‘Take the organiser view’ is oft repeated advice, but to what extent should a venue adopt an organiser’s perspective, and what can they expect to gain from it? CN goes East to find out
At the start of its £2.2m refurbishment programme in 2015, the East of England Arena and Events Centre (EEAEC) invited clients to view its plans and designs in a series of meetings and open days.
Anglian Water, which holds 20 conferences and events at the Arena every year, was one key contributor, as Carol Primmet, Anglian Water events manager, explains: “We were invited to view the refurbishment plans both at a special event and then through high-level meetings. We were able to suggest detailed changes to give the plans greater organiser appeal, from the layout and features of the conference facilities to the interior décor and lighting. To see our suggestions not only taken seriously, but implemented, was a revelation.”
Dean Rees, business development manager at EEAEC, is a former organiser himself and says: “The advice and feedback we received led us to substantive changes to our plans and, thanks to clients like Anglian Water, we have succeeded in creating the versatile event spaces it and other organisers crave.”
The major building works are complete, with upgrades to digital and facilities infrastructure still in the pipeline.
Last year the venue entered into a three-year, £4.4m partnership with Amadeus, part of the NEC group, to provide catering and hospitality services for conferences and other indoor events.
The venue has also invested in people, with new recruits last year including Ryan Moroney, previously head of ExCeL Venue Services Development in London. He now leads the venue team and managed all operational procedures in 2017.
Primmet is keen to highlight the importance of good customer service, too. “The level of customer service and dedication shown by the venue ops team now makes delivery of our conferences easier as we only have to focus on the content, confident in the knowledge that everything will be in place, on time and on target.”
“When you hold this many events a year,” said Primett, “you need more than simply a venue, you need an organisation that listens to advice, gives good advice in return, and treats you as a partner, rather than purely a paying customer. The EEAEC has demonstrated it can do all this.”
Organiser view – Carol Primett
“It is important to work with a venue to deliver sustainable events. Discussion with caterers about provenance of food, local suppliers, and healthy eating is essential. EEAEC’s team is also very responsive to any unplanned changes.”
And the biggest typical venue ’turn offs’ for Anglian Water’s Primett?
- Event space that is inflexible and only suited to a dining experience rather than a business requirement
- Inflexibility to new ideas and being met with a negative response as opposed to a ‘can do’ attitude.
- Being fitted into a box. It is important to achieve delegate engagement, and to create conferences which look and feel different for the delegate as soon as they approach.
- Prominent and multiple venue signage and branding which compromises our approach to clean, fresh branding and diminishes first impressions of our delegates
- Bottled water! Time for venues to embrace sustainable practices and reduce use of single use bottles.
