'A partnership approach improved

outcomes all round'

Lord's cricket ground - inspirational and good value

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Katie Burnetts looks at two events where a small budget went a long way

For Coachmatch, a consultancy that claims to work to harness the power and potential of delegates’ collective brilliance, finding

a venue is as challenging as matching the right coach to the team. Budget is an issue as the needs of the teams vary – but they must get from the coaching days what they need.

“Our approach to budgeting is to

identify the client’s desired business outcome, then to assess venue need in each area,” says Ben Thomas, Coachmatch’s operations director. “We select the best value solution in each area that meets the client need.”

Having visited several venues for this event, Coachmatch realised it needed to find an inspirational space that could deliver best value.

Budget too is assessed according to the clients’ objectives. “For catering we may decide between an expensive sit-down lunch versus a less expensive finger-food buffet,” explains Thomas. “On this occasion we opted for the buffet, which met the need more effectively and at better value than the sit-down meal. The lunch was quick, light and not too disruptive of the day’s meeting.

“Lord’s was able to fulfill our brief for the day whilst comfortably meeting budgetary expectations,” adds Thomas. “When supporting senior business teams, it’s not about compromise, it’s about being clear about what you are looking to achieve and spending the right amount of money to accomplish it.”

Client relationship manager at Coachmatch, Pauline Muldoon, was delighted by the short time it took Lord’s to grasp what was required.

“Not only does Lords’ prestigious history give the venue great resonance, but the events team was really able to work with us to accommodate the requirements of the team’s agenda. On this occasion, that meant ensuring flexible space for both formal and more informal sessions, breakout areas and separate space for refreshments, allowing the team to enjoy some time to socialise away from their work areas.”

Thomas concluded: “What was vital was the venue team engaging in that consultative process to really understand the client’s needs and proposing the best value solution from the options available. And that meant avoiding the heavy-handed, off-putting and automatic ‘upsell’ to options which were not right and inappropriate to the objectives of the event. This enabled a proper partnership approach with well-formed business relationships and improved outcomes all round.”

Value solutionsThe event: Leadership coaching for a top 10 global financial services brandParticipants: 23 senior delegates for one day of team coaching from executive coach David Sole, ex-captain of Scotland’s international rugby teamVenue: The Media Centre at Lord’s Cricket Ground (Grayston Room)Approximate budget: 23 delegates at £68 per head

Ben Thomas Coachmatch

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Belinda Blakeney, The Association of Science Education director of conferences, approached Nottingham Conferences

with her event enquiry in 2007 at the Academic Venue Show. She was duly invited by sales manager Shelley Garden to visit the site at The University of Nottingham and took with her the event brief for the ASE’s Annual Conference, one of the largest science professional development events in the world.

“The Annual Conference is an event for science education delegates,” explains Blakeney. “We are a charitable association and run the conference as a service to our members and others from the world of science education who have chosen to come along. Therefore our budget does have a limit and compromises do have to be made.”

Nottingham Conferences met the brief’s criteria for prestige, smaller meeting rooms, laboratories, flexible working hours for staff and offered a good range of the required facilities. However, something that wasn’t readily available was 3,000 sqm of central space which, for Blakeney, was

imperative. “We really wanted to work with Nottingham Conferences and they naturally wanted the business, so when we encountered this obstacle we didn’t decide to take our event elsewhere – we compromised.”

The venue resolved the problem by erecting two marquees next to the main meeting rooms. The addition didn’t take Blakeney out of her budget, not least because other compromises were made.

Both Shelley Garden and Heather Reid from Nottingham Conferences sat on an organising committee set up as soon as the event was confirmed.

The team attended monthly meetings to discuss the progress of the event and attended the 2009 Annual Conference, held in Reading, where they exhibited Nottingham as the forthcoming destination and gained experience of the logistics of the event.

Blakeney speaks highly of Garden and Reid: “They were enthusiastic and helpful and showed willing across all stages of the planning process.

“One of the main budgetary concerns was the cost of add-ons. The standard overnight package was initially breakfast and a three-course meal, but we needed to negotiate on that. The venue reduced the cost for us, which was very helpful.”

The Annual Conference is an event which is held in the UK every year, but the ASE was so impressed with the success of their event at Nottingham Conferences and how they managed to accommodate all their needs, they might just make a return. “They have welcomed us and been very professional and we’re looking forward to coming back,” says Blakeney.

Judicious compromises meant obstacles were overcome and budgets met

The event: The Association of Science Education (ASE) Annual ConferenceParticipants: 3,000 delegates over three daysVenue: Nottingham Conferences (based at The University of Nottingham)

Belinda BlakeneyAssociation of ScienceEducation

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Lord's cricket ground - inspirational and good value

Winner of the Yorkshire Business Insider Award for

"Best New Venue in

Yorkshire 2010”

With a range of award winning venues across two campuses

Well Met Conferencing at Leeds Metropolitan University

is the perfect place to create an event to remember.

Rose Bowl

T: 0113 812 8555 E: conferences@leedsmet.ac.uk W: www.wellmetconferencing.com

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Stash the cashMeetings money-saving expert Paul Hussey, director of business development at BSI Meetings & Events, offers his top tips

1. Look at the bigger picture to effectively bring down rates. Negotiating a ‘cheap’ rate but then adding it all back on through ‘back door’ charges on extras will defeat the objective

2. Don’t fall for ‘added value’ items offered by a venue if you don’t need them. Use the added value items offered to re-negotiate for the items you do want instead. For instance, maybe not pastries on arrival but the inclusion of orange juice with lunch? Ask for jugs of water rather than bottled water

3. Mandate a policy but ensure that it is clearly communicated and articulated well

4. Peak day booking patterns vary around the country – be flexible where possible as a good agent will advise which days of the week to go for in which area

5. Control your meetings spend through preferred suppliers and, even better, make the most of converged spend – leverage your combined accommodation and meeting spend

6. Investigate the use of tools to optimise the use of a client’s internal meeting rooms before then booking preferred venues or others. BSI has delivered huge cost savings to clients in this area. For example, through optimising the use of internal meeting rooms, alongside effective system-led, pre-authorisation policy processes to control external meetings spend, Tesco has made a £3m meetings saving.

We’ve got a suitable venue for you

Our dedicated event management team, full conference support service and inhouse AV team will make sure your event goes like clockwork.

Our huge variety of venues, from a single university meeting room to our dedicated conference centre and hotel, means we have options for every

budget so for your next event try The University of Manchester.

To request our brochure telephone 0161 306 4100 or email: meeting@manchester.ac.uk

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