2013 Meeting offers for Birmingham City Centre

Conference Aston have two fantastic offers for your 2013 conferences, meetings and events when booking either Aston Business School Conference Centre & Hotel or the Lakeside Centre in the New Year...

32 Hour Meeting Package: £150 including VAT

New for 2013, we've listened to your feedback and created a brand new meeting package which combines a residential and day delegate package to give you even better value for money!

32 Hour Package includes:

Overnight accommodation

Full English breakfast

Sandwich lunch on both days

Dinner in the Courtyard Restaurant

Unlimited tea, coffee and biscuits

Main meeting room

Meeting room stationery including flipchart, pens and paper

LCD projector and screen, and mic/PA if required

Free WiFi and includes car parking

Free Syndicate Room with your Day Meeting Packages

Book your day meetings with Conference Aston and we'll give you a syndicate room, absolutely free.

If your meeting is for 10-30 delegates, you'll get one free syndicate

Meetings of 31-70 benefit from two free syndicate rooms

Meetings of 71+ will benefit from three free syndicate rooms

Day Meeting Package includes:

Main meeting room,

Three course buffet lunch in our restaurant

Unlimited tea, coffee and biscuits

Meeting room stationery including flipchart, pens and paper

LCD projector and screen, and mic/PA if required

Free WiFi internet access

Special offers are available for brand new bookings received from 19/12/12 only,

for events taking place from 2nd January 2013 to 31st March 2013

The small print:

32 Hour Rate is inclusive of 20% VAT

32 Hour Rate subject to minimum numbers of 15

All offers are subject to availability

Cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotion or offer

Only valid for new bookings made from 19th December 2012

Events must take place between 02/01/13 - 31/03/13 to benefit from offers

Free Syndicate offer is subject to minimum numbers of 10.

An exclusive insight into how specialist venues are embracing opportunities, and tackling challenges ready for 2013

 

Conference Centres of Excellence is the only sales and marketing consortium in the UK with a wide range of dedicated meeting, training and conference centres.

Our 33 members include many of the country’s most respected providers, enabling us to reveal a comprehensive and up to the minute insight into industry trends as we look towards 2013.

Investment

Recognising the importance of an outstanding quality of facilities, our venues are continuing to invest with plans in 2013 for major refurbishment programmes, adding bedrooms and increasing capacity and flexibility of meeting space, ensuring that their facilities remain at the very forefront of meeting and event requirements.  

Our venues are consistently improving their venues, with major capital investment for substantial projects, and amongst this they never overlook the smaller details. For example, with trials of furniture to ensure all-day comfort of delegates currently taking place at Conference Aston.

See more details of some of the venues undergoing continued improvement projects in 2013:

• Wyboston Lakes, Bedfordshire
• Cotswold Conference Centre, Midlands
• Maple House, Birmingham
• Ashorne Hill, Warwickshire
• Conference Aston, Birmingham

Technology

Heavy investment in technology and continued improvement to Wi-Fi/ AV capacity opens up opportunities for internet based events where connectivity is vital to success.  With the rise of streaming, twitter feed boards and twitterfalls, contribution from ‘virtual attendees’ or ‘virtual speakers’ can bring added benefit to those on-site event delegates, and widening the audience.

All Conference Centres of Excellence venues offer free Wi-Fi to delegates but many go much further, with greatly increased capacity allowing reliable, consistent, fast broadband with a dedicated secure connection for individual events.

This has been demonstrated at several of our venues, including the award winning Wyboston Lakes. Please click for further details:

• Wyboston Lakes, Bedfordshire
• The Beardmore, Glasgow 
• Stirling Management Centre, Stirling

Quality Standards

Despite continuing pressure on rates -  the majority of event organisers are facing the challenge of ‘doing more for less’ – our venues remain focused on offering the best possible service and driving standards up.

The majority of Conference Centres of Excellence members have embraced BDRC Continental’s VenueVerdict, demonstrating their commitment to quality by having their service standards independently audited.  At the end of Q3 2012, 7 of the CCE portfolio had achieved VenueVerdict’s Gold Standard Accreditation, given only to those venues delivering consistently excellent meeting experiences over a twelve month period.

For a selection of other awards and achievements across the group:

• Cotswold Conference Centre, Midlands
• Wyboston Lakes, Bedfordshire
• Maple House, Birmingham
• Stirling Management Centre, Stirling
• Nottingham Conference Centre, Midlands
• EEF Venues, London, Bristol and Warwickshire

Anthony Lishman, Executive Director of Conference Centres of Excellence commented:
“2012 was a fabulous year for events and whether you believe that the various spectacles put the UK in a very positive spotlight or were just welcome distractions, it means that 2013 can only benefit from UK Plc getting back to business and ultimately that means more meetings, training and events.
Certainly enquiry levels are significantly ahead of last year at this time, so customers are already investigating and budgeting for more events in 2013 / 14. Whether that is training to support an increase in employment, up-skilling the existing workforce, or larger and more frequent company communication meetings –the forecast is looking good for occupancy levels.“

2012 sees award wins for Wyboston Lakes

HBAA Venue Award

In September, Wyboston Lakes won the HBAA Venue IT Award 2012 for its investment and development in technology over the last year. A major contributor to this success was that, in the spring of this year, the company doubled the strength of its broadband service to 200 mbps, believed to be by some way the most powerful available in any specialist conference venue in the UK. 

