Location: Komi, approx. 60 people
Our scope of work:
- coordinating communication with the project members from different regions
- renting 2 minivans
- hotel booking in Kotlas
- hotel booking in the town of Yb
- booking a conference room for the business activities
- arranging coffee breaks, lunches and dinners in restaurants and a party tent
- arranging a folk group performance
- interactive program in the Ethnopark
The story
We received a request from the World Wildlife Fund to organize a trip to the Komi region for their mission of introducing sustainable forest management and forest restoration.
The event was attended by approximately 60 experts, who all arrived from different cities, which is not difficult to arrange. But they also needed to pay for the accommodations individually, which means we had to discuss the participation dates, costs and payment methods with each of them. We also arranged transport and meals on-site. Of course, for the convenience of the group, we placed them in the same hotel, arranged a conference room with meeting equipment and took care of the meals. For this event the client chose a small town, Kotlas (or actually the forest districts and wildlife sanctuaries, surrounding it), which could be reached by train or by car from Syktyvkar airport.
The worries about small-town hotel’s service quality being far from the expectations of the big city folk disappeared due to the attentive attitude of the staff of the hotel ‘Sapphire’, which we booked completely. The conference room met all the modern requirements for business events, the catering staff helped to create a balanced menu for coffee breaks and dinners. And the cafe even provided a large TV for the football fans, who wanted to follow World Cup games.
The scepticism about the quality of services in the hinterland of our country was also dispelled by the Ethnopark in Yb: neat hotel rooms, modern conference halls, restaurant, interactive programs and sightseeing. A real treasure! Here it was possible to add some local flavour to the official program by inviting a folk music group to perform during the celebratory dinner. The perfect ending of the last day of the trip – summing up the results of the trip and getting to know the region better during the additional activities. As the group was quite large, we divided the participants into 3 teams which took turns touring the surroundings, taking a workshop in making a bast horse figure or learning some hunting skills – you never know what an ecologist might need in their tough everyday job!
Our clients returned to their big cities to implement the ideas they developed together, but the feeling of fulfilment and the cultural and culinary traditions of Komi stayed in their hearts. As for us – we were pleased to add one more successful project to our portfolio and to put the surprising Ethnopark “Yb” on our list of original and multifunctional conference venues.
