Conference Crusader

Marketing? It’s a piece of cake! - by Natasha Rahanu

2012-01-05T08:30:00.000Z

As those of you who know me are aware, as well as promoting the sale of delicious food all around the University care of our delivered catering, I’m no stranger to the inside of a kitchen myself.

My forte is desserts, specifically cakes (past triumphs have included an elephant lemon cake and a 3D train cake complete with carriages stuffed full of gummy bear passengers).

So the other weekend when I went to my niece’s (Imogen, or Immy for short) fourth birthday party and my sister asked me to make the cake I was only too happy to oblige. Little did I know at this point that the design of the cake was to be a scaled down version of the gym in which the party was taking place!

Anyway, following a day spent with Immy watching films and making things out of paper and glitter, at 5pm I started on the cake, finally finishing at 2am the morning of the party!

Cake or gym - which is which?!

It was all worth it when Immy saw the cake but to top it off, shortly after we arrived at the gym, the manager approached me and asked for my permission to put a photo of the cake on their website as part of their promotional campaign for parties.

Oh okay... one square apple pie coming up!

My first conference as a delegate! - by Natalie Ruecroft

2011-12-15T11:53:00.000Z

November 2nd-4th 2011 saw me attend my first Venuemasters conference (also my first ever conference!) in the beautiful, but freezing cold, city of Edinburgh. The cold didn't bother me that much as I spent most of my time indoors drinking tea or sparkling wine!

I’d just like to say:
Firstly: what a fantastic conference! Plenty of great speakers and a chance to mingle with fellow academic venue conference sales types.
Secondly: What a beautiful city Edinburgh is. Not quite as good as Leeds (obviously!!) but full of very welcoming people who made our stay very comfortable.

The conference really was great, it provided really useful workshops throughout the day and a chance to relax and meet new friends in the evening. Also a chance to dress up as Bonnie and Clyde with my favourite Head of Sales and Marketing, Richard Handscombe.

I took away some great sales tips and advice, especially from Adrian Webster who delivered a humorous, highly energetic and, at times, emotional speech on delivering extraordinary customer service. In fact, his TNT (tiny noticeable things) idea has spurred me on to add a little personal touch to my ‘Getting Venue Finding Agencies to Book Leeds’ campaign!

I am currently in the process of handwriting very attractive and glittery Christmas cards to each of the agents who have used us and thanking them for choosing the University of Leeds. I did contemplate sending a photograph of myself with a beard saying "Ho, Ho, Ho" but decided against this!

Merry Christmas everyone!

MEETinLEEDS goes Mobile- by Matt Hamnett

2011-12-07T12:22:00.001Z

Over the past couple of months we've been working on amobile version of our website.

It’s been something that we’ve wanted to do for quite sometime – we know that we get a lot of delegates on campus who use their mobilephones to access our website to find out more information about the venue thatthey’re visiting. We’ve also seen overthe past year or so that more and more people are viewing websites on theirmobile phones, and our web statistics are backing this up.

So with this in mind we knew we wanted to make visiting oursite as easy as possible no matter what device our customers were using.

I started by doing some research into the mobile future ofthe web and found some interesting statistics. There are 5.3 billion mobile users globally, that’s 77% of the world’spopulation, and the mobile web is predicted to overtake desktop figures by2013/14. Clearly we needed to be awareof how our customers saw us on-line.

Of course www.meetinleeds.co.ukwas, and is, accessible via any mobile phone that had an internet browser, but wereour customers getting the same sharp experience that we’d expect them to haveif they were viewing the site on a desktop computer? We’ve always been confident that the sitelooks good and is easy to use but we noticed that if we navigated our waythrough the site on our mobile then the pictures weren’t so large andimpressive and the links were harder to spot, and access.

At this point we knew we wanted to make something that wouldlook better and be easier to use, so we set about working out what contentshould be on there and what it should look like.

You can access the site on any mobile device by visiting www.meetinleeds.co.uk (or if you're reading this on your desktop just scan the QR code on the right with your mobile) – it willautomatically recognise your device and redirect you to our mobilewebsite.

We hope you like it and wouldlove to hear your feedback!

What a difference a day makes - by Natasha Rahanu

2011-10-18T17:01:00.000+01:00

The University of Leeds is a large and prestigiousinstitution that attracts a variety of high profile visitors; quite recently we’vehosted the Leader of the Labour Party, Ed Milliband and the High Sheriff ofWest Yorkshire, A E Grant Esq OBE.

Sometimes though, when your work and focus is on theoperational side of events, the content can pass you by.

You say Morris dancing, I say risk assessment?

You say swan ice sculpture, our survey says; will it fit inthe lift?

That all changed when I met a man called Paul Garner.

Professor Garner holds the Cowdry Chair in the Department ofSpanish & Portuguese and has recently written a book about his positionsnamesake, Lord Cowdry, who in the early 1900s became one of the wealthiest menin Britain, not least because the centre of his oil and engineering empire, wasfocused in Mexico.

Professor Garner celebrated his book launch with a week longexhibition of rare Mexican photographs in one of our venues, Parkinson Court, anda VIP reception which attracted the likes of the Vice-Chancellor of theUniversity, the Lord Mayor and the Mexican Ambassador (on his first ever visit to Leeds).

The Court was transformed into a Mexican wonderland withpalm trees, cacti, and tequila. And the brightest star of the night: none other than ourvery own University catering. In little more than 72 hours, we had created a Mexican oasisin the middle of Leeds and received high praise in two different languages!

On top of all this I have also managed to tick off threethings I didn’t even know were on my ‘to do before I’m 30 list’:

held a meeting about cacti with the BritishCactus & Succulent Society (yes, they do exist – Google it!)
ordered 70 shot glasses for non-personal use
said ‘Hello;’ in Spanish to the MexicanAmbassador

So what did you do today?

