Who Let The Dogs Out…At Farncombe

New Teambuilding Course At  Farncombe Estate

Ever wanted to yell MUSH! while leading a team of husky dogs along a snowy wilderness trail?

Well now you don’t have to travel to the frozen Arctic, as Farncombe Conference Centre, near Broadway, has introduced a new half-day team-building experience with participants learning the expert skills needed to handle a dog sled travelling at speed. 

Sled dog adventure specialist Arctic Quest joins an impressive line-up of teambuilding providers at the centre which also offers a diverse range of course and experience days throughout the year. Corporate and other groups can enliven their events with cupcake decorating and sheep herding, street luging or sushi-making. 

Vickie Pullin, managing director at Arctic Quest said: “Working with huskies is the perfect 

team-building experience.  Along with the sled handler, the dogs instinctively work as a team and respond well to the necessary trust and respect needed to get from A to B.  Participants quickly develop a bond with the dogs, very much akin to colleagues working collaboratively as a team in the workplace.”

For those looking to unleash their adventurous spirit, in just half a day a ‘musher’ will gain a real sense of teamwork and understand what the dogs are really capable of.  That’s all while driving a dog sled across the rolling Cotswold hills.  The day rounds off with a gathering around a roaring fire along with everyone’s tales from the trail.  

Jilly Jones, marketing manager at Farncombe Conference Centre, added: “Arctic Quest and the husky experience is an exciting addition to the already varied team-building programme.  We look forward to welcoming to the centre all those intrepid Arctic adventurers out there.”  

Prime Minister Backs APPG Events Inquiry

Ahead of the launch this month of the 2014 Britain for Events campaign, the industry body and All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) Inquiry for events received endorsement from Prime Minster David Cameron for their ongoing promotion of business tourism in the UK.  

 

Mr. Cameron congratulated the campaign on its recent work with the APPG and subsequent report, having received a copy by APPG Chair Nick de Bois MP. 

 

In his letter, the Prime Minister wrote: “Business and events tourism represents an important and growing sector of our economy, so I do welcome the efforts of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Events for the publication of this Inquiry Report.”   

 

He continued: “The Government looks forward to working with the APPG for Events in the future and continues to recognise the significant work it performs in helping to attract world class business to our shores.” 

 

This follows the launch at International Confex of the Events are GREAT report, which revealed an increase in direct spend by event attendees of £3 billion since 2010 to £39.1 billion. 

 

Michael Hirst, campaign supporter and Chair of the Business Visits & Events Partnership comments: “The work the APPG inquiry and campaign have done over the last year has been great and receiving glowing recognition from the Prime Minister is deserved endorsement for their commitment to the events industry. Without doubt bringing the APPG together has been a great challenge but has shown that there is support and ambition out there from government for the development and continued growth of the events industry.”  

 

“It’s now up to the industry working in partnership with government to see through the various recommendations in the Inquiry report”.

 

The next eight months will see the Britain for Events campaign presence at the International Festival for Business in July and at its new creation, the National Events Month in October.  

 

Since publication of the APPG Inquiry, copies of the report were sent to the Prime Minister and other Government Ministers and government agencies. Secretaries of State were asked by the Prime Minister to outline their views on issues raised within the report as it affected their respective departments.  

Vince Cable Endorses Closer Business Trade Between UK & Ireland

On 9th April the Business Visits & Events Partnership (BVEP) was represented at a business meeting with Business Secretary Vince Cable, Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny and around 300 leading business industry professionals at Mansion House to discuss ongoing trade development between the two countries.

The event, hosted by the Lord Mayor Alderman Fiona Woolf CBE heard Cable and Kenny make speeches and field questions about trade links between the UK and Ireland.

Richard Foulkes, BVEP Vice-Chair asked Mr. Cable on behalf of the UK events industry to back the introduction of a Special Events Visa that will ease inbound overseas trade visits to the UK.

Foulkes asked: “Both Ireland and the United Kingdom have a robust and growing business tourism and events sector focussing on events conferences and trade shows. Does the business secretary support a more collaborative approach between Ireland and the UK including a special event visa to better leverage joint activity thereby mutually increasing overseas trade visitors to events conferences and trade shows and bring associated economic benefits?”

In response the Business Secretary said both countries “lose out” when industries work separately and that UK and Irish business links were massively important. Richard Foulkes, Vice-Chair of the BVEP added: “The business events community in the UK is asking the Home Office to introduce a Special Events Visa to help process business travellers to UK business events. It is hoped the Business Secretary will do everything to persuade the Home Office of the benefits of this to the UK economy and consider a scheme where there can be reciprocal and joint arrangements between Ireland and the UK on welcoming overseas trade visitors to both countries.” 

Foulkes continued: “With support from the minister and his positive response, the industry continues to head in the right direction – but it remains important for the events industry to be recognised by government as a major contributor to economic Growth in the UK.” 

Recently Tourism Ireland joined the BVEP through its business events marketing agency Meet in Ireland.

The Manor House wins Gold... Again!

The Manor House is delighted to have started 2014 with the award of another prestigious accreditation.

