It is difficult to capture the essence of any destination into a trip lasting just a few days, but Switzerland, with its four official languages and abundant activities and offerings, presents a particular challenge to planners trying to show of the country. But the Sixth Annual Meeting Trophy competition—a mix of cross-country tour and Amazing Race challenge—managed to provide a breathtaking picture of a very rich and diverse country.
The event brought together 83 meeting and event planners, and journalists, divided into teams from Belgium, Netherlands, England, Scandinavia, North America, France, Germany, and for the first time this year, Russia. Challenging our skills in everything from geography to paddleboat racing and chocolate tasting, it was a fascinating—and sometimes cutthroat—introduction to the vast opportunities Switzerland provides for meeting planners.
Great Beginnings
Before the competition officially got underway, members of the North American team (which included eight from the United States as well as three Canadians) were treated to a stay in The Dolder Grand, in Zurich. While we had several hours to sleep off our jetlag from the flight over, I found I was ready to start exploring the destination after a brief nap. This probably had something to do with the new seats available on Swiss International Air Lines business and first class flights, which allow the passenger to lie down completely flat. I had perhaps the best sleep I've ever had on an airplane during the flight over (the delicious dinner of sautéed fillet of beef and roasted potatoes also helped).
The Dolder Grand reopened its doors in April 2008, after an extensive renovation, and the improvements are astounding. The hotel offers 173 luxury rooms and suites, and a 4,000 square-meter spa that includes 21 treatment rooms and two spa suites, providing what the management calls "classic traditions with a techno beat." I had the chance to swim in the Dolder's indoor pool and borrow one of their mountain bikes for a brief tour of the woodlands that surround the resort.
The team eventually gathered for a tour of the city of Zurich, which like The Dolder Grand itself, balances a sense of history and tradition with cutting edge modernity. While the city may be one of the business centers in the country, the sunbathers laying out on the shores of Lake Zurich or one of its 18 swimming baths remind visitors that this is an easygoing city at heart (it's no wonder that Zurich was honored as having the "highest quality of life" by Mercer Consulting seven years running since 2001). Following an engaging tour of the city's historical sites and shopping areas, we finished the day with a celebratory meal at the Zunfthaus (Guildhouse) zur Waag restaurant, complete with Swiss wine, and Züri geschnetzeltes—thin-sliced veal with white wine sauce—over rösti, a potato dish much like a richer version of hash browns.
Friday morning provided our first face-to-face meeting with the competition. Gathering at Theatersteg in Bellevue, we gathered for breakfast on a ship and watched as each team arrived: the Germans with white polos reading "Sweet Like Chocolate," the Nordics in what appeared to be red cowboy hats, and our team rocking our glittery berets in purple, pink and silver. While we cruised down Lake Zurich and sized up the other teams, everyone was welcomed, and given rallybooks that included our itineraries and questions we would have to answer about the stops and activities that lay ahead. Each team would be awarded points for their performance on each activity, and the team with the most points at the end of the two-day competition would crowned the winner.
Springing Into Action
After a brief train ride from where our boat landed, we arrived at Bad Ragaz, on the eastern side of Switzerland—a pristine, isolated area well known for its natural hot springs. The Grand Resort Bad Ragaz, where our afternoon's activities were held, took full advantage of its proximity to the springs with its To B. branded spa, including saunas and pools that draw from the water. One of our first challenges was to sample three types of mineral water and identify which was bottled water and which came directly from the nearby spring (it was harder than we expected).
The destination also boasts two golf courses of its own (the only resort in Switzerland that does), which two volunteers from our team tried their clubs at for one hole. Sandy Daniel, president and CEO of FIRE Light Group scored the team 10 points by landing a hole in one, giving the team an early success.
After a muesli tasting challenge at Bad Ragaz, in which we identified as many ingredients as possible (raisins, melon, honey and lemon just to name a few), we headed via rail to Arosa, an eco-friendly alpine village. The destination offers an exceptional combination of meeting opportunities, both luxurious and rugged. We began with the rugged, heading to the top of the mountain in an aerial lift for a tent-building contest and some amazing photo-ops of the great snow-topped peaks and lush valleys, followed by a ride down the mountain on scooters. Coasting down the curving road, breathing the clean air and listening to the sound of cowbells coming from the grazing cattle nearby, both relaxed and got the heart pounding a bit.
Those gulps of mountain air came in handy for the final activity of the day: an alphorn endurance test. We each were given the chance to try our lungs on the instrument—perhaps better known as "those long horns from Ricola commercials"—and then selected one team representative to blow as long as possible. Since Cathy Belanger, project manager for Eviva Events, had played the trumpet, she was nominated, and proved to be the right person for the job, dominating the other teams.
We spent our second night at the Arosa Kulm Hotel & Alpine Spa, which combines the wooden exterior of a ski lodge with all the high-end accommodations that would be expected from a 5-star hotel. It boasts plenty of meeting space, from the 210-square-meter Panoramahalle, to the 115-square-meter Salon Wintergarten, where all the teams were once again gathered together to hear the first day's results. As it was their first year at the Meeting Trophy, the Russian team were so far in last place. To help their situation, they performed a lively Russian folk song, earning them applause and 10 extra points.
With fingers crossed we listened to the rest of the rankings, and let out cheers when North America was named the third place team—only off from second place by one point (which the Germans held). The Nordics, who had taken the trophy home in 2009, were so far in first again. We knew who we would be gunning for the next day.