Tweet what you eat! - by Matt Hamnett

2011-07-28T14:33:00.000+01:00

Catering can make all the difference for a successful and memorable event. We've known for some time that we have top class chefs who can create inspirational menus for the delegates that use our facilities for conferences. Still... it’s always nice to get feedback.

Recently we've had some comments from a different source than our normal feedback forms though: the National Union of Students (NUS) gave their feedback via the social networking site Twitter as they ate each course!

It started at lunch time:

@CunninghamToby said: “lunch yum yum best uni food I ever ate!” and @ashleyrudge added: Loving lunch time in Leeds!

By the Awards Ceremony later that night the tweets were coming in thick and fast, and all of them positive!

@BenAMJackson: Beautiful Rhubarb crumble

@wheelybarrow: I think the food is the first winner of the evening

@jonathaneisaacs: There is something in the ice cream that is yummy but I just can't place it. Anyone any ideas?

@SamwiseHampson: The whole team here from @LoughboroughSU has been impressed by the food and everything about the night so far.

@DanielRidsdale: the lamb is awesome #fact

@nusuk: The food served at the #NUSAwards tonight is locally sourced

@MaddyRB: lovely starter!

Royal Wedding, Take Two!

2011-05-20T16:16:00.001+01:00

Move over Wills & Kate, because this month our very own Natasha Lockwood, self titled ‘Royalty of Conferencing’ (see what we did there?) will be getting married to her fiancé Deepak Rahanu.

In a double ceremony, which involves two dresses and (more importantly) two cakes, Natasha will have a traditional English ‘White Wedding’ on 19^th May followed by an Indian ceremony on May 21^st.

So was it difficult to organise an event and keep true to both cultures involved?

In a way it was, there are some elements which are so different between the two cultures, the dress is a perfect example.

As a little girl growing up I had dreamed of having the ‘Princess Diana’ big white dress and, though puffed shoulders are less fashionable and my train is not quite 25 feet, I was still adamant about holding onto that!

In Indian culture however, the traditional bridal colour is red, and the outfits (known as lenghas) are very heavy with intricate decoration. To add to this the jewellery is just as big and ornate. Wearing everything together is not only a test of my strength but it seems very over the top for me, as it’s not like anything I have worn previously.

I do feel really lucky though to have the opportunity to spread my wedding over three days and have two different bridal outfits as well!

Other issues are more easily solved however: you can’t go far wrong mixing Indian meals with English cake for afters, and no one is going to complain about Banghra & Bacardi!

Are you nervous or excited?

Because I’m an Event Organiser myself I’ve felt for quite a while that I’ve been planning this for somebody else! It’s often the case, as with a lot of the larger conferences we hold, that when you've been working on an event for so long, it feels strange when it actually happens.

I have had many well wishes from all my colleagues though, so I’m very grateful for that – I’m sure I’ll be excited very soon!

I will return to work on 6^th June as Natasha Rahanu (n.rahanu@adm.leeds.ac.uk) with more ideas on how we can bring the best out of your event!

...................................................................................................

We’ll be posting pictures of Natasha’s dresses on this blog so check back soon and let us know which one you prefer in the comments!

No mystery to MEETinLEEDS’ latest triumph - by Matt Hamnett

2011-04-12T13:21:00.001+01:00

Every now and then someone calls the conference sales office, asks a number of questions about our venues and, under a false name, makes an enquiry for a totally fictitious event that will never happen. And we fall for it every time.

The conference sales team at MEETinLEEDS are constantly looking at ways in which we can improve how we work to help our customers create the event they’re looking for with as much ease as possible.

We've worked hard to put systems in place which allow our customers a seamless experience from making an enquiry to booking a venue and we pride ourselves on the level of knowledge our team has on all of our facilities. Once the event is over then we ask the organisers, and the delegates too, if everything went as planned. If for any reason something isn’t quite right then we make sure we know about it so that we can put it right next time.

Sometimes this isn’t quite enough though. Whilst we’re quietly confident that we deliver a fantastic customer experience (and our feedback confirms this) it’s important that we look at our business through fresh eyes. It’s for this reason that we allow a total stranger to conjure up these fabricated conferences as part of a mystery shopping program. And we happen to do quite well in them!

Last year the team took part in several mystery shopping measures looking at their telephone and booking skills. The mystery shopper assesses things such as: how quickly the call was answered; whether it was answered in a professional manner and whether the relevant person was able to take the call. The sales team scored 91% and 100% on the last two occasions.

This year we wanted to look at how well we perform show-rounds at our venues, as well as the initial telephone enquiry, and we’re proud to say that we scored a fantastic 97.2%.

Of course all of these results don’t mean that we’ll be resting on our laurels. We’ll continue to look for more ways that we can make ourselves even more helpful, and we’ll go on testing ourselves to make sure that we’re getting it right!

Read more about our Mystery Shopper by reading our news page.

The Best Restaurant in the World - by Richard Handscombe

2011-03-24T15:32:00.001Z

I’ve just been to the best restaurant in the world, and I don’t mean my favourite Bradford curry house, or the original Harry Ramsden’s chippy. True, they have their place, but good though they are, they are not the Best Restaurant in the World; this accolade, awarded by Restaurant magazine, belongs to a restaurant called NOMA, in Copenhagen harbour. My daughter Sally is a “foodie”, so to celebrate her milestone birthday we decided to take her to the best there is. This sounds simple, but getting a table there isn’t that easy; when they were awarded the title in 2010, I’m told they had more than 100,000 bookings within 24 hours! They opened the reservation book for March 2011 on 1^st December 2010, and were fully booked within hours, including I’m glad to say, a table for the four of us. So we headed off for Denmark in some excitement.

