Recently my colleague and I attended a two day sports & leisure forum at Stanstead Airport. A venture into the unknown for both of us, but one that was to prove worthwhile.

The day started off very pleasantly with danish pastries and hot coffee, to help kick start the day.

The day consisted of ten pre arranged 25 minute meetings, a form of speed networking for want of a better word. The five minute breaks in-between being filled with emails and calls, keeping the well oiled wheels of industry rolling.

After an exhausting day of pitching, it was time to relax, and debrief the day over a well earned pint of Peroni. As we sat there pondering over the days events, our eyes were drawn to the rather large glass tower, which appeared to be a wine bottle holder. Further investigation was needed over a second pint, and with the help of our friends at Google, it transpired that it was a 13m glass tower, capable of holding over 4000 bottles of grape juice. The question then dawned on us……How do they retrieve the bottles?

Well after a quick freshen up and change into our evening attire, we made our way back to the bar, and our answer appeared before us like magic. There, suspended by wire, was the arial acrobat whose job it was to retrieve these bottles as they were ordered. Putting on a show at regular intervals, she span and twirled her way to the top of the tower and back down again with wine bottle in hand.

A truly spectacular event for an ever changing, airport hotel lobby, and one that truly answered all of our earlier questions.

The evening continued with another networking opportunity over dinner, and then it was onto the casino that had been set up for our entertainment. Whilst no money exchanged hands, the competitive spirit within, held me at the roulette table until the last few minutes, where in a desperate attempt to win, all in onto black, was unfortunately the wrong call. This signalled the end to a fun filled evening, and time to retire ready for tomorrows busy schedule.

The following day started well, with a large buffet breakfast providing the fuel for the schedule ahead. A further eight meetings lay in front of us, with a short break for lunch and the event was complete.

A great couple of days of networking, and some potential new customers to aid the companies continued growth.

And of course, most importantly, the answer to how you retrieve bottles of wine up a 13m glass tower