Leave hotel07:15 — walk, 14 min
Badge99 Rue de Rivoli · ID + passport + QR
08:15Macron on the Master Stage
FocusFoundation track · keynotes
19:00AI Executive Salon · ROOF Madame Rêve ✅
Badge first, then work the Foundation track and the big keynotes. 9,000 attendees, ~80% C-level: the queues are part of the networking.
The day on the clock
06:45Breakfast; re-check the RAISE app for the doors/registration hour
07:15Leave the hotel — path: Hérold → Victoires → Croix des Petits-Champs → Rivoli 99
07:30Badge queue (ID + passport + QR) — the Swiss-delegation meeting point; last year registration opened 07:45
08:10Master Stage: welcome — then 08:15 special address by Emmanuel Macron, 08:20 Mark Cuban fireside. Presidential security: expect bag inspection — laptop bag is fine, just don't bring anything suitcase-sized
12:30Lunch inside the venue — corridor networking hour, don't leave
14:00Foundation track / 'Powering AI Cloud' sessions + expo competitive walk
18:30Leave the summit — 12-min walk up Rue du Louvre to Madame Rêve
19:00AI Executive Salon (Mirantis · IREN · NVIDIA), ROOF at Madame Rêve — confirmed, .pkpass in wallet
22:00Salon ends — 5-min walk home; late bite on Montorgueil if canapés weren't enough
▸ Map of the area
▸ Map of the day's route
Indicative route between the main stops · open the route in Google Maps ↗
▸ A little history
The Carrousel du Louvre is the underground exhibition complex built in 1993 beneath the Louvre's Carrousel garden, centered on the Inverted Pyramid — I.M. Pei's glass counterpart to his famous pyramid above. Air-conditioned and vast, it hosts Paris's biggest tech gatherings; the name comes from the Grand Carrousel equestrian pageant Louis XIV staged here in 1662.
What to see
Hours and prices are indicative: check official websites before going.
Badge pickup — where, when, and the morning path ·
Maps ↗ ·
Street View ↗Bring photo ID + the ticket QR from the RAISE Week app (offline screenshot). Badge goes on the right side; make the queue the Swiss-delegation meeting point.
WhereSummit entrance, Carrousel du Louvre: street stairs at 99 Rue de Rivoli, or underground via the Palais Royal–Musée du Louvre métro (lines 1/7) through the Carrousel galleries — use that one if it rains or bakes.
When✅ Venue pickup Wednesday morning (event bot, 5 Jul). Agenda published 6 Jul: Master Stage opens 08:10 and Macron speaks at 08:15 — so doors open well before; the exact registration hour is still unpublished (last year: 07:45) — re-check the app/bot Tuesday evening. Plan: leave the hotel 07:15, at the entrance 07:30, ~30–40 min for badge + presidential-level security (9,000 people arriving). Carry the passport. Laptop bag is normal conference kit — expect it to be opened/X-rayed, and pack it clean; no official bag policy is published, and last year there was a free cloakroom near the entrance.
Hours · priceHours: RAISE app · badge on the right · support@raisesummit.com
Foundation track & 'Powering AI Cloud' — the Dell lensYour home turf: sovereign cloud, trusted infrastructure, the energy–compute nexus. Speakers to hunt in the app: Amin Vahdat (Google, AI infra), Mark Papermaster (AMD CTO), Charlie Kawwas (Broadcom), Pat Gelsinger, Sachin Katti (OpenAI industrial compute), and NVIDIA EMEA's 'AI 5-Layer Cake' session on scaling energy, infrastructure and intelligence.
Getting thereInside the venue — track rooms signposted; build your schedule in the RAISE app the night before.
Hours · priceSession times unpublished at build time — re-check the app each morning
Keynote hall — the big namesEric Schmidt, Yann LeCun, Mark Cuban and Sebastian Kurz are confirmed; Emmanuel Macron is announced to address the summit (slot unconfirmed — expect security lines that day, arrive earlier than usual). Pick two or three; leave gaps for corridor conversations, which is where the actual value is.
Getting thereMain stage — arrive 15 min early for front sections.
Hours · priceSlots in the RAISE app
AI Executive Salon — the evening, confirmed ✅ ·
Maps ↗19:00–22:00 on the rooftop of Madame Rêve (43 Rue Étienne Marcel): cocktails and a curated group of AI compute & infrastructure leaders, hosted by Mirantis, IREN and NVIDIA — no panels, no pitches, pure high-signal networking squarely on your Dell lens. Your spot is approved; the .pkpass ticket is in the wallet. It's a 12-minute walk from the summit and 5 from your hotel — the geometry could not be better. Check whether Gilles got in too.
Hours · priceWed 19:00–22:00 · confirmed via Luma · ticket in wallet (.pkpass)
Expo floor — competitive walkA deliberate lap of the storage/compute/datacenter ecosystem: NetApp (George Kurian speaking), DDN, Weka, Vertiv, Cerebras all have leadership on site. Note what they lead with, what customers they parade, and what's conspicuously absent — Dell isn't listed as a 2026 sponsor, which makes the intel run more useful, not less. RAISE the STAKES startup pitches run on the floor too — good for spotting who's building on whose infrastructure.
Getting thereExpo floor, both summit days.
Hours · priceIncluded in the ticket
Getting around the areaWalk to the venue — 12–15 minutes and faster than any vehicle around the Louvre's one-way maze. The venue is underground and air-conditioned; whatever the heat outside, inside is fine. Comfortable shoes: the halls are huge and you'll do 15,000 steps without noticing.
Where to eat
- Le Grand Véfour ↗Palais-Royal arcades · the statement dinner if you're hosting: 1784 grand-siècle room, two minutes off your walking route. Book today. Indicative rating 4.4.
- Marché Saint-Honoré square ↗5 min from the venue · a square ringed with polished bistros — the flexible option for a delegation dinner of uncertain size.
- Le Fumoir ↗Facing the Louvre colonnade · the client-drinks institution; ideal for a post-summit aperitif before dinner. Indicative rating 4.2.
- Venue lunch ↗Eat inside — leaving at lunch costs you the best corridor-networking hour. Grab early or late to skip peak queues.
Networking playbookGoal for today: quality over quantity — ten real conversations beat fifty scans. Lead with the Swiss angle (delegation, Geneva, CERN-scale infrastructure stories travel well). Log every warm contact in your CRM/notes the same evening with one follow-up line; by Friday you won't remember who was who.
Getting there: On foot both ways. Evening surge pricing hits Uber around the venue at 18–19h — another reason to walk.
▸ Options and variations for the day
If Macron speaks todaySecurity will tighten the entrance — add 30 min to the morning arrival and carry the passport, not just a copy.
If the CxO Summit invite landsIt's Wednesday, invitation-only: ask the Swiss delegation early morning whether they hold seats.
Evening is setThe AI Executive Salon (19:00, confirmed) replaces the dinner question. If the delegation plans a dinner, it now needs to be a late one (~22:15, Montorgueil zone) or Thursday's.
If Solidigm approvesThe Solidigm Executive Exchange (18:00–21:00, venue TBD) overlaps the Salon — decide when the venue lands: storage focus says Solidigm first hour, rooftop by 20:00, if the geography allows.
If the Salon disappointsExit gracefully at 20:30 — Le Fumoir and the Palais-Royal bistros are minutes away and serve until late.