Copenhagen is a beautiful city full of the nicest folk you could meet; we loved it, but can’t wait to return at some time when the sea isn't frozen. “Cold” doesn't begin to describe it. But anyway, we saw the sights, found some nice bars, and practised paying a lot in a number of restaurants, getting ready for the NOMA experience.

To me, service is the key element in the success of any operation. In the UK’s hospitality industry, everyone pays lip-service to service, and some even walk the talk, but often the customer is left with a feeling that something is missing.

Noma

The NOMA customer journey really started as we stepped from the taxi. Two of the waiting staff opened the taxi door with warm greetings, and it was obvious they had been briefed that we had travelled from the UK. As soon as we had touched down at the table, we began to experience the kind of service you can only dream about. NOMA has an army of chefs – I was told 14 were on contract and a further 20 are “stagieurs” – young chefs who work for nothing for three months just to get NOMA on their CV.

It looked to me as if there were about 10 waiters too – and all this in a restaurant with just 34 diners! Apart from naturally being experts in their various fields, they had obviously been very highly trained on how to deal with people, how to put them at their ease, and how to up-sell. This last skill was fine to observe for professional reasons, but fell on fairly stony ground because I had checked my bank account before leaving home!

They proceeded to serve us with eight snacks and twelve courses over four hours, each one a delight on the eye and a surprise to the palate. The dishes were rarely what they first appear to be, and the amount of preparation and science involved in each dish is awesome. There was just one tense moment, when we realised that what we had just eaten was – wait for it – reindeer’s tongue, a dish which probably elicits a different reaction from Danes than from squeamish Yorkshire people. Our trauma obviously registered with the waiter, for within seconds, the head chef was at our table. He didn’t even mention the reindeers tongue, but sat and chatted to us then offered to let us tour the kitchens and meet the chefs after service had finished – in the Best Restaurant in the World! We gasped, grinned, and grasped the opportunity, which was one of the highlights of the experience and definitely made us forget about Rudolph (at least it wasn’t his nose)! They had skilfully turned a negative into a positive. We were treated like long-lost buddies in the kitchens and were even introduced to Ali the pot-washer. Then of course, came the pain of the bill. I did some quick calculations afterwards and worked out that four of the cars I’d owned were cheaper than that bill – all added together.

So I’ll take away the memory of that customer journey, and a restaurant experience that was like going to the opera and the theatre as well as having dinner, and which underlined my belief in the value of service excellence. The thing is, it doesn’t take all those people and a massive bill to produce good service. Good service comes from having the right people, and the right culture in your organisation, and a determination to be the best. If we have all that, we could serve up Bambi on a plate and no-one would bat an eyelid!

Socially Adept - by Matt Hamnett

2011-03-15T09:00:00.001Z

For a conference sales office at a major UK university we like to think of ourselves as a sociable, friendly and interesting group of people who will go out of our way to help our customers. For those of you who have been keeping up with this blog I hope that this has come across well: perhaps we’ve helped you manage your event, understand your competition or even cater for your in-laws?!

In order to show everybody just how sociable and helpful we are we use a number of very different online tools; we have a YouTube channel, a news page, a Flickr account, a regular email newsletter and of course this blog.

All of these have been fantastic ways to keep in contact with our growing number of customers but it is our twitter account that has seen the most online progress.

Just recently we’ve moved past the 500 followers mark. Ok, we’ll never be a Stephen Fry or Justin Bieber, but seeing as we rarely promote ourselves on twitter we’re very pleased to have made an impression on so many people.

To satisfy this demand for more information on our venues and services, and in order to reach out to a different audience, we’ve developed a Facebook page.

We’re interested to see where this latest social space will take us and we hope you will join us by liking our Facebook page.

Would you invite a Chef to a dinner party? - by Natasha Lockwood

2011-02-11T17:43:00.000Z

No, of course you wouldn’t. Why? Because it’s not healthy for anyone concerned.

It’s not healthy for you because before you have even said "entrees" they’ll have produced a whisk and whipped up a delicious Fresh Fruit Pavlova (where did they get the eggs from!?) that puts your ‘Angel Delight served in Martini Glasses’ to shame.

It’s not healthy for them either: the minute they spy you emerging from the kitchen with your ‘Pate on Toast’ starter the evening is a write-off and the only logical course of action is for them to protect their taste buds by getting in the kitchen and doing the job themselves.

Which leaves me to wonder... as an event planner in training (a bit like a Jedi, but without the light sabre), is it really healthy for me to be organising my own wedding?

If I were to place an advert in the local newspaper for an Event Manager tomorrow, it would look something like this:
The candidate must be
• Organised
• Mildly telapathic
• Very, very paranoid. All the time. About everything.

One phrase you will never hear an Event Manager say is “I assume”, because we don’t. Ever.

Everyone in my office possesses the qualities required to be an Event Manager; they are experienced fountains of knowledge and wisdom, kind of like Yoda.

On the one hand it makes me proud to be part of this team, and to know we do a fantastic job. On the other hand it makes me feel very sick; because if we are the 'Yoda' of event management, then the Event Manager of my wedding is definitely the opposite of this, or ‘Oppoyoda’, if you will.

From the very first email, on which I was instructed to go on to ‘Google Maps’ to find their venue, I knew that this was not going to be easy. Bad quickly went to worse when, on the food tasting, I mentioned that in a room full of 350 people there was bound to be at least one vegetarian/dairy free/low fat/Atkins diet/don’t like tomato/chocoholic – who would probably only make their preferences known on the day. I received a blank, open mouthed, gaze in return.

I had also naively thought that we would receive a show round of the venue on our first meeting, as is common practise here. Wrong again. Not only did Oppoyoda neither offer or arrange a show round, they actually suggested that I do it myself, direct with the venue, as it wasn't their department.

