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05/2018

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HBAA welcomes Jenner Carter as new Marketing Chair

Thursday, 31 May, 2018 - 15:51

Leading hospitality, venue, meetings and agency association HBAA has announced Jenner Carter as its new Marketing Chair.

Jenner combines her new appointment with her existing role as Head of Marketing for Lime Venue Portfolio, where she oversees the development and implementation of marketing strategies for the largest collection of unusual, sporting and cultural venues in the UK & Ireland. Before joining Lime Venue Portfolio, Jenner held the position of group marketing manager for the NEC Group.

Jenner joins the association as it prepares for its renowned Annual Forum on 19 July at the Crowne Plaza Stratford Upon Avon.

Commenting on her appointment Jenner says: “We have a great reputation for sales and marketing excellence at Lime Venue Portfolio, and really strong relationships with the agency community. So, not only is It a real honour to take on this post, it’s a great chance for us to give something back to the industry through one of its leading associations.”

Louise Goalen, HBAA Chair, says: “Jenner is already proving to be an invaluable member of the Executive Committee. ‘Building on Success’ is theme for 2018 and Jenner’s wealth of industry expertise and unique marketing insight will ensure the HBAA continues to go from strength to strength.”

For more information, please see www.hbaa.org.uk

 

The Meetings Show celebrates the Year of the Woman

Thursday, 31 May, 2018 - 14:40

The Meetings Show will be celebrating the Year of the Woman next month, with a focus on the role women play in the meetings and events industry high on the agenda of its education programme.

Women in Hospitality 2020 (WiH2020) will be using The Meetings Show, which takes place on Wednesday 27 and Thursday 28 June, to launch the new Diversity in Hospitality, Travel & Leisure Charter.

The Charter has been developed based on the findings of a review conducted by WiH2020 in partnership with PwC, Korn Ferry and Oxford Brookes University, looking at how diverse the industry really is.

The findings will be presented by chair of WiH2020, Tea Colaianni, at the session which takes place at 11.10am on Wednesday 27 June. Companies are being encouraged to sign up to the Charter as a sign of commitment to promoting diversity across the industry.

Later in the day, a session titled ‘Celebrating the Year of the Woman’ will take place, with a panel debate hosted by Dr Kate Dashper from Leeds Beckett University at 1.50pm.

Dr Kate Dashper said: “The Meetings Show has long been a supporter of the importance of emphasising women's roles in the meetings and events industry, which is very female dominated in numerical terms, if not in leadership, and so the Year of the Woman is a great opportunity to really celebrate all the fantastic women we have in the industry. It helps us shine a spotlight on female achievement and creativity and showcase the meetings and events industry as a great area for women to forge successful careers.

“This session will be an open and frank discussion of some of the opportunities and challenges women can face in their careers, providing attendees with insight into how different people manage and experience their roles. The session is not just for women, as everyone can learn from insights into career development, and gender inequality is an issue for all of us to tackle to ensure the industry is a leading sector for everyone to work within.”

David Chapple, group event director of The Meetings Show, said: “This will be the fifth year that The Meetings Show has run a dedicated education session focusing on women in the industry, and recent revelations about gender pay gaps along with the #MeToo movement make it more topical than ever. While women may be better represented in the events industry than in other sectors, there is still a way to go, and we hope that by tackling the topic in our education programme it will ensure it remains a priority.” 

The Meetings Show is the UK’s biggest dedicated event for meeting planners and returns to London Olympia on 27 and 28 June. For the full programme of educational sessions and to register to attend visit www.themeetingsshow.com/.

EEF Venues Launches The Executive Suite at Woodland Grange

Thursday, 31 May, 2018 - 14:10

EEF Venue, Woodland Grange, has launched the Executive Suite, a new conference and meeting facility within he the Leamington Spa based venue. The Executive Suite, follows the further investment through the group’s ‘Engine Room’ fund, and will extend the meeting and events space at Woodland Grange.

The new suite can be hired on an exclusive use basis for smaller meetings and training, or as individual, premium board level or creative meeting spaces. The six new rooms also have their own breakout lounge and coffee area, all in keeping with the high-quality finish found throughout Woodland Grange.

“This is a really important addition to the existing meetings and events offering at Woodland Grange; it gives us a series of incredibly high spec meeting rooms, as well as an exclusive suite for clients looking for a self-contained space,” commented John Turpin, Venue Manager, Woodland Grange. “We’re really pleased with the quality of design and AV in each of the room; these are the things our customers expect us to get right, and I know they’re going to be delighted with the new area.”

