What's Floating Around Cloud 9? 27 January 2014

Happy Birthday Shannon

Welcome to another week and we are starting the week with an office Birthday for Shannon who is celebrating hers today so its cakes all round today at Cloud 9 Event Management...and forget the diet.

The subject of office cakes remains a popular one and as most of the country is in the grip of a baking frenzy, as those of us who work in offices know all too well.Rare are the days when a colleague isn’t tempting us with their homemade flapjacks or chocolate cookies – but research suggests these kind souls aren’t purely motivated by a craze for cooking. According to a survey by Whitworths, a quarter of bakers admit their workplace generosity is a calculated gamble to please their boss.

If you’re opting to climb the career ladder via cakes, what treats are the most likely to please? Practicality is everything – although a triple-decker chocolate gâteau may look stunning in your kitchen, it may look somewhat less appetising after being crammed in a tin for your commute. 

Fragile, crumbly cakes with fussy toppings are out. Instead, you want something robust yet attractive that can easily be divided with makeshift office cutlery (letter opener, anyone?) and won’t leave crumbs all over the desk. 

Don’t go out of your way to show off (you don't want the cake to look like you've spent days slaving over it), and don't bring anything that’s has the potential to go off, like cream cheese frosting, if you don’t have a fridge available – giving someone an upset stomach won’t do you any favours.

Small, individual cakes like brownies are easy to share with colleagues, but be wary of lavishly-decorated cupcakes - they're fun to make, but sadly a) may not give the impression of a serious, career-minded person and b) may be too sickly-sweet to tickle your boss's tastebuds. 

We were very lucky at the back end of last year to win a competition via our pals at Venue Directory, which we use daily, to win 12 weeks worth of cupcakes and they were certainly an impressive and welcome addition to our office, even if they did little for our waistlines!  

Without wanting to sound at all ungrateful, they were incredibly sweet and we did end up sharing them between us so a whole box lasted quite a while, so this had us wondering, what other additions to offices are more approrpiate for those on a health kick?

When we are all trying to cut down our sugar intake and try and keep any New Years resolutions going until at least the end of the month, what other treats can we bring to work to stave off those winter blues?

There are lots of companies around who offer a similar service but one of the first was Fruitful Office who are the UK’s original workplace fruit supplier. They are committed to helping companies create healthy workplaces for their employees. As they only focus on offices – it means they know a little bit more about offering a tailored, high-quality service than other fruit vendors.

There has been a rapidly growing trend of UK businesses offering fresh fruit to staff, as a means to promote a healthy workplace. Many offices are discovering that employees would like more from their workplace than just the pay cheque at the end of the month – especially where this concerns health and well-being!

Fruitful Office believe that fresh fruit, much like the fresh drinking water dispenser which can now be found in every office, should be made available to employees in every office.

We have a slightly unusual approach to this so when each of us does our supermarket shops with the buy one, get one free deals on fruit, we've all started bringing in our own selection of fruit to share around!

 

One of the best companies currently offering great alternatives to treats without the guilt has to be graze whose range of snack boxes are pretty spectacular and we know as we have tried them. For instance you can make a jaffa cake, using roasted hazels, orange infused raisins and dark chocolate button, or billionaire's shortbread using fudge pieces, blanched almonds, milk chocolate drops and cranberries. We just like the sound of the chocolate bits, lets be fair!

 

 

Now, if you are looking for a way to be popular in your office, and sadly we don't have a big enough team to qualify, then Gu Puddings has a rather lovely intiative for larger offices with over 100 people where you could win an Office Drop. Simply nominate your office and if you are selected then they’ll send over a whole load of puds for free. Result – instant glory. So fill in the form and they’ll be in touch if you’re about to receive a lot of love!

Anyway cake to eat, events to plan and work to be done...have a good one and we'll see you next week. Enjoy.

What's Floating Around Cloud 9? 20 January 2014

Welcome to another week and it’s busy as ever here at Cloud 9 Event Management Ltd with planning for the year ahead.

We’re also gearing up our brand new service which will be exclusive for in-house companies looking to enhance the events that currently run, and FUSE will be available from the end of the month for align themselves with Cloud 9.

FUSE is a new and completely free service available to anyone working within events for an in-house organisation. Here at Cloud 9 Event Management Ltd, we’re not after pinching or indeed pitching for your business, but instead, helping you to enhance your events in a subtle and unobtrusive manner, leaving you to do what you do best for your clients, staff and stakeholders.

What exactly is FUSE? It’s four simple elements all bundled together to help event organisers make the most of their events, without any additional work – in fact using our FUSE service will actually save you time, increase awareness about your events and could also save you money.