Sometimes I forget how very lucky we are here to have a fantastic marketing, conference and catering department, all under one roof. Who, funnily enough, we communicate with daily.

Several weeks later, tired of waiting around for Oppoyoda to reply to my messages regarding the venue contact, I took matters into my own hands and found the right person myself. Having arranged my own show round I re-contacted Oppoyoda to request his presence, to which he had the audacity to accuse me of going behind his back on the matter, further adding that he would have to check his diary for availability.

Is it any wonder I need something stronger than Angel Delight - where did I put those Martini Glasses?

Know Your Competition - by Richard Handscombe

2011-02-02T13:40:00.003Z

There are many facets that are key to running a business – great products, good service, effective marketing, defined goals and so on, but one very important piece of knowledge is to be aware of what our competitors are doing. We can find out what our competitors say about themselves by searching the web, going to exhibitions, and reading the trade press and the same means can tell us what others say about them. But one of the best ways to learn about the competition is to get out there and visit them.

I used to be a wine importer and seller. I found that in order to do my job better, I had to drag myself through vineyards and wineries in Italy, France, Germany, Yugoslavia (yes it was a while ago) and California; I didn’t want to do it of course, but you just have to knuckle down and put up with the drudgery. Although one vineyard is actually quite similar to the next, the knowledge of the region, the company and its people, picked up during these visits, gave us the competitive edge when we sat in front of buyers trying to sell the wines; our stories could be told with passion, and were always better than a competitor who had never been to the region.

OK, perhaps visiting venues in Manchester, Edinburgh, Birmingham and here in Leeds is just a smidgeon less glamorous than Verona and Epernay, but the learning experience is actually similar, and as a bonus, you don’t need any sun-cream.

When the conference sales team visit competitor venues, they gain an understanding of the strengths and limitations of our competition; they also, incidentally pick up some good ideas that we can pinch! These visits are done quite openly - none of this Mary Portas stuff, with hidden cameras and the like (although wouldn’t that be fun?) – as by and large our business sector is very hospitable and anxious to show off. We simply make an appointment, walk through their venue, ask a million questions and Bob, as they say, is your mother’s brother!

Naturally, the quid pro quo means that we have to be open to visits from our competitors too. We’ve had just a handful, which gives me a warm glow of satisfaction – we know what they do, but they haven’t got much of a clue about what we do, other than what we write in press releases and on the web.

And we write that.

Find out what we write at www.meetinleeds.co.uk/news

First Agency Fam Trip Goes Down a Storm - by Natalie Ruecroft

2010-12-17T15:54:00.001Z

November 26^th saw Richard and I host Leeds University’s first ever agency fam trip. The purpose of this trip was for us to show off everything that the University has to offer when it comes to conference and events.

Outside Leeds Town Hall

Five agents joined us on our weekend of wine tasting, sight seeing and fine dining. Needless to say, the guests were extremely impressed with our facilities and even more impressed with our prices!

As hard as I tried to make a good impression it was Storm Jameson Court that stole the show. I think our guests found it hard to believe that such high standard of accommodation was:

a) Student accommodation and

b) Available to conference delegates at such a competitive price.

With its 24hr reception, stylish rooms and larger beds, I think we can safely say that Storm Jameson Court will be an important part of our future!

A big thank you to all that helped put the trip together, it was a huge success and we will now hopefully see the enquiries start rolling in!

Meet in Leeds Christmas Message - by Natasha Lockwood

2010-12-14T13:21:00.000Z

MEETinLEEDS' Christmas Message

(to the theme of Jingle Bells! – I’ve put first verse of jingle bells in case people don’t know it!)

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way

Oh what fun, it is to ride

In a one horse open sleigh

Christmas parties everywhere, four or five a day

Turkey gone in seconds flat

Then Christmas pudding -Yay!

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Mulled Wine & Mince Pies

Tinsel in the office here

And a tree with Sparkling Lights – oh!

Santa’s sleigh is on its way, SatNav glowing bright

Heading down to MEETinLEEDS

On a crisp and snowy night

Season’s Greetings everyone, wherever you may be

Thanks for reading all our blogs

But there’s much more to see

Click the links, click the links, our website sends good cheer

A Merry Christmas everyone

And the happiest New Year!

Angel for a Day - by Natasha Lockwood

2010-12-01T15:13:00.000Z

Have you ever found a £20 note on the pavement? At first it feels really good and exiting, but then after a while you start to feel guilty that you have received something you don’t deserve.

Richard (aka Charlie) and me, being an Angel

This, I've learnt, is similar to the feeling when you accept praise from friends and family, because they’ve seen a picture of you in a nice dress collecting an award for something that wasn’t really your work! Here’s the picture, and the story to accompany it, of how I became an angel for a day.

Let me first set the scene. In our Conferencing department we have a Sales & Marketing office and an Operations office. The difference between the two is quite clear (I usually work on the operational side); you would be able to distinguish us as we have been known to have chipped nail varnish, often get covered in random substances such as paint or pollen, and have occasionally stepped in to become cloakroom attendants or even waiters. I like to think of us as the engine of a car, everything needs to work well and efficiently in order to run, but you wouldn’t necessarily want to see it!

If we are the engine, then the Sales & Marketing office is the sleek bodywork of the Audi TT! When I walk into the office I often think I can hear music, but that could just be me. The brains of the operation is Richard (aka Charlie) also pictured, but as the saying goes, behind every good man is a good woman – or in his case three.

Harriet, Lisa & Natalie are definitely the Angels to his Charlie, each one more glamorous than the one before; these ladies have never been seen with lipstick on their teeth or ladders in their tights. Even in the snow they still manage to glide into work in 4 inch heels. Apart from making men want them and women want to be them, they also happen to be very good at what they do. With honey toned voices they accept and deal with all range of enquiries in a polite and prompt manner, hence how I got into my little predicament.