The improved broadband facility has brought a completely reliable Wi-Fi service in all working, residential and rest areas, which is free to all conference clients and delegates.  The system also opens up new horizons for internet based events. It is a benefit that is already producing some dramatic results for clients. 

A recent nationwide survey of event organisers by a leading conference magazine highlights that the biggest area of dissatisfaction with venues is the lack of availability of free Wi-Fi. But that’s not a concern of Wyboston Lakes customers, who are reaping the benefits of the venue’s sector leading broadband system. E2BN, the Regional Broadband Consortium for the East of England, recently held an event at the venue which specified that more than 800 devices would need to be connected to the internet concurrently.

E2BN is one of ten consortia set up by the Government to help raise standards in teaching and learning by the use of broadband technology. It used the Wyboston Lakes Executive Centre for a three-day event for more than 450 guests from across the educational sector and dozens more representatives of relevant suppliers. The event used the centre’s main lounge and two large marquees, with guests and exhibitors receiving and responding to a wide range of information on their laptops and i-phones. “Clearly, the reliability, consistency and speed of Wyboston Lakes broadband system contributed in a very useful way to our message about how effective IT can enhance education,” said E2BN’s Val Mogridge. 

Three awards at MIA List event 

Wyboston Lakes has achieved an unmatched three awards at the recent MIA List event, which recognises exceptional achievements by staff working in the meetings and events sector. Operations Director Barry Stonham and Executive Chef Fergus Martin both won places on the coveted MIA List, while Barry also received a special ‘Lifetime Achievement’ award.

The MIA (Meetings Industry Association) List is an annual event which selects ten people from across the meetings sector who have made outstanding contributions to their own organisation and to the sector in general. At the awards event, held at BMA House in London on Monday 19 March, Wyboston Lakes was the only venue to achieve more than one person on the List.

Business events can identify growth opportunities from the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement today

Business Visits & Events Partnership Chairman, Michael Hirst OBE, has highlighted some of the opportunities for the business tourism and events market in today’s Autumn Statement from Chancellor George Osborne. 

“The Chancellor’s Statement is thankfully not all about Autumn leaves falling as UK growth forecasts drop and reduction in debt remain stubbornly high. There are some practical measures which should over time benefit Britain’s businesses and consequently buoy their commercial activities in many cases leading to greater use of events to disseminate information, communicate brand messages and show-off their products and services.

And what is good for business is good for business tourism.

These measures in the Autumn Statement include a +25% increase in budget for UKTI, an organisation that the events sector is already actively building strong relationships with to add further value to the trade, inward investment and export potential our industry promotes at conferences and trade shows. There’s also to be an additional investment of £30 million in the GREAT programme, in which the Events Sector already has a stake alongside the promotion of creativity, innovation, culture, music and sport together with the iconic attractions of Britain’s tourism offerings.

The additional money made available for Local Enterprise Partnerships should also help our destination partners where marketing of event venues and services is so critical to their success and strengthens one of Britain for Event’s objectives to highlight the benefits of events in local communities. There is also more money pledged for sport which should manifest itself in more sporting events too.

Investment

Another £600 million investment in scientific research, on top of the £300 million already provided earlier in the year plus support for Aerospace, Advance Manufacturing and Exports should help boost events in these sectors and strengthen the knowledge economy on which Association events so heavily depend. 

Reductions in corporate taxes and increases in business investment allowances should incentivise business growth – always good news for business events and potentially encourage more international businesses to locate themselves in the UK growing the potential domestic market base.

Investments in road and rail infrastructure and the dropping of the intended three pence additional fuel duty in January will be valuable too in improving communications with key business destination where conference and exhibition venues depend upon ease of access to attract delegates and attendees. 

Of course there’s some disappointment that there are no direct responses to industry pleas on VAT reductions and Air Passenger Duty but if Britain’s businesses can feel that some of the measures will give them a more competitive playing field then ultimately the business visits and events sector will be one of the key beneficiaries as those very businesses step up their commercial activities through the use of events”.

Business Growth

These changes create the right environment for business growth, and which event related organisation’s could use to their advantage to bring growth to the industry.

We’ve no doubt that there will be many in the industry that will not be pleased by much of the content from today’s address, however It is the role of the BVEP to take a long look at announcements of these kind and work with our partner associations to provide positive recognition of the measures that may help their businesses.

To find out more about Conference Centres of  Excellence and British Visits & Events Partnership visit our website: http://www.cceonline.co.uk/about_cce/Links

Conference Aston - Achieve the mark of quality in the UK’s second city

Conference Aston, Birmingham city centre’s premier portfolio of award winning conference, hotel and event venues is celebrating after a recent double achievement for quality.

The organisation is proud to offer one of Birmingham’s greenest venues, having being re-accredited with British Standard ISO14001 in November 2012 for a sustainable, integrated environmental management system. The team are also celebrating after gaining recognition as an exceptional organisation by being awarded the Investors in People bronze level, placing it within the top 4% of accredited organisations, nationally.

Investors in People helps organisations improve by enabling transformation through valuing their people and charting the company’s progress through their effective management, training and leadership.

Marketing Manager, Paul Bunce, said: 'As a business, everything we do involves bringing people together, whether it’s for a meeting or a night in the hotel to visit friends in Birmingham, we exist to develop relationships personally and professionally and our team are instrumental in this, helping us to stand out and show that the physical facilities can be anywhere, but the team at the heart of our brand remain unique to Conference Aston.'

