White Elephant Adventures organised an 81-person, three-day MICE event in Luang Prabang on 9-11 January, for the Southeast Asia division of the $10 billion dollar multinational Atlas Copco, which included what could be the UNESCO World Heritage city’s largest ever team building event.
The 81 participants from Atlas Copco
The event was split over three days, with meetings and business strategy workshops on the first and last days, and a full-day “Amazing Race” team building event on Day 2.
Rolf Graf, CEO of Thai-based Beunite, a leader in organising team building events in Asia, surveyed Luang Prabang in November 2018, and saw the city’s potential in hosting the function due to the city’s quality of hotels, meeting spaces, and activities within a short distance from the town centre.
Mr Graf then tasked Alex Robb-Millar from White Elephant Adventures (WEA) with organising the Amazing Race that divided the large group into eight teams.
Each team had to navigate their way around checkpoints across the city and surrounding area, while completing tasks and hunting clues.
Mr Graf complimented WEA, stating, “The day was very well organised, with no teams getting lost. Tuk tuk drivers and boat captains were all on time and the whole day kept to schedule with the participants having a great time. It was a huge success.”
WEA designed all tasks to provide elements of local cultural learning and tradition with team building for the participants, who were mostly Southeast Asian and particularly interested in finding out more about Lao culture.
The Amazing Race included ploughing with buffalo, planting rice, making sugar cane juice and playing pétanque, alongside strategic selfie taking, clue hunting, and the fun-filled “helping hand” tasks that in which participants assisted someone crossing the road or sold food with a street food vendor.
In the evening, groups tried their hand at the traditional Khmu tribe bamboo dance with the winning team achieving a flawless run of 10 consecutive participants. The day ended with dinner, a video screening of the day’s activities, and fireside drinks.
Traditional Khmu dance
The video was shot during the day by two separate camera teams with two drones under the eye of Somchit Kittisack, a local videographer.
“It was an honour to help organise this event,” said Mr Robb-Millar. “Luang Prabang is a great city to host these events and offers huge potential for the MICE market and future team building events, which can contribute greatly to the local economy.”
He also credited the sizeable Luang Prabang View Hotel, which hosted the entire group with its ample rooms and meeting facilities.
“The location away from the town centre also made it easier for all the teams to get to and from the hotel in their respective vehicles,” said Mr Robb-Millar.
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