«The White Sun of the Desert»: corporate buyers tested their knowledge of Abu Dhabi in a business game

ABT-ACTE Russia invited corporate buyers to an interactive breakfast with Abu Dhabi. The event was held in Moscow restaurant La Scarpetta on April 28. The participants learned secrets of business communication, took part in an interesting intellectual quiz and got valuable prices.

An open buffet with a wide choice of refreshments facilitated communication and acquaintance. «It is very easy to start a dialogue about food. Catering is one of tools at business events to start a dialogue», stressed Gil Petersil, cofounder and partnership director of MeetPartners and the leading expert in business communication in Russia and the CIS.

In his speech Mr Petersil revealed other secrets of business communication to the participants. For example, the speaker does not recommend attacking your conversation partner with business questions from the first seconds of your talk. Besides, it is very important to follow a certain procedure when you meet someone. «You should shake hands first, talk a little and only then hand in your card. The partner must be willing to get it», the expert said.

As Mr Petersil noted, business etiquette rules do not always let you make a new acquaintance: «If two persons are talking, it is considered private communication. You should not intrude into it. But if three or more unfamiliar people are talking, it is quite admissible to come up to them, to listen for a while and join the talk on a positive note».

Then the most exiting part of the event began. The presenter of «60 Seconds» intellectual club offered the participants to hold «Brain Ring with Abu Dhabi» and divided them into four teams. By the way, the participants could get ready to the event beforehand: a list of recommended resources was published on ABT-ACTE Russia website. Thus, during the «warm-up» section the participants recalled that Al Ain region that is part of Abu Dhabi emirate is included into UNESCO World Heritage List, Nicole Kidman became the brand ambassador of Etihad Airways in its latest advertisement campaign (one of the sponsors of the event), and that you can now play polo on camels in Abu Dhabi.

The intellectual combat that lasted for an hour and a half was also similar to the well-known TV program «Svoya Igra» — the section «Questions for 10, 20, ..., 50» made the most part of the competition. The presenter tried to embarrass the participants with wordings, but the guests managed to cope even with difficult tasks. For example, the following question awoke vivid reaction of the audience: «One of THEM called Tel-Moril in Abu Dhabi emirate is the highest in the world and is 300 metres in height. Another one of THEM appeared in 1987 in a city near Moscow and is still functioning. Name IT». The right answer was the word «dune»: in the first case in its direct meaning, and in the second it was a well-known musical group.

Due attention was paid to sport events that are held in Abu Dhabi: catchy questions were devoted to the final stage of Formula-1 race, the stage of round-the-world sailing regatta Volvo Ocean Race and the annual tennis tournament Mubadala World Tennis Championship that world No.1 in tennis Novak Djokovic has won for three times already.

The participants were really exited and competed in earnest, because prizes were quite serious. Elena Kuzieva from Rosoboronexport won a silver loyalty card of Etihad Airways. Olga Gorbunova from UTS Group won a voucher for a three days’ stay in Kempinski hotel in a room overlooking the Presidential palace in Abu Dhabi. Vladislav Dmitriev from Jet Infosystems and Vyacheslav Markin from Renaissance Life got vouchers for a 3 days’ stay in St. Regis Abu Dhabi from Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide and a also brunch for 2 persons there.