From a design perspective, the Executive Suite stays loyal to Woodland Grange’s high standards of design and technical capability; creating a space that marries the venue’s historic exposed stone and stunning bay windows, with a contemporary design, and the installation of 82”, 4K ready, high definition screens in each of the rooms.

“As a business, we’re aware that standing still is going backwards, and we’re committed to creating new spaces, all with the same high quality of finish that our customers expect,” commented David Vaughton, Managing Director, EEF Venues. “The Engine Room is a fund that we’ve put aside to show our commitment to our customers, and the investments are already paying off across the group.”

The Executive Suite at Woodland Grange is available for hire from 1st June 18.

 

The Park Royal is awarded ‘Best Venue Customer Service’ at the National Venue Awards 2018

Wednesday, 30 May, 2018 - 10:43

The Park Royal in Warrington has been awarded the ‘Best Venue Customer Service’ award at the National Venue Awards 2018 after a panel of industry experts recognised the hotel’s commitment to customer satisfaction.

The National Venue Awards ceremony is a celebration of the diversity and versatility displayed by the UK venues sector. The Park Royal faced competition from 4 other notable venues on the day but were victorious in securing the prestigious award.

The Park Royal Hotel, leisure and spa based in Warrington, features 146 bedrooms, a state-of-the-art spa and on-site leisure facilities, making it a popular choice for guests looking for short breaks or special getaways.

Annie Brown General Manager of The Park Royal said: “the National Venue Awards Best Venue Customer Service award is based on recognising excellence and rewarding exceptional quality provided to customers.

“It’s wonderful recognition for the team here, who work incredibly hard to exceed our customers’ expectations and offer a truly memorable experience each and every time. The award speaks volumes about the high standards that underpin everything we do.”

The 2018 result demonstrates The Park Royal’s commitment to raising and maintaining high standards and ensuring customer satisfaction for every guest.  

Worcester based travel agent joins Jerry Springer at Miami conference

Wednesday, 30 May, 2018 - 09:33

The MD of Worcester based travel agency, arrangeMY escape, joined forces with former American television presenter, Jerry Springer, at ‘The Next Chapter…Miami Advice’ conference recently.

Nick Scott jetted off to the Sunshine State to be a guest speaker at The Advantage Travel Partnership’s conference alongside the former talk show host, leading attendees through ‘his story’ of how he worked his way up through the ranks to become MD of the arrangeMY group in 2008.

Discussions focused around how people got into the sector and if they had mentors along the way, with Nick’s life lesson for budding travel experts being, “Don’t sweat about the small stuff, it’s never as bad as you think.”

Nick Scott, arrangeMY managing director, commented: “It was an honour to join esteemed experts in the leisure and business sectors and share our knowledge of an industry that we live and breathe.

“It’s important for businesses to be continuously adapting the way that they operate and engage with customers. It’s our job as leaders to share best practice and communicate effectively with each other in order to benefit the travel industry as a whole.”

Organised by Advantage Travel Partnership, the conference sessions focused on the importance of maintaining and growing personal development, customer engagement and experience and how the ability to communicate effectively helps build the foundations of a successful business.

arrangeMY escape is a family owned, independent retail travel agent. A team of experienced travel experts are on hand to offer a worldwide, bespoke luxury travel service.

The arrangeMY group has been trading since 1990 and has grown to be one of the most respected independent business and leisure travel agents in the UK. The company, which employs in excess of 60 members of staff at its head office in Worcester, offers a range of services including Travel, Accommodation, Venue Finding and Event Management.

For further information visit www.arrangemyescape.com or call 01905 675015.

Wyboston Lakes Resort announces partnership with Paddy & Scott’s

Wednesday, 30 May, 2018 - 09:26

Leading hospitality, leisure and conference venue Wyboston Lakes Resort is announcing a five-year contract with coffee supplier Paddy & Scott’s to provide an award winning craft coffee experience across its spa, restaurants, events spaces and bedrooms.

As part of the multi-year agreement to provide all coffee, machinery and branding, Paddy & Scott’s have been commissioned to design and build a conference coffee house, or fuelling station, as part of the refurbishment project at the newly renamed Woodlands Event Centre and at various other coffee points across the Resort.

An initial capital investment of £150k in the fuelling station, machines and other fixtures and fittings is being financed by Wyboston Lakes Resort, ensuring delegates will be fully energised throughout the day. In addition to serving high street, craft quality coffee, the fuelling station will offer a wide range of crafted drinks and snacks, all included in the daily delegate rate.

The partnership will also provide ongoing operational support and specialist training to Wyboston Lakes Resort team members, enabling them to become fully SCA Barista certified, engage with the coffee farm in Kenya and enjoy barista competitions to drive standards.

