What's Floating Around Cloud 9? 4 July 2016

Welcome to another week and this week we are all about St Mary's in the Lace Market Nottingham. No, we have not become venue representatives or anything remotely like a supplier, but so impressed are we with the stunning church, that we agreed to help get this venue on the radar of other busy event professionals like ourselves.

 

So this Thursday we are busy helping to organise a Summer Showcase at St Mary's in conjunction with the great suppliers we have on board. Saffron Catering, Fiona Herbert Catering, Quadrant AV, Limelight AV, and Paul Carroll Photography. We might even have a little stand ourselves to show off our talents in the venue world!

 

What can we tell you about St Mary's? With its central position in the heart of Nottingham, St Mary’s is ideally located and easily accessible, with great transport links and lots of parking nearby.  Its historic setting and stunning iconic architecture will guarantee your event will be truly memorable. The space is perfect for meetings, conferences, product launches and presentations.

 

Whether you are staging a cultural performance or planning to showcase a product or service from a range of suppliers, the Nave space in St Mary’s will inspire your guests and enhance your exhibition. With a huge amount of space available, good connectivity and fast wi-fi, the potential at St Mary's is limitless.

 

St Mary’s is a splendid setting for celebrations of all sorts. Work with our creative AV team to turn your event into something truly spectacular with bespoke sound and lighting. Put a spotlight on your guests or focus your attention on the main stage as you help your guests celebrate any occasion. 

 

Whether you are planning a simple cocktail and canapés style reception event, an elegant gala dinner or a stylish finish  and awards ceremony, our fantastic catering partners can deliver the perfect menu. St Mary's has first class partners all dedicated to making your event a resounding success.

 

If you have missed out on an invitation to attend and fancy coming along to check out this amazing space, then please email us and we can add you to the guest list - there is still time!

 

Have a great week and we hope to see you Thursday!

 

 

 

 

What's Floating Around Cloud 9? 11 April 2016

Welcome to another week and its certainly all go here at Cloud 9 Towers with a whole host of client events, conferences and awards looming. One of the key things we're looking forward to is the Conference & Hospitality Show in Leeds which takes places on 26 April at the First Direct Arena and is now recognised as one of the leading Trade Shows, and certainly the most prolific in the North.

It's a bit different for us this year as in addition to attending the show as hosted buyers, part of the team will also be on hand to man a stand, and we're representing the spectacular St Mary's Church in the Lace Market, Nottingham.

Following  major and significant refurbishment, St Mary's is both a living church and the latest Nottingham venue 'with a difference'; as such it offers a unique historic and atmospheric setting for a range of events. There is a spacious interior with 8,000 sq ft' of flat floor space, under floor heating, comfortable and flexible seating possibilities.

St Mary’s is an ideal location in Nottingham's Lace Market and Creative Quarter situated just a few minutes walk from three car parks, tram stops, the railway station and the city centre itself. There is a world of possibilities available at St Mary's with seating available for up to 500 guests. The Nave Space can accommodate up to 200 guests for Gala or Formal Dinners. With our range of local suppliers able to deliver everything from superb catering to stunning audio visual solutions, you are guaranteed a truly spectacular event at St Mary’s. So we look forward to telling you more about this amazing venue the show.

Also, this years Show will be the platform for announcing the shortlist for the CHS Awards and following record entries, we are expecting a bit of a rush on ticket sales, especially as we sold out in record time for the inaugural awards last year. 

But getting back to being Hosted Buyers though and its a term that is used frequently in our industry and accompanies all sorts of invitations. For the uneducated though, exactly what does it mean to be a Hosted Buyer, what are the qualifications and obligations? honour?

Hosted buyer programs are springing up everywhere. The hosted buyer concept was designed by Ray Bloom, founder and director of the IMEX Group originally and although still relatively new in North America, these programs have been around for years in Europe.

