What's Floating Around Cloud 9? 17 September 2018

Welcome to another week and two big client events are our focus this week - the first being the official launch of the new My Sight Notts offices in central Nottingham. 

To help kick start the proceedings, Paralympian Gold Medal Winner Tim Reddish is attending along with other key dignitaries from the City.   Tim is an inspiration as he won gold medals, transformed the British Disabled Swim team to the most successful of all time, and was chair of the British Paralympic Association in the greatly successful London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games.

He might have a disability, but he’s made up for it and more with everything he’s achieved and although he is blind, Tim believes in using his abilities to make the most of what he has.

The event is also the launch platform of the new My Sight Lottery, where we have just 175 places available to sign up for, pay £10 a month - and each month, one lucky winner will win £500, one will win £200 and one will win £50. Much better odds than the National Lottery and all profits go straight to the Charity so its a win win! 

The second event is the National Acute Pain Symposium which takes place in Harrogate. This two day conference has some amazing content and the keynote speaker is joining us from Australia, Prod Pam McIntyre.

The event attracts 300 delegates and is a mix of Doctors and Nurses and Pain Consultants, and although the majority of delegates are based in the UK, as the longest established pain meeting in the world, the event also sees a size able proportion of International attendees.

So busy week ahead, and not much time to report on much more, apart from to update the 50 Fam Mission for Paula here at Cloud 9 Towers

One week down and one fam down - huge thanks to Jurys Sheffield - you kick started my mission in style!

51/49

Have a great week everyone! 

What's Floating Around Cloud 9? 1 January 2018

Happy New Year and welcome to another week at Cloud 9 Towers, although somewhat shorter than most as we welcome in the brand and spanking new year.

Along with many, we're all bursting with resolutions for the year ahead and changes we can make to improve our health, well being and bank balances. However, like so many others, it won't be long before we slip back into bad habits and that new dress means dusting off our credit cards once more!

 So, in the spirit of change, rather than focusing on having a dry January, losing weight or any of the usual tawdry aims, we are going to focus on some predictions for the year ahead instead. Just what do we think we will be doing during the year ahead? Well - lets find out!

January is all about Awards so we'll be hosting a conference and organising the judging of several awards events we're involved with. Plus we'll be welcoming some new faces to Cloud 9 and ensuring all of our Ambassadors are up to speed. We're also continuing our training for the East Midlands Chamber of Commerce and helping deliver the AIEA New Years Honours at the Holiday Inn in Peterborough. We're also attending a client conference the first weekend of the year and we'll be reviewing their options for 2019.

February, we'll be ensuring that the CHS Judges are all in place and entries are flooding in for the CHS Awards as well as gearing up for a very busy March when the Nottingham Media Festival starts. February also sees us attending the Venue Masters conference as a panellist and the Accor Speed Dating event in Blackburn.

March will see the Nottingham Media Festival combine the Fresh Creative Awards, Nottingham International Microfilm Festival, VR Expo & Awards and the Short Film Show Awards. This event is a huge deal for the city of Nottingham and also sees Lego Legends and a Slice Programme for students as part of the Festival. We also have a legendary birthday in the office this month for Carol!

April we'll be confirming the programme for the National Acute Pain Symposium and launching our first Fresh Adventures incentive trips for creatives as well as attending the CHS Show in Leeds.

May will all be about a Digital event, but we can't say any more at this time on this one, just yet (fingers crossed anyway) and we'll also be at the CHS Awards in Leeds. Our Fresh Adventures programme should also be up and running at full speed by May with lots of activities planned for the next 19 months.

June is very much an AIEA month, with us coordinating the Meetings Show activities for the Alliance and readying ourselves for the National Acute Pain Symposium Poster Competition.

July which is traditionally a quieter time in the events industry, will certainly not be for us as we have a lots of other planning to do for our Autumn schedule as well as the planned launch of a new Cloud 9 initiative.

August is all about prep for the National Acute Pain Symposium which will be in it's 28th Year and attracts around 300 International Delegates. Additionally, we will also be busy with the logistics for the International Drone Awards and the World Super Drone event.

September is the National Acute Pain Symposium in Harrogate and also Paula hits the big 50 - ouch!

October is the World Super Drone event with lots of International teams competing and also the International Drone Awards event which looks at celebrating the positive impact of drone usage rater than any negatives.

November and December - well, at this point we are not quite sure, but whatever we are doing, you can guarantee that we'll be busy as ever!

All of this and lots of venue finding for clients as well, so its a busy year ahead and we predict a good one - let's hope its the same for you all.

Happy New Year and 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? Week Commencing 17 July 2017

Welcome to another week and it remains crackers here at Cloud 9 Towers with numerous projects on the go including the National Acute Pain Symposium, The Fresh Creative Awards, Fresh Adventures, Warwickshire Food & Drink, the UK Awards Conference, the Nottingham Media Festival, which will include the Nottingham International Microfilm Festival, and a VR Awards and Expo.

Blimey! 

This is in addition to our work for existing clients venue finding so it's a little frantic here to say the least, so for the first time in our history, we've put a halt to supplier appointments and despite having some lovely invitations, a stop to all fams and events.

With so much going on its really easy to fall in to the trap of exclaiming "I am just so busy" every two minutes, but that in itself can be a negative rather than a positive so instead, we've tried to adopt  a more productive approach to our somewhat manic schedule.

The word busy means actively engaged which to us doesn't sound too bad at all, but if you add in the definition of not at leisure and not accessible it becomes less attractive, and we hate the phrases overloaded and swamped as well - so how is it best to describe our schedules at the moment - without appearing to have adopted a load of rubbish corporate speak?!

Rich and varied might be an option, if it weren't for the fact that we are unlikely ever to make a fortune doing what we are doing, so abundant might work.

Engaged and wholehearted are also options but we like captivated less, as this  conjours up visions of us being chained to our desks which in events is hardly the case!

There is of course the old adage that if you want something done, and done correctly, ask a busy person so we guess we will settle for productive with a dash of dynamic and a pinch of excited!

Sounds like a cocktail we know and we could go on, but of course being so productive, dynamic and excited, we're simply too busy to write more this week!

Have a great week!

What's Floating Around? 26 September 2016

Welcome to another week and we have been so manic that we have missed a couple of weeks with our news so please forgive us as we tell you what we have been up to!

There is never a dull moment at Cloud 9 so here goes...

The National Acute Pain Symposium in Chester on 14/15 September was a pretty big event over two days for 250 medical professionals took up a big chunk of our time with main plenary sessions, workshops, socials and last week we have been in major evaluation mode for the event as well as issuing attendance certificates and tying up the details of the event - and sourcing a venue for 2017 as the event is growing considerably.

We've also been prepping for the 2017 CHS Awards which we run on behalf of Emma Cartmell and her team at the Conference and Hospitality Show, which is set to launch in October and is scheduled for next Spring at the Royal Armouries in Leeds.

The new look Fresh Awards is also now live and up and running for entries so as well as coordinating around 50 judges on six juries and sourcing a venue to take all the work we will be amassing, its been a bit of a challenge to cover it all.

Preparing for the Midlands Media Awards which take place on 20 October at the Rep in Birmingham is also a priority at present and scripts, logistics and formats all take time to ensure the 2016 event is a success.

We've also been tying up our Ambassadors Programme and in October we will be pleased to announce our nine new additions to the Cloud 9 team, each of whom will be based in a different location in the UK.

Add in our "All Wrapped Up" Campaign, securing venues for Christmas Parties for numerous clients and our usual round of Venue Finding and you can see we have been a little manic.

However, we wouldn't have it any other way...

Have a great week and look out, we will be back next week!