Conference Aston have recently announced the appointment of Sodexo Prestige, also accredited with Investors in People, to work in partnership with the venues to manage the provision of catering, cleaning and housekeeping services within the business; the focus moving forward aims to develop joint initiatives to further the existing awards.

Flexible Meeting Venues in the heart of the city

Set in and around Birmingham City Centre, the venues are ideally placed to take advantage of the city’s vibrant shopping, arts and culture, nightlife and restaurants. Conference Aston offers two purpose built conference, hotel and event venues with 30 fully-equipped conference and meeting rooms accommodating up to 235 delegates and 162 stylish ensuite bedrooms.

Both of the venues are located on the Aston University campus, minutes from three mainline rail stations and junction 6 of the M6. Conference Aston welcomes more than 54,000 people a year to Birmingham for training, residential conferences, for weddings and to stay in its high quality hotel facilities and on site campus accommodation.

The conference centres and hotel are located on the campus of Aston University, which is a long established research-led university known for its world-class teaching quality and strong links to industry, government and commerce. As a subsidiary company of the University, all surplus revenues are invested into teaching and research.

From lakeside settings to contemporary, urban chic, the venues are purpose built and offer the perfect central location for a variety of residential and non-residential events including large conferences, meetings, training courses, exhibitions, banqueting and a host of other corporate events, all with the latest technology, onsite car parking and free WiFi throughout.

Aston Business School Conference Centre and Hotel

Aston Business School Conference Centre and Hotel is the flagship year round venue within Conference Aston. The venue is Birmingham’s largest dedicated residential conference centre with 24 conference and meeting rooms accommodating up to 235 delegates, banqueting for up to 260 and 162 stylish ensuite bedrooms.

The Lakeside Centre

The Lakeside Centre offers a non-residential conference and banqueting venue, available year round, with six air conditioned suites for conferences, exhibitions, product launches and corporate entertainment for up to 200 guests or over 400 when the venue is used exclusively.

Aston Business School Conference Centre and Hotel, and the Lakeside Centre operate as part of Aston University’s commercial services, providing dedicated, purpose built conference centres.

800 Ensuite Bedrooms Available Outside of Term Time

Alongside the two dedicated commercial conference centres, from July to September when Aston University students return home for the summer, Conference Aston offer the University’s teaching and accommodation facilities for large association conferences, international education programmes and other large scale events.

During this period, there are an additional 800 ensuite bedrooms, dining areas and over 50 syndicate rooms, conference suites and lecture theatres available, with the University’s Great Hall seating 650.

Access Routes

The venues offers great road, rail and air links.

There are three mainline rail stations within walking distance: Birmingham New Street, Snow Hill and Moor Street.

The venues are a mere 9 miles from Birmingham Airport and a taxi journey should take approximately 20-30 minutes dependent on traffic.

There are also trains from Birmingham International station to Birmingham New Street (approximately 5-10 minutes journey time).

Royal invite for Møller Centre Executive Education team

As part of the celebrations for 2012 Queen’s Award winners, Gillian Secrett (CEO, The Møller Centre) and Mark Carberry (Global Programme Director, Møller Centre Executive Education) attended a reception at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday.

They both had the opportunity to talk with members of the Royal family including Her Majesty the Queen, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, HRH The Earl of Wessex and network with other Queen’s award winners as well as Business Secretary Vince Cable.

The Møller Centre, based at Churchill College, University of Cambridge was awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise: International Trade for outstanding achievement over the last three years delivering Executive Education.  The Centre offers world class facilities and educational programmes delivered to a wide range of clients in the corporate, public and professional service sectors under the Royal Charter of Churchill College.  Today, over 40% of clients are from overseas markets, with earnings from Executive Education increasing by 90% last year.

The quality and proven success of the programmes, combine academic and practitioner-based learning for international business leaders particularly in the corporate, banking and healthcare sectors.

Gillian Secrett, CEO of The Møller Centre commented: “We were delighted and honored to be present at the reception and to have the opportunity to talk with members of the Royal family who were very encouraging of the impact of our work in the international arena”.

The  Møller Centre

The award-winning Møller Centre is situated in 42 acres of parkland. Within walking distance of Cambridge city centre, the stunning architecture, flooded with natural light, provides an inspiring, productive, learning/working environment. All meeting rooms are air-conditioned and equipped with state of the art AV equipment, supported by on-site technicians. Outstanding service is a customer promise and superb cuisine meets cultural or dietary needs. Free WiFi access throughout.

For more information please contact pr@cceonline.co.uk or call us on 0845 230 1416.

Planning ahead for January?

Why not cheer your colleagues up in January by taking advantage of our special January packages? 

Kents Hill Park are are adding bacon rolls on arrival and upgrading mints to chocolates in the meeting rooms on their day delegate and 24 hour packages throughout January, to make the dark winter days brighter!

Prices start from £29+ vat day delegate rate and £109 + vat 24 hour. 

Our packages have everything you need for your event including Wi-Fi and unlimited tea and coffee from our delegate refreshment bar in Swallow house.

Kents Hill Park is a dedicated training and conference centre set in a peaceful location yet within easy access to key road (M1 J13/14), rail and airport networks.

Wtih over 70 meeting rooms and 330 bedrooms combined with our onsite AV Production Team to assist in event production, conference organisers can be assured of a successful event.  Delegates have use of our extensive leisure facilities throughout their stay.

