| · Stacie Ackerman (KnowledgePoint360) · Danielle Adams (NNI) · John Nawn (The Perfect Meeting) |
· Keith Ogbourne (Kantar Health) · Krista Reimer (Blue Nest Events LLC) |
North American Finalists |
North American Winner |
VisitDenmark’s ‘Meetovation’
March 21:Deadline for North American submissions.
April 12:North American finalists (up to 5 total) will present their concepts in New York City (hosted, airfare and accommodation included or via Skype) to a panel of meeting industry experts, including Prevue’s editor, Greg Oates.
August 1-2: The North American winner joins MINDchallenge’s global winners from Germany, Sweden, Norway and the United Kingdom for the grand international finale in London during the Olympics. Airfare and accommodation included.
Questions or submissions contact:
Christina Andersen
VisitDenmark
655 Third Avenue,
Ste. 1810 NY 10017
New York / United States
can@visitdenmark.com
Sponsors
MINDchallenge Blog Posts
We love the smart, sustainable lunching at BioM in the quaint Fredericiagade neighborhood. It’s a hip little “eco-eatery where life is experienced as a combination of interdependent relationships between plants and animals,” says the menu. This is Copenhagen’s poster child for upscale farm-to-fork food.
“We’re so lucky that our guests have an opinion that they’re not just cattle,” says owner Brian Johansen, as he pulls up a chair constructed from recycled plastic bottles to join us. We like Brian. We love his quotes. And we’re especially enamored with his bacon and mushroom risotto. Brian believes in “short hair” sustainability, versus the “hippie kind,” which helps attract a lot of local execs. He also caters large group dinners offsite.
The 362-room Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers is the first carbon neutral building in Denmark. The first Danish hotel to sign the UN Global Compact, it made news around the world when it opened with exercise bikes hooked into the hotels power grid. If you rode the bike for a certain time period, the hotel even threw in dinner. The actual amount of electricity produced is not a lot, but you gotta love the idea.
Crowne Plaza is great for group biz because it’s located just one metro stop from the Bella Center convention facility, and the design is another huge selling point for networking. Raw concrete pillars and 3-story ceilings tower over the lobby, bar decorated with designer furniture and lighting. For green groupies, we recommend the Walk of Sustainability where visitors can learn all of the myriad earth-friendly initiatives here, such as Northern Europe’s largest hotel solar array.
In the center of Copenhagen, Tivoli Gardens is an amusement park that first opened in 1909, with large indoor meeting venues and outdoor garden spaces exploding with color. In 2010, it became the world’s first amusement park to operate on renewable power, whereby some of the rides convert energy derived from their centrifugal forces into electricity.
Within the gardens, Nimb is an “integrated gourmet house” with three separate restaurants inside a dramatic Moorish-style palace. The Michelin-star Restaurant Herman serves 40 with fine dining “modern grandmother cuisine” based on traditional Danish recipes. The fun Nimb Brasserie features three demo kitchens and group seating for 140. And Nimb Vinotek is a warm rustic venue with long Danish elmwood tables, brick floors and a 1,200-bottle wine list, well regarded for its upscale food/wine pairing events for 80 pax.
One of Copenhagen’s signature group activities is a boat ride departing from Nyhavn Canal with DFDS Canal Tours. The city is riven with canals throughout all of the good parts, and the entertaining guides discuss the dizzying array of arts, architecture, culture and restaurants surrounding the canals. It’s a great way to scope out the city and get your bearings. Planners can book private boat charters with food and live music through DFDS too.
Bike With Mike is an established bicycle tour company in Copenhagen, and it’s the best way for attendees to feel like a local. During a dozen stops, you’ll learn about Denmark’s world’s best healthcare system, Danish furniture design, the sleek Copenhagen Opera House and a ton more. We like the group break on the grass inside the big green King’s Garden Park, and the final stop at the glorious 18th century Amalienborg Palace—the winter residence of the royal family. Here’s a tip: There are two parallel bike lanes ribboning the city for fast and slow riders. So whatever you do, stick to the slower right side or you’ll get curt ding-a-lings all day from bicycle bells behind you. Trust us.
This is beyond cool for groups. State of Green is the official sustainability brand of Denmark, with a slew of tours behind the scenes at innovative tech and energy facilities around the country. For example, book a boat ride to the Middelgrunden wind farm outside the Harbour of Copenhagen and climb to the top of a propeller for a look inside (pictured). Visit the Amagerforbrænding Incinerator that converts waste into energy. Over 75% of garbage in Copenhagen is converted into household heating. Or check out the Inbicon Biomass Refinery power plant, a world leader in fossil-free fuel production.
“We have a system now to open the door, to get visitors in front of the right people,” says Anja. “We’ve taken advantage of COP15, and we’ve found a lot of synergies, so it’s a much more streamlined process to plan and organize sustainable meetings…. A lot of clean tech companies want this and there’s only one person to contact to arrange everything.”
Since 1980, Denmark’s national GDP has increased 80% while energy consumption has increased only 5%. Furthermore, C02 emissions are down almost 20%. No other country worldwide begins to compare.
With two opposing towers shaped like a “V,” the new Bella Sky Comwell Hotel opened in May 2011 next to the Bella Center Copenhagen convention facility. The 812 rooms all feature designer interiors, trapezoid windows, great views and free WiFi. Bella Sky is also the first hotel that we know about that offers one full women’s-only floor. Yes, some people have a problem with that, we know. Others love it because it’s all about customized service for their group. The rooms on the “Bella Donna” floor feature things like bigger bathrooms, bigger mirrors and industrial strength hair dryers, you know, versus those wimpy blowers you often find. Don’t you just hate those?
Remember when sustainability and sexy were rarely used in the same sentence? Noir is a Danish fashion house that designs cutting edge evening wear for the “modern, conscious woman,” who appreciates sculptural tailoring and masterful detailing. A signatory of the UN Global Compact, the company uses sustainably-produced, sub-Saharan cotton while maintaining transparent fair trade practices throughout the region. Peter Ingwersen, founder of Noir, says: ”We want to be known as the first brand to turn corporate social responsibility sexy.” Check with your DMC to create a lusty/susty ecofashion show of your own.
The 260-room Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Copenhagen is one of the planet’s most prized examples of mid-century modern architecture, designed by Danish architecture/design icon, Arne Jacobsen. He is internationally known for his famous “Egg” chair, among others, and the originator of clean Nordic Design, which has inspired everything from California’s Hollywood Hills Modernists to the Sydney Opera House. Room #606 still retains the original style (pictured, egg chair at left). Today, the Royal is regarded as the world’s first designer hotel, built in 1960 as the flagship property for SAS Scandinavian Airlines.
Here’s one of the coolest breakout rooms ever. Some of the meetings at the 2009 global climate conference, COP15, took place 45 minutes north of Copenhagen in Elsinore at Kronborg Castle—the setting for Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” Originally built in 1420, it can host up to 700 revelers including 400 pax in the Dancing Room with 25-ft ceilings and arched windows framing Sweden in the distance. Book an abbreviated version of Hamlet and a feast of baked pheasant and oysters.
“It’s great for meetings,” says Anette Nielsen, project manager for the local Kuoni DMC office. “The castle walls are 15 feet thick so no one’s texting.”
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