What's Floating Around Cloud 9? 27th Feb

Week Commencing 27th Feb...

Fresh remains very much a big part of this week as its the PR Awards on Thursday at the Deansgate Hilton.

We have a great number of nominated companies this year so we are looking at a record attendance despite these times of austerity. 

We will be tweeting all of the results live from the event from 7pm on Thursday so if you want to know who has won what, please make sure you follow @freshawards. We will even let you know if the Chicken Pie & Mash on the menu is any good!

Planning is now well underway for the CIPR Northern Conference which this year, will take place on Wednesday 4th July at the Northern Ballet Theatre in Leeds. Its a fabulous building, still relatively new, and for the lunch time period, we have secured the boardroom and balcony which has great views across the city. All we need now is good weather!

The speaker line-up is also starting to take place and as well as three impressive key note speakers, all delegates can select three workshops to attend from a choice of six. Last years prices have been held so this will be incredible value and a real chance to make sure "You are Fit for the Future".

Once the full line up is confirmed we will announce the details but please get the date in you diary now as you will not want to miss this event.

One event that is definitely taking shape is our Royal Ascot Ladies Day comes to Nottingham! If you ladies like a little shopping then you will be pleased to know that we already have over 20 different stall holders booked for the day. Jewellery, handbags, signs, cards, you name it, we have it so it will be a great excuse to do a bit of bargain hunting in great surroundings!

Tickets are available for this great event, along with full details via http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2556510592

It's a leap year so we have an extra day this week to enjoy and whilst I don't think any of the team are planning to pop the question, it did make us wonder if any celebs had birthdays on the 29th Feb. Sadly we couldn't find one, well no one we had heard of anyway, so that was the end of that. But seeing as we are on the subject of Birthdays, we do have to say a Happy Birthday to John. Not officially a member of the team, but Paula's Dad and Carol's Husband, and the one who ends up lugging stuff to the post office for us, changing the bulbs in the office and generally doing all of the DIY jobs that elude the team (well we don't want to break a nail!). So Happy Birthday John! Have a good one!

Have a great week folks!

What's Floating Around Cloud? 20th Feb

Week Commencing 20th February 2012....

We are still very much in Fresh mode at Cloud 9 Towers this week as its a little under a fortnight before the fourth annual Fresh PR Awards, set for 1st March at the Deansgate Hilton in Manchester. However, that doesn't mean we are not busy with lots of other things including gearing up for the CIPR Northern Conference in July, and busy sorting the Ascot Ladies Day event set for June.


Plus with Venue Finding and the launch of the Dazzling Table Displays taking longer than we though, there doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day!

One of the main issues with juggling is time management and we had an agreement in the office that each week we would dedicate an hour to a topic where we all could do with either a refresher course, or simply go back to basics. For some of the junior members of the team this is a great chance to take a look at subject matter that they perhaps wouldn't normally cover, and it also gives Paula the chance to get out some of her old training notes from days gone by - T Bailey Forman were pretty hot at training don't you know, back in the day!

Unfortunately these days, its more advantageous to know what S.E.O. stands for than D.P.S. (and if you don't know these terms you probably shouldn't be reading this anyway) but even we have been surprised by some of the terms, and it goes to show that you never stop learning! We always thought a Zombie was something that appeared in horror films, but hey, who knew?!

Anyway, it turns out that the one course we could all do with in the office is one on Time Management as only 7 weeks into the year, and we are already behind on 3 weeks worth of hourly sessions on training. So, the next time we get time, its all going to be about time...now where did we leave those notes?!

Staying slightly on the subject of learning, Shannon has started taking driving lessons which are not only horrifically expensive these days, but also require a degree in the Highway Code.   http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/LearnerAndNewDrivers/TheoryTest/DG_4022536

 In order to help a little we have been having a bash at the online test but its fair to say that the only ten and two we now recognise, is its time for another cuppa! And we never did know what half of the road signs were either! Both Paula and Kelly have written off cars so maybe we shouldn't be imparting any knowledge or suggestions to Shannon in order for her to stand a chance!

Birthday season is also upon us shortly and whilst we have all only just finished (ahem!) paying for Christmas, so far we have had well over 14 different collective birthdays to cover between us in the office - boyfriends, friends, sisters, best pals, you name it! And its only going to get worse as this year we seem to be celebrating lots of milestone birthdays. The Queen might be celebrating her jubilee but two close friends are also going to 50 this year and both are doing it in some style.

The first has a Vintage Style Tea Party planned for around 30 ladies and she will no doubt be using much of her own fabulous stock as she runs a successful tea party business in Manchester http://www.onceuponateacup.blogspot.com/

And the second has a rather different celebration in mind! Instead of a party, she will be driving a banger around Europe in a Gumball Rally, with a Banger of a car (price limit £250) decked out like a Hamster!http://www.randomrallies.co.uk/

What can we say? No wonder we are all slightly batty at Cloud 9 and Fresh! Great though isn't it?!

What's Floating Around Cloud 9?

Week Commencing 13th February 2012.....

