Author: gemevents3

Every city has its own unique qualities and presents exciting opportunities for corporate events. Stockholm, Sweden, a beautiful city on the water may be the ideal setting for your next event! Here are just a few reasons why.

Top Notch Convention Centers

• There are many great conference spaces in Stockholm including the Stockholm Waterfront Congress Centre. Itis located in the city center just across from the City Hall, overlooking Lake Malar. The space itself holds 3,000 people and has bars, over 400 hotel rooms, and 20+ meeting rooms, a great place for any size crowd.
• Stockholm offers many other great convention centers that make for a perfect event.

Easy access to public transportation

• Public transportation is a very popular way to get around the large city. There are several options for public transportation: underground trains, commuter trains, trams, and ferry lines. The underground trains, also known as the World’s Largest Art Exhibit, allow travelers to experience an attraction in itself. The walls of these subway stations have been decorated by artists with sculptures, paintings, engravings and many other forms of art.
• There are convenient airport express train and coach bus options for getting to and from Stockholm’s airports. (Arlanda Airport Express Train and Flybussarna Airport Coaches)

A Wide Variety of Attractions for Guests

There are many things to do while in Stockholm, these are some of our favorites!

• Visit Stockholm’s City Hall (Stadshuset)
  • The City Hall has a unique architectural history and offers public tours of this beautiful space. It hosts public events such as orchestra concerts and other shows in its main hall where the Nobel Banquet is held each year. The City Hall overlooks Lake Malar, one of Stockholm’s many bodies of water. There are also tours available to see the view of the city from the City Hall Tower. The climb up the tower consists of 300+ stairs with sculptures along the way, however there is also the option to take an elevator.

• Visit the Vasa Museum
  • In the 17th century, the King of Sweden had his people build a war ship. When the intricate ship was finished and loaded up to leave port, the ship sank just meters off of the shore. The ship was rescued in the 1960’s and the museum was built around it. The fascinating museum shares information about the architecture of the museum, exhibits about the sailors and passengers on the ship, how it was built and much more. The Vasa was well preserved in the brackish waters of the Baltic Ocean, making it a treasure for all who visit it.

• Shop in Gamla Stan
  • Gamla Stan is the old town of Stockholm on an island in the center of the city that dates back to the 13th century. It is made up of old buildings with alleyways and cobbled streets. There is shopping and dining throughout Gamla Stan, and local artists display galleries of their unique artwork. Gamla Stan is a great place for a “fika”, or a break for coffee and a pastry, especially in front of the iconic medieval buildings located in the town square.

Contact GEM to have your next conference in Stockholm!

 

 

Many have been wondering about the status of the US Virgin Islands after Hurricanes Irma and Maria hit them in the fall. Although a lot of resorts are still getting back on their feet, the US Virgin Islands remain a favorite for group travel. Here are a few resorts in St. Thomas that are still up and running!

St. Thomas has a variety of hotels and excursions that your guests can benefit from. There are many of outdoor activities that the adventurous crowds would love to take advantage of in the ideal climate of the island! There are opportunities such as deep sea fishing, golfing, snorkeling, sailing, hiking, horseback riding and much more!

For those that would prefer to lay low and relax, there are a variety of spas and wellness centers on or in close proximity to the resorts. Enjoying the beach is also a great way to get R&R time.

Accommodations:

Point Pleasant Resort:

Point pleasant is a great place for you and your guests to enjoy villas on the water. The views available here are breathtaking, overlooking the Water Bay. The resort is five minutes from ferry boats, making it a very convenient location.

The Ritz-Carlton

This well-known five star hotel will give you and your employees have a luxurious stay. It overlooks the blue horizon and has views of the other islands. Here, guests can get a glimpse of Caribbean culture while experiencing the beauty of the island and the resort simultaneously.

Frenchman’s Reef & Morning Star Marriott Beach Resort

This oceanfront Resort is another beautiful place for your employees to call “home” during their trip. The hotel itself offers a variety of amenities including a spa, a gym, & a swim-up outdoor bar overlooking the water. The Frenchman’s Reef & Morning Star Marriott Beach Resort can accommodate crowds of many sizes and is a great place to host your next company incentive trip!

