2016 CRM Meetings

We hesitated to take part in Cannes’ 2016 CRMMeetings. Not because it was the date of the 45th US President’s election but because of mixed feedback on the potential ROI of the event, as reported by some participants of the first two editions.

We decided to get our own impression and one week after our debrief, we can conclude we are likely to repeat the experience.

See our feedback in the four bullet points below:

1. Cocktail receptions : “victims” of their own success
   The success of the event was immediately felt on entering the hall dedicated to Tuesday evening’s cocktail reception.
   The (magnificent) Majestic Barrière room was quickly filled and the sheer number of guests coupled with the noise generated by the surrounding enthusiasm made networking difficult (as well as attempts to approach the buffet).
   The same results for Wednesday evening’s gala event which allowed us to enjoy the Carlton’s somptuous scenery but left little room for conversation.
2. The one-to-one meetings: a thrilling marathon
   Focus, efficiency, listening were quite a challenge to meet both for the exhibitors and the “Top decision-makers”.
   Everyone’s goal was to identify potential synergies between expectations and demonstrations of the solutions, in the (short) time available
   We decided to use two people to carry out these interviews and we did not regret it. Eventually, those matchings were pretty convincing and we got real prospects for projects for the months to come.
3. Business lunches : casual
   The first day, the access towards the business lunch dining room was not optimised. Controls at the entrance required several queues which in the end proved to be useless…
   All this was corrected the next day when the controls were present but fluid.
   Six Top Decision-makers were invited to each table. Private booths (partitioned boxes) were a bit loud but friendly.
   On the second day we faced two last-minute withdrawals so we were six to have lunch which was a suitable number for constructive exchanges.
4. The conferences: a glimpse of excellence
   The conference were a great success thanks to the quality and diversity of the topics covered and the speakers.
   Wednesday started with the best practices from three companies which had a common goal:”install a customer culture in the company”, a lecture animated by Marie-Louis Jullien, AMARC‘s General Delegate. The talks were clear and we were able to discover internal solutions covering this issue thanks to Franck Mourey, Customer Relationship Director at KONE, Elendil Berbudeau, Customer Relationship & Satisfaction Manager at Best Western International and David Llanes, Head of Crisis Monitoring, Management and Communication at Bonduelle.

The day ended with a one-hour discussion on the best way to “adopt and exceed the new standards of customer experience“. Three original sectors were represented by concrete feedback from Francis Barbier-Martins, Customer Relationship Director at UGC CINE CITE, Stéphanie de La Roncière, Marketing and Customer Service Director at CORSAIR INTERNATIONAL and Laurent Escarieux, Customer Relationship Director at DARTY.

Finally, judged a little too early by some “cocktail enthusiasts”, the last conference on Thursday morning addressed the theme of selfcare with 3 different case studies and the feedback of Gwenn Rio, Customer Relationship Director at RAJA, Agnès Rosoor, Operations Manager at RUE DU COMMERCE and Anne Marie Kühn, Customer Relationship Director at MAIF.

Once again, Thierry Spencer played the part of the conference animator with all his (customer) experience. As usual, he led insightful discussions and captured the attention of his audience (neither disguised, nor sleepy, nor stoic, as he may have encountered before).

Two bonus points: location and staff
The setting is undoubtedly a major asset of this event, and we were also able to appreciate the mild temperatures, even if we did not count any daring swimmers among the participants.
Finally, we would like to congratulate the organisation: the hostesses were smiling, omnipresent while remaining discreet, and very attentive to the smooth running of all the events.

To sum up, the event was very positive and the reservation for the 2017 edition is confirmed!