What's Floating Around Cloud 9? 12 January 2015

Welcome to another week and now that the festivities are well and truly over its time to look ahead and start planning in detail!

Here at Cloud 9 Towers our diaries are already filling up with a marvellous mix of meetings, events, trade shows, client events and fam trips and without a doubt there will be a lot more to schedule into an already packed year.

If you are in the Event Industry then you’ll want to make sure that you have saved the date for all of the following shows and events and maybe, just maybe, we’ll see you there!

JANUARY
The Hospitality Show
19-21 January
The show will once again be providing a launch pad for British hospitality and food service opportunities, covering all things catering and tableware-related, as well as putting an emphasis on careers and technology. The latest product innovations from old and new exhibitors alike will be on display, while attendees can also enjoy the featured attractions.
NEC, Birmingham
Call 0207 886 3064
Visit www.hospitalityshow.co.uk

FEBRUARY
Event Production Show
18-19 February
This year, International Confex will be co-locating with the Event Production Show and, while the two will remain largely independent, there will be a steady flow encouraged between both in appropriate areas. The Event Production Show's offerings will be geared

towards the live event industry, including indoor, outdoor, sporting and music events. Attendees can avail of infrastructure suppliers showcasing their capabilities and offering details about the latest technologies. With over 200 exhibitors expected, inspiration will be rife.
Olympia, London
Call 0208 971 8282
Visit www.eventproductionshow.co.uk

Confex
18-19 February
International Confex will be following in the footsteps of last year's successful turnout, creating a community for buyers, suppliers, venues and destinations. The companies exhibiting will encompass UK and international destinations, venues, hotels and event support service suppliers. A focal point will be the 'Technology Sector, while the Technovation Station will provide hands-on access to the latest events-centric projects. 
Olympia, London
Call 0208 971 8282
Visit www.international-confex.com

Office Management & PA Show 
18-19 February

The Office Management & PA Show - which has grown over the past two years and attracts over 3,000 PAs and office managers - will also be co-locating with International Confex and the Event Production Show at London's Olympia. The event's core visitors are looking for solid business education on how to improve themselves professionally - and improve their business through their role - by extending their skills in negotiating, cost saving, external communications and networking.
Olympia, London
Call 0208 971 8282
Visit www.om-pa.co.uk

Business Travel Show 
25-26 February 
Now moving to the Grand Hill at London's Olympia, the Business Travel Show will be meeting the corporate travel sector's needs, delivering business developments along with networking and branding prospects. Over 6,000 corporate travel buyers and bookers from across the UK and Europe will be conducting business with more than 200 suppliers spanning the industry, including global travel brands and start-up companies.
Olympia London
Call 0207 970 4435
Visit www.businesstravelshow.com

MARCH
Best of Britain and Ireland
11-12 March

Best of Britain and Ireland will be holding its annual showcase for two cor sectors, serving the domestic tourism market and the conference, event and marketing industry. Visitors will be able to source new products and services as well as acquire information on the latest attractions, destinations, associations, regional tourist boards and more. 
NEC, Birmingham 
Call 0173 340 5735
Visit www.bobievent.com

Conference and Hospitality Show
24 March
The Conference and Hospitality Show is a free to attend event which connects event organisers with a variety of venues and suppliers. And in 2015 there will be an overarching focus on inspiration, with it generating a motivational education programme. More then 100 exhibitors will be putting in a an appearance, while Demo Zone will be offering interactive displays.
Centenary Pavillion, Elland Road, Leeds
Call 0751 236 5822
Visit www.conferenceandhospitalityshow.co.uk

MAY
IMEX
19-21 May

During the course of three days, IMEX will be playing host to 3,500 global exhibitors, featuring tourists boards, international hotel companies, technology providers and more. Also renowned for attracting high quality buyers, 15,000 senior decision-makers are predicted to be in attendence.
Hall 8, Messe Frankfurt, Germany
Call 01273 227 311
Visit www.imex-frankfurt.com

