Interior: The Historic Town Hall Wuppertal is a treat for eyes and ears.

Germany: Wuppertal’s Historic Town Hall

31.03.2014

Up and above

For an international meeting planners’ audience not familiar with Germany, the city of Wuppertal may not come to mind instantaneously when looking for a destination suitable for a glitzy function. If they knew, what Wuppertal – pretty close to Duesseldorf and Cologne and their airports – had in stock, they would surely be envious of its 350,000 inhabitants and its numerous visitors and might rapidly change their attitude. The town, embedded in the lovely scenery of the Bergisches Land situated in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia, may rather be associated with down-to-earth features. But especially for these two cases of the „elevated“ variety, quite the opposite is true.

The most extraordinary attraction is perhaps the suspended monorail inaugurated in 1901 and in operation for public transport since. It’s most stunning property may be this one:

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The roofs of Kyoto in Japan.

Kyoto: For Protocol and ancient Venues

17.03.2014

“A natural medley of willows and cherry blossoms weave themselves into a brocade, the Heian-kyo” romanticises an ancient verse about Kyoto, Japan’s capital and residence of emperors between 794 and 1868. Wars and raging fires destroyed Kyoto – formerly called “Heian-Kyo”, Capital of Peace – repeatedly over the course of many centuries. Astonishingly, not so during WW II: thanks to its precious historic value, and the presence of mind of acting warlords, the city was spared the fate of being melted into contaminated grounds by a malign nuclear bomb or of being struck by hostile air raids. Other Japanese destinations were less fortunate. A wealth of cultural properties of the past like temples, shrines and other traditional structures was, thus, successfully preserved in Kyoto.

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Sign "closed": Don't close up! Dare to disagree instead!

TED Talk. Margaret Heffernan: Dare to disagree!

24.02.2014

Are we all hopeless ignorants? Or pitiable cowards – heads in sand? Why is it, that we are readily looking for others to prevent distaster from striking? Why are we so frequently shying away from making unfavourable decisions and why do we not speak our minds in all those meetings or seminars we attend on a regular basis? Most people instinctively avoid conflict, says Margaret Heffernan and demonstrates in this talk, that a good disagreement is vital to progress. The best partners aren’t those who echo an opinion in a stereotype way. Quite on the contrary! Great research teams, relationships and businesses allow people to fundamentally disagree.

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A Gaucho somewhere in the Mexican wilderness.

The fastest Guide in all of Mexico

24.02.2014

A Jungle Safari at Cyberspeed

Arrribaaa! The bright red jeep perfectly fits the fiery temperament of its driver. Juan virtually swathes the participants joining in the excursion into the hinterland of Puerto Vallarta in his lively personality. The wiry bundle of energy with an endearing Spanish accent and sly eyes sparkling under comb-resistant hair resembles an information automat in human form.

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