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.