JULY
The Meeting Show UK
7-9 July 
Organised by meeting professionals, the event is centred on a large exhibition as well as networking prospects and professional education. Destinations from over 50 countries will be on display and the hosted buyer programme is the largest in the UK - drawing figures from the corporate, association, agency and public sectors.
Olympia, London
Call 0207 970 4410
Visit www.themeetingshow.com

SEPTEMBER
The Venue Expo 
8-9 September

The Venue Expo 2015, now in its second year, will once again be attracting MICE industry professionals, venues, hospitality suppliers and event support suppliers from all corners of the UK. Taking place at the brand new Exhibition Centre in Liverpool, visitors have the chance to attend seminars and conduct business with one another. 
Exhibition Centre, Liverpool
Call 0151 702 7752
Visit www.thevenueexpo.co.uk


Square Meal's Venues & Events
16-17 September
In 2014, Square Meal's Venues and Events saw over 7,000 event organising professionals descend to meet over 250 of the UK's top venues and suppliers - and the 2015 show is set to do the same. Spread across colourful floors will be a host of expert seminars, tasting master classes and workshops; ideal for anyone who plans events as part of their job.
Old Billingsgate, London
Call 0844 412 7963
Visit www.venuesandevents.co.uk

OCTOBER 
Office*
13-14 October 
Offering a unique platform where key corporate buyers can meet and do business with a range of relevant and carefully selected suppliers, office* successfully welcomed 4,019 attendees to its 2014 event. This year, Personal Assistants, Executive Assistants and Office Managers, among others, throughout the UK will be browsing the electic floor, accessing the education programme and meeting with 175+ exhibiting brands. 
Olympia, London
Call 01273 645 127
Visit www.officeshow.co.uk


The Showman's Show
21-22 October
The Showman's Show was held in 1984 and it has since emerged as the only outdoor show of its kind in the UK. The event has been capable of appealing to 5,000 visitors and in excess of 340 exhibitors who demonstrate the most sophisticated structures, equipment and entertainment demanded by the event industry at large.
Newbury Showground, Berkshire
Call 01747 854 099
Visit www.showmans-directory.co.uk

NOVEMBER
World Travel Market
2-5 November

World Travel Market - the leading global event for the travel industry - is a vibrant must attend business-to-business event presenting a diverse range of destinations and industry sectors to UK and International travel professionals. It is a unique opportunity for the whole global travel trade to meet, network, negotiate and conduct business.
ExCeL, London
Call 0208 271 2160
Visit www.wtmlondon.com

IBTM World
17-19 November
Held in Barcelona, the Global Meetings and Events Exhibition (EBITM) offers professional education and networking opportunities across a three day programme. The event features over 3,000 suppliers from over 100 countries across the world and information on industry trends.
Fira Gran Via, Barcelona, Spain
Call 020 8271 2127
Visit www.ibtmevents.com

So that’s it for this week folks, enjoy! 

What's Floating Around Cloud 9? 5 January 2015

Welcome to our first blog of 2015 - we hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a fantastic New Year.

Cloud 9 Towers are now open as usual and raring to go and get stuck into 2015. As we all know, after a couple of weeks out of the office, it can take a little while to get back in to the swing of things. So, as a motivation for you all this new year, below are the top 10 New Years resolutions for business success...

1. Learn how to delegate and do more of it - There are so many things to do when you're running a small business, it's easy to delude ourselves that we need to do all of them. Then we wonder why we're so tired and frazzled and have no time to do anything else! Determine Your Personal Return on Investment, and decide to let someone else do some of the tasks for a change. Delegation is the key to a healthy work-life balance.

2. Promote your business regularly and consistently - Too often the task of promoting a small business slips to the bottom of the to-do list in the press of urgent tasks. If you want to attract new customers, you have to make promotion a priority. Make a New Year's resolution to hire a marketing expert, or take the time to create a marketing plan on your own and follow through. 

3) Make business planning a weekly event - Planning is vital if you want a healthy, growing business. Business planning lets you take stock of what worked and what didn't work, and helps you set new directions or adjust old goals. So why do it just once a year or once a quarter? Set aside time each week to review, adjust, and look forward - or even better, make business planning a part of each day. Not only will this help you avoid costly mistakes and stay on track, but you'll feel more focused and relaxed.