17m indoor swimming pool, steam room, sauna, Jacuzzi, fully equipped gymnasium, two squash courts, large sports hall for badminton, five a-side football, short tennis, exercise classes and a beauty treatment room.

To find out the full package inclusions and to check for availability, please contact us on 0845 230 1416 or info@cceonline.co.uk 

Terms and conditions apply.

Wi-Fi Technology - Safeguard the security and success of your event

With the recent launches of 4G and the ipad mini hitting the headlines there can be no doubt that technology for the business world is changing and progressing faster than ever.

Conference Centres of Excellence venues have certainly noticed these changes in the meetings and event industry, where managing an increased level of connectivity requirements, and meeting a client’s technology needs are key to the success of an event.

The recent iBAHN whitepaper ‘Connectivity can make or break your conference or event – how can you plan a successful event and protect your ROI? offers meeting planners and venues new insights into managing event connectivity and planning for a successful event.

 ‘Office away from the office experience’

Conference delegates are increasingly likely to carry two, three or more devices and will require sufficient bandwidth to get them all connected during the event. Today’s delegate wants to have the same level of fast, secure access to presentation content as they do to their work and leisure content during their downtime . Being effective and productive whilst away from the office, safe in the knowledge that their content (both personal and professional) is secure and protected, is part of the ‘office away from the office’ experience.

‘Event Connectivity’

The rise in hybrid or blended events is also increasing the need for venues to facilitate growing connectivity demands. Combined requirements such as linking delegates online, sharing live content, streaming video and using social media to engage with the audience beyond the physical venues all add to the overall Event Connectivity requirements.

Conference Centres of Excellence venues recognise the importance of applying the same dedicated event planning process to event connectivity and network requirements, as they do to more traditional aspects such as room layout, dining styles,  special dietary requirements, , and variety of accommodation needs.  

Katharine Armstrong, Sales Manager of the Hotline Sales Team commented: “Our member venues achieve the highest level of professional standards in the meetings and event industry and this extends to providing a fast, secure and stable Wi-Fi network for all events. Our sales team understands that every client has different requirements and having the correct provisions for these can make or break an event. Keeping ahead of technology changes and the impact on the industry is vital for our venues to maintain the excellent quality standards and consistent levels of service.” 

For More information contact: info@cceonline.co.uk or call 0845 230 1416 

www.cceonline.co.uk 

Investing in successful events

When you are looking to run training courses or events that rely heavily on the internet, you need the peace of mind that the connection is going to be fast, reliable and secure. 

This is why at Kents Hill Park Training and Conference Centre we have installed 2 ADSL lines that we can rout to individual meeting rooms. Fast enough to be able to cope with up to 40 users at a time; your company gets its own username and password, ensuring only your delegates have access. All you need to do is let us know you will require it at the time of enquiry and as long as the lines are free, we will do all the rest for you. The best thing is it is still part of our standard package; just another one of the many advantages of running events at Kents Hill Park.

Research has shown creating the right environment is essential to running a successful event. To keep your delegates alert all the way through your event we have a light, spacious coffee lounge, that has just had a makeover. Newly upholstered furniture and cushions in contrasting colours keep the energy flowing even on the dullest day!

Health and Fitness Club

We also know how important it is to be able to relax and unwind after a hard day’s work and how a good work out can really energize you in the morning. Which why, when everyone else was watching the Olympics, we refurbished our Health and Fitness Club.   We have changed the decoration to be bright and invigorating, completely redesigned our free weight and floor area, put up new flat screen TV’s and even had TV’s installed in some of our cardio vascular equipment, so your workout will fly by.

As a dedicated training and conference venue, our focus is always on our corporate guests. The investments we have made, and continue to make, are all based on conversations we have with our clients and industry experts about what is important for productive and successful events.

For more information please contact us on 0845 230 1416 or email info@cceonline.co.uk

Special Offers for the Festive Season!

We've just had the first snowfall in parts of the country so it's definitely time to finalise the Christmas Party plans.

 If you have been putting off booking your Christmas Party this year, why not combine your next meeting with a festive Christmas lunch or dinner?

Once your meeting or business event is over, put on your party hats and sample some of the finest food in the meetings and event industry (as demonstrated in our recent Chefs Challenge Competition!).

Conference Centres of  Excellence venues are offering a variety of Christmas Packages, from special day delegate rates of £25 per person, to free mince pies and party crackers. Our Christmas Packages will finish off your business event in excellent festive style.

For more information about Christmas packages and special offers, call us today on 0845 230 1416, email info@cceonline.co.uk or visit the special offers on our website http://www.cceonline.co.uk/Special-Offer

High 5!!!

Maple House is celebrating 5 great years in Birmingham...so we're giving you 50% off your next booking of over 50 delegates.

Maple House - Birmingham's brightest and most stylish meeting and conference venue is 5 years old and there are lots of reasons why 5 really seems to be our magic number....

5 years of award winning service

5 major venues awards.

5 minutes from all Birmingham's main line train stations

5 minutes from the motorway network

5 highly skilled event specialists to deal with your enquiries

AND.....

Join us at Maple House to celebrate 5 great years in Birmingham on December 5th from 5pm.

Take 5 minutes to pick up the phone and discuss our 50% offer in more detail or to book a showround.