FUSE starts with our free venue finding service. Simply send us the brief and we’ll not only source a variety of venues for you, we’ll also ensure you get the very best rates and full details of availability and all of those little added extras that really make a difference to your event. Don’t waste your time spending hours online, or making endless calls, when we can do it all for you and get back to you quickly and efficiently with everything you need to know all in one easy to read report.

We’ll even book on your behalf and make sure you get the best service possible from your chosen venue. What’s more, as we strive to continually improve our service, and the service that our clients receive at events, we’ll also evaluate the event afterwards to ensure that any feedback, positive or otherwise is fed back to the venue in question.

Understanding that Social Media is very probably something that already features within your event agenda and we’re not here to teach you anything new (unless you ask in which case we’d be pleased to help) but what we can do is enhance any of your social media activity. Just let us know the hash-tag and we’ll shout about you and engage to increase your Klout.

We’ve a high profile following here at Cloud 9 and regularly engage with the Media and journalists throughout the UK so if you are looking to increase the awareness of your event, then we can help.

Styling at events can create the mood or kill the room and with over 10 years of running successful events here at Cloud 9 you can imagine we have a pretty good inventory at our disposal. From Glittering Lava Lamps to Giant Martini Glasses, Peacock Feathers to all manner of Props, we’ll gladly offer complimentary hire of any of our suitable stock to in-house event organisers as part of FUSE.

We can also ensure that we work with you to secure lots of little extras at your event that you may not have previously considered. Whether getting the venue to throw in some complimentary drinks, or donate a raffle prize, then our FUSE styling service will certainly help to give you that extra special edge.

 

Event Website leverage is vital. Your target market or client base might be small for your particular activity, but that doesn’t or shouldn’t mean that you shouldn’t be making a big noise about your event. Sharing and swapping links with your event site can not only help it shoot up the search engines, but it’s also more likely to be easily found and accessed by the right people. 

We’ll ensure your event is listed and the links are shared with at least five suitable sites, including ours if appropriate. The last thing you ever want to hear is “I didn’t know about the event”. FUSE can and will help.

Additionally, online post event activity is a great way to ensure the sustainability of any events and really engage with your audience long after event has ended.

 

Fuse from Cloud 9 Event Management is simple. It’s structured to help and to save you time, money and maybe even a little bit of your sanity. What’s in it for us we hear you ask? Well, a little  commission (from the venue), the chance to make a new business contacts in markets we haven’t previously explored, and the opportunity to show off our extensive range of table decorations and props, all of which have been languishing in the dark for far too long!

So there you have it, a great resource for in-house organisers....have a great week!  

What's Floating Around Cloud 9? 13 January 2014

Welcome to another week and here we are back in the swing of things after what seemed like a very long break over Christmas and the New Year.

We are now in and more or less settled in our new offices and our sparkling new website is almost ready to be unveiled but we thought this was a perfect time to offer some predictions about the year ahead in events and the trends to watch for...

Social Seating: Although the concept of seating guests based on their social connections is not a new concept, it's likely that 2014 will see more events using and event professionals using some of the new apps to make seating a social experience. Using the wonders of social graph we can now seat next to our friends and colleagues and based on our networking requirements. Airlines and Ticket Sellers are starting to adopt the tactic of social seating so uncomfortable and awkward seating moments will be a thing of the past. 

We do know however, we will still get calls when it comes to seating at awards ceremonies along the lines of "don't sit us with so and so company as I used to work there and it will be awkward" - and hey, we will do our best!

Collaborative Event Planning is also a new trend emerging and although all of the individuals not in the industry who run their own weddings, concerts or parties help to drive suppliers, venues and the local economy, this is a growing trend. Technology that shares event planning and tools that help friends plan an event through social networks will continue to grow and grow.

Employing professional services to help with some aspects of the process will also be easier using the sourcing and funding tools all emerging which will ultimately be beneficial for both professionals or those simply with a passion for events.

Collaborative Content is also a key feature of the year ahead. Not content with simply appointing a photographer to capture the tone of the event, its also now vital to encourage your attendees to share not just their experiences, but their images and photographs as part of the event. Live social media streams are nothing new to the event sector, but its becoming vital to also have a moderator in place to monitor live video streams, photographs and the entire content of the event to ensure what is happening lice is reflected online.

 Wearable Tech is also starting to be more widely used, so instead of trying to work out if you can put a screen in a place where all of your delegates can see it, it will no longer matter as they will all be issued with glasses that don't take them to the screen, they become the screen.  

Although still an expensive option,it wont be long until all events employ this sort of technology so AV companies must surely be looking ahead to see what they can do to make sure they are still delivering user friendly experiences in the future.

Wearable glasses might be on thing, but in Hong Kong, Katia Vega has had a rather remarkable idea in which she has merged micro-technology into fashion and emerged with a new career in "Beauty Technology". Building wearable computers into basic accessories, like fingernails, eyelashes and makeup.

