MICE Destinations

My favourite spots in Munich

Posted on May 20, 2014

Recently a friend told me he is moving to Munich and doesn’t know the city very well. Since I spent one year in Munich, which was also one of the best years of my life, I decided to equip him with a list of my favourite places, which I also happy to share with you here today.

When I’m in a new city I like to go to places where the locals go, because only then I feel as I really experienced it. Munich has it all, art, business, leisure, sports, Oktoberfest, you name it. But I decided to pick the ones suitable for business travellers, whether you are there for only one day or longer, alone or with colleagues, want to spend a relaxing time or party a bit.

I visited all of these places and can’t recommend you enough to visit them next time you’re in town. All places were recommended to me by locals from the corporate world and event planners who are leaders in their field. I feel so grateful that I had this opportunity to spend one year in one of the most beautiful cities in Germany, and in the world, and I hope you will find this guide useful.

Schumann´s

Is the ultimate place for cocktails. They have a wide selection of cocktails which are prepared in front of you by their experienced bartenders and the atmosphere there is fantastic. On weekends it’s very crowded and hard to get a table but on the other hand you can stay on the bar and watch the bartenders in action, which is also great.

Mandarin Oriental München

I can’t recommend you enough this rooftop, my all-time favourite. I loved the lounge music and the excellent service. Perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon or after work.

Andechser am Dom

If you want to try a real German/ Bavarian food this is your place. Or you just want to have an after work beer with friends, this is also your place. It is owned by the same owner of the Oktoberfest tent Hippodrome Sepp Krätz and you can expect excellent food and service.

La Baracca München

If you want to experience something new this place is for you. Here you place orders using an iPad. This is very engaging so you may find yourself ordering more than you can eat but just for the fun of it. Some of the portions are very small, such as the lasagne and others are bigger, such as the pizza so it’s a good place if you want to try and share different dishes. It’s a great concept, the restaurant is very modern and welcoming and the food is fantastic. Owned by the same owners of Vapiano it has the same payment system. Good place to enjoy with friends or colleagues, but not alone.

Cafe Reitschule

The perfect place for a weekend breakfast. A bit hidden from the main road, but when you find it, it’s a lovely quite place for a late breakfast or branch. If you’re lucky you’ll also see pony trainings.

Bergwolf

Is the legendary place for Currywurst. This is the place where everyone goes after a night out partying and you’ll be surprised to see the long queue. That’s definitely not the healthiest option but something you also have to experience while in Munich.

Paulaner am Nockherberg

If you are looking for a Biergarten this is the one you have to visit. It’s a lovely Biergarten, away from the city hassle and very popular with locals.

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Sustainability

Giving Back – Events with an Impact

Posted on January 22, 2014

I can’t express enough the amount of happiness and satisfaction I had when we could donate money raised from a party for a good cause. If you read my post Casino Party you know that during four months we worked very hard every week organising fundraising events and all the funds went towards the end of semester party. We were a group of hard working and talented people and the great success was thanks to the great teamwork and the mix of skills we all had! In the process, our hard work was recognised by a local coffee shop which offered us a small sponsorship. This money went towards hiring an artist as we wanted to make this party an entertaining and memorable event.

After paying all the bills we had enough money left to give back to a place which gave us so much, the university WHU – Otto Beisheim of Management. And that I mean in terms of excellent educations, support while abroad, personal and professional development and much more. We have chosen to give the money to In Praxi Diversity Scholarship. This year the master program of the university was ranked 1^st in Germany and 3^rd world wide by the Financial Times and this scholarship covers part of the tuition fee of the program for students outside Germany.

My goal is to make every event sustainable with contribution to the local community.

Below is the full press release I wrote for the WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management website:

Exchange students donate money for In Praxi Diversity Scholarship

Every semester WHU welcomes between 100-120 exchange students from almost 200 international partner universities. During the semester, the exchange students (also called Tauschies at the WHU) organise weekly events, called “Tauschie Tuesday” in which they present their culture and sell traditional food and drinks to raise money for the end of semester Tauschie Party. This fall the Tauschies raised a significant amount of money to host a Casino themed party and were happy to donate the rest of the money to the In Praxi – Diversity – Scholarship supported by the WHU Alumni association.