Call our hotline today on 0845 230 1416 or e-mail info@cceonline.co.uk

*small print*

Offer applies to new bookings made after this promotion was launched (Thursday November 1st  2012).  Offer applies to bookings of 50 delegates or more which will then qualify for a 50% reduction in the usual rate of £62 plus VAT.  Events need to take place by Friday March 1st 2013.

Warwick Conferences harnesses future industry talent

Warwick Conferences has teamed up with Stratford-upon-Avon College to offer six youngsters an exclusive year-long apprenticeship at its collection of training and conference venues. 

Following a stringent assessment day at Coventry and Warwickshire-based Warwick Conferences, six out of sixty applicants were specially selected by a panel of interviewees to work in various roles within the organisation for an entire year. 

Three of the apprentices selected will carry out a chef apprenticeship where they will work in the kitchens under the head chefs whilst receiving mentoring from executive development chef Graham Crump. The other three will take it in turns to work in each department of the business, including housekeeping, reception, restaurant, conference assistance and kitchen. 

Warwick Conferences Scarman

The apprentices will work four days per week at Warwick Conferences’ Arden, Scarman and Radcliffe venues, and their fifth day will be spent at Stratford College working towards their NVQ.

Richard Harrison, General Manager at Warwick Conferences comments: “We are very proud to be working in partnership with Stratford-upon-Avon College in our new practical apprenticeship scheme.

 “We wanted to offer young people a bespoke, applied, hands-on and genuinely life-changing opportunity where they spend a year building on their knowledge of the meetings and conference industry, developing their skills, and preparing themselves for the world of work.
“Apprentices are hugely important to our industry and, as a collection of leading meetings and events venues in the UK, we feel it is our responsibility to encourage and harness this future talent.
“Our people are at the heart of our business and well-trained front of house teams and chefs are critical to the success of the service that we offer. The quality of this scheme certainly reflects this.”

Peter Young, the Curriculum Area Manager for Employer Responsive at Stratford-upon-Avon College said: “We are delighted to be working with Warwick Conferences on this project.

“Both organisations have outstanding reputations in this field and the young people involved will receive excellent training, both in the workplace and at college.
“This project is a prime example of the benefits of Apprenticeships where formal training is combined with training by an employer to produce people with skill sets that, not only match an employer’s needs, but provide a first class base for developing their careers.”

Chefs Challenge Competition and Awards Dinner 2012

Warwick Conferences Scarman hosted the 14th annual Conference Centres of Excellence/IACC Chefs Challenge Competition on Saturday 27th October 2012.  

The event invites chefs who work in any of the nationwide Conference Centres of Excellence or IACC centres to take part in a cook-off competition at nearby Stratford Upon Avon College, where their skills are put to the test with specific criteria for their menu.  This year, the chefs had to prepare a 3 course meal suitable for a banquet, using certain cuts of lamb for their main course.  

The competition again included a Food Service Skills award, to encourage food service staff to take part and support their chef colleague, competing for their own best service skills award and the Chairman’s award for best team.

For Conference Centres of Excellence this event is an additional component to their strategy of continuous quality assurance and is a great opportunity to recognise the achievements of their members’ chefs and a celebration of exceptional food.

Anthony Lishman Conference Centres of Excellences Executive Director said “Our venues pride themselves on having the highest professional standards in the meetings and events industry, and this extends across all aspects of dining and food service. We’re pleased to have this opportunity for the incredibly talented chefs to showcase their abilities in consistently creating appetising and flavoursome food, which not only meets the needs of customers in a working environment, but also delights and enhances their overall experience during their stay.”

The competition has proved to be a stepping stone for young chefs to go on to higher profile competitions nationwide and is endorsed by the British Culinary Federation.  Each Chef receives a certificate and one year’s free membership of the BCF.

This year, the event was opened wider to include members of IACC Europe, so we were delighted that a chef from the Dolce Sitges Hotel & Conference Centre in Barcelona was shortlisted, as well as two chefs from Scotland.  

The Awards Dinner
Hosted by Andrew Taylor, Competition Chairman and Food & Beverage Manager from Warwick Conferences Scarman, the awards dinner was attended by 120 guests from CCE/IACC member centres, including a number of the conference industry’s leading figures.

A raffle also took place during the Awards Dinner, raising £850 for the “Meeting Industry Meeting Needs” charity.

The Winners

http://www.cceonline.co.uk/news/News/Chefs_Challenge_2012 Visit our website for a full list of winners in each award category, and details of the winning menu (photos coming soon!).

There's still time to book your meeting space for 2012...

The clocks are changing this weekend, giving us all an extra bit of time. Time to book that last minute meeting space or training event, or time to start planning next year's event.

Whatever your goals, our venue-finding team offers a free service. We will discuss all of your requirements, and prepare a proposal within just a couple of hours - saving you even more time...and money.

Our venue-finding team have first-hand knowledge of every venue that makes up Conference Centres of Excellence, and experience of what makes the perfect event, every time.

Members of Conference Centres of Excellence are required to maintain the highest professional standards in the meetings industry, which ensures an exemplary quality of service and facilities.

• All our rates are clearly stated, all-inclusive with no hidden extras.. guaranteed.
• Flexible, value-for-money deals that truly reflect your needs
• From town and city centres to peaceful countryside venues, residential or non residential
• Our 33 member venues offer a range of stunning traditional venues, to modern purpose built centres
• From the south east of england to Scotland

Some of our venues have late availability and special offers throughout November and December, so contact us today to let our venue-finding team find your perfect venue.