4) Learn something new - What you choose to learn may be directly related to your business or completely unrelated. Learning something new will add to your skills and add a new dimension of interest to your life - another important part of achieving a healthy work-life balance. Depending on how you choose to learn, you may meet new and interesting people, who may become customers, colleagues, or friends. How will you find the time to learn something new? By delegating, remember?

5) Join a new business organisation or networking group - There's nothing like talking to other business people for sparking new ideas, refining old ones, and making contacts. Whether it's a group specifically designed for networking or an organization dedicated to a particular type of business, in person or over the 'Net, making the effort to be a part of a group will revitalize you and your business.

6) Give something back to your community - There are all kinds of worthy organisations that make a difference in your community. Make a New Year's resolution to find a cause that matters to you, and give what you can. Make this the year that you serve on a committee, be a mentor, volunteer, or make regular donations to the groups in your community that try to make the place you live a better place. And those that give get. 

7) Put time for you on your calendar - In Schedule Time for You, recharge and refresh yourself; a healthy work-life balance demands time out. All work and no play is a recipe for mental and physical disaster. So if you have trouble freeing up time to do the things you enjoy, write time regularly into your schedule to "meet with yourself" and stick to that commitment. If you won't invest in yourself, who will?

8) Set realistic goals - Goal setting is a valuable habit - if the goals lead to success rather than distress. Make a New Year's resolution that the goals you set will be goals that are achievable, rather than unrealistic pipe dreams that are so far out of reach they only lead to frustration. If you have trouble setting realistic goals.

9) Don't make do; get a new one - Is there a piece of equipment in your office that's interfering with your success or something that you lack that's making your working life harder? Whether it's an old fax machine that's a pain to use, or the need for a new employee to lighten your work load, make a New Year's resolution to stop putting off getting what you need. The irritation of making do just isn't worth it.

10) Drop what's not working for you and move on - All products aren't going to be super sellers, all sales methods aren't going to work for everyone, and all suppliers or contractors aren't going to be ideally suited to your business. If a technique or a product or a business relationship isn't working for you, stop using it. Don't invest a lot of energy into trying to make the unworkable workable. Move on. Something better will turn up.

Achieving a healthy work-life balance is like maintaining a good relationship; you have to keep working on it. But if you apply these New Year's resolutions throughout the year, your success is guaranteed!

We're also interested in hearing what your New Year's resolutions are?!

That's all for this week folks, and we wish you all a fantastic 2015!

What's Floating Around Cloud 9? 22 December 2014

Merry Christmas 

from all of the team here at

Please note that the office is now closed until Monday 6 January 2015

For urgent or venue enquiries during this time, please contact 07774 741883

What's Floating Around Cloud 9? 15 December 2014

Welcome to another week and its our last full week of the year before the team here at Cloud 9 Towers take a well earned rest over the Christmas season.

Its been a busy old year and we've welcomed some lovely new clients to our company, run conferences and awards in various UK locations and abroad, booked all sorts of venues for all sorts of events, attended a variety of trade shows, exhibited at a couple of shows, been on some amazing fam trips and industry parties, expanded the team, and held a couple of open days in addition to welcoming a raft of visitors. 

We would like to thank everyone we've worked with this year, and whilst we are still around for the remainder of the week, the team will be calling time on 2014 this Friday.

You will still be able to contact us via email and mobiles for the duration of the Christmas holidays though, before we come back raring to go on Monday 5 January 2015.

2015, who would have thought it!?

So what of next year, and what as an industry can we expect? Well, these are certainly exciting times. The rate of technology change is accelerating with thousands of ideas, apps and innovations bubbling up to help meeting planners, exhibitors, venues and other meeting participants to do their jobs better.

Mobile apps for events have become mainstream and it seems the trend will continue to grow in 2015. 