The Manor House received a VenueVerdict Gold Standard Accreditation for the first quarter of 2014 from BDRC Continental, who collect feedback to measure how likely the Manor House’s meetings customers are to recommend it. There are around 360 hotels and venues nationally who take part in the VenueVerdict scheme and of these only 29 got the net promoter score of +70 or more necessary to win the Gold Standard Accreditation. The Manor House is the only venue to achieve the award in the Surrey area.

“We're all delighted that the Manor House has received the VenueVerdict Gold Standard Accreditation for  the first quarter of 2014” says Centre Manager Howard Canning, who also points out that this is the ninth successive quarter that the Manor House has achieved Gold Standard Accreditation. "The BDRC Continental VenueVerdict Accreditation is a fantastic endorsement for new or potential customers. Customer feedback is independently measured and verified by BDRC Continental, so the Accreditation is an indication to any meeting booker that their peers are happy to recommend the Manor House’s meetings facilities and services. Customers are assured of a great experience.”

For more information please contact us on 0845 230 1414 or email info@cceonline.co.uk

Conference Centres of Excellence member venues continue to exceed customer expectations with a number of venues achieving BDRC Continental’s VenueVerdict Gold Standard Accreditation for Q1.

Conference Centres of Excellence is delighted that so many of our member venues have achieved the top level Gold Standard Accreditation, demonstrating that quality remains at the very core of their businesses and our consortiums desire to promote excellence across our industry.

Over 22,000 individual pieces of feedback were collated to determine the VenueVerdict Q1 results, providing a completely independent assessment of experience. In choosing a venue where customer feedback and in particular the ‘likelihood to recommend’ has been measured in this way, customers can rest assured that they are in safe hands.

Seven Conference Centres of Excellence member venues have achieved the BDRC Continental VenueVerdict Gold Standard Accreditation following ongoing assessment of customer feedback during the year from April 2013 to March 2014.

The Conference Centre of Excellence gold accredited venues are:

• Broadway House, London

• Farncombe Conference Centre, Cotswolds

• Engineers House, Bristol

• Woodland Grange, Warwickshire

• The Manor House, Surrey

• The Møller Centre, Cambridge

• The Beardmore Hotel and Conference Centre, Glasgow

Amanda Stacey, Marketing Manager of Conference Centres of Excellence commented:

“We use a number of quality criteria for our member venues, ensuring that they consistently provide excellent quality standards in terms of dedicated facilities, exceptional food, superior staff expertise, and overall event experience. As part of our quality assurance, BDRC Continental’s VenueVerdict provides independently gathered, genuine feedback from customers and once again we are delighted to have a number of venues achieving the Gold Standard.”

For more information please call us on 0845 230 1414 or email info@cceonline.co.uk

EEF Venues reports robust first quarter sales

EEF Venues’ first quarter trading results show a 12 per cent increase in sales revenue over YTD figures for the same period last year. The increased sales are right across the group’s three AIM-Gold accredited venues; Broadway House (Westminster), Engineers’ House (Bristol) and Woodland Grange (Leamington Spa). The double digit growth significantly surpasses UK GDP growth for the first quarter of 2014.

David Vaughton, director of venues for EEF Venues, said: ”We usually use GDP growth rate as a bench-mark as we find that improving performance and optimism in the manufacturing and construction industries can impact positively on the conference and venues market. To have out-performed British economic growth is beyond our expectations, and we predict similar success throughout our second quarter.”

David attributes the strong trading results to a combination of several factors. He explained: ”Increased corporate confidence, coupled with sharper and more proactive negotiating skills and better levels of engagement have all impacted positively on our results this quarter.”

Named ‘No 1 Small Group’ and ‘Best Value for Money Group’ in the BDRC VenueVerdict Awards earlier this year, EEF Venues reports these significant increases across multiple income streams including residential  and non-residential conference bookings.

Conference Centres of Excellence Goes Dutch

A group of 12 Directors and Managers from Conference Centres of Excellence and its member venues travelled to The Netherlands on a study tour from 13 – 16th April, visiting four unique conference venues.

The tour is the first time CCE has ventured to Europe for a formal study tour, having traditionally visited UK venues on a number of tours to share in the best practice and quality standards in the meetings and conference industry.

During their visit, the members visited Blooming Hotel (Bergen), Mooirivier (Dalfsen), De Ruwenberg (Sint-Michielsgestel) and Kapellerput (Heeze), all of which are members of ‘Meetings and More’ - an organisation similar to CCE which provides quality standard benchmarking delivering excellence to delegates.

The hosts from each venue spent considerable time with the visiting members discussing the similar challenges and opportunities faced by conference venues, including the changing expectations of the business delegate in today’s market.

 “This was a unique opportunity to understand and experience how our European counterparts are delivering excellence to their customers", commented Amanda Stacey, Marketing Manager at Conference Centres of Excellence.  "Our members are continually looking for ways to improve the delegate experience and seeing some of the innovation in The Netherlands has provided inspiration on many levels which we are excited to share amongst our peers.”

Conference Centres of Excellence will be sharing the findings of the study tour with their members during a presentation at the annual conference to be held in July.

For more information please contact marketing@cceonline.co.uk.