Saturday afternoon, rain and a movie! What a perfect combination. Relaxing in one of the chairs of the Palais des Festivals and the rain starting outside, I have chosen the perfect moment to see CanneSeries in action. What is CanneSeries? It's the Cannes Festival, just here is the focus on series and documentaries, like the little sister of Cannes Festival. I had chosen a Dutch production called Childhood Dreams.

Chill, watch and enjoy…

Emotions

While I was watching the series Childhood Dreams, one of the actresses receives the news that she has a brain tumour. The tears start to roll over my face, and the emotions, memories are coming back. This is not a coincidence. It was extremely intense to be confronted with to see how others in the series react and respond. It popped in my mind to leave the room but I’m proud of myself that I had the courage to stay, and cried, of course. Especially the moment when the husband is standing up to give his goodbye speech for his wife at the funeral in the church. And he couldn’t, he was too emotional and his daughter had to take over. I will never ever forget that moment of giving my speech, the emotions, exhaustion, tension and stress. 

The woman next to me also cried. It’s so stupid, I am not afraid to express my emotions but I do feel embarrassed in a way in a theatre. Also during the series the rain came down (nothing special but it hasn’t rained since I’m here) and we could hear it in the room. It gave a special touch, at least for me. Like someone above us was crying with me.

Cannes, you have made an unforgettable impression on me, on all levels.

Summary of my last week in Cannes

• Visiting JW Marriott

• Visiting the island St. Marguerite exploring the sustainable team building options

• Travelled by train to Marseille to visit the office of my client Linkeus

• Attending CanneSeries

Last but not least

I visited the JW Marriott and the funny details was that all our names started with a M, Melanie and Marie-Charlotte and me :-). Ladies, thank you for sharing your passion for the hotel and destination. Did you know that the Marriott is not just a hotel, but that this hotel was The place to host the first editions of Cannes Festival? And as soon as the Palais de Festival was built, and the building was transformed into a hotel and they decided to keep the old theatre? So if you book the Marriott for a meeting you can actually sit in the ‘old’ theatre? Isn’t that fantastic? This is something you can’t see from the outside which has a rather modern look.

Of course the hotel is besides the ‘classic’ theatre equipped with different modern meeting rooms, a large ballroom, and not to forget the stunning rooftop terrace with pool that you can privatise for cool parties. 

And of course, like all the other 5 stars hotels in Cannes, they have a private beach club, the biggest of the entire beach. Enough opportunities for indoor and outdoor events. 

Connectivity

I like to travel by train, and went from Cannes to Marseille by train. For those who think, why don’t you take your camper, the simple answer is just no, no hassle. It’s not a car, parking and entering the city centre of Marseille is not that easy. And I have everything unpacked because I’m staying three weeks in the same spot.

I took my Ipad with me to work during the train ride, at least that was my intention but looked out of the window the entire journey. Like a kid! What a stunning journey. The trip is around 2 hours and goes partly along the coast and crossing the innerland with vineyards. It was beautiful and relaxing. I also enjoy the landscapes when I drive but this is different, just to sit back and chill. I have enjoyed this train trip in the morning seeing the sun rising above the sea and on the way back going under. Cannes has excellent train connections from different cities, and the TGV stops here, just for your information.

Marseille

When I think of Marseille, I think of two things, the moment when Christophe spilled bouillabaisse on snow white top, and the Netflix series called Marseille we saw together when he was ill.

Searching for the place where we had our bouillabaisse together.. Not an easy mission. I had more eye for Christophe then for other things at that time, ha ha ha. It was our first holiday together and the second day when we came to Marseille just for lunch. I think I have found the place.

The reason to travel to Marseille was also to go to the office of my client. Finally we managed to see each other live  and it was lovely. No zoom can beat in real life meetings. Missions accomplished.

Sustainability

If I would mention the word sustainability and events, that Cannes wouldn’t pop up as the first destination. Let us be honest right? 

The enthusiastic owner Guillaume of Team Nature, his agency who's certified with ISO20121 (the only one until now in Cote d’Azur) showed me around on the island St. Marguerite which is situated just above the island St. Honorat, called together les Isles de Lerins. The island Marguerite has lots of options for team building activities. One of the examples was the fence that was placed by a company during a teambuilding activity. Now the birds have a quiet and protected area to live and breed. Thank you Guillaume for sharing your passion and knowledge about island, and our industry and sustainability.

And of course you can’t just organise all types of events, and you need to ask permission. The mayor of Cannes supports the events industry and usually gives permission. This makes it easy to organise events on the island and in Cannes.

If every destination would have a ‘MICE’ friendly mayor who sees the potential, and understands the importance and including the sustainability in our industry, I am convinced that our industry would have gained more attention, recognition and awareness.

Picture of the island

My MICE conclusion of spending 3 weeks in Cannes

• Cannes is absolutely not just glitter and glamour

• Cannes has more than 7000 rooms, huge capacity for a village 

• The collaboration between the hotels, partners and the mayor is really unique; something to be proud of as a city. And for event professionals, this will easy your role and challenges to organise an event

• The price setting - the destination is affordable, especially when you will go off season like February or March or late autumn

• The climate - nothing to add here

• The accessibility (2 airports, Nice and Mandelieu for private jets and helicopters) and excellent train connection including the TGV

• Excellent connection with public transport in the city (and had no issues during the strikes)

• It’s a walkable destination 

• The construction, more details below

The concept of hosting me for three weeks in the city, I feel very privileged being the MICE ambassador of the Cote dÁzur :-). From both sides, I have time to explore and enjoy Cannes as a tourist and citizen, in which I really get the opportunity to get to know the destination. Which is a two way benefit, and even beyond.

In these three weeks of my stay I have got a nice overview of the city, the options and possibilities for MICE, how does it feel as a camping girl, as a tourist and as a MICE professional. Yes, I have 3 different hats but these are all connected. If you don’t feel well as a tourist you would never propose to host an event, right?

I was sceptical about Cannes, yes I am open and direct. I would never have thought of Cannes as a MICE destination due to its image, just glitter and glamour which is not my style. Therefore it's good to stay longer and feel the vibes, speak to locals (even go to the hairdresser) , do your groceries, go to the local market etc.

And moreover create your own image!

That’s what I did. They want me to go to Cannes, I will. And let’s start from scratch, no information upfront. Like I did with Albania. Open your heart and let’s not judge until I have experienced the destination myself with my own eyes.

An important note

Yes, Cannes is under construction and everyone apologised for that! Why? If you want to improve, you need to change and that requires an effort and time. It’s good to see that the city invests. From 2024 onwards the city will be more accessible and the entire Croissette, the roads and the hotels along the boulevard will be renewed. A reason to go back and to see the final result

Tomorrow I will drive all the way to my next destination, just 5 km away!! A new destination, Mandelieu.

Excited and curious to explore together with my companion :-)