Visit http://www.cceonline.co.uk/Special-Offers or call us on 0845 230 1416.

Cotswold Conference Centre Claims Tourism Awards

Cotswold Conference Centre continued its amazing year of awards after winning one category and being highly commended in a second at the Worcestershire Welcome Awards.

The ceremony, held on Thursday night at Sixways Stadium, saw the best businesses from across Worcestershire come together to celebrate the county’s visitor attractions and tourism industry.

Cotswold Conference Centre – part of the Farncombe group of businesses, near Broadway – won the Business Tourism Award for the second year in a row and was also highly commended in the Sustainable Tourism category.

The event was organised by Destination Worcestershire and each finalist was selected on the basis of customer nominations. 

Nick Vincent, Chief Executive at the Three Counties Showground, judged the Business Tourism category.

He said: “I was particularly impressed with the website, facilities, policy of supporting and promoting local suppliers and the external methods of obtaining customer feedback. I had no idea Cotswold Conference Centre also won this award last year.”

Cotswold Conference Centre is a modern meeting, training and teambuilding venue. It holds dozens of conferences each year and also plays host to Farncombe Courses, which offers a wide range of leisure and activity weekends. 

Richard Howdle, operations manager at Cotswold Conference Centre, said: “It’s been an incredible year for us, winning numerous awards at local, regional and national levels.

Lesley Stretch, Rachael Buttery and Debbie Sarjant collecting their awards

“The staff are rightly very proud of these accolades. As well as a morale boost, entering these categories is one of the ways that we constantly strive to maintain and drive up our performance by looking to improve each year.” 

Cotswold Conference Centre has won four other prestigious awards in 2012, including the Visit England Award for Excellence, which recognised it as the best business tourism venue in the UK.

The three other titles were the Green Tourism Business Scheme (GTBS) highlighting the centre’s commitment to sustainability, the Cotswold Tourism award venue of the year and the VenueVerdict Gold Standard for outstanding customer service.

The business is situated on the 320-acre Farncombe Estate between Cheltenham and Stratford-upon-Avon. 

For more information visit http://www.cceonline.co.uk/our_venues/our-venues/Cotswold_Conference_Centre or call us on 0845 230 1416

Autumn Meeting Offers at The Manor House

With autumn in full swing, we've put together some enticing new offers to tempt you. We love them and hope that you'll "Fall" for them too.


Flexible, no charge cancellations

Book a full day package or residential package so your meeting takes place before 31st March 2013 and you'll be able to cancel up to two delegates free of charge, any time up to two weeks before the day your meeting starts. On a typical two day residential course, that flexibility could save you up to £350!

Meeting price match

If you've found just the right meeting package but would rather be at the Manor House, let us know and we'll match it like for like.* We'll even honour our no charge cancellation policy, making this the best deal ever.

The Manor House

An atmospheric venue, professional staff and excellent facilities combine at The Manor House to create a unique business environment.

Eleven meeting rooms range from the small and intimate to airy and spacious, each with its own character and fully equipped. The tranquil setting offers fabulous views across the surrounding countryside yet The Manor House is very accessible, just 12 miles from M25 (junc 10, A3), 45 minutes from London Waterloo by train and under an hour from Heathrow and Gatwick.

* For us to price match, you must provide us with a valid written quotation for an identical offering at a similar quality venue in the Surrey area. The Manor House reserves the right not to match the price based on location and package details. If you're unsure whether your quote qualifies, talk to us - you've nothing to lose!

To check availability or discuss your requirements call us on 0845 230 1414 or email info@cceonline.co.uk 

For more information about our venues and other special offers visit our website www.cceonline.co.uk

Annual Chefs Challenge Competition

The Annual Chefs Challenge Competition is now in it's fourteenth year. The competition is open to any chef who works within Conference Centres of Excellence venues or whose centre is a registered member of the International Association of Conference Centres and will be judged by a panel of invited professionals from the hospitality industry. 

This year we have received more entrants than ever before.The original entries will be shortlisted and the 12 successful finalists will be invited to a cook off where the best tasting and best presented meal will be decided. Awards will then be presented to winners in a number of different categories including; overall best tasting meal, best main dish, starter and dessert. There is also a special award for the chef who demonstrated the best hygiene practices on the day.

With high quality service levels becoming increasingly important, the competition now incorporates a service element, where food service staff can enter to work alongside the chefs to compete for such awards as best service skills and the chairman’s award for best team.

Anthony Lishman Conference Centres of Excellences Executive Director said “ Chefs in our venues are seriously talented people who work hard to create interesting and appropriate menus for those attending training, events and conferences and as such their focus needs to be on providing a variety of interesting and tasty food that recognises the fact that most of our customers stay for long periods of time at our venues, this obviously includes healthy eating options but also food that can be consumed in a working environment and dishes that are an aid to learning in that they support the individuals concentration levels”

Quality Assurance

For Conference Centres of Excellence this event is an additional component to their strategy of continuous quality assurance and is a great opportunity to recognise the achievements of their members’ chefs and a celebration of exceptional food.



For the first time this year we have also opened entries up to members of IACC Europe and are delighted that Sebastién Lothore from Dolce Hotel and Conference Centre Sitges, Barcelona has been shortlisted as a finalist.

