What's Floating Around 21 November 2016

Welcome to another week and we’re in interview mode here at Cloud 9 as the search for our Brand Ambassadors continues.

We’ve already appointed two great people, firstly with Fiona Marshall who is our Essex lady with a kiwi twist. With a varied career from photography to tractor sales since moving back home from New Zealand she has spent 10 years in the MICE industry building an extensive knowledge of events and overseas destinations. Travel is Fiona’s passion and she is equally at home with a backpack or butler service. Her fancy dress collection is second to none and although tone deaf loves nothing more than warbling her favourite 80’s classics to anyone who will listen!

Covering the South West and based in Bristol we have Liz Gadd. Liz has a twenty five year career in marketing, PR and events recruitment and was previously in PR and Marketing in the hotel industry.  An experienced sponsor of awards events (which is how Paula and Liz met!), Liz has organised over 1000 events in her career, spanning conferences, awards, team building events, exhibitions and seminars, both for her own businesses and her clients.  Alternative career choice would be…a dog walker!

So, two down and seven to go and although we’ve had over 300 applicants, we firmly believe that quality and not quantity counts so getting the right people to represent our brand is paramount.

We like to think we’re nice people here at Cloud 9 and not too intimidating but when you are on the lookout for great people, you have to try and get a real sense of the person you are interviewing. With this in mind we’ve been looking at some of the weirdest interviews online to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes and we certainly hope our candidates don’t behave in the same way! 

One fresh design graduate had had two interviews already at a leading fashion designer. Their business partner loved the portfolio, and they thought they had the job in the bag. Come the third interview, the designer’s husband, came in the room and asked one question: “What’s your star sign?” On hearing the answer, he walked out telling the graduate they couldn’t employ anyone with the same star sign as his wife!

Another candidate had already sailed through two interview and for the third informal one, was offered the opportunity to go to lunch at a top restaurant – which also went well – with a line manager. On returning from lunch, and feeling confident it was time to meet the Chief Executive. Pulling up a chair but releasing the height mechanism by accident, the chair flew up and hit him in the mouth, knocking out his two front teeth and leaving blood everywhere. The up side to this was that he did get the job! 

Our final horror story revolves around a candidate who went for a job interview at a large company in North London. Arriving on time, parking his car, he did some last-minute prep, and went in confidently to the interview. The interviewer’s office overlooked the car park and half way through he saw a tow truck taking his car away. Telling the interviewer that his car was being towed away, and looking for some sympathy, he expected her to suggest that the interview be suspended. Instead he was met with an icy cold response and decided then and there that he didn’t want to work for someone so ruthless.

So, that’s it for this week, have a good one and we look forward to introducing you to some new members of the Cloud 9 team soon…

What's Floating Around? 7 November 2016

Welcome to another week and our review of a latest trip to Londonderry Charlotte and Stella undertook - this is especially useful if you would like to plan ahead for a spooky and spectacular Halloween 2017.

We are well travelled here at Cloud 9 Towers, and last week we were lucky enough to be whisked away to the lovely Londonderry courtesy of Tourism Ireland and Visit Derry.

The trip included an exciting visit to the Jungle NI for a Fright Night experience we’ll probably never forget, and a tour of some of the great venues in Derry with the opportunity to view the beautiful celebrations in the evening.

We tried to take as many photo’s as we could during the weekend, so that we could make our weekly blog as interesting as possible for you!

The moment we said goodbye to the lovely Nottingham, with only a 50 minute flight from East Midlands Airport to Belfast City Airport, there is a wide range of airlines who offer this service, with talks of direct flights to Londonderry itself in the near future.

On landing we were whisked away to the Fright Night experience, and we don't have many photos from there - just squealing and screaming in videos.

But the Jungle NI doesn’t only provide Fright Night experiences, they also have Forest Segway’s, Archery, Clay Pigeon Shooting, Paintball, Llama Trekking (yes that is a thing!) and even more, they also have Glamping Pods available through-out the park, so the “camping really isn’t my thing” excuse isn’t going to work this time!  

The following day we were set for a busy day of site visits of some of the lovely venues in Derry, and were also presented with some equally lovely foods.

First stop was the beautiful and historical Guildhall, a beautiful venue which can cater for a wide variety of events, and the space will add a magical touch for your delegates.

Next was the Millennium Forum, a very versatile space which can hold up to as many as 1000 or as little as 250, with easily accessible break out areas, the world is your oyster with this venue.