Now, nearly everyone, including technology laggards, is carrying around a smart phone. Mobile use at events has exploded and mobile event app providers are expanding and refining the options. Much of the development has focused on replacing existing processes such as replacing paper event programs, agendas, attendee lists exhibition guides, and/or course notes, replacing the need for keypad polling and paper surveys and replacing directional signage and program maps.

Additionally, event apps have offered improved means of on site social media networking, group or targeted alerts and announcements, improved peer-peer messaging, appointment making and business contact exchange, networking and social media engagement.

 
However, mobile event apps are not just about improving existing processes. They can be about providing entirely new services including tracking trends and delivering vital analytics such as identifying the top speakers, the best attended stands, crowd flow and influences at conferences and events.

Free Wi-Fi is the most desired hotel in-room amenity. With hundreds of mobile event apps now available, Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity have become the lifeblood of event communications. This has not been without challenges, with hotels and other event venues scrambling to keep up with the exploding demand.

The good news is that the technology exists to provide very high-density, high-speed Wi-Fi connectivity to large groups – and many facilities are starting to catch up! Planners are increasingly examining venues’ abilities to provide good quality, easy-to-use, and reasonably priced Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity as key factors in making venue purchase decisions.

In the meantime, the larger the event (especially large tradeshows), the more likely that attendees will experience less than ideal Wi-Fi connectivity. In two to three years, as venues digest the “bulge in the snake” of Wi-Fi demand, this will be less of an issue.

The transition from “attendee” to “participant” will continue.The combination of social media and mobile technology has provided a wide range of attendee engagement options. The entire dynamic of meetings is changing; instead of “top-down” it is “bottom-up.”   Instead of attendees passively sitting at event watching a talking head, meeting participants are demanding a greater say and expect active engagement. This is playing out in several ways including social media apps, used to recruit and engage participants before the events, during and after events.

Additionally,highly mobilized social media tools (Twitter, Instagram, Vine, YouTube and others) are seeing strong use during many events, and certainly we have noticed that at any media related event, a speciality of our, a live Twitter feed is a must. 

Another trend for 2015 is that meeting designers are moving away from passive theatre-style seating to alternate room sets to facilitate discussion and participation and delegates at events are now expecting personalised communication and choices tailored to their desires.

A bit more worrying for the industry though is that attention spans will continue to decrease! Human knowledge is doubling every year and the rate is accelerating rapidly . We are awash in information. The world’s body of information is at our fingertips and available 24/7 wherever we go. We are barraged with hundreds of marketing messages daily and receive hundreds of email/text messages as well. 100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute! As we desperately try to multi-task to keep up, many of us feel overwhelmed.

One of the results is decreasing attention spans that are changing how events are marketed, managed and experienced. Shorter presentation times are being scheduled (the15-minute TED talk style is becoming more prominent), more interactivity during sessions and more audience engagement tools are required. 

Images need to play a prominent role in articles, blogs, website postings, event promotional materials and computer presentations (a picture is worth a thousand words). 

Short video is the new language of the internet – more powerful than pictures and far more powerful than text. A good video can be worth a thousand pictures! 

Finally, despite the increased use of virtual meetings technology, face to face meetings and trade shows will remain an important part of the industry.  In today’s multi- tasking and often distracting work environment, attention spans are short. Thirty to forty-five minutes is usually the maximum you can expect someone to pay attention to a webinar while sitting in front of a monitor.

Meetings, on the other hand, take people to a more focused environment with fewer distractions. As long as attendees are informed, entertained and fed, event hosts can keep them engaged for days. At the minimum, we share a social contract to at least look like we are paying attention at an event. The opportunities for networking, brainstorming, and relationship building are usually far greater at face-to-face events than online. 

For an exhibitor, it is often the best way to meet so many qualified buyers in such a short time. For buyers, it is a great chance to meet vendors of interest – all together in one location, categorised and mapped for your choosing.

Meetings provide a vastly richer, more targeted, and more focused learning experience than nearly any virtual meeting. To put it succinctly, there is no such thing as a “virtual beer!” 

These are just a few of whirlwind of changes coming, and one thing is for sure, 2015 is going to be a whirlwind of a year for Cloud 9!

