What's Floating Around Cloud 9? 25 September 2017

Welcome to another week and after weeks of events and what seems like a million meetings, we are looking forward to some much needed office time here at Cloud 9 Towers,  for a well deserved catch up. Admin beckons and whilst it's not sexy, meetings produce lots of follow up admin sometimes lead to even more meetings.

Meetings in business are necessary but can take an extraordinary amount of time, so how is best to deal with them? There are a millions blogs out there about meetings, funny ways to entertain yourself when sat in boring ones, or ways to look smart even if you haven't a clue about the content!

We did a little trawling and we thought we would share some of the best ones we found including the best way to appear smart - and make sure you have your phone calculator ready just in case someone says “About 25% of all users click on this button,” quickly chip in with, “So about 1 in 4,” and make a note of it. Everyone will nod their head in agreement, impressed and envious of your quick math skills.Easy percentages of course should be pretty easy to calculate as fractions but if you've forgotten your math - then the phone, discreetly used of course - could be a godsend.

The Guardian delivered a great article on 28 ways to make meetings more interesting and whilst we don't approve of all of them, some of them are just brilliant and begging to be tried. 

We love like the idea of drawing enormous genitalia on your notepad and discreetly show it to the person next to you for their approval. Hopefully any snickering will be kept to a minimum and you can concentrate on your next meeting task which is to give each person at the meeting just one biscuit with their refreshments and then systematically smash them with either your first or a ruler.

The idea of wearing a hands free phone headset throughout, and once in a while drifting  off into an unrelated conversation, such as: "I don't care if there are no dwarfs, just get the show done!" is also brilliant, as is writing  the words 'he fancies you' on your pad and showing it to the person next to you while indicating with your pen. 

Reconstruct the meeting in front of you using action figures and when anyone moves, re-arranging the figures accordingly is also a great idea as is drawing a chalk circle around one of the chairs, then avoid sitting on it when the meeting starts. 

But we think our favourite one of all is not using pointless and meaningless management speak such as  "When is this turkey going to be basted?" or "Let's keep this brook babbling" and its not announcing that you've run off some copies of the meeting agenda, then handing out pieces of paper that read: My secret agenda 1 Trample the weak 2 Triumph alone 3 Invade Poland - our utmost favourite has to be attempting to hypnotise the entire room using a pocket watch.

Who could possibly refuse you anything?!

So have a great week and we do hope you don't have to endure too many meetings!

What's Floating Around Cloud 9? 18 September 2017

Welcome to another week and we're pleased to report that we had a successful event last week in Harrogate for the National Acute Pain Symposium and planning is already underway for NAPS 2018.

We had quite a late night driving back on Friday, combination of sat nav fail, horrendous traffic and the usual rush hour out of any major city or town, so half way back, being all ladies of a certain age, we needed to stop and, ahem, powder our noses.

The A1 is littered with services advertising petrol, toilets and catering options but unfortunately the one we picked had a separate petrol station and diner, and we thought the diner would be the better option facilities wise. Sadly, the rather worn A4 sign in the window made it very clear that if you were not a customer, then don't even think about coming in to use their toilets - charming! It wasn't event the usual polite notice!

This got us talking on the rest of the way back, about just how important toilets are when it comes to events - and yet how often do we all ask about these when booking a venue?

Some of the more experienced event professionals will of course ask about this, but sometimes we are so under pressure, that we just automatically assume that everything will be hunky dory in the bathroom department for events, especially corporate events.

Festival organisers or those running events outside will have the arduous pleasure of sorting portaloo's and luckily times have changed considerably in this area, with posh loo's becoming the norm for many.

This though is sadly not the case at some venues where the space is spectacular, but the number of toilets - and the condition of them - is not nearly up to par. However, some venues have really gone to town with their loo's so we thought, just in case you get caught short, you should know some of them!

 
 

If you are not bothered by heights then thirty-one floors up in The Shard, Aqua’s urinals could well have the best view from a loo in Europe, certainly for gents. It's not quite as impressive for ladies though, sorry girls.

Perhaps ladies should stick to Claridge's, where luxury is the name of the game. Steeped in history, the elegant ladies’ room not only has vanity areas with chairs and well lit mirrors, but also a coat check and attendant. It’s how every bathroom experience should be.

If you are in Mayfair, then Sketch is quirky with their bizarre egg-shaped loos. The 18th century venue has been given a futuristic makeover where guests are invited to step into their own personal pod to have a tiddle. Birdsong plays within the pristine white pods to help keep a sense of calm, but we guess if you don't like small spaces, how calm will be you be?!

So Loo's really do matter, in fact check out the Loo of the Year Awards if you don't believe us! We do wonder if the trophies are made of porcelain though?

Have a great week! 

What's Floating Around Cloud 9? 11 September 2017

Welcome to another week and seeing as we are all off to Harrogate to run the National Acute Pain Symposium for 300 Doctors, Nurses, Anaesthetists and Pain Specialists, at the Harrogate Convention Centre, it seems appropriate to look at some of the great venues in this amazing location.