Hosted Buyer Lounge at the Meetings Show London

In a nutshell, hosted buyer programs are a way to engage buyers (event planners) and sellers (suppliers such as hoteliers, DMC's, Venues etc) outside of the traditional trade show. Accepted hosted buyers set appointments, share RFPs and have the opportunity to meet with suppliers they want to meet before the conference. Relationships are established pre event so that come the actual event, the face-to-face appointments are productive. The key benefit for both parties is the time efficiency and also making sure you are meeting the people you need to meet. No point in only meeting suppliers with whopping great convention bureaus if your average group size is only 40 or 50 people.

Hosted Buyers are normally invited to apply and then have to go through a qualification process so that the organisers can determine the potential for business, any buying power and more importantly that any needs are being met by the suppliers in attendance. If its unlikely that you will ever have a need for a hotel or venue in certain parts of the world, then some of the Trade Shows are simply not for you and you are wasting your own and the suppliers time.

Qualified buyers normally then can expect that their travel, accommodation, transfers and any event registration fees will be covered, and in most cases with our own experience, usually some fantastic dinners and social events too. This is of course funded by the income that the suppliers bring in and it also guarantees a good audience at the event for the organisers or hosts - hence Hosted Buyers! 

World Travel Market Stats

As a Hosted Buyer you are normally expected to attend a number of pre-arranged appointments or workshops but as you can usually select just who you want to see, being hosted has lots of benefits. Of course having that investment in you means that you are duty bound to attend your appointments, be on time and be professional at all times, and its important to try and maximise your experience at the event, so we never expect anything less from our our team here as we are always appreciative of the invitations.

We also recognise that its a sizable investment also for the suppliers, and we all know that its not always easy to establish a measurable sales ROI at Trade Shows. Having buyers there at least ensures an exhibitor or not standing around all day waiting for an opportunity to talk to someone! With a Hosted Buyer Programme the supplier knows that the meetings they schedule are with buyers that want and need their specific services.

 

So the next time someone mentions being a Hosted Buyer, you will now know the terminology and what to expect - and it will also help you ensure that the suppliers are the ones you want to meet and to talk to!

We look forward to seeing you at CHS, whether you are hosted or not! Have a great week!

  

What's Floating Around Cloud 9? 23 November 2015

Welcome to another week and even though we are counting down to Christmas and some much needed rest and relaxation, 2016 is looking rather close and our diaries are already filling up fast! 

But back to the here and now, and this week Janet returns from IBTM in Barcelona and then a fam to Seville with our friends at Moulden Marketing - next week we're handing over to her so she can tell us all about it!

We're all systems go on some of our project work including St Mary's in the Lace Market Nottingham which we're pleased to be working on helping getting the marketing off the ground. No, we are not moving from being agents to representing venues, its just that this is a fantastic opportunity to work with the team at the church and help it realise its full potential as a great venue for events.

St Mary's really has spectacular potential for events such as gala dinners for 200 or concerts/conferences for up to 500 guests. Whilst most 'dry hire' venues offer a blank canvas for you to style and enhance, the backdrop at St Mary's is stunning in itself.

The team at St Mary’s and Cloud 9 are committed to ensuring you have the best possible service and information available in order to have an event that exceeds your expectations, so whether you need audio visual support, caterers, hotels, table dressers or taxis, we can help with our excellent working partners and suppliers.

All of our recommended suppliers, each of whom is equally committed to delivering excellence in events at St Mary’s, are guaranteed to provide first class service for your next event.

As St Mary's is first and foremost an active church with commitments to its community and congregation, we do have a few points for you to bear in mind when using St Mary's as a venue, but we are committed to working with you to ensure the best possible events are welcomed to this spectacular venue.

 As part of our marketing activities we are planning to attend the CHS Show in Leeds in April and not just as hosted buyers this time, but also as exhibitors to showcase St Mary's so we look forward to seeing you there, if not before!

