What's Floating Around Cloud 9? 25 June 2018

Welcome to another week and there is only one thing to talk about this week if you work in the MICE profession. 

 

The Meetings Show is the premier event for the inbound and outbound meetings and event industry in the UK, and takes place this week from 27-28 June 2018 at Olympia London. Since its launch in 2012, The Meetings Show has become a must-attend exhibition for event and meeting planners from the UK and Europe, and it's a great place for us to catch up with industry colleagues and meet suppliers - as well as discovering new ones. The event also features plenty of educational sessions, social events and of course the invaluable networking.

The Meetings Show 2017 was the biggest edition of the show to date, with over 4,800 meeting and events professionals, attending to do business with over 700 suppliers who exhibited at the show.

There is a new addition to the Show this year with the Pre-Show Conference exclusively for Hosted Buyers (which we are) and is taking place on Tuesday at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel in West London. 

 

Created in partnership with London Convention Bureau, it will have three main content streams for association, agency and corporate buyers.

 

As founding members of the AIEA, we are going along with our own hosted group this year and in addition to our individual appointments we have some group appointments with Visit Belfast and Moulden Marketing as well as a collective meeting or two.

 

Like most industries, event planning boasts a wide range of trade show opportunities for professionals to attend and there seems to be more and more events all clamouring for our attention. 

 

Whilst each trade show presents planners with the chance to further their education, network with other professionals, and practice leadership skills in an environment designed to foster motivation and creativity, there simply is not the time to attend them all even in the UK, and if you factor in the International ones you could become a trade show addict!

 

From Convene to IMEX, IBTM to M&IT, the possibilities are endless but do remember only to attend if you think you will have the chance to learn something new and provide a return on investment for the exhibitors. 

 

 But back to this week and we hope to catch up with some of you at The Meetings Show!

Have a great week.

 

What's Floating Around Cloud 9? 18 June 2018

Welcome to another week and unless you have been hiding under a rock, you may have noticed a little event taking place, The World Cup 2018, in Russia.

It's a while since we bought you a guide to some of the hotels and venues that fall under a theme, but with football fever (at least until we knocked out of the tournament - fingers crossed we go all the way) we thought it a reasonably good idea!

So the Cloud 9 guide to Football Hotels begins...

We start with Hotel Football in Manchester, which was founded by two of the major names from Manchester United. Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs first came up with the idea of starting a hospitality company,  after travelling the world during their footballing careers and as they have experienced more restaurants and hotels than most, it has given them an innate understanding of what makes an outstanding establishment.

They have a range of meeting spaces available for up to 350 delegates, including a roof top terrace called Heaven, which can cater for parties of up to 200 guests and offers spectacular views of Old Trafford.

Just over the M62 in Liverpool is The Shankly Hotel, a tribute to the life and career of one of football's finest managers. The rooms and suites are as unique as Bill Shankly himself, offering comfortable, stylish and spacious accommodation as well as a spacious conference and events centre  known as Eden, which can hold up to 350 delegates.

A little further afield and you can discover a relatively new hotel from Cristiano Ronaldo who has teamed up with Portuguese hotel group Pestana for the first of four hotel collaborations, with the  memorabilia-filled Pestana CR7 Funchal. 

It's more of a lifestyle hotel than a MICE Hotel but guests can discover a personalised training programme and yoga mats in the rooms, along with Smart TV's and all of the latest luxury amenities. 

Over in Prague however, if you want to be right on top of the action (assuming you are a fan!) then you could try the Iris Hotel Eden, which is set in an eastern part of the Eden Arena,  a football stadium of famous Prague club Slavie Prague. The hotel has 150 guest rooms, and event space for up to 400 guests. 

The trend for Football Hotels seems to have started in Argentina, with the Hotel Boca in Buenos Aires,back in 2012, when Argentina’s most revered football club, Boca Juniors, had a hotel dedicated to them. It's probably a trend that will continue and for the MICE industry, if we have sports mad clients it can only be a good thing!

Fear not if your client is not into football at all, not only are there a range of hotels attached to golf, rugby, cricket and golf and after all, the World Cup only lasts four weeks.

Here in the events industry we can create a legacy with our events that lasts a lot longer!

Have a great week.

What's Floating Around Cloud 9? 11 June 2018

Welcome to another week and we'd like to talk awards this week -and specifically The Awards Trust Mark Scheme, of which we are on the board.

The Independent Awards Standards Council (IASC) is a not-for profit organisation made up of stakeholders in the Awards Industry. It was established with the aim of raising standards and perceptions of trust in awards as a whole, for the benefit of all stakeholders and we are pleased that we have had the time to help shape this important programme.

Chris Robinson, Co-Founder of the Independent Awards Standards Council, and his fellow council members believe that some award schemes are falling wide of the mark.

“The need for the Trust Mark, and the elements within an agreed code of conduct, are based on research by Boost Marketing that gained input from both awards entrants and organisers. According to Boost’s research, the average score given by businesses when asked ‘how well does the awards industry meet your needs’ was just 5.7 out of 10. But around 80% of businesses entering awards would be influenced by an independent accreditation scheme when picking awards to enter. It found that transparency was essential, and that most awards organisers were willing to consider such a scheme. The research also showed that perceived trust in the judging process used in an awards scheme is one of the most influential factors for businesses in picking schemes to enter.

The big picture for the IASC is that the UK aspires to lead the world in business awards, setting the standard to which the rest of the world aspires. This will improve the credibility and thus popularity and impact of awards schemes, for the benefit of all stakeholders within the awards industry.”

So if  you run awards then please make sure you take a look at the website and register yours, it could really make a difference. 

Have a great week and don't forget our free venue finding service 24/7! Just email Janet and she'll be happy to help.

What's Floating Around Cloud 9? 4 June 2018

Welcome to another week and it seems like we're certainly in the midst of an explosion of industry events and invitations at present which for event professionals is both educational, enjoyable and sometimes just plain exhausting.

We've only just had the great showcase event from Hotel Republic where many of their International Destination Partners, hosted us at Landing 42 at the Leadenhall Building in London, followed by an overnight stay at the Sunborne Yacht, and then last week it was the CHS Awards at the Principle in Manchester, where we were kindly hosted by Jury's.

Jury's Manchester is certainly a bit of a hidden gem - fabulous bedrooms, great open spaces, stylish bar and kitchen area and whilst the meetings spaces are not huge, both rooms on the ground floor adjacent to reception have great light and are ideal for smaller meetings from 20-50. It's not expensive either so well worth a look.

In amongst our usual manic diaries, we also have the annual deluge of meeting requests for The Meetings Show which takes place at the end of the month. As hosted buyers, you do have to do so many appointments to meet our commitments, but sometimes securing the meetings in manageable way (and anyone who has been to IMEX or EIBTM will know what I mean) can be tricky. If you are not careful you find yourself in one zone, your meeting runs over and you have to impersonate Usain Bolt to make your next meeting on time.

Combine this with the flurry of invitations to other trade shows, launches, open days and events and its easy to see why suppliers have such a tough time competing for the attention of agents. 

This is one of the reasons we launched Famtastic a few weeks ago. Having a centralised place which lists all of the core industry events, detailed invitations and commission offers seems to be good idea, and certainly the industry is now embracing the initiative well.

If you haven't signed up (or opted in - we are GDPR compliant!) then please make sure you take a look at Famtastic.Rocks. It's a great resource for the industry and we are listing Christmas ideas, a suppliers directory and in time some of the best industry jobs.

So follow the Flamingo and keep up to date!

Have a great week and don't forget our free venue finding service is 24/7