The full list of finalists are

• Neil Astbury from the Royal College of Physicians – who will be accompanied by Valentina Coffetti for the Food Service Skills Award
• Steven Bates from Imago at Burleigh Court – who will be accompanied by Rebecca Wade for the Food Service Skills Award
• Sarah Beardmore from Woodland Grange
• Rob Budd from The Manor House
• Jennifer Goff from Maple House, etc Venues
• Sebastién Lothore from Dolce Hotel and Conference Centre Sitges SL, Barcelona – our first IACC Europe entry
• Lisa Morris from Ashorne Hill
• Alan Read from the Kavli Royal Society International Centre, Chicheley Hall
• Ian Steele from the Beardmore Hotel and Conference Centre
• John Tack from The Móller Centre – who will be accompanied by Piotr Zdulski for the Food Service Skills Award
• Raymond Thomson from the Stirling Management Centre – who will be accompanied by Peter Tedford for the Food Service Skills Award
• Claire Willett from Wyboston Lakes – who will be accompanied by Steven Whitehead for the Food Service Skills Award

The competition will be held during the day on Saturday 27th October 2012. Competitors have three hours to produce a three course meal that would be suitable for an end of conference dinner for a large group.





In the evening Scarman Training and Conference Centre holds the awards ceremony where the winners are announced.

For more information please contact pr@cceonline.co.uk or contact us on 0845 230 1416.

Optimise learning outcomes in dedicated training environments

Conference Centres of Excellence, the UK’s largest consortium of dedicated conference and training centres, believes that the effectiveness of training events carried out in dedicated environments is increased by between 10% and 15% compared to non-specialist venues. 

With over 20 years of experience in the training venue sector, Conference Centres of Excellence has explored this belief in ongoing dialogue between the consortium and its 33 members, who include many of the country’s most prominent specialist venues, several of which also offer their own management training courses.

“In a traditional training event held in a specialist venue, we believe that there is a benefit of an additional 10-15% in retained learning –  which is a significant benefit  to people productivity or individual performance back in the work place,” says Anthony Lishman, Executive Director of Conference Centres of Excellence: “For the trainer and for delegates, a dedicated venue brings focus and absence of distraction, services and facilities dedicated to communications, and support staff who understand the challenge  – all of which optimise the learning outcomes, and in turn success of the event.”

Conference Centres of Excellence currently has 33 members, which include many of the country’s most respected providers. All member venues provide facilities and staff dedicated to the process of communications and learning.

Conference Centres of Excellence will be attending the World of Learning Conference and Exhibition, where we can discuss your venue requirements and how our dedicated environments can benefit your training results.

Representatives from three member venues - Wyboston Lakes Executive Centre, imago at Burleigh Court, and Kents Hill Park Conference and Training Centre will also be in attendance.

Wyboston Lakes, imago at Burleigh Court and Kents Hill Park

Click now to register for your free place, and visit us on Stand F130.

Conference Centres of Excellence provides a free, focused venue-finding service for organisers of training events and meetings. The hotline provides ‘one-stop-shop’ guidance on facilities, availability and rates for all member venues. The service can be contacted on 0845 230 1414, email info@cceonline.co.uk. The consortium’s website www.cceonline.co.uk includes extensive information on all members.

imago Filmed for Google's 'Business Photos' Feature

Loughborough based imago is one of the first UK businesses to be filmed for Google’s brand new ‘business photos’ feature. 

Expanding on its current ‘street view’ mode, Google will offer 360-degree tours inside a number of businesses and venues.

Chris Jones, on behalf of Google

Four star conference centre Burleigh Court and The Link hotel were the first venues in Leicestershire to be visited by Google, building on imago’s ‘virtual tours’ which are a new feature on its own website.

Emma Boynton, Head of Marketing and Sales at imago, said: “It’s very exciting to be involved in Google’s latest innovation at such an early stage. The internet has become a very important tool for searching and selecting venues in the hotel and conference industry – I’m sure that the added option of seeing inside the venue will assist potential clients in finding the perfect setting for their event.” 

imago Burleigh Court

Burleigh Court is one of the Midlands largest 4-Star accredited residential conference and training centres. Facilities include 225 quality bedrooms including executive suites, 26 top specification training rooms, equipped with the latest audio-visual equipment, a versatile exhibition area, superb restaurant and private dining room.

Burleigh Court is proud to be Mobility 3 accredited, boasting some of the most accessible facilities in the region.

Ideally located in the Midlands, one mile from the M1 and 8 miles from East Midlands Airport.

For bookings and more information on imago Burleigh Court call the Conference Centres of Excellence Hotline 0845 230 1414 or email info@cceonline.co.uk

You are invited to Missenden Abbey's Open Evening!

We would like to invite you to come and see us here at Missenden Abbey during our Open Evening, and receive 10% discount on bookings that are confirmed and have taken place by 11th January 2013. 

September 25th 2012 4.30pm to 7.30pm 

All our facilities will be open for you to explore and understand what we do at the Abbey and how we can help you with any future training, conference or meeting needs. 

Not only will you be able to view all of our meeting rooms and historic Abbey, you will also be able to sample our delicious food, enjoy live music and experience our team building activities with Morale Solutions, as well as our professional leadership courses with Instal. 

Missenden Abbey Conference Centre

Combining historical atmosphere, modern conference facilities and first class hospitality, this fine 12th Century Abbey is located in the heart of Buckinghamshire and surrounded by 10 acres of spectacular grounds.

Missenden Abbey Conference Centre is perfect for residential training, day meetings, corporate events, private dining, Wedding Receptions, Barbeques, Christmas parties and much more.