These ladies are so capable they managed to bag themselves second prize in the Venuemasters Mystery Shopping Award – for those who don’t know, this is when someone rings up claiming to be a potential client with a fabricated enquiry in order to score us on how well we deal with this, from the initial call to the follow up.

One maternity leave and one holiday later, Charlie was down to just one angel on site, meaning he needed a stand in accomplice for the Venuemasters Annual Conference. This is where I come in. Knowing I had to look the part, I packed my most glamorous evening gown and glittery heels and spent the day networking, trying my best to do what I have seen the Angels do so many times before. Then we come to the evening, where winners were announced, and the prizes were doled out, and this, my friends, is how I ended up getting pictured in a nice dress, receiving a prize which I had not really earned, and how I got to be an Angel for a day.

Live at Leeds – by Matt Hamnett

2010-11-16T11:01:00.001Z

I was recently reminded just how lucky I am to work in such a diverse and interesting location.

Legendary rock band The Who have released a new version of their classic 1970 live album; Live at Leeds 40 years after it was first recorded and hailed, by the New York Times no less, as “the best live rock album ever made”.

This iconic and timeless album was recorded in one of our very own venues, The Refectory. The same venue that just last month welcomed 550 guests, the majority of whom sit on the boards of the largest companies in the UK, to the highly prestigious CBI Annual Dinner.

Of course, The Refectory hasn’t turned its back on its musical past. In 2002 we played host to The Strokes in a set described by the NME as “a landmark hour of flawless rock”. Even as recently as last month Nick Cave, talking on stage, commented that he’d “...travelled the world over, but nowhere compares to the Leeds University cafeteria."

40 years later the album Live at Leeds still receives the greatest of plaudits from the critics, as does our Refectory!

Lights, camera…action! - by Sue Pimblett

2010-11-02T11:17:00.000Z

The Edge, our new state-of-the-art fitness centre, was recently selected as a location photo shoot for the latest limited edition Land Rover Freelander 2.

The images, which will feature in a new promotional brochure, showed the vehicle, with the pool in the background, exploding from the glass!

Darren Pratt, Location Scout for Land Rover said, “As soon as I saw The Edge I knew it was perfect! The glazing around the pool is spectacular and it looks magnificent when lit up. It was by far the best Health and Fitness facility I visited.”

Sue Pimblett, Sales and Marketing Manager from SPA, “The location shoot was a great way to bring in some added income with minimal effort and with the added bonus of some fantastic PR for The Edge and the University".

Watch out for the new brochure coming soon!

An Indiana Jones Boulder Rolling Towards You... by Paul Ellingham

2010-10-20T11:10:00.000+01:00

I was speaking with a conference organiser, one of our Sociology academics, the other week whilst we were getting everything ready for their event and he told me something that a senior colleague had told him about organising an academic conference:

"So, I hear you're running your first conference; just think of it this way: there's a huge, Indiana-Jones-style boulder rolling down a hill directly towards you and one day it WILL crash home!"

He post-scripted these cheering words with:

"and when it hits, don't forget you set that boulder rolling!"

I like to think of the Conference & Events Office as the brakes to lessen the impact of the boulder, or maybe a better description is that we take a big chunk of boulder away and deal with it, so there's just a small pebble left to catch!

Find out more about our Event Management or email our team for more information.

Integrated Team Sporting Wealth of Talent - by David Lloyd, Operations Manager for Sport

2010-09-24T14:51:00.000+01:00

Having joined the Sport and Physical Activity team at the University earlier this year, I have been continually impressed by the quality and variety of events we have been able to host here.

My previous role enabled me to work with a number of event management companies, hosting a wide range of events, and while we had comparable indoor facilities, the greater extent of the programme offered at the University has been fantastic to see, and great to be involved with this summer.

This was summed up perfectly last week, as we hosted part of the British Ecological Society Conference throughout the first part of the week, before having less than a day to turn the facility around for a weekend training camp for the Great Britain Boccia team (Gold Medallists from the Beijing Paralympics).

It has been great to see the flexibility and professionalism of the various teams involved putting these events together, highlighted by our Assistant Director and a manager brought in from another site crawling around the sports hall late on Friday evening ensuring the Boccia Courts were all marked out ready for our Paralympians!

The restructuring of our services into an integrated Commercial Services team brings sport, catering, conferencing and event management together and has really provided significant opportunities to widen and strengthen an already excellent partnership. The fantastic new development of The Edge can now add value to customers who come into the university to use our other facilities, offering the chance of an invigorating workout, or a relaxing sauna, steam and swim at the end of the day. This is already proving extremely popular with conference delegates.

For all our staff the restructuring of the Commercial Services team presents excellent personal development opportunities to get involved in new and varied parts of our business. Looks like exciting times ahead!

A Burning Question - by Richard Handscombe

2010-09-10T16:03:00.000+01:00

The editor of Exhibition News recently posed the question: “are live web-feeds from building sites really necessary?”.

As a question, I’d guess it won’t feature on Newsnight any time soon - although I can almost hear the cynical tones of Mr Paxman himself looking into the camera and asking the question.

We recently featured on our website, a series of stills showing our new conference asset, Storm Jameson Court, rising from the ground as if by magic. It was fascinating. There for all to see was the artistic scaffolding, the mysteriously shrouded delivery trucks, big digging thingies, and occasional glimpses of Bob in his yellow hard hat as he went around building.

This was stirring, gripping stuff that I’m 100% positive had the whole nation glued to their PC monitors, eager to see what would happen next. A bit like Eastenders, only much, much more interesting. Gradually this epic building, an emerging star in the conference universe, emerged from its chrysalis.

