”MeeTCentive” at Gurgl Carat

"The current conditions make personal meetings possible again, but at the same time they should manage to square the circle, for instance by bringing conferences, team building and incentives under one roof," Gurgl Carat Managing Director Felix Kupfer summarizes the requirements. The head of Europe's highest conference center sees a strong trend here, for which he also has a word ready. It is called "MeeTCentive" and merges the formats meeting, team building and incentive.

But what are the current requirements to meet the needs of this new development on the conference market? As an answer to this question, we invite you to accompany us to an international team event. It took place at Gurgl Carat in June and included the congress center, the alpine village of Obergurgl and the Ötztal mountains. Find out more about the starting point, the objectives and the implementation of this exemplary event in the current Carat.Blog:

A trading company with branches in several European countries is planning the annual strategy meeting. Around 400 female and male store managers meet with the management of the head office for 3 days in one place. In 2022, the meeting will be under very special circumstances: after several lockdowns and many other challenges that the pandemic brought with it, it is important to involve employees even better in the future company strategies.

Therefore, the conference deliberately focuses on the employees, and human resources management is given special importance in the form of keynotes. Additionally, it is important

• to give the participants the opportunity to get to know each other for the first time or better
• to create sufficient space for creativity and new ideas while imparting knowledge
• to show the participants appreciation and thus to promote their motivation
• to strengthen the team spirit and the feeling of togetherness through appropriate supporting programs.

• a location with space for 400 participants in the plenum including state-of-the-art technical infrastructure and space for breakout sessions and group work
• a destination that offers a full variety of opportunities for team building and side programs amid nature and in the regional environment
• a sufficient range of upscale hotels and entertaining gastronomy top spots.

The choice was Gurgl Carat. Located at 1900 meters above sea level at the heart of the Ötztal mountains, our congress center offers an extraordinary setting for such a get-together thanks to its unique high alpine surroundings. In addition, the congress center, which opened in 2020, is also equipped with the latest technology. 3000 guest beds at nearby 4 and 5-star hotels, a wide range of fine and regional cuisine spots and competent partner companies for supporting programs convinced the organizer to hold this team event here.

Team building was a focus of the meeting. Therefore, the company selected 25 out of 35 side program options. On two afternoons, the participants each chose one of the programs. Each manager thus had the great opportunity to take part in two offers and in different teams.

The choice ranged from geocaching (treasure hunt) in the neighboring pine forest to high alpine hikes, from e-bike tours to an alpine hut to golfing in Passeiertal valley, from mountain photography to a climbing taster course. In addition to outdoor activities, there was a culinary journey through Gurgl, a Kaiserschmarrn cooking lesson, a visit to the Sölsch beer brewery or the production of soap in a regional manufactory.

In the evenings, the participants had the opportunity to get to know the range of gastronomic offers in the region and also spectacular locations for side events. The opening dinner in the award-winning "Edelweiss & Gurgl" restaurant in Obergurgl was followed by an evening in the "Top Mountain Crosspoint" at 2175 meters above sea level on the Timmelsjoch High Alpine Pass Road. Normally only open during the day, the restaurant in the Motorcycle Museum of the same name served fine food exclusively for this evening event. The third day of the congress went almost as high, namely to rustic Nederhütte at over 2100 meters above sea level. This is a ski hut that is only open during the winter season. But here, too, the doors were opened especially for the MeeTCentive event.

In addition to imparting knowledge, interaction and group dynamics also played a major role during the conference. In addition to impressive keynotes, the bar camp was another highlight of the convention. For this purpose, special metaplan walls were set up on the gallery of Gurgl Carat and used for the group work. With a view of the surrounding mountain peaks, the intellectual high-altitude flights were all the easier. The participants were able to see for themselves that Gurgl Carat and its surroundings rightly claim the term “Alpine space for inspiration“.

Sigrid Neureiter is both founder and owner of Dr. Neureiter PR Agency based in Vienna. Tirolean by heart and very committed to the MICE sector, Tirol as a conference region is a particular concern of Sigrid Neureiter. Together with her expert team and Gurgl Carat, she is responsible for editorial planning and implementation of the Carat.Blog. "Conferences held at Gurgl Carat stand for inspiration, foresight, tranquility in a truly incomparable ambience of the unique Alpine scenery. I am therefore very happy that I can contribute to bringing the advantages of Europe's highest conference center and its unique surroundings closer to customers."