This facility is set to open in early September 2018 at the same time as the newly created 300 capacity Rosewood Suite at The Woodlands Event Centre.

Commenting on the announcement, Steve Jones, Operations Director at Wyboston Lakes Resort, says:

“Paddy & Scott’s ethical approach to business, such as having their own coffee farm in the shade of the eastern side of Mount Kenya in northern Nairobi, allows them to support their local community and aligns perfectly with our own values as a proudly independent venue that provides great value, service and hospitality to our clients. We don’t just pay lip service to corporate social responsibilities, but we live and breathe these throughout all aspects of our business”

Jon Reed, Brand Director at Paddy & Scott’s had this to say “So much can be achieved from a humble cup of coffee and we’re incredibly proud that Wyboston Lakes shares our vision to fuel ambition for its guests and delegates. It’s great to have a partnership that is focused on raising the bar and rewriting the rule book when it comes to conference coffee!”

This latest announcement comes at an exciting time for Wyboston Lakes Resort, with work underway on the first phase of a complete refurbishment of its conference and meetings spaces. Over £3m of investment will add inspirational meeting areas designed with creative flare and equipped with top of the range technology; £0.5m is being invested specifically in the IT network.

The Rosewood Suite at The Woodlands Event Centre will be capable of hosting over 300 delegates and comes fully equipped with cutting-edge technology. Training suites will benefit from a comprehensive redesign, providing greater inspiration and innovation for conference guests.

For more information, please visit www.wybostonlakes.co.uk

Holywell Park sees £150k refurb of interior – including AV upgrade

Wednesday, 30 May, 2018 - 09:24

Holywell Park has completed its £150k second phase of refurbishment, which includes a major upgrade to its AV offering. This is part of a wider overhaul of its ground floor event spaces and follows last year’s improvements to all eight of its first-floor meeting rooms and breakout spaces.  The initial changes have already helped achieve significant business growth with a 71% increase in enquiries recorded during the first quarter of 2018.

Significant investment has gone into Holywell Park’s AV, including new 8,000-lumen projectors, state-of-the-art microphones and repeater screens. The changes to the public spaces concentrate on improving flow and making the venue as efficient as possible. Alongside refurbishments to the reception area and modernised décor, pod areas and portable coffee stations have been introduced to add further flexibility.

Imago Venues’ Head of Venues, Keith Barber, comments: “The refurbishments at Holywell Park have been implemented to create the optimum meeting and event environment with the highest possible standard of facilities and infrastructure. We love that Holywell Park offers space and flexibility and recently has become increasingly popular with event organisers looking for an exclusive use venue.”

Holywell Park offers a large exhibition area, nine versatile meeting rooms and a well-equipped lecture theatre which can seat up to 200 delegates. It also benefits from spacious break out areas, one of the fastest free Wi-Fi networks of any conference centre in the UK and ample free parking.

This latest investment has taking place alongside the multimillion-pound first phase upgrade to sister venue, Burleigh Court, which is seeing all 186 bedrooms modernised. Imago Venues also have plans to upgrade the conference and meeting facilities in Burleigh Court in the near future.

Imago Venues brings together Loughborough University’s conference and events venues under one brand.  They provide high quality meeting spaces, venues and accommodation along with world leading sports and leisure facilities.

For more information visit www.welcometoimago.com or call 01509 633030.

Crystal Interactive and klik form strategic partnership

Thursday, 24 May, 2018 - 14:50

Crystal Interactive, the UK’s largest full-service event technology company, has signed a strategic partnership with Montreal based smart wearables company klik.  The relationship gives Crystal Interactive the exclusive right to sell and deploy klik in the UK and to support clients with Crystal’s renowned full-service package at events in the UK and overseas. 

klik, an event engagement platform powered by PixMob, is paired with smart LED wearables to transform event experiences for attendees, while providing event owners with powerful data collection and location intelligence capabilities to help them better understand their events and their audience. 

Chris Elmitt, Managing Director at Crystal Interactive said, “We are extremely excited to bring klik to UK event organisers for the first time.  We have been actively looking for new technology partnerships for the last 12 months but none of us expected to find something as transformative for live events as klik.  As importantly as adding a technology solution which really resonates with our client base, in klik we have found a team whose commitment to innovation and service excellence mirrors our own.”

The all-in-one solution enables event organisers to better plan, engage and measure their events through registration, event programming, networking, location services, onsite staff management, and comprehensive live data and analytics.  The wearable devices allow for truer attendee interaction and networking using state-of-the-art technology for more face to face, and less face to phone, whilst at the same time gathering useful ROI data without impacting on the attendee’s experience.

