Cannes

Cannes spends most of the year as a handsome stretch of the Bay, the Croisette curving past the old grand hotels, Cap d'Antibes holding the western end of the view. Then, for a few weeks, it becomes the room. The Film festival in May, Lions in June, MIPIM in spring; each empties an entire industry out of its offices and pours it onto the same seafront, where the table you got matters more than the screen ever does. The conference centre is where the schedule lives, but the deals live somewhere quieter.

We fly here because the real business in Cannes is never done in the conference centre, it's done over a long lunch with the Bay behind you. A weekend timed to the right festival puts the people you've chased all year on the same kilometre of pavement. The room assembles itself a few times a season; the only question is whether you're in it.