If you want to treat your employees in a luxury beach trip, the US Virgin Islands are a spectacular place to do so! Contact GEM for planning services.

Our company travels the globe planning events, but some of our favorite events happen in our hometown of Annapolis, Maryland! Spring on the Chesapeake Bay means warm weather, boating, and the start of crabbing season. Let us plan your next company outing and enjoy all that Maryland has to offer in springtime!

Black Eyed Susan Day

Treat your employees or valued customers to a Friday at the races! Since 1919 Preakness has been a well-loved tradition in Maryland. GEM will coordinate all logistics for a fun-filled day sipping mint juleps, indulging in local fresh fare, and watching the famed horse races at the Pimlico Race Course.

Blue Angels Flyover

Whether sitting bayside at a local restaurant or basking in the sun aboard a chartered boat, your employees will be delighted to take a break from the office to enjoy this Annapolis tradition!  Let GEM handle all of the planning – from communicating directions to your employees to picking the afternoon lunch menu, we are here to make sure your employees have an unforgettable day watching the famous Blue Angels Air Show.

No matter how many events we plan, we always find great importance in visiting the venue or hotel during the planning process. Even if we have planned an event at that particular space before, revisiting the property is vital to the success of the program.

Creativity

By experiencing the property in person, you are able to bounce back ideas that you may never have thought of by looking at pictures on the hotel’s website. While on a site visit in Key West, we were amazed by the cotton candy pink sky that appeared at sunset. These magnificent colors were the inspiration to our tropical Welcome Reception which we decorated with soft pinks and bright turquoise accents – perfectly complimenting the picturesque sky. “The linens match the sunset!” we over heard one attendee exclaim, why yes, yes they do.

You’ll discover problems

Walking the space allows you to get a feel for the flow of the event. Maybe the walk from your attendee’s guest rooms to the Award’s Dinner venue is under construction and a complete eye sore. You may reconsider where you have the dinner or create custom signage that directs attendees a different, more aesthetically pleasing route.

Planning will be easier

After seeing the space, you will go back to your office and breathe a sigh of relief as you realize it is so much easier to plan an event after seeing the venue in person. Instead of guessing where your group of 100 attendees will gather to take a group photo, you will have scouted it out yourself, snapped a photo, and confirmed that there is enough space for the group, the background is pretty for the photo, and the sun shining in the right direction at the time of the photo opp.

Client Relationships

Site visits are a great way for you to get to know your client, their vision, and the little details that will make your event shine. Walking the space together allows you to collaborate on ideas and get a true feeling for how your client imagines the event. You’ll be able to get detailed answers to your long list of questions instead of the impersonal responses that tend to reside in email communication.

Site Visits are FUN!

Lastly, visiting the property with your client is FUN! Not only do you develop a better relationship with the hotel/venue staff, but you get to enjoy the company of your client on a more personal level. This makes for a more enjoyable experience throughout the duration of the planning process.

 

 

I recently read an article on how the fate of your company is determined by the way you treat your employees. They listed four different traps that leaders may fall into and the one that resonated the most was the “taskmaster” trap. This describes the leader that is only focused on the big picture and does not celebrate the small wins along the way.

If a leader ignores these types of successes then they miss a chance to inspire their workers.  Motivating and inspiring your workers will motivate them to take care of your customers. When your customers are taken care of then your business will succeed.

What does this have to do with event planning?  Think about it.  You may not want to celebrate a small win with a week-long incentive trip to the Caribbean for all your employees, but why not a weekend retreat? There are many local places that can host a company retreat with team building activities. Retreat not your style?  How about going to a local sporting event and enjoying drinks after? Your employees will see that you care and will keeping winning for the company.

There are a number of ways that you can celebrate the small successes and GEM is here to help. We should all live by Richard Branson’s words “don’t forget to celebrate achievements and have some fun while doing so.”