A brief report of the ReloAdvisor business event in Amsterdam, by Steve Jordan.
The ReloAdvisor business event took place in Amsterdam in early February. As far as I could tell all 120+ delegates had a thoroughly good time.
The event is run by Marco Maruccia and his team. The idea came from a group of friends who, towards the end of 2021, when COVID fatigue was at its height, decided to hold a get-together to rekindle friendships that had been stifled during extended lockdowns. This year, the format was similar, but there were around double the number of attendees, once again confident of international travel now normality has returned.
The venue was the Park Inn by Radisson, close by one of the city’s main railway stations, itself just 10 min (two stops) from Schiphol airport. It could hardly have been more convenient for travellers. The hotel was modern, airy, comfortable and worked very well for a meeting of that size. The meeting room was vast; the lifts were never stretched, even at dinner or check-out time; and the bar was well staffed and stocked so nobody had to wait long for liquid refreshment. The food served in the hotel, especially at the gala dinner on the last evening, was exceptionally good, at least to my taste.
After welcoming everyone, introducing his own team and presiding over the ubiquitous roll call, Marco introduced each of the sponsors to present an undisguised sales pitch for their companies. That seemed fair enough as they had each supported the event and were entitled to at least have their moment in the spotlight. Presenters over the two days included: Thomas Juchum from EUROMOVERS; Robbie Lightfoot from Currencies Direct; Guillaume Rochman from Sofrapack; Marc van Haaften from Reedge; Raymond Veenman from Know How Containers; Denis Zonneveld from Roldo Rent; Gadi Binness from Relocation Insurance; Vedren Gazic from PetAir; and Jimmy Bruzzese from the Swiss Moving Company. Jimmy alerted everyone to a little-acknowledged fact that many companies could be breaking the law and risking significant fines for themselves and their employees by not making the appropriate declarations, or employing a Swiss destination agent, when delivering to or collecting from Switzerland.
Jimmy also announced the formation of a (new) Bald Eagles group, of follicly-challenged men from the industry to work together on charitable projects.
In a somewhat different style of presentation, Jesse van Sas from FIDI, rather than extolling the virtues of his organisation, chose to spend his time asking delegates to think more widely about the future ...
Photo: Delegates at the ReloAdvisor business event.