Irina Trofimovskaya, Tauschie Government President: “While one of the main goals of Tauschie event is to raise money for the end of semester party, the Tauschie Government decided that we also want to give back to the community we live in. WHU is an excellent institution, which besides offering academic excellence also provides students with opportunities to develop their social and entrepreneurial skills through the various events organised on campus. The Tauschie Tuesdays gave us the opportunity to integrate faster in the WHU community and provided a great platform for cultural exchange.
We have chosen to donate the money to In Praxi – Diversity – Scholarship, which helps students outside Germany to finance their Master studies at the WHU. We chose it because we can identify with the international aspect of this scholarship and proud to be now part of the WHU Alumni network. We would like to thank all the WHU students, International Relations Office, teachers, career department and all WHU staff who supported us throughout the semester and we look forward to welcoming you at our home universities in the future.“

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MICE Destinations

Party, Russian Style

Posted on January 17, 2014

If I wouldn´t write an event management blog, I would be a food blogger. That´s also the reason that time to time I tend to post what I just cooked or baked. After all, food is one of the most important aspects of event management (but of course everything is important).

If you followed my previous posts you know that I spent one year as an exchange student in Germany. At the host university, WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, every week we organised themed events which represented the different cultures of the exchange students. So each semester I teamed up with my Russian friends and we cooked for fellow students.

The event had two objectives, to raise money and to represent the Russian culture, which were both successfully achieved. The event design was different from the previous time. In contrary to last time when we hosted a formal dinner, this time we decided to go for finger food. We had to be creative and serve the chosen dishes in small and easy to handle portions. We also wanted to avoid serving sweet food, as the event took place in a bar and salty dishes are more suitable for someone who drinks alcohol. Here is the menu and the program we included on our invites:

It’s your chance to get familiar with the Russian culture, namely:

1. With Russian games and traditions

2. Learn some Russian phrases

3. Try the legendary Russian cuisine

Menu:

Olivier Salad – Russian Tenderness

Must have of a real Russian feast

Vinaigrette Salad – Red Pleasure

The essence of Russian friendship

Blini – Fish Revolution

Pancakes with special sauce and smoked salmon

Evening’s special: Survival Kit – Shproti (Smoked sardines in oil), Vodka and Kampot

Drinks:

White Russian

For drinks we made white Russian (even though it´s not a traditional Russian drink, it sounds Russian and contains vodka). It was a best seller last time so I just made it again. It is very simple to make and requires vodka, milk and coffee liqueur. We couldn´t find Kahlúa liqueur at the local grocery shop, so we just made one and it was quick and easy. There are many recipes online, and the main ingredients are vodka, sugar, coffee and vanilla extract. It was delicious and best seller again.

Last but not least, we wanted to teach the non- Russian speakers some words in Russian, so we made small cards with basic Russian words and phrases in Russian, English and how to pronounce it in Russian. That was fun and interesting for our guests and they were happy to learn something new.

Such event is very engaging because people also come and ask questions about the culture, the cuisine, the language etc. People event came to us and say they have Russian relatives or tell us about their travels to Russia and share other experiences.

As last time I had great time organising the event and now have even more ideas and inspiration for future Russian parties.

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MICE Destinations

Heidelberg Christmas Market

Posted on December 25, 2013

I hope that everyone is enjoying their holiday season! I am spending Christmas in Germany and here we are enjoying quite a warm weather which allows spending lots of time outside and visiting Christmas Markets.

Germany is famous for its Christmas Markets. Almost in every city and village you can find one and try Glühwein (mulled wine), potato fritters, sweet or salty crêpes, buy small souvenirs such as woodcrafts, candles and much more. Personally I can’t resist all the tempting smells of flavoured teas and nicely packed sweets.

This year I had the chance to visit Heidelberg Christmas Market. Located in the old city on a historic ground, it offers a warm, unique and beautiful atmosphere due to all the wooden huts and Christmas decorations. I even tried a Feuerzangenbowle (red wine punch) for the first time, which was very delicious.