Have a great week and please remember the office will be closed from Friday until Monday 5 January.

During the festive period, please call 07774 741883 for any urgent or venue enquiries.

Enjoy! 

What's Floating Around Cloud 9? 8 December 2014

Welcome to another week and tomorrow we're holding a Christmas Open Day here at Cloud 9 Towers for some of our contacts from the various hotels and venues with whom we work. Whilst we are always (usually) ready to welcome visitors as its important to keep up to date with developments and news from the industry, sometimes, getting them all together is great fun and tomorrow should be no exception.

Our Mince Pie, Mulled Wine and Merriment Mash Up (well open day sounded a bit dull!) will be a great excuse to welcome some of our favourite people to the office and collectively update the team in a fun and informal way. 

 

We are incredibly lucky here that most of the lovely people who come to see us here are usually bearing all sorts of nice treats including cakes, chocolate (Shannon's favourite), biscuits and even the odd bottle of plonk (Paula's favourite), so its nice for us to be able to give a little something back.

We're planning to do this with a giant advent calendar competition and behind each of the 25 windows will be a different prize - it might be a brussle sprout, it might be a bottle of bubbly! Who knows who'll be lucky!

Do look out for photos and tweets from the day which we'll be running tomorrow @Cloud9em and #Cloud9Christmas! 

Of course if you have already made it through to this point in December without an advent calendar, then you might be able to pick one up at a discounted price given we're a third of the way through the traditional advent period! 

Gone are the days of opening a door on a piece of cardboard to find a Christmas wish or a festive character waiting behind it. Even half-melted chocolate treats lurking behind the numbered door doesn't seem to be enough these days. The more luxurious and unusual the better!

Traditional cardboard nativity scenes have made way for calendars shaped like Christmas Trees and carved wooden Santas and although there are hundreds of different ones to pick, hopefully you like some of our selection.

The 12 Beers of Christmas is a n eclectic mix of craft beers created by award winning UK Microbreweries delivered in an exclusive Christmas Tree Box. Ideal for anyone who enjoys a glass of quality ale brewed by one of Britain's independent microbrewers. The beers in this collection are all limited edition. All have been approved by the Best of British Beer tasting panel and the pack includes beers such as Crafty Dan, Runaway Brewery, Pale Ale, Lancaster Blonde and Tickety Brew Dubbel. Available via Not on the Highstreet.

Not everyone likes beer though, so how about this rather incredible, if somewhat pricey, Vodka Advent Calendar?  What’s better than a daily dose of vodka to spread some warmth in your veins? Plus, they come in tiny little bottles that

will make your soul really happy. Also available in whiskey, gin and cognac formats.

With everything from Whiskey Advent Calendars to Cocktail Calendars available, there is certainly a wide choice of tipples and toddy's to be had! However, nothing beats a good cuppa (we get through an incredible amount of tea bags here at Cloud 9 Towers) so what could be better than this!

The perfect countdown for tea lovers, this Advent Christmas Tea Gift Set features 25 individually wrapped tea bags, ranging from English breakfast and Earl Grey, to lemon & ginger, peppermint and Kenyan tea.  If only we could find a biscuit advent calendar to go with it and we would be sorted!

 

Now, if you have £12k knocking around, you could try a very special calendar which is new for 2014. Wedgwood has created the Advent House; an exceptional piece guaranteed to add excitement and build joyous anticipation during the countdown to Christmas.

Handcrafted in the UK, the Advent House is laser cut to imitate the refined look and graceful lines of Georgian architecture before being painted in alabaster and iconic Wedgwood blue. A delightful Wedgwood blue and white Jasper ware porcelain ornament can be discovered behind each window, 24 in total, each presented in an individually numbered pouch. The house’s rear doors open fully to allow safe storage of the ornaments before they are unveiled during advent. This truly captivating treasure trove is full of seasonal cheer and is sure to earn its place as a family heirloom of the future to be enjoyed by all, year after year. Just 3 limited edition Advent Houses have been made are are only available from Harrods and Wedgwood.

