Fifty North East based academics and professionals who have helped bring £65m worth of conferences to the region were thanked with an exclusive dinner, 24 October, at The Sage Gateshead to celebrate 10 years of the NewcastleGateshead Conference Ambassador Programme (CAP).
The dinner was hosted by the bureau and supported by Benchmark Communications, an event management company based in the destination.
Gill Pilkington, Conference Development Manager at the bureau, heads up the CAP.
“NewcastleGateshead’s academic and business community, its leaders, influencers and key decisionmakers play a vital role in attracting high-profile conferences to North East England, raising their profile to clients and peers on a regional, national and often international scale,” she said.
“We decided to hold the dinner so we could give them the recognition they deserve, not only for showcasing to their colleagues around the world that their business is at the forefront of innovation, but also that NewcastleGateshead is a leading conference destination with a growing ambition.”
In the 10 years since it formed, the CAP has helped secure more than 120 events welcoming 37,000 delegates; it has grown from a standing start and reached 200 ambassadors within its first five years; it has continued to grow at an encouraging rate and now stands at almost 1,000 members.
The CAP concentrates on three central themes with specific focus on key areas of expertise: medical sciences, in particular stem cell biology, ageing and health; science and technology with a focus on marine and offshore energy, environment and sustainability; and culture and creative businesses.
Dr Pam Davies, Programme Director, School of Arts and Social Sciences at Northumbria University, was one of the ambassadors who attended the dinner. She worked with the bureau to secure the British Society of Criminology Annual Conference in July 2011 and said: “We could not have hosted such a major and hugely successful International Criminology Conference without the Convention Bureau’s fantastic professional support from start to finish.”
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