Hitting the Road
After a restful sleep, the teams boarded the train the following morning and headed west. While aboard, we took in the spectacular views of the countryside, clear rivers and the Rhine Gorge ("Switzerland's Grand Canyon"). It was a stylish way to travel and an excellent option for groups, who can reserve entire cars including food and beverage. When we arrived at our destination, we saw that we were about to enjoy a different kind of travel: Rows of cars, provided by Europcar (which offers group deals for meeting planners) were lined up in the parking lot, numbered for each team. We were handed directions, found keys and a mix CD of Swiss music waiting for us in each car, and hit the road.
I thought the views from the train were impossible to top, but the 70-km drive from picking up the cars to our destination—the small town of Weggis—managed to outdo them. Driving down through the narrow valley of Uri (one of Switzerland's "cantons"—something like a state or province) with rivers running below us, and then along the shores of Lake Lucerne, offered an incredible way to take in the country.
Soon enough, we arrived at the Park Hotel Weggis, a five-star Relais & Châteaux property with a vast wine collection, luxurious "spa cottages," and the 1-Michelin Star restaurant, Annex. With 53 exclusive rooms, it is ideal for incentives or a smaller, high-end meeting group, though its 275-square-meter Aquarius Hall can accommodate a much larger meeting event. Our group enjoyed an outdoor lunch buffet by the lake, complete with salads, shish kabobs or kebab? and local vegetables. A few members from the Great Britain team, who had been clever enough to bring their swimsuits, took a dip in the Lake to cool off from what had become a very hot day. Wrapping up lunch, we were soon jumping on a boat, setting sail for the neighboring city of Lucerne.
Once we arrived to this historic city, the competition kicked into high gear, with teams running from one part of town to the next, tackling a watch-battery-change contest, a chocolate tasting and a paddleboat race in Lake Lucerne. The latter competition was extremely close, with North America going neck-and-neck with the Nordics for much of the race, before victoriously pulling ahead a few crucial inches to beat out our chief competition. This was thanks to our solid paddleboating crew of Michael Gordon, associate vice president of eventAcuity Inc.; Sarah Moss, partner and account executive at Earthbound Events; and Caroline Pidroni, director of sales and marketing North America for the Switzerland Convention & Incentive Bureau, and our generous guide throughout the competition.
With each contest, we tried to assess which teams had the advantage. As we finished up the activities and handed in our notebook, it was anyone's guess who had locked in the points to be the winner.
I changed and enjoyed a nap back at the hotel we were staying at for the night: the Hotel Schweizerhof Luzern, a grand, 101-room property overlooking the lake, with almost a dozen conference and meeting rooms, including the massive, 360-square-meter Zeugheer Hall and 216-square-meter Bringolf Room. Our team, freshened up after our intense day, then met in the hotel lobby and made its way to the Museum of Transportation.
After battling an unexpected downpour, and getting slightly drenched, we arrived at the museum (and the downpour promptly stopped). Inside the museum, guests enjoyed appetizers while checking out the fun activities and attractions in the museum, from vehicles dating back to well before Henry Ford, to an apparatus where you could play the crash-test dummy.
We then moved into one of the main meeting areas to gather for dinner. Surrounded by train cars, we waited eagerly for the winning team to be announced. After a few more gestures of kindness/attempts to earn bonus points (including the German team giving out mini bottles of Jagermeister and the Russians offering each team a Russian nesting doll with a bottle of vodka inside), it was announced that for a second year running, the Nordics had taken the top prize. Our disappointment at not winning the trophy was quickly placated as we hit the dance floor (yes, the Museum of Transportation has a dance floor) and partied into the morning with our former competitors.
All That Jazz
While the North American team had to bid adieu to the other teams at the end of the third night, we had the added benefit of a post-trip to the French-speaking part of Switzerland, in the city of Montreux. We stayed in the Suisse Majestic—a lovely hotel offering 270-square-meters of meeting space and 156 rooms. It recently went through a $25 million renovation, offering newly refurbished meeting spaces and rooms. The team dined in the property's new restaurant, 45, which includes an outdoor patio area with a spectacular view of Lake Geneva and the city below.
The Meeting Trophy may have been over, but the activities had not slowed. First on the agenda was a tour of the Chillon Castle. The more than 1,000 year-old structure, set on the water, includes a dungeon where Lord Byron was briefly imprisoned (and carved his name into the wall, which can still be seen today) as well as a variety of large dining halls and gathering spaces that make it an excellent location for an unusual meeting.
We followed up this activity with a trip to the Lavaux terraced vineyard. The small, family owned vineyards in the area offer an excellent activity for small groups to enjoy, and a few bottles of wine make for excellent souvenirs. Swiss wine may not be as well known as French or California selections, but it offers a wealth of both reds and whites (the Swiss are fond of saying that it's hard to find Swiss wine overseas because it all gets drank before it can get out of the country). At Lavaux, we sat in the backyard, overlooking the vineyard as we enjoyed wine and learned about how it was grown.
To ensure the trip ended on a high note, we were treated to an Erykah Badu performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival. The show, taking place in the Montreux Music & Convention Center (2M2C) was a delight. Yet as much as we enjoyed Badu's soothing singing, the excitement of the streets outside, which had just exploded with the results from the final World Cup match, pulled us out to the streets shortly after her show. Several members of our group spent the final night exploring (the) Montreux, chatting with the locals or visitors and sampling the street food, including raclette—a layer of cheese, baked under heat and placed over pearl onions and gerkins. It sounds odd but once you try a bite you will wonder why it's not available everywhere.
As we said our goodbyes before turning in for the final night, I reviewed the astonishing array of activities and sites we had experienced over the previous two days. Despite all that we had seen, I realized that this was just the tip of the snow-capped mountain, and that there was still much more for a group to explore.
Originally published Oct. 1, 2010