And now, that fascinating time is all over, and the building has been revealed in all it’s glory. Soap fans will have to go back to watching their favourite TV shows, struggling to catch up on the storylines, and sadly missing the Storm Jameson Court Saga.

And just in case national opinion says that building site pics are not in fact necessary, we’ve removed them from the website.

Conference bookings are now being taken for our magnificent new building. Take a look on www.meetinleeds.co.uk/stormjamesoncourt

Catering for the In-Laws! - by Natasha Lockwood

2010-08-24T13:21:00.000+01:00

I recently got engaged, which of course is very exciting for a couple of days, until the fear sets in!

Fear of what you may ask? The commitment? Organising a large event? Not being able to find the perfect dress? Well, none of the above actually.

I am talking about the fear that next weekend, my parents and my fiancés parents will all be together in one room to talk about the wedding …and I have offered to cook!

I am a resourceful person; my job involves booking many dining events (large and small, three course and buffet, corporate and personal) into our rooms here in University House. I am SURROUNDED by award winning chefs. I can’t help thinking there must be an answer for me in here somewhere!

I can cook, but unfortunately so much of my energy is going to be taken up having my hair done and at the same time deciding whether I look better daughter-in-law material in the blue dress or the red top and black skirt, that my imagination is frazzled. Let’s face it, feminism has brought us ladies a long way, but I can’t help thinking my suitability will be entirely judged on the outcome of this meal.

Mid way through booking in a retirement lunch yesterday I had a (metaphorical) lightning bolt of an idea: I have access to each of the seasonal three course menu’s I have sent out to clients from the beginning of time to this very moment, and knowledge of which of those are popular choices. Obviously they won’t be up to our chefs’ standards (unless I account for kidnapping – would that be the wrong impression?) but even if I don’t get it right they‘ll surely be more impressive than beans on toast!

So off I go to search for my perfect menu - and let's be honest, who doesn't want a daughter-in-law who serves 'Warm Chocolate & Hazelnut Brownie with Clotted Cream'!

We Know How to Throw a Fam Trip (& cook corned beef hash!) - by Natalie Ruecroft

2010-08-20T09:49:00.000+01:00

I’ve learnt a lot whilst I’ve been working for Richard Handscombe, our Head of Sales & Marketing. Last week he taught me two things: firstly, how to make Corned Beef Hash and secondly, that the chef in the Teppanyaki restaurant doesn’t throw the Egg Fried Rice into your mouth, just pieces of sliced potato! I’m hoping that over the next few months I’ll learn a lot more, specifically about Event Booking Agencies.

‘Let’s tackle agencies’ Mr Handscombe said to me shortly after I started my role here in the Conference Sales Office.

‘Venue finding agencies play a huge part in the Conference and Events industry and we need to make sure that the University of Leeds is a venue that agencies are aware of. Let’s invite them to the city and show them what we can offer!’

A great idea, I thought, from my Head of Sales and Marketing. This is going to be a fun project that I can really get my teeth into (much like the Corned Beef Hash) – I’m looking forward to this!

The plan is to host a ‘weekend break’ for agency staff where Richard and I will show the guests around the city of Leeds and also give them a tour of our impressive campus meeting space. A tour of our brand new accommodation development Storm Jameson Court will also be on the cards. With overnight accommodation being offered at Weetwood Hall, a deluxe 4star property owned by the University and lunch at one of Leeds’ fine restaurants, I’m sure we’ll get a fair few people interested!

We’ll be putting the final details together pretty soon so invites will be sent out in the next month or so. Exciting!

The main aim of this project is to put our University on the ‘agency map’ and make the University of Leeds the first place agents think of when looking for a conference or event venue in Leeds. I’ll be working pretty closely with Richard on this project as he has many years of experience working with agencies – I’m hoping that he’ll pass some of this knowledge on to me!

Food Safety A Waste Of Time? - by Geoff Tooley

2010-08-16T14:52:00.001+01:00

"Food Safety - what a waste of time!! - my granny lived off out of date food and raw sausages and lived to be 108" - So said a colleague in the non too distant past.

Possibly true, but if you continually stroll across Blackpool Prom with your eyes shut, you`ll eventually get squashed by a tram - just ask Rita Fairclough.

Food poisoning does exist and will happen - 92,000 confirmed cases in England and Wales in 2007 - and this is just the people who can be bothered or have enough strength in their buttock cheeks to actually get to the Doctors.

The good news is that good food hygiene standards are not difficult to achieve (contrary to what some called Celebrity Chefs think - thank you Antony Worrell Thompson) The other positive thing is that food hygiene standards for the majority of local authorities are now available on a national Website www.scoresonthedoors.org.uk. Leeds City Council for example give a score from 5 down to 0.

I am very pleased to say that all our University run food outlets, kitchens and Halls have achieved the top 5 star rating. Well done to all the staff concerned.

I`m now off to Blackpool - look left, look right.......................

A small team, with a BIG heart - by Harriet Boatwright

2010-08-05T12:44:00.000+01:00

“Write a blog” Matt said………

I have always considered myself a bit of a laggard really when it comes to new fads and crazes especially in the world of technology - almost through blind stubbornness rather than fear of the new and unknown or inflexibility of self. However, when Matt ‘encouraged me’ (take this as you will!) to get on board with our blog I was surprised by the cathartic nature of the exercise. Although I did wonder at first ‘what do I have to say….’ As it turns out, you can say what you want – within the realms of decency and interest!

