Management offsite near Paris
Every year around May the global management team of our company gathers to align on the strategy and goals for the current year. It’s a moment away from the day to day work to be able to focus fully on the challenges and opportunities we have or see. This years edition was on the Châteauform Le Grand Mello, which is just outside the wider Paris region. The location is deliberatly chosen to be isolated so there is as less distraction as possible. It is a special variant of travelling as in the end, we spent most of our time in meeting rooms. But still, I enjoyed it very much.
Chantilly bike
This years activity was to bike with our group. We were lucky with the weather and having a bike ride on deserted road or through the forest is a good way to connect with peers and discuss challenges at work. It’s crucial that a management team is aligned in order to make sure that all teams are working together to achieve the company goals. These few hours outside of the meeting rooms is also a good reset moment in the middle of the week to recharge and gear up for the last days of meetings. Chantilly is a horse city or town. We were told there are 10.000 inhabitants but there are 4 to 5.000 horses. We passed the 4km long horse track where daily the horses are taken into gallop to exercise. The track goes gently up and I think that must be really impressive to witness. As we were there in the afternoon, that will be something for a next time.
Chantilly castle
After the bike ride there was some time to go back to the hotel and change but with a few people we decided to stay in the city and go to explore the castle, have a walk and have a drink on a local terrace. It’s all about efficiency in my opinion. The castle entrace is 18€ and I think although that is not cheap, it’s a fair price. It’s really impressive and the rooms are decorated as if they must have been back at the time. It gives a good impression of how the castle life must have been. We have spend just below an hour to explore the place inside and outside. I’m sure you could also spend a half a day in the castle if you read all information available. An impression was enough for me.
Le Grand Mello
Just outside Paris you can find Le Grand Mello which consists out of 2 castles: La Forteresse and La Princesse. The bedrooms are spread across these 2 buildings and so are the meeting rooms. The rooms themselves are not extraordinary but how everything they need: a good bed an a clean shower. It’s a privilige to have meetings in a castle, but don’t get carried away. These days are meeting from early moments of the day till late in the evening. Also during the dinner often work challenges are discussed.
The service of this place is of a next level. The staff really goes the extra mile and you don’t really notice them during your day to day running from meeting room to meeting room, but everything is always perfect. You pass a stand with some sweets on the go, the coffee is ready, everything is spotless clean. It’s very convenient if things are just done well and it makes that your day is spend very efficiently as you don’t have to wait nowhere. The breakfast is really remarkable as next to the default things you find a rich assortiment of cheese, fresh omelettes and my all time favorite: fresh pancakes!
In the evening you can hang out in one of the cosy spread across the castles. Some have cosy seatig areas, a billiard, a kicker table or a karaoke installation. It’s in the end an older castle so don’t expect modern things, but they really manage this please so good. I can really recommend this place if you ever look for a location to have productive meetings with your (management) team.
