Yesterday, we proved that the Connections Way of doing business can be applied in so many ways!

We were delighted to partner with ENIT to power their event and help Italian suppliers meet the right British buyers in a completely different way.

Flavio Zappacosta from ENIT opened the event by welcoming UK luxury buyers and Italian suppliers at London’s St. James’s Hotel and Club – where we had something rather special in store…

Four stations were set up around the hotel – each one presenting a different Italian-themed experience. Italian suppliers remained at the stations, while buyers travelled in groups between each one.

As well as mingling with Italian suppliers along the way, the teams of UK buyers had to answer a pop quiz question about Italy at each station in order to win a prize at the end…

A huge thank you to Stefano and the team at St. James’s Hotel and Club for providing these fantastic experiences! We had Story of Cocktails – where the bar manager Gianni Albanese taught delegates how to make and shake signature Italian drinks – the negronis were delicious, albeit super strong!

We also had the Story of Motor – where George, Nicki and Sarah from Technosport provided three BMW E46 cars for attendees to take a closer look at.

There was the Story of Wine – where the hotel’s head wine sommelier, Gonzalo Rodriguez Diaz
hosted tastings of some fine Italian wines.

And finally, the Story of Art and Culture – where Jeroen Suijker, the hotel’s Director of Sales and Marketing quizzed each group of buyers on their knowledge of Italian art and culture while they enjoyed the penthouse terrace.

At the end of it all, to decide the winning team of buyers, we had a tiebreaker round – an Italian hand gesture competition! The two tied teams had to identify the correct meaning of three Italian hand gestures – performed by Flavio, Stefano and I! The first to answer the most correctly won a bottle of Italian prosecco for each member of their team.

It was wonderful to see everyone chatting away at each of the four stations – the atmosphere was warm and buzzing with lots of laughter, as well as fruitful business conversations.

Heartfelt thanks to ENIT Italian tourist board for choosing Connections to power their event – Flavio and Ilenia, it’s always a pleasure! We love working with you, thank you for giving the Connections Way your stamp of approval!

We’re always looking for new, creative ways to apply the Connections concept, and we’re delighted with the success of the Italian Tourist Board Experience.

Check out all the action from the event on Instagram and Facebook. And, if it inspires you to join us at an upcoming Connections event, we are only a phone call away!

Ciao!
Micaela

Connections Meetings in Puglia will take place from November 18-21. To enquire about attending, please contact David Benitez on david@weareconnections.com