Old World Flair With New World Energy
Michel Bourdon, vice president of sales and convention services for Tourisme Montreal, offers reasons why groups should meet in Montreal.
Q. What makes Montreal an ideal destination for meetings and incentives?
Bourdon: The fabulous gastronomy scene and our amazing choice of restaurants and chefs. With one of the highest ratios of restaurants per capita, business travelers, meeting planners and their delegates are always pleased by our chefs’ imagination and flexibility.
Also, there’s the European charm. Think “Europe, without the Euro.” Montreal offers Old World flair mixed with New World energy; with a 17th-century colonial architecture sharing the same skyline with sleek high-rises.
The largest French-speaking city in North America,
Montreal, offers the mystique of a foreign locale without the
hassle of a transatlantic flight. Groups are enchanted by the
city's multicultural melding of French ambiance with proper
English style. Old Montreal, with its large concentration of
buildings from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, offers rich,
colorful, and well-preserved history for groups to take in.
There are more restaurants per resident in Montreal than in any
other city in North America.
Montreal is a city of firsts. The city hosted the first
Canadian World's Fair and Canada's first Olympics. It also
hosts a number of festivals, including the International Jazz Festival, Just for
Laughs, and the Montreal International Fireworks Festival.
Montreal impressed the world with all it has to offer last May
when it hosted the first C2-MTL conference, which brought
innovative thinkers in commerce and creativity together.
"C2-MTL was inspired by the city itself, reflecting its unique
and internationally celebrated reputation as a multicultural,
creative and dynamic destination," says Sid Lee, the curator of
the conference. The three-day event was held in the center of
the city's Griffintown neighborhood, an area of once-abandoned
factories that is enjoying a rebirth. An "innovation village"
was created around New City Gas, a renovated 150-year-old
building that once contained the gas that lit the streets of
Montreal.
From networking plazas, brainstorming zones, and collective
worktables to intimate conversation rooms, each space at C2-MTL
was designed to evoke collaboration and ignite creativity.
This year's C2-MTL has the theme "Creativity Is Everybody's
Business," and will be held May 21-23 on the banks of the
Lachine Canal at Arsenal, a former industrial building recently
converted into a hub for contemporary art and cultural events.
Speakers will include French designer Philippe Starck; Sir
Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group; and John Mackey, CEO
of Whole Foods.
Cirque du Soleil Flair
Just as diverse as the city itself are its special event
venues. Take LE 7E CIEL, an inspiring seventh-floor space in
Cirque du Soleil's international headquarters that can
accommodate up to 250 attendees. "This is a unique way to
experience Cirque du Soleil - through the food and beverage,"
says Montreal-based Yasmine Khalil, events division director
for Cirque du Soleil. With 360-degree views of the city, events
here have stylish circus-themed elements that range from
bartenders who juggle flaming bottles to performers who sing
while swinging on chandeliers.
Unique activities abound in Montreal. An Ice Fishing Village
opened this the winter with 300,000 feet of ice to fish through
for walleye, perch, and burbot. The village features 30 heated
shelters that can accommodate eight to 12 people each, and all
the materials necessary for a great day of fishing. The village
is operated by Fishing Old Montreal, which also organizes
fishing tours around Montreal during the summer, some of which
include taking a group to a restaurant to prepare, cook, and
eat their catch.
One of Montreal's newest attractions, the Grevin Museum, opens
on April 19. It will be located on the fifth floor of the
Montreal Eaton Centre on Sainte-Catherine Street, the biggest
commercial artery in Canada, with pedestrian traffic of more
than 28 million people annually. More than 120 personalities
who have made their mark on Canadian history will be on display
in this $13-million museum. The collection will feature hockey
great Jean Beliveau, astronaut Julie Payette, and singer Celine
Dion.
High-Tech Convention Center
Montreal's Palais des Congres is undergoing amazing high-tech
upgrades that include network infrastructure that will allow
wireless connectivity supporting 20,000 simultaneous
connections through 460 Wi-Fi access points; dynamic signage,
including 88 oversized screens and a video wall; a mobile app
customized to each event; and an event intelligence
infrastructure that will offer meeting organizers the chance to
obtain a wide of array of statistics on convention-goers.