Background
North Sails is the world’s largest manufacturer of racing and cruising sails. The company has 63 major manufacturing lofts and 56 sales and service lofts located throughout 29 countries worldwide. In Europe alone, North Sails employs around 300 employees.

The management of the European division of North Sails wanted to invite all sales representatives from Europe and New Zealand to a 4-day sales meeting in order to discuss product development, potentials in the market, share good sales experience, and in general motivate and strengthen the relations between the different offices. A total of 95 sales reps and the European management participated in the sales meeting.

Solution
The North Sails management decided to conduct the meeting in November, and based on its mild winters, TCC proposed Istanbul in Turkey as an ideal destination. It was decided that the meeting be held from Sunday through Wednesday.

During the Sunday, the participants arrived by plane from their respective locations. Sunday evening offered a welcome reception and dinner at the hotel.

The entire Monday and Tuesday until noon were spent on meetings, workshops and breakout sessions. Tuesday after lunch, TCC had developed a teambuilding activity; a North Sails Istanbul Race.

The Istanbul Race took place in The Grand Bazaar (one of the largest covered markets in the world which houses more than 4,000 shops) and The Old City of Istanbul. Divided into teams, the employees had to solve different teambuilding tasks in the Grand Bazaar and the Old City and answer challenging questions along the way. Each team was named after a type of sail – Genoa, Main sail, Spinaker, etc. Turkish tradition and culture were integrated into The Istanbul Race, and the teambuilding tasks reflected some of the daily challenges and opportunities faced by the sales representatives.

In the evening, the group went for dinner at a traditional Turkish restaurant. After the dinner, Turkish belly dancers performed on stage, and later the winners of the North Sails Istanbul Race were awarded.

On Wednesday, the last day of the event, the meetings continued until 2 p.m. after which the participants left Istanbul for their respective locations.

TCC Tasks

In connection with North Sails’ European Sales Meeting, TCC developed, planned and executed the following:

• Development of the overall event concept in accordance with North Sails corporate strategy
• Development of event program
• Research and selection of destination
• Site visits to Istanbul
• Selection of hotel and meeting facilities in Istanbul
• Negotiation and contracting with hotel and meeting venue
• Selection of restaurants and locations for activities outside the hotel
• Continuous coordination with the hotel and development and updating of rooming lists
  All stage and A/V elements
• Transfers between venues
• Restaurants
• Coordination with Turkish entertainers
• Development and execution of the North Sails Istanbul Race teambuilding activity