The Harrogate Convention Centre is a modern event space, with an iconic auditoria and lots of on site new technology. Ironically enough, back in 1835 The Spa Rooms stood on the site of today’s Hall M welcoming the British Medical Association in 1884. 

The Royal Hall opened in 1903 as a venue for social events and meetings hosting The First British Advertising Convention as long ago as 1925. In the thirties Harrogate really started to gain its reputation as the place to hold business events and by 1937 the town was hosting around thirty events a year. Planning meetings and events back then must have been a challenge!

By 1953 almost 150 conferences were held each year and in 1959 the first purpose-built event halls were added. Growing in both size and reputation, by the 1960's they were hosting 170 conferences annually, welcoming 44,000 people to the region.

More halls were added in 1966 and 1971 and shortly after an independent business tourism study recommended building a major conference centre in the town, which became the first step in creating the 2000-seat main auditorium which opened in 1982, hosting The Eurovision Song Contest that same year. This was of course back in the day when we actually still stood a chance of winning. 

Today, as one of the country’s leading multi-use venues, the Harrogate Convention Centre attracts over 300,000 visitors a year with a combination of  exciting trade and consumer exhibitions, inspiring conferences, sumptuous banquets and spectacular entertainment.

Our conference delegates of course need somewhere to stay, and The Old Swan is probably one of the most famous hotels in Harrogate, with a history going back nearly 200 years. Surrounded by pretty lawns and gardens, and just a short walk from the town centre and the Harrogate Convention Centre, it's a combination of Victorian splendour and contemporary luxury.

From its revolving doors to its famous glass-ceilinged Wedgwood Restaurant, the Hotel exudes romance and mystery and it was at this very hotel that the mistress of crime-writing, Agatha Christie, famously disappeared in 1926, resulting in a public furore over the 11 days that she could not be traced. We do hope that our delegates don't disappear on us!

Guests can now enjoy 136 contemporary-styled bedrooms, the famous glass-ceilinged Wedgwood Restaurant or the newly refurbished Swan Lounge and Bar, and with several reception rooms, the capacity for up to 300, and ample complimentary parking, The Old Swan is the perfect spot for Harrogate conferences and events.

We are also using the newly opened and ultra modern Crowne Plaza® Harrogate which is linked by a pedestrian bridge to the Convention Centre, and has six meeting rooms which can host up to 320 theatre style, plus a rather fabulous new bar and restaurant as well as a health club - not that we think we will have much time to indulge in much activity outside of the conference.

So lot's going on this week and if you are still looking for a venue for your next event - making your mind up you might say (think Bucks Fizz!) - then please do remember that here at Cloud 9 as well as running events, we also spcialise in helping clients source the perfect venue for your next event - locally, nationally, globally. 

Have a great week!

What's Floating Around Cloud 9? 4 September 2017

Welcome to another week and after our Summer Break (although we use the word lightly as August was a bit of a wash out - let's be fair!), we are back and raring to go.

Lots to report event wise and we have a pretty packed agenda looming which starts next week with the National Acute Pain Symposium in Harrogate for 300 medical professionals at the Harrogate Convention Centre.This truly international event also features a trade exhibition and a large display of abstracts so lots going on!

This is followed by the UK Awards Conference in November which is an educational eventfor Awards Organisers in the UK, and is supported by an exhibition of suitable venues for holding awards ceremonies. Our friends at CHS are organising this element for us - and next week is almost the planning for the CHS Awards 2018. We have some amazing speakers taking part so if you have yet to book, now is the time!

November also features a great event for Warwick County Council which is designed to connect local suppliers with national buyers and is part of the Coventry and Warwickshire Business Festival. Warwickshire Food & Drink is set for 22 November at the Warwickshire Gold & Country Club and to date we have over 20 exhibitors signed up and a raft of buyers coming from all different sectors.

Planning wise, we are coordinating the Nottingham Media Festival which includes the Nottingham International Microfilm Festival, The Fresh Creative Awards, The VR Expo & Awards, The International Drone Awards, SLICE which is Student Lives in Creative Enterprises, a fun competition for Lego fans called Lego Legends and finally (so far at least) the World Supedrone Racing Championships - phew!

Our venue finding arm has also been very busy over the summer helping clients sort all manner of events from small intimate one off meetings to annual schedules and Fiona in our team has also been busy restructuring our Ambassadors Programme and on a recruitment drive.

Fresh Adventures is also very much on the go, and we have now partnered with Aviator World to ensure all of our adventurers are fully protected and the team here are busy scheduling some amazing and engaging trips for the creative industry.

Our Corporate Hospitality division has also been active and our amazing partners, Optimise Hospitality has been busy ensuring we have a great schedule to offer clients - and Nick has secured Rugby tickets for clients that are rarer than gold dust! 

We have also been helping with the AIEA events which included the AGM and we are now looing at the AIEA New Years Honours, which are set to be hilarious if nothing else.

So, never a  dull moment and today Paula is off to join the M&I Forum at the Compleat Angler in Marlow and later in the week is off to The Izaak Walton Hotel in Dovedale which is a new addition to the Trident Hospitality Portfolio.  

We hope everyone has had an equally productive Summer and that you did manage to at least grab a little bit of sunshine wherever you were!

Have a great week!