Currently celebrating its 40th anniversary, Montréal’s convention centre always keeps things fresh. The high tech, colourful kaleidoscope of a building is the beating heart of the downtown core, and a symbol of Montréal’s endless innovation. The latest: an immersive experience that engages the power of science to make visitors feel (or, specifically, smell) their memories.
Déjà Vu, but never before seen
Stimulation Déjà Vu is a Montréal startup that will grab you by the nose. Part of the always-innovative MT Lab network, Stimulation Déjà Vu actively links aroma with emotions and places. In this experience, located in the main hall right of the Palais des congrès de Montréal, right by the forest of large pink trees (Lipstick Forest, to those in the know), they aim to stimulate visitors’ sensory cues to engage their memories and make them virtually travel through time and place. Not bad, for a quick break between conference sessions!
Engaging the science of the senses
The unique approach of Stimulation Déjà Vu engages the senses, neuroscience and sensations to create new emotions. Through a multisensorial immersion focused on smell, the project invites visitors to travel without moving, experiencing the same joy and emotional impact that discovering different cultures, architectures and landscapes can have.
To travel is to open one’s senses to new experiences; this project seeks to inspire that same feeling of openness, curiosity and receptivity by tapping into visitors’ memories — their own personal unforgettable moments — as well as introducing them to the places they might be dreaming of going next. Featured in Fortune, the Stimulation Déjà Vu creation process is unique to the market and involves neuroscientists, marketing experts, creatives, perfumers and chemists.
The whole of Montréal in mere minutes
Open five days a week from 10 am to 5 pm, the new Stimulation Déjà Vu installation is located in the Creative Lab at the Palais and accessible by all. The experience is designed to be self-guided, leading the visitor through a trajectory (including a spiral staircase, emblematic of Montréal’s residential architecture) that represents various Montréal neighbourhoods in five distinct olfactive moments.
Whether it’s a winter walk through the Plateau Mont-Royal neighbourhood or an Old Montréal bike ride in the summer, visitors can “experience” the whole of Montréal without ever leaving the convention centre.
At the end, a Creative Lounge is available for delegates to chill and chat or meet colleagues for some networking.
Innovation rules at Montréal’s convention centre
Montréal’s high-tech, LEED-certified convention centre (the first in Canada) was the logical place to start. The Palais des congrès makes it a point to keep its spaces alive with revolutionary art installations like OASIS Immersion and transportive breakout spaces for all convention delegates to get the most out of their experience in Montréal. Among its innovations, the Palais’s rooftop is home to an Urban Agriculture Lab, which includes a large event space, an urban garden and two honey hives that house 50,000 nectar-producing bees. No wonder this place is abuzz!
Read this next: Discover the new side of Old Montréal