 

If you are budget is a little more realistic though, this is  the gift that gets sweeter every day! The Benefit Advent calendar is filled with 24 mini beauty treasures. Open the sweet shoppe doors to reveal a Benefit bestseller or surprise gift. It’s never been more fun to countdown to gorgeous. 

Overall though, the best one we have found this year comes from good old Markle & Sparkle! The 24 Advent Candle Gift set not only looks great, would be a classy addition to any home and is also much more reasonably priced than many of the others we've found and we might just get one in the sale now!  

So take advent-age of the date and grab yourself an advent calendar, we will be here we can assure you!

In other news this weeks, its time to remind you all that entries for the inaugural CHS Awards remain open until the New Year.

People love a good awards do, and the opportunity to shout about their achievements.

Awards provide recognition for a job well done, an incredibly important marketing and PR platform and perhaps most vital of all, the opportunity for new business through the showcase that the awards provide.

This will be a key factor in the CHS Awards, with the shortlist being announced at the Show in March 2015, and  with engagement from agents irrespective of size or structure, allow  any venue no matter whether independent, academic, or even those with the tiniest marketing budgets a chance to compete on a level playing field. For more information, please take a look at the CHS Awards website or call one of the team here on 0115 9333811.

Have a great week!

What's Floating Around Cloud 9? 1 December 2014

Welcome to another week and we hope you have all opened your advent calendars this morning! Yes, the countdown to the big day officially starts today and here at Cloud 9 Towers, in between our busy schedule, we're starting to think all things festive!

With Christmas Cards to organise for clients, parties to plan (& attend!) and the holidays looming, thank goodness for the odd mince pie and mug of mulled wine to see us through.

Which leads us nicely in our topic for this week, promotional products - and not just those for Christmas, but items that come in handy throughout the year.

As an agency we are very lucky to be bestowed with all sorts of promotional items from the many hotels and venues who visit us, or we encounter at trade shows, be in mugs, highlighters, desk pads, mouse mats, key rings, pens, calendars, memory sticks, rulers, post it notes, pads, books or even in the case of Apex Hotels, the legendary ducks!

Whilst we don't quite have a full set just yet, we are certainly on our way to claiming the elusive Wally, Earl and Bobby (Apex Hotels please take note!).

The overall Promotional Merchandise marketplace back in 2010 in the UK was estimated to be worth £722million, down from the £1billion marketplace the industry had in 2008, and whilst we haven't been able to find any more current estimates of the value from this this or even last year, we're fairly sure its probably back up and even exceeding the £1billion mark (to be honest we didn't search that hard!).

But just what makes a great promotional item and how do you do something different that will ensure the longevity of your brand in every day use? Especially if you have a set budget and want to ensure that you are investing in the right items.

Companies like Eco Incentives bring a fresh approach to promotional merchandise,

supplying promotional items and business gifts that are ecologically sound and environmentally aware. Corporate Social Responsibility is high on the agenda, with many organisations having environmental targets to meet. Eco Incentives make it a simple one-stop shop, with promotional products made from recycled, organic, sustainable or ethically sourced materials.However, not everyone will appreciate a plant you have to grow yourself, and the practicalities of some items will be lost on those who don't have a particularly green approach to promotional products.

Housed in a listed building in the centre of Leicester and a stone’s throw away from the main railway station, Extravaganza,  work with both UK and International Companies on unique promotional solutions and have something like 25,000 different items available making it almost impossible to choose! We have all seen stress balls and certainly in the last few years a variety of shapes have started to emerge, but we don't think we have ever come across the stress slice of cake. It looks uncannily like the real thing, so much so it makes us hungry. The stress slice of cake is fragranced and smells great.Mmmm!

Gordon Glenister, Director General of the BPMA, wrote an interesting insight into the UK promotional market, including buying trends, how your target audience can get an ROI on your merchandise and the future of the sector. He also delivered a valuable lesson about the best promotional item he had ever seen. "I went to Internet World over 10 years ago, and picked up what looked like a block of wood with a hole around the top. The company promoted it was Commission Junction an affiliate marketing provider. Their caption was “Sales Arriving Daily” Any clues now. Well it was a steam train whistle. Do I use it every day of course not, but Ive kept and showed it to thousands of people over the years. And that's an important point, don’t forget what I call viral merchandise – conversational products."

