, NDS Technology France, Philip & Partners, Trocadéro.

Practical Information
“Rencontre Pro de l’Evénement en Rhône-Alpes”
Tel.: 00 33 (0)1 46 10 99 61
contact@rencontres-pro.com
www.rencontres-pro.com/rhonealpes