Whilst we are on the subject of the CHSGroup its timely to mention the Character Awards which we are running on conjunction with them. Irrespective of whether you exhibit at the Conference and Hospitality Show, these awards offer a fantastic opportunity for any venue outside of the M25 to shout about their facilities, and although we’ll be announcing the shortlist live at the show, we’ll also be using social media #Character16 and making a really big splash about all of the finalists in the industry at large!

We could do with some additional judges from the industry for the awards so if you are an agent, at manager level or higher, then we'd love to hear from you please - and you never know, a few hours of your time in the New Year to help us assess the entries could mean a great night as we will be able to invite you to the awards themselves in Manchester next May. Check out the website for more details or email Janet in the office.

On other news this week, Paula is off to Birmingham this Thursday to be a guest at the Civic Reception of the Lord Mayor of Birmingham to help celebrate the Birmingham Press Club's 150th Anniversary - so she will be watching her P's & Q's possibly learning how to courtesy but who knows!

We have lots more news to share but no time to share it as Cloud 9 Towers remains super busy - so please make sure you follow our news and updates on our social media feeds, and as ever, have a great week - see you soon!

 

 

 
 

 

What's Floating Around Cloud 9? 19 October 2015

Welcome to another week and we are delighted to announce the launch of the new Character Awards which we are managing on behalf of the lovely team at the CHS Group.

Last years inaugural CHS Awards were a resounding success so the new look Character Awards will provide even more opportunities for venues to showcase aspects or facilities of their properties.

The date has now been confirmed for our very special Awards’ Gala Dinner, being held at one of Manchester’s Landmark hotels, The Manchester Mercure Piccadilly, on Wednesday 25 May 2016.  Please do save the date as we sold out last year and want to make sure everyone can join us.

Dave Lloyd, Director of Sales, at The Piccadilly, has very generously agreed to be one of the sponsors for this special Industry Night.  Big thanks to the Piccadilly for their support.

The Character Awards are open to all hotels and venues outside of the M25.  So, lots of exposure for everyone nationally!  The Character Awards 2016 is the perfect platform for buyers, venues and sponsors to celebrate in style! www.characterawards.co.uk and #character16 will be going live next week.

Here is a sneaky peek at the categories:

1:         Best Anticipated Launch/Refurbishment
2:         Best Boardroom/Small Meeting Room
3:         Best Bedroom (Classical)
4:         Best Bedroom (Funky)
5:         Best DDR / 24 hour Rate
6:         Best External Space
7:         Best Welcome Guest Experience
8:         Best Onsite Leisure Facilities
9:         Best Unusual Event Space
10:       Best Large Conference/Exhibition Space
11:       Best UK Representation of an International Venue
12:       Best UK Representation of a UK Venue
13:       Best Green/Sustainable Venue
14:       Best Outside Catering Company
15:       Best Onsite Audio Visual
16:       Best Venue Communication
17:       Best Independent Venue
18:       Best Group Brand
19:       Best Auditorium
20:       Chairman’s Award
The finalists will be announced at the Conference and Hospitality Show on Tuesday 26 April 2016 www.conferenceandhospitalityshow.co.uk.

There are several opportunities available to sponsor a category, support or enhance the Awards, including one VIP Package for a Headline Sponsor, please call Janet Cattell -  for Sponsorship, Entry forms and Awards’ Dinner tickets - janet@cloud9em.co.uk - Contact: +44 (0) 115 933 3811

In other news this week we are also pleased to be working with the team at St Mary's in the Lace Market in Nottingham. No, we have not moved to the other side of the agent/venue fence, but with such a stunning and spectacular property we feel that being given the opportunity to oversee and market their events is a really fantastic experience.

We will be letting all of the lovely agents in the UK know about the exciting possibilities for events at St Mary's and the event space itself is really fabulous.

It's early days and we are still preparing some of the marketing materials and the website but we encourage anyone who is thinking of hosting a corporate event in Nottingham to think St Mary's.

Finally this week, don't forget to come and say hello to us at the Rushcliffe Business Partnership Showcase Event on Tuesday which is being held at the British Geological Survey in Keyworth.

Have a great week all!