Corporate festival at UP Events, in the summer and winter

Even the CEO’s stand here with their bare feet in the sand

Magazine High Profile Events
By: Mahlee Plekker

It’s Tuesday the 4th of February 2020 and even on this drizzly day it bursts from the activity on the UP Events terrain. On the board at the enterance all expected parties of today are being welcomed: it is filled up today. Seated on a soft sheepskin at the chrispy heater at one of the loodsen, I feel right at home. And still you stand here in the summer, with your bare feet next to a BeachclUP. How diverse is UP Events?

Surprises in activities

The terrain lies at the well-reachable edge of Amsterdam. The green loodsen and the lighting are the first noticable things, after that you start discovering something different in each corner: a 900m2 outdoor arena to play laser tag, a field for bubble football, archery, diverse spectecular looking instellations for Robinson challenges, beachvolleybal… And that appears to just be the outside terrain. To my big surprise I find, in one of the loodsen, a true Vietnamese mini-village, belonging to one of UP Events. Which surprises are hidden away in the other loodsen?

Bad weather doesn’t exist at a corporate festival

‘Yes, very diverse it is indeed,’ laughs Pim ten Broeke, Sales and Eventmanager UP Events. ‘Activities here are throughout the whole year,’ he tells. ‘Especially not just in the summer!’ Together with Sophie Spanjer, head of marketing, he is giving a sneak peak behind the scenes today. Both inside and outside. From Escape Challenges and building a chain reaction, to the newest asset: A Hackathon where you, together with your colleagues, have to crack multiple codes. Sophie: ‘Clients can become fearful for bad weather. Here, this is no problem, as it is just as much fun inside. Besides, in our opinion: bad weather doesn’t exist, bad clothing does. Furthermore, we have hot showers if it becomes truly necessary’, she adds laughingly.

Relaxed character

‘We are very good at teambuildingactivities and corporate festivals but we can do much more’, says Pim. ‘The goal of an event is often to help guests to get in contact easily. This what the atmosphere of our terrain and the base of our activities are focussed upon. Everyone should feel at ease quickly.’

Pim: ‘A beautiful compliment we received recently was that even the CEO, who usually is never found out of his suite, was eventually standing with his bare feet in the sand. You can notice that connecting people is in the DNA of UP.

Inspiring encounters

Some clients purely come to rent the location, others would like everything to be taken completely out of their hands or are looking for a partner for a co-creation. However, UP Events always likes to add a surprise. An unexpected element, which even the client doesn’t know anything about. They enjoy this. ‘Be Different is one of our core values,’ adds Sophie. ‘Often people are completely surprised when they come and visit our terrain. That positive feeling and that surprise, we want this to come back into each experience.’

‘I dare to put my money where my mouth is’, says Pim. ‘We all go for the full 100%. Which is a culture that we purposely reflect. We are continuesly asking ourselves: how can it become better, more efficient?’ How marvelously thought-out the activities of UP Events are, is noticeable in the amount requested activities by the corporate market, both inside and ouside of the Netherlands. ‘We start working more and more often with Event Managers, who we help with their eventstrategies and annual planning’, says Pim, ‘and due to the new collaboration with caterers and event stylists, we get the opportunity to put together a strong relationsevents. Amazing!’

Escape during your corporate festival!

It’s time to take a look at the corporate festival terrain. Through a door we walk into the second loods, where I directly find myself transported to another world. ‘Now we have to be careful that the door doesn’t close behind us’, laughs Sophie, ‘otherwise we’ll be locked up for the comming hour.’ Everything fits to the detail. You are completely emerged in an escape story. And I am jealous of the people who get to solve the escape room later today. ‘But you can never do this one anymore,’ laughs Pim, ‘luckily we have a couple more.’

After that, we go out – the umberellas are ready to be used – to Loods 7, perfect for plenary sessions and large groups. Surrounding it are cabins, which can be used to create a festival atmosphere. ‘During this summer, with the lights on the palmtrees, in the winter, with torches and Gluhwein’, tells Pim. A little ahead is a Winterlodge, foreseen of all necesities to keep a meeting, but also perfect to use for your own winter party with beer mug shuffleboarding or Nageln on cheerful après ski-music. In this summer, these Winterlodges each become the BeachclUPs, each of which has a 300m2 outer terrain.

Corporate festival: How to keep things simple?

Besides company events, corporate festival and teambuilding the amount of requests for business festivals with an relaxed character keep coming in at UP Events. ‘What is ideal about a company festival is the fact that guests can decide for themselves what they do on such a day. Participate in events, or go their own way and chill at the foodtrucks.’ A company festival is thus not only meant as a special day for employees, but is more and more often linked to a business related event, such ass a product launch or networking afternoon with important customers. ‘Due to the fact that people feel at home here quickly, it works perfectly. We are really proud to work here and to be a part of it all!’

If people never drown in the endless amount of possibilities, is a question that arises in me, but even this has been thought-out. Pim: ‘To keep it all clear, we have created packages. But this is actually mostly meant to keep a clear overview, we do always make sure to include a twist, a surprise in the experience, which makes people leave even happier than when they arrived.’ ‘And yes… it works!’