While wearing the accessories, people can accomplish everyday actions like opening doors or flipping through TV channels by blinking their eyes or snapping their fingers. The projects are still largely in their prototype phases. But, Vega says, she's hoping to build a support group of sponsors and soon bring the devices to the mainstream market. She's focusing on two main branches of the project, so far: fingernails and conductive makeup.

The fingernails are rigged with individual radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. They can be applied the same way as any other artificial nail. The tags, pictured left, are hidden beneath polish, glitter and plastic decorations — whatever the wearer prefers. The RFID readers recognise tags within two centimetres, and can be synced to a variety of tasks you'd normally perform with a card. If, for example, the door to your office building is activated via card scanner, you can program one of the RFID nails to open the door instead. The program recognises actions, too, so if you'd prefer to add a little flare — say, a finger snap — you can.

The makeup works in a similar way, using conductive material in the form of eyeliner and fake eyelashes, turning basic eye and facial movements into programmable actions — like Google Glass, without the Glass. The lashes are chemically metallised to mimic a natural, black colour. "This works, again, as a substitute to wearing an electronic device on your face," Vega says. "The eyelashes and eyeliners work as switches. When the user blinks, a microcontroller can activate things like lights, TV channels and even drones." Vega's recently taken the experiments a step further. Last month, she presented the "AquaDJing" project at the Women 2.0 Conference in Las Vegas, alongside DJ Congo Sanchez from the band Thievery Corporation.

For the project, Sanchez used Vega's tech nails to perform and mix more than 25 tracks through a layer of water. The RFID readers recognise tags through different materials, such as water, glass and wood. A "DJ Controller" pad at the bottom of a water container was able to pick up on Sanchez's hand movements. The effect, then, is one of controlling and mixing sound effects by "touching" the water up top.

Overall, the project is just getting started. Vega plans to continue experimenting with different uses of the nails and makeup — and finish her Ph.D., at the same time. She'd eventually like to turn the idea into a company and make her products available for sale. For now, though, she's tweaking the existing products and actively looking for sponsorships. One step — err, blink — at a time.

We're not sure some of our delegates would be up for the full finger or eyelash treatment, but hey, who knows!

Have a great week and we'll see you soon - and please don't forget we have moved...

Cloud 9 Event Management Ltd, Rosewood House, 84a Main Road, Radcliffe on Trent, Nottingham NG12 2BQ, Telephone: 0115 9333811

10. Faster Check-in
The Vitruvian Attendee likes to get into events fast.
Any piece of technology that speeds up on site registration will be hot in 2014. As attendees are starting to make the show floor busy again after a few years of global economic crisis, event professionals need to use all tech available to speed up the check-in process.
The listed services offer a tablet based tool to check-in guests at events. This is not a particularly new technology but it is gaining speed and capturing the attention of investors.
9. Seat Them Socially
While the concept of seating guests based on their social connection is not anything new, 2014 will be the year where more event professionals will use such services for their event.
Leaving seating to chance is so 1999. There is a new breed of apps that make seating a social experience. Thanks to the wonders of social graph we can now seat next to our friends and colleagues.
This also means seating serendipity based on our networking requirements.
As airlines and ticket resellers are adopting social seat selection, event professionals and startups are quickly adapting. Awkward seating moments will be a thing of the past.
8. Live Slidesharing
This trend refers to sharing the slides on attendees smartphone or tablet live. Once again this is not a particularly new technology and ARS has been around forever, but 2014 will be the year of your mobile as a second screen for slides.
This particular technology has seen a surge in offer with dozens of startups offering live slidesharing solutions.
While at conferences, attendees look at their tablets or smartphones. Pushing slides to their device helps to keep the focus on content and enhance the education experience. Quite impressive.
7. Collaborative Event Planning
There is a thought, specially in the Meetings industry, that events are just conferences and trade shows. I believe that one of the strongest drivers of this industry is the long tail of passionate amateur planners who run their own weddings, concerts or parties.
This passion fuels local economies of suppliers and venues. That is why any technology that shares event planning among a group of people will be a hit on 2014.
Tools that help a group of friends to plan an event will be pushed by the backing of social networks adoption. Users in fact will want more structured solutions to plan events than the current basic offering.
6. Plan by App
Event management dashboards used to be very complex spreadsheets that cost incredible amounts. Last year we highlighted how the technology was becoming more accessible.
As we move into a more mobile environment, startups are recognising the opportunity to offer complete event management tools that can be operated via apps.
The convenience of having your event vitals with you at all times in one platform is immense.
5. Collective Media
Hiring a photographer may still be the case for most events but leveraging the media created by your attendees is another story.
Last year we stressed the importance of curating content, but as we move toward a more visual internet, the importance of collecting pictures and videos created by attendees becomes paramount.
Making good use of visuals will define next year.
4. Do Something Good
I believe we all agree that sometimes technology can be stupid. Utterly useless. Or some other times it just does not solve anyone’s problem.
There is a new breed of services that is providing event professionals with a solution to their challenges while stimulating adoption via means of charity.
This trend is particularly relevant for all those working with no profits, where doing something good is inherent to the event concept.
3. One Page Websites
We recently published an infographic about effective event websites.
One page websites are not just a trend, they are thought to convey a better storytelling and to decrease bounce rates while impacting on conversions.
If you combine all of that with a cheaper alternative to costly custom developed solutions, you got yourself a successful trend for 2014.
2. Solve The Hotel Nightmare
One of the outcomes of the research we made for the Good Event Registration Guide is that only 27% of registration providers offered live accommodation options upon ticket purchase.
However, we also discovered that hotel options are amongst the top 10 most requested features by event planners. Hence why those startups who offer such service will be extremely popular in 2014.
Once again some of these guys have been around since 2008, but we are now getting to a DIY, global market offering that will surely encounter the attention of several event professionals.
1. Incredibly Real Time Analytics
Events happen quickly and pressure is usually incredible. Safety, happiness, business success are pressing thoughts that every smart professional has.
Those startups that offer live analytics such as heat maps, preferences and check-in based analytics will make an impact in 2014.
Live data will dictate the ‘what happens next’ rather than pre-agreed concepts