Adekambi Laleye, Key Accounts at klik said, “We are delighted to be working with Crystal Interactive in the UK.  The team shares our passion for creating memorable experiences for attendees and their strong focus on service replicates our own high standards of delivery.”

Since its acquisition of IML Interactive UK last year Crystal has continued to strengthen its position as the UK’s leading full-service event technology company, building partnerships with carefully selected third parties including Slido, QuickMobile, Meetoo and now klik, developing its own powerful collaboration tools and growing its team of Event Technology Specialists who deliver events across the globe.    

To find out more about Crystal’s partnership with klik and the company’s best in class technologies please visit the Crystal Interactive stand at The Meetings Show, London Olympia on Wednesday 27th and Thursday 28th June, stand TS18. 

For further information on klik and how it can realise the power of your audiences please contact Rob Curtis, Head of Innovation at Crystal Interactive on telephone +44 1483 927 900 or email rob.curtis@crystalinteractive.net

First Sky Rocket Swing arrives in Britain as Ride Leisure at Wyboston Lakes Resort expands outdoor corporate activities

Wednesday, 23 May, 2018 - 13:01

Britain’s first sky rocket (a 7m swing) is being installed at Ride Leisure at Wyboston Lakes Resort.

It is just one of many new additions as Ride Leisure substantially expands the already vast choice of outdoor activities and team building events available at Wyboston Lakes Resort to corporate groups.

The aqua park, successfully launched last year, has doubled in size and now features the first Aqua Arena in the UK, which is perfect for public aqua park sessions and unique corporate team games such as volley ball, dodgeball and football.

Also new on the water this year are the exhilarating jet boat experiences, F1 powerboats and the F4 powerboat challenge on the Resorts vast lakes, in addition to the thrill of being a hovercraft pilot, riding a jet ski, or wakeboarding/water-skiing.

On land, the choice now includes luxury Land Rover 4 x 4 driving experiences, blind driving and digger driving and It’s A Knockout as well as the chance to take to the skies with a jet pack. For those who prefer a less energetic and adrenaline filled experience, there’s now open-air cinema.

Ride Leisure continues to push the boundaries of experiential activities, offering a comprehensive single and multi-day programmes, catering from individuals to large corporate groups.

Campfire meetings

Thrilling corporate team building events are not the only outdoor experiences that the Wyboston Lakes Resort has to offer. Campfire Meetings, out in Wyboston Lakes’ 380 acres of countryside, are a great way to bring the team together to develop ideas, to listen, converse and debate in a relaxed environment.

The Campfire Meeting package includes everything that is needed whatever the weather, from a tent, table, chairs, blankets, burners and windbreaks to campfires, wood and all essential facilities. It comes with an enhanced BBQ lunch, including beer/wine/soft drinks and dedicated conference porter stationed at the campsite all day with radio backup. Guest are also provided with a fall-back option of indoor space should the weather become unsuitable. 

Wyboston Lakes Director of Marketing, Louisa Watson says “The choice of outdoor activities here is vast – there are team building and outdoor meeting ideas to suit every taste, interest and objective.”

For more information, please visit www.wybostonlakes.co.uk

 

Meetings industry underprepared for terrorist attacks

Tuesday, 22 May, 2018 - 13:07

The meetings and events industry is underprepared for potential terrorist attacks, says a former Detective Chief Inspector at New Scotland Yard.

Steve Gaskin, now a director at Right Angle Events, is warning that meetings and events professionals are too ambivalent to terrorism and are not doing enough to minimise the risks.

Speaking about attitudes towards terrorism within the industry, Gaskin said: “I have attended two major national and international events within the past three months. On both instances, I was not challenged by security, or I was able to penetrate a building using a fire exit.

“Most event professionals are not even able to describe an invacuation – which is to confine people inside a building when there is a dangerous situation taking place. Yet, schools often will have a lock-down or invacuation policy, so the industry is really lagging behind and training activities need to be raised.”

The dangers of European terrorism and how risks can be minimised will be on the agenda at The Meetings Show, with Gaskin leading a seminar at 12.30pm on Wednesday 27 June.

The session will include an audit of European terrorism, an outline of what security measures can be put in place, what action should be taken during an attack, and a unique insight into how specialist terrorism police units will respond.

David Chapple, group event director of The Meetings Show, said: “Security is of paramount importance at any meeting or event, and should never be an afterthought. The education session presented by Steve Gaskin will show attendees how taking a few simple steps can minimise the risk and ensure both event organisers and venue teams are implementing best practice when it comes to safety.”

For more information about The Meetings Show’s education programme including a full line-up of speakers, and to register to attend, visit www.themeetingsshow.com.

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