Christmas Markets are great occasions for get together team building events. Being officially planned with reserved seating area or spontaneous after work, they are the ultimate small incentive events.

Here are some impressions from the beautiful Heidelberg Christmas Market.

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Education

Expert interview with Dr. Christian Coppeneur-Gülz, managing director of WWM Group

Posted on December 23, 2013

Dr. Christian Coppeneur-Gülz is the managing director of the WWM Group, today a leading provider of event and marketing solutions for B2B customers in Germany. The following interview gives an overview about his innovative business model myWWM, industry insights and some takeaways for entrepreneurs.

The WWM Group is a leading provider of event and marketing solutions for companies from all industries based in Germany but which operates internationally. In 2005 the WWM Group had three main business areas: mobile presentation systems, exhibition stand constructions and digital print. After analysing market trends in different industries Christian Coppeneur-Gülz came up with a new business model, myWWM.

How did it all start?

My family was already in the exhibition business. We were a market leader in Germany in producing pop-up-displays. After graduating from WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management I decided to continue and make a PhD at the chair of Information Systems and Information Management (Wirtschaftsinformatik und Informationsmanagement), at the same time I worked part-time at the family business, where I could implement my research. That was when I came up with the idea of myWWM.

What is myWWM?

myWWM is an innovative business model which helps firms to facilitate their exhibition appearance. Instead of selling mobile presentation systems, we provide our customers with free of charge presentation systems. It may sound strange, but myWWM clients only pay for their individual graphics, which reduces their investment cost by 50%. In addition, we take over the storage of all marketing material and release the customers from all the related logistics. We offer our clients to set up their exhibition booths all over Europe for a fixed price. To that we make sure that damaged equipment is quickly fixed or replaced, the related costs are covered by our own insurance.

The myWWM software constitutes the core of the myWWM solution. It allows the coordination of all above mentioned processes online via the myWWM platform. Whenever a client is interested in myWWM, we offer the decision makers an extensive analysis and consultancy for continuous optimisation of their marketing processes.

What were the difficulties when you introduced the new concept?

In the beginning we had to convince our existing clients of our new business model, so we offered them to try it for free – we transferred their business to the new platform. Secondly, it was challenging inside the organisation, because the employees were still convinced about the old model. Today the business model speaks for itself.

Today more and more companies host virtual exhibitions. Do you see it as a threat to your business?

No, and there are two reasons for that. Firstly, especially in B2B, long term relationships matter. People are in daily contact via email, phone or social media, and once in a while they meet face to face because meeting business partners in person strengthens the relationship and builds trust. In my opinion digital communication accompanies face to face meetings but does not replace them.

Secondly, there is a growing trend towards smaller exhibitions which are more targeted at the individual needs. To attend these kinds of events people are still very willing to invest time and money.

Besides the trend of smaller and targeted exhibitions, what other trends do you see?

Exhibitions become tactical, as opposed to strategic. Tactical means that customers book exhibitions more short term and the frequency of exhibitions increases. Customer behaviour is changing. At the WWM Group we recognise this trend by seeing booking lead time goes from three month to three days to which we are also responsive.

How do you incorporate sustainability in your business model?

In the traditional process, the customer has to contract several suppliers such as stand manufacturers, furniture suppliers, brochures/ print agency, technicians etc. At the end of the exhibition all this equipment has to be shipped back to the individual providers or thrown away. With myWWM we provide the customer with everything he needs and when the event is over we store it at our own logistics centre until it is needed again. That makes only one transaction and reduces the environmental footprint. In addition to that, when booking via our website, the customer can check the environmental footprint caused by the shipment. This transparency enables the customer to participate actively in the process.

What are the plans for the future?

By 2015 myWWM wants to be a market leader in three industries, recruiting, finance and healthcare.

Can you share from your entrepreneurial experience?

From my experience, in big companies you cannot implement your own ideas as in small companies but on the other side the private price is bigger.

Regarding small companies the competitive environment is not as tough as amongst big companies. Thus, if you are successful it will be quickly recognised.

It is important to build up relationships; people are always an important key factor in any business.

And last but not least, every industry is sexy. You can find opportunities in any business niche and become successful.