Love is in the air this week at Cloud 9 Towers and we are celebrating Valentines Day, not with flowers, not with chocolates and not with Champagne (well, not until the night anyway) as during the day we are off to Donnington Park for the Love Business East Midlands Conference! We haven't been before but it looks like being a well attended event and a good chance to do a little networking and make a few new contacts.....http://www.donington-park.co.uk/events/2012/02/14/love-business-east-midlands/

We are also getting ready for the launch of our new service, Dazzling Table Displays. With the huge number of events we have run over the past 10 years or so, we have accumulated a pretty impressive array of everything from Giant Martini Glass Vases to Peacock Feathers, Glittering Lava Lamps to Sea Shells, and most of them lie, unloved, and boxed up on storage. Well, not any more! It's time to share the love!

We thought it was high time that we shared some of our stock with the world so we have come up with an incredibly cheap hire service - and we mean cheap! You can hire items for as little as £1 a day (with a deposit of course) and over a four day weekend for Weddings etc, for just £2.50. So the next time you need 30 Table Top Lava Lamps, you will know who to shout! What's the point in buying when you can hire them this cheaply, and without the hassle?  

We are just putting the finishing touches to the website and then its all systems go - and not just with the hire service. Venue is also an option and we have ideas and stock to match and budget and any theme so look for details and we will let you know when the website is live - its taken longer than we thought to catalogue everything we have, which goes to show just how much stuff there is. Peacock Feather anyone? Go on, you know you would love one really!

Sticking with our Love theme for the week we thought we should mention an event which we would love to be involved with...the Carnival of Venice http://www.venice-carnival-italy.com/index.php

The Carnival of Venice is an annual festival, held in Venice, and starts around two weeks before Ash Wednesday and ends on Shrove Tuesday and is now world famous. First held in the 11th Century it fell into decline in the 18th Century but was revived in 1979 with great success. Nowadays it is a great excuse to don a mask and costume, parade around the city, enjoy the live music in the main squares of the city, the events organised by the tourist board and is a wonderful open-air festival where everyone can join in. Fantastic costumes are displayed in St Mark's Square and Venice is the perfect back-drop for amazing photographs. Here at Cloud 9 we would really like to go to the Great Baglioni Party which is held at the Luna Hotel. We just need to find the 295 Euros for a ticket (each, so that's 1180 for all of us to go), plus money for drinks, a great costume, a hotel....oh yes...and flights. Oh well, maybe next year!

 Our final love tribute this week has to go to a great book which was featured on the Jeremy Vine Radio 2 programme a week or so ago and prompted us to buy a copy...

Throughout history, soldiers have known that they run the daily risk of being killed in action for their country. When you are stationed on the front line, it is an ever-present danger. Hence, for more than three centuries, soldiers have been writing farewell letters to be read in the event of their death a last link with that person, and a voice from beyond the grave. If You¹re Reading This brings together a collection of these letters through history. Starting with the Napoleonic Wars and concluding with Iraq and Afghanistan, the book not only reveals farewell letters from soldiers of all ranks and nationalities, but tells a potted history of each individual soldier and his or her story. Where possible, the book will also explore the reaction and impact of those letters on the family who received them. Historically, these letters have been an opportunity to express feelings, facts, and instructions, but overwhelmingly they¹re a message of love to those who are left behind.

All we can say is get your hankies out, but we loved it anyway!

Love to all....

What's Floating Around Cloud 9...

Week Commencing 6th February.....we are

Gearing up for the Fresh PR Awards which take place on Thursday 1st March at the Hilton Deansgate in Manchester, and we are also looking ahead to Fresh 2012 which has a lovely theme created by the great guys over at McCann Erickson Birmingham. It's all about "Making Your Mum Proud" and will provide a fabulous platform for the awards this year. We have tried to book a bingo hall to hold the awards in, but sadly we cant find one as they are all too worried about losing their regular customers to another hall if we have an exclusive night! Would be great though!  So knitting patterns at the ready entrants it's going to be a year to showcase your work (and make your Mum very proud!).

 As well as Fresh and our busy, and FREE, venue finding service, we are also starting to plan ahead for the CIPR Northern Conference 2012 which this year will take place in Leeds at the Northern Ballet Theatre. The theme this year is Fit for the Future and its all about keeping up with the increasing changes that communicators face in the industry. We are planning a truly remarkable line up of speakers and some insightful workshops. The date is set for Wednesday 4th July and full details including the programme will be available soon.

 Looking forward to a great RSViP Event at the Galleries of Justice in Nottingham - not the sort of place you would expect to host a fashion and lifestyle show - but should be great and a good excuse for a little mid week shopping and sipping champers - not that we need much of an excuse here at Cloud 9!

Hoping to have some new awards on the horizon coming soon which we are hoping to run in association with our good friends at http//www.qhotels.co.uk. We like the Q Hotels brand a lot and have a few key favourites in their portfolio including The Queens, The Midland and The Stratford Manor to name a few! If we get the green light then the venue will be the Stratford Manor, a great venue just on the outskirts of Stratford upon Avon. Pity William Shakepeare is not around to write the awards script though, as its our least favourite task in the whole awards process!