Read more at http://www.eventmanagerblog.com/10-event-trends-2014#FpLgWj7c5q6Bbogr.99

What's Floating Around Cloud 9? 6 January 2014

Welcome to another week and firstly we'd like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year!

We hope everyone had a wonderful break over the festive period and you are all now rested and ready for the year ahead. We ended 2013 on a high with a new office move and a pretty full diary for the coming year so with pencils at the ready, please make a note of some of the dates ahead!

Fresh 2014 will open for entries in March and the closing date will be mid June with the final closing date set for 4 July 2014. The nominations will be announced on Monday 4 August and whilst we haven't quite 100% sorted the event date yet, it's looking very much like the first week of October 2014. Please keep an eye on the website for additional information and details of the Freshtival 2014.

Brand You from Bristol Media will also be back in 2014 and entries are set to open later this month. The Awards will once again recognise individual contributions to a wide range of creative disciplines and the awards are set to close in early Summer. The nominations will be announced once again in August and the event is set for 16 September 2014. After the inaugural Brand You Awards last year, working with Bristol Media we'll be making a few changes to the programme with a revised judging process and entry criteria so make sure you check out the Bristol Media Website for details of Brand You and regular updates.

The Midlands Media Awards, which we run on behalf of the Birmingham Press Club are now officially open for entries and set to close just before Easter. With another impressive two stage jury in place, chaired once again by the formidable Peter Lowe from Sky News, we're looking forward to celebrating the great work of journalists and broadcasters at Aston Villa, on Thursday 5 June 2014.

A week after the Midlands Media Awards we'll be in Manchester for the 2014 CIPR Northern Conference and the theme of the event is all around content and content management. The 12 June will see us at Manchester Metropolitan University with a rather special line up of guest speakers and an interactive event not to be missed.  

We've lots more events to announce over the coming weeks that we're directly involved with, but we'd also like to kick off the New Year with our lovely new website which our pals at Big Communications in Leicester have designed for us. We're pretty pleased with it and hope you like it too, as Cloud 9 Event Management Ltd gets a very modern makeover.

Don't forget please that we moved in December and you can now find us in our new offices Rosewood House | 84a Main Road | Radcliffe on Trent | Nottingham | NG12 2BQ | United Kingdom | T. +44 (0) 115 9333811 

Other key dates which might be of interest this next year, especially to the event industry, include in the first quarter of 2014:

• Spotlight on Venues in Bristol is 30 January at the Passenger Shed and is open for bookings now.  Only in its second year, we're hoping that one of the team can pay a visit with our increasingly Bristol based schedule of events. 
• Event Buyers Live is set for 30-31 January at the Crowne Plaza in Marlow and is a great opportunity for both those who organise events and suppliers. 
• The Event Production Show is being held on 11-12 February at Earls Court and is the perfect opportunity to find practical, workable solutions and innovations for every kind of event in 2014.
• The BNC Global Event Show 2014, Wednesday 19 February at The Brewery in London and registrations are now open. Both Shannon and Rubina are registered for this and raring to go!
• International Confex, 12-13 March is back at Olympia and now under the control of Mash Media. You can register your interest now and Paula will probably pop up at this one.

That's probably enough to bamboozle you with as you return to work, so enjoy!