I would like to share with you a piece of writing, authored by someone I often liken to Marvin from ‘Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy’, but on a good day I refer to him as my very own Dad:

“If tha’s Northern, tha talks a lot like this and tha philosophy goes summat like this, ‘If ever tha does owt for nowt , do it for thasen’. Tha wears a flat cap and ‘as a whippet wi’ no name. Tha smokes wafer thin rollups through nicotine stained ‘ands and tha drinks warm beer wi’ an ‘ead on it. Tha’s got our lass indoors boilin’ up t’tripe and onions and watchin’ o’er t’twelve bairns. To thee t’internet is summat tha does wi’t fish owtat canal and t’world wide web is summat t’spider leaves ower t’door o’ t’outside lavvy o’erneet.”

Anyone familiar with this idea? Bloomin funny if you ask me but it does act as a vehicle for a more heartfelt message – the meaning of being a Northerner, and a proud one at that!

“If you’re Northern you have pride, not the sort that comes before a fall, but pride that enables you to see through the paucity of understanding and the insularity of those who would perpetuate the myth of the Neanderthal Northerner. A pride that enables and encourages you to embrace and celebrate family and friends. A pride that shines through your life and the lives of those around you. A pride that grows and flourishes as your family grows and flourishes. A pride that gives understanding that small deeds in life can make for large changes and that we all of us make a difference somewhere, sometime.”

Arthur Sargeant (Son of a Northern Lass and an Essex Lad)

Pride is something so fundamental to the Northern way of life, and here at MeetInLeeds I like to think of our team as a mere microcosm of the northern heart. Some may still think that we ‘talk a bit funny’ but you know what – variety is the spice of life!

"Broccoli sir?" by Richard Handscombe

2010-07-22T13:11:00.004+01:00

I just read an article about a Sydney restaurateur, who is so sensitive about his food being left unfinished on diners’ plates, that he’s started to penalise anyone who fails to eat up. He charges them an extra 30%, and asks them not to come back.

That’s quite an entertaining piece to read, and I know they say that any publicity is good publicity, but I’m not convinced about the effects of such a PR piece. I’d be terrified to eat there myself; what if he served me broccoli? I’d definitely have my bill increased. And if the devil’s vegetable was accompanied by anything smoked, I might as well just go into the restaurant, hand over my wad of cash and get out quick!

It reminds me of a story my mild-mannered doctor once told me about visiting a restaurant in Barnsley, about 20 years ago. When asked if everything was OK, he said it was lovely, but that the steak was a bit tough. Shortly afterwards, the owner of the restaurant - a very large and imposing character - came out of the kitchen with a side of beef over his shoulder. “Can you see anything wrong with this?” he asked my quiet and polite doctor. “Er, well, no”, the doctor replied. “Right”, bellowed the restaurant owner, “leave the rest of your dessert, and get out. You’re banned!”

One would hope that the world had changed a lot in the intervening years. Most areas of the world are in recession, or just recovering, and in such circumstances, service is one of the obvious areas on which to concentrate. At the University of Leeds, we focus on service delivery and are constantly trying to delight our customers to ensure that they come back again and again, and in that we are being very successful.

I may never visit Sydney, but if ever I do, I'll definitely be checking the menus for broccoli before I enter!

I’ve seen the future! - by Richard Handscombe

2010-07-19T23:29:00.002+01:00

You’ll be glad to know it’s not orange.

But Leeds is on the move! Those who know about our conference facilities here at Leeds will be well aware that we are on the brink of a step change, with the impending completion of a new residence, Storm Jameson Court.

What’s so special about this building? Well, this contemporary hotel-style facility has been designed throughout to appeal strongly to the conference market, as well as our student customers. We will be blogging some more about Storm Jameson Court towards the opening, but yesterday I took a trip around it for the first time in a couple of weeks and my goodness, it looks great even without furniture!

The development is just days from being handed over to us so that we can complete the fitting out with furniture and soft furnishings. The builders are currently busy cleaning and taking care of all the little finishing touches to the décor, as well as landscaping the grounds, and although there is a little way to go, it is looking stunning! It’s remarkable how much it looks like the computer-design fly-through we commissioned all those months ago – viewable above or at: www.meetinleeds.com/stormjamesoncourt. The change from building site to building has been remarkable in the last few weeks, and has all of us at meetinleeds confident that here we have a superb product, which combines with our other superb facilities to make Leeds and the University a must for organisers.

Watch this space for updates on the final stages of the project, towards its opening in September.

It's ALIVE! - by Matt Hamnett

2010-07-19T09:24:00.003+01:00

So, the website went live at the end of last week with very few problems. Take a look at it (www.meetinleeds.co.uk) and let us know your comments, we'd appreciate any feedback!

Our Vision of the New Site - by Matt Hamnett

2010-07-13T10:52:00.001+01:00

In the next few days we’ll be updating the MeetInLeeds website which will reveal the new design and layout we’ve been working on for the past few months.

As previously mentioned on this blog, a new website has been an important part of our plan ever since we launched the new MeetInLeeds brand. As proud as we are of the current iteration of the site its foundations lay in an old design that doesn’t befit the size of the conference and events operation at the University of Leeds today.

Over the past year we’ve updated and added a number of elements to the website that we feel will be of great benefit to our users, whether they are event organisers or conference delegates, such as maps, image and video galleries or our most recent update: online booking for our city centre apartments. What we really wanted to do though was to create a website that is simple to navigate through whatever it is that you are looking for. This is the main focus of the new site.

Whilst we’ve concentrated primarily on the layout of the website we’ve also had fun with the look and feel too. The new site suits the bold and confident style of the MeetInLeeds brand and features new content that we hope will help our visitors make more informed choices when looking at the University as a conference venue.

Our website is the hub of all our online activities (including this blog!) and so naturally plays an important role in showing our customers who we are and what we do. We hope that, once it launches, you’ll enjoy visiting it as much as we do.

Summer Show-Rounds (& show offs!) - by Lisa Wood

2010-06-25T15:39:00.002+01:00

This week I have a large corporate dinner booked into our fabulous Refectory for a grand night! These are the type of events I know our award-winning catering team are eager to get hold of so that they can really show off their fine dining and service skills.