Only 30 miles from London, with excellent rail links direct to Marylebone, just 20 minutes from the M40, M4, M25.

We look forward to meeting you! 

Call our hotline now on 0845 230 1414 to register or email info@cceonline.co.uk for more information.

Half Term Incentive at Engineers House, Bristol

It's all back to business this month, but Half Term is coming soon.  Get ahead of the pack with our latest incentive. 

24th October - 2nd November - get 5 free delegate places

We're offering 5 free delegate places on all new bookings of 30 delegates or more, between the 24th October and 2nd November.

We know the pressure is on to keep your costs down and your productivity up, so we're keeping our offers rolling on the dates that you need.  We've put together this special package around the Half Term week, and we know that places will go fast.

Expect warm Bristol hospitality from the exceptional team at Engineers’ House. Quality is assured with AIM accredited facilities for up to 170 delegates and a prime location just 3 miles from Bristol Temple Meads train station and minutes from the M4 and M5.

For more information or to check availability contact the hotline on 0845 230 1414 or info@cceonline.co.uk.

Events Industry takes its case to Westminster

Britain For Events Parliamentary Reception

The UK events industry was out in force at the Britain For Events Parliamentary Reception held at the House of Commons on 5th September 2012, with a core message that events in Britain are critical to the growth and well-being of local communities and destinations.

The meeting was addressed by Nick De Bois MP, Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group For Events, Michael Hirst, Chairman of the Business Visits & Events Partnership and James Berresford, CEO, VisitEngland. All spoke about the contribution both business and cultural events make to driving the economy, growing employment and trade, creating inward investment and regenerating destinations and their impact on community cohesion.

During the presentation Nick De Bois spoke of the positive characteristics of the events sector and the need for the industry to respond positively to the Government agenda on job creation and apprenticeships. James Berresford said that VisitEngland had a key focus to work closely with destination management organisations to grow business tourism.

Michael Hirst concluded: "It was very important to get the message out within Westminster that "events shape communities and communities make events". I am hopeful more MPs and Local Government leaders will recognise the importance of this message and get behind the industry."

Anthony Lishman, Executive Director of Conference Centres of Excellence attended the briefing and commented:

“The Summer of sport and jubilee celebrations have been a resounding success, the world’s attention on our country and what we can deliver will have a benefit that will not be insignificant. The business visits and events community must ensure that the feel good factor reaches out to the rest of the country with additional marketing support and recognition, after all those that are credited with making the games such as success, the organisers, athletes and games makers came from all over the UK and their legacy should be one that benefits all areas of Great Britain, not just London and the South East. We will watch with interest the future actions of the national tourism bodies VisitBritain England Wales and Scotland”  

For more information about the event visit Conference Centres of Excellence or contact pr@cceonline.co.uk

Warwick Conferences 'All-Inclusive' Package

In the interests of transparency and ensuring value for money, Warwick Conferences are offering their all encompassing day delegate package from only £35 pp*!

In a bid to satisfy all your event needs, the ‘ALL-INCLUSIVE’ package is exactly that, and stacks up as follows: 

For all your meeting needs:

Warwick Conferences Scarman House

• Main meeting room 
• 1 Syndicate room for every 10 delegates 
• Extensive AV equipment including 
• Laptop 
• LCD Projector 
• Speakers 
• Microphone 
• Flipcharts 
• Lectern 
• Telephone 
• Free Wi-Fi for all delegates 
• Free stationery 
• Water cooler 

For all your catering needs: 

• Unlimited refreshments including 
• Tea and Coffee 
• Juices 
• Cold drinks 
• Biscuits 
• Pastries 
• Cakes 
• Fruit 
• Nuts and seeds 
• Extensive 3-course buffet lunch 

For all your planning needs: 

• Dedicated, on-site Event Manager, available pre, during and post-event 
• Conference and technical assistants on-hand throughout your event 

For all your leisure needs: 

• Access to exercise room on site 
• Extensive sports facilities just a short walk away 
• Complimentary car parking 

For more information on Special Offers and Late Availability, contact us today quoting ‘All-Inclusive’ on 0845 230 1414 or at info@cceonline.co.uk

*Subject to availability. Normal terms and conditions apply.

Special Offers from The Manor House, Surrey

Remember, remember - book meetings 'til November!

If you book your meeting at The Manor House before the end of September and it takes place before the end of November, you can enjoy a full day package for just £35 plus VAT per delegate. 

The Manor House, Surrey

Or stay overnight and benefit from a residential package for only £135 plus VAT per delegate. For shorter meetings, you can meet for half a day for just £28 plus VAT per delegate or in the morning or afternoon at a special price of £18 plus VAT per delegate.

p.s. don't delay! These rates are only available until 30th September and include everything you need to run a successful meeting. You won't find any hidden extras on any of your bills! Contact us today to discuss your meeting requirements.

Travel on Sunday, Fresh on Monday

If you're coming to a meeting at The Manor House on Monday, or want to beat the Monday morning rush to get here, why not arrive the night before? You can get a great night's sleep in a comfy bed and avoid the nightmare of stop start traffic. 

The special price is £75 including VAT and yummy full English breakfast.

*All prices quoted are subject to VAT at the current rate. This offer is subject to availability and must be mentioned at the time of enquiry.

To check availability or discuss your requirements call us on 0845 230 1414 or email info@cceonline.co.uk