St Columbs Hall was our next stop and with natural daylight in all of their rooms, the facilities at this venue have everything you need to bring your event to life.

The next stop was lunch at the Bishop Hotel, the spaces and bedrooms were beautiful and

classical and steeped in history and we can personally say that the food was fabulous!

With full bellies we made our way to the lovely Everglades Hotel, with impressive meetings and events space and the promise of more renovations to come, this is definitely a venue to keep in mind, they also supplied us with some amazing afternoon tea... and we did try our very best to squeeze some in.

Last on the list of visits was the Walled City Brewery, this is a great place for small groups to go at the end of a long day to wind down and to also taste some of the amazing homemade ales and beers, we definitely liked them!

After a busy day it was back to the hotel to get ready for the nights festivities, make up professionally done, outfits and wigs on, we were ready to go.

With a great view of the parade from the first floor of the City Hotel and to follow the beautiful parade was a lovely two course meal and a beautiful fireworks display from the roof.

Feeling well truly fed and watered for the day it was time to make our way through to the ball, with some spooky music and a good boogie to tie up the end of a great trip, Londonderry is definitely a destination we would recommend for your delegates.

That’s all from us for another week, we hoped you enjoyed What’s Floating Around Us this week!

What's Floating Around? 3 October 20016

Welcome to another week, and this week we wanted to share with you an amazing opportunity to visit India with Moulden Marketing.

We are well travelled here at Cloud 9 Towers, but this is a destination we have yet to explore!

Family and Friends Trip to Jaipur, India 4-11 December 2016

This is a programme which captures the famed textiles, jewellery, and artisan crafts around Jaipur, whilst sightseeing is not forgotten (yes, we can get to the Taj Mahal!).

We don’t often get one of these, this really isn’t a fam trip, not even a paid fam. No-one will ‘sell’ nor push you through a tightly packed programme of endless guided tours of monuments and hotels.   

A restful programme - your reward, and to unwind after yet another busy year.
This is a ‘family and friends‘ trip, you can bring your spouse, or other personal guests of choice, you can nominate colleague/s. 

This journey is weaved around Textile & Jewellery in Jaipur. The program starts in this capital of Rajasthan and all the activities are planned in & around this colourful city which has endless activities & highlights to offer. So the journey is blessed with no long drives and no frequent change of hotels!

Some activities:-

Elephant safari with exclusive breakfast, visit to Anokhi textile museum and meet the textiles artists in Anokhi Interactive session with artists in Bagroo along with hands on experience on block printing, meeting the jewellery artists in Amrapali & Surana Jewellery, spend a day in Rajasthani village & try your hands on Saree & turban tying sessions, explore the exquisite textile shops in Jaipur, attend a cooking class followed by a family dinner. 

This opportunity will admirably suit those curious about India but who may never have had the opportunity to visit, either as your core business doesn't or hasn't included this fascinating destination (yet!). Plus we offer a business reason for coming, should you materialise a group within the next 12 months. 

All costs, ground programme, flights, accommodation etc are listed on p7 of the itinerary here

We hope you have enjoyed this - 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!

What's Floating Around Cloud 9? 5 September 2016

Welcome to another week and it's time to tell you about our All Wrapped Up service for Christmas, so ask yourself?

Have You Booked Your Christmas Party yet?

Although the sun is shining and everyone is still in the summer mood, Christmas will be here before you know it.

Not only can we find you the perfect venue for your Christmas Party (completely for free), we can also deliver Christmas to your office or place of work with our “All Wrapped Up” Christmas service.

Catering, decorations, entertainment and all of the fun stuff you associate with Christmas can be delivered, discretely set up and designed to delight your staff – and we can even put a guard on the photocopier so that any and all pictures of bottoms remain un-copied and un-circulated! Our very own 'elf & safety officer will be yours for the duration.

If you would rather take Christmas to a hotel or venue locally, nationally or internationally then we can help with our free venue finding service – and please remember that we don’t charge for this, ever.

So get Christmas All Wrapped Up with Cloud 9 and make sure you call our very own Christmas Carol here at Cloud 9 on 0115 9333811 - and if you ask her nicely she might even sing you a carol or two....

In other news this week, its the Midlands Media Awards Judging, we're gearing up for the National Acute Pain Symposium next week, interviewing our Ambassadors, attending the Chamber Business Awards, securing multiple venues, launching Fresh, organising a couple of corporate hospitality days and helping with a special event at St Mary's to celebrate the success of the East Midlands Olympians in Rio so its just another week at Cloud 9 Towers! 

Enjoy everyone.