It seems really clear that whatever investment you do make in promotional items, you have to make sure that people keep them, talk about them and in this day and age of social media, really take your products to task.

We do wonder just who has the delightful job of organising rebrands and the recent Q Hotels acquisition of some of the DeVere Hotels must be a challenge in terms of branding.

Six of the UK’s leading golf hotels has changed hands following an agreement by Sankaty Advisors to acquire De Vere Hotels. It is believed that the American investment company has paid around £160m for the portfolio, which includes Cameron House on Lock Lomond, Slaley Hall in Northumberland, Oulton Hall, near Leeds, Belton Woods, near Grantham and Dunston Hall, near Ipswich.

QHotels, of which we are big fans here at Cloud 9, operates 21 four-star hotels across the UK, including the Midland in Manchester and Queens in Leeds, as well as a number of golf resorts such as the Forest Pines hotel and golf resort near Brigg, Lincolnshire. With the 6 additional hotels now within the portfolio, and plans for the DeVere name to be eradicated, its certainly going to be an interesting time in terms of branding, and just what will happen to all of the DeVere promotional items left over during the handover? 

Someones store cupboard will certainly be a little full - or maybe the items will become collectables and we'll be seeing them on Ebay! Either way, interesting times! 

Have a great week!

 

 

What's Floating Around Cloud 9? 24 November 2014

Welcome to yet another week at Cloud 9.

As always, it's a busy week ahead. but we thought we'd give you an insight of what exactly Rubina and Shannon got up to in EIBTM last week. For those of you who are true Cloud 9 supporters will already know all about EIBTM, but for those who aren't (!)... 


EIBTM is the leading global event for the meetings and events industry, taking place in the award winning business and tourism destination of Barcelona. The event gathers over 15,000 industry professionals for three days of focused access to a dynamic business environment, thought provoking professional education and business networks. 

EIBTM not only provides networking opportunities during its exhibition hours; After exhibition hours, networking and business go on as meeting professionals connect in different ambiences. 


As hosted buyers, Rubina and Shannon were lucky enough to be spoilt by Accor and Moulden Marketing. After a long, tiring, insightful day Tuesday, Rubina attended the Pullman Skipper party at ’The ‘Le Club’. On arrival they were welcomed with a drinks reception, but once you headed in to the club, you was instantly thrown back in to the 50’s. With everything from a vintage Cadillac to a swing band – Accor got it spot on once again. Even the ladies were treated to a mini hair treatment with some local senoritas giving the girls classic up do’s that fitted with the theme of the party.

We can’t wait to see what the 2015 Accor party has in store!

However on Wednesday after the exhibition, Shannon attended Moulden Marketing's exclusive evening event at Barca del Salamanca where Catalan Tapas, local wines and meat/fish platters were served. 

The evening was attended by around 40 buyers/guests and a number of Moulden Marketing's partner co-hosts which included the likes of ConferenceWise Group, Dublin Convention Bureau, Korea MICE, Accor, Martins Hotels, Camden Court Hotel and many more. Needless to say, we were extremely well looked after and Shannon has now decided to go on an eating strike for the next couple of weeks! 

Additionally, Shannon joined Moulden Marketing on their familiarisation trip to explore the beautiful city of Madrid and what they have to offer for the industry. 

The trip included an overnight stay in the Hotel Auditorium and AC Palacio de Retiro, dining at the La Posada de la Villa, Hotel Santo Mauro and El Corral de la Moreria and activities such as an iPad Challenge around the city, watching the Flamenco Show and site visits of a number of great venues.

To conclude, we'd like to give a massive thank you to both Accor and Moulden Marketing for giving us the opportunity. Also in a result of attending the EIBTM we would highly recommend anyone within the meetings and incentives industry to attend next year, but don't be confused as they have now changed the name to IBTM World.

That's all for this week folks, enjoy!