Following a very helpful tasting event (always a pleasure!), the event organisers were really pleased with the options the Refectory covers and agreed that it’s the perfect venue for these types of large events.

After all, since the late 1960s the Refectory has hosted some of the most important acts around, including the Rolling Stones, Elton John and more recently Muse (recorded live for MTV). Perhaps one of the most famous live recordings ever made, The Who Live at Leeds, was recorded in this very room!

Thankfully, as we’ve been setting up for the dinner this week, we were able to take some other clients on a show-round who were looking to host a very similar event. So hopefully we’ll be doing it all again soon!

Here’s hoping for an enjoyable evening for all: especially as we have this incredible weather to boost the Pimms reception and fine wines that will be flowing in copious amounts!

Find out more about the Refectory, and our other facilities, at http://www.meetinleeds.co.uk/

Top Sales Team!

2010-06-17T16:44:00.002+01:00

I can't say that Mystery Buyer calls are "eagerly awaited" by our sales team - they are anticipated more with trepidation than eagerness. But I've always said that confidence often carries complancy with it, and whether it's a driving test, an exam, or the dreaded mystery buyer, it's a sign of conscienciousness to care about your performance so much that you get a wee bit nervous.

Each year, we are mystery-shopped by Venuemasters, to test our sales systems. The aim is to ensure that the standard of response at academic conference venues is up there with the corporate sector. I've just had the result today, of this year's mystery shop, and we achieved 2nd place out of 78 academic venues - our previous highest being 4th! Of course, it's a joint effort ultimately, with everyone on the team being involved in refining our enquiry response system, but I have to mention the newest member of our team, Natalie, who dealt with the lion's share of this enquiry. Well done Nat!

We must be doing something right, because each quarter, we're also independantly tested by a mystery shopper, and the last quarter's result was a 100% pass - something the agency involved had not previously experienced.

It's great to know that everyone enquiring at MEETINLEEDS is getting top quality service from a top team! As for mystery buyers - bring 'em on!

Here He Comes Again by Richard Handscombe

2010-06-10T16:58:00.001+01:00

This piece is an observation, and absolutely nothing to do with conferences, but I thought it might make light relief.

I’m not usually one to give any credence at all to conspiracy theories, but I definitely think that there’s no such thing as an impulse purchase. I think that products somehow conspire to be bought by certain people, through a mechanism as yet unknown to mankind.

Occasionally I nip to the supermarket to get one or two unforeseen essentials, like barbeque coals when the rain stops on a Sunday. As I have a reputation for coming home with other weird stuff, I find my wife eagerly waiting to criticise what I bring home.

A couple of weekends ago, my errand was for some baking foil, and razorblades. I came back with both (score a perfect 10!) - plus two duck breasts, a particularly elegantly shaped bottle of olive oil, three Mars bars (3?) and a jar of olives stuffed with garlic. All of the additional items were received with the usual derision by Mrs H, and when asked to explain why I had bought them, I once again explained my theory as she stored them away with all my other strange purchases.

As I said above, I think that somehow, these products conspire to be bought. By me. They sit there waiting for me to walk down the aisle. They usually look pretty good, with nice labels and special packaging, or else they are placed by the till covered in chocolate and just begging to be bought (Mars Bars). They watch for me coming, and somehow shine and shimmer, or maybe even twitch a bit or make a noise to attract attention (I know this is a long shot). They insist on being picked up and popped into the trolley. I know what you’re thinking – I’ve gone off my own trolley, and that's the usual reply I get at home.

I’m really trying to curb my impulsive buying tendencies. One of my strategies is to stay out of supermarkets altogether. It seems to be working. Mind you, this week I went to an antiques fair to buy a bookcase and came back with a clock, so it could be a long haul.

Explosive Exhibitions - by Richard Handscombe

2010-06-03T14:35:00.004+01:00

Who would have guessed a few months ago, that a volcano, unknown to most of us and unpronounceable anyway, would be affecting businesses in the UK and Europe?

Volcanoes aside, reading through the pages of industry journals, you could be excused for feeling a little down-hearted by some of the headlines giving news of exhibitions being 'cancelled', 'closed', 'in liquidation', and even, in the case of a fetishist exhibition 'zipped up'!
But my own view is that black clouds, whether formed by ash or bad news, should be put in perspective. The airline industry is steadily figuring out ways of living with the ash cloud, thank goodness, as the exhibition industry must surely do when facing the dynamically changing habits of the so-called Google generation.

Exhibitions have been described by an industry guru recently as “the only place where people can touch, the product, sniff it, and give it a kick”. Well, maybe not quite in my own case, marketing the conference facilities at the University of Leeds; I worry about the sniffing and kicking bit, but I know what he means!

It’s a great face-to-face opportunity and as such is invaluable. But we do have to be more choosy than ever about where we exhibit, due to costs and the current economic climate, exhibition space charges are, in my view too high, and too inflexible, and regardless of sales folk reeling off visitor registrations, some venue exhibitions are very much quieter than they used to be.

I’d also like to see venue exhibition organisers embracing new technology such as RFID technology, creating visually stimulating exhibitions, and fully utilising social networking techniques.

Bring about a revolution in the way the stands look, the journey through the hall, the methods of networking and information-swapping, and exhibiting will truly compete with the many other methods of marketing and information-gathering available today.

It’s all about impact, as Eyjafjallajokull would say, if it could talk.

Feeling Croqued by Richard Handscombe

2010-05-21T16:17:00.005+01:00

Until last night, I never thought you could make a ham and cheese toastie and sell it for eight pounds. Had I realised that when I was, say, 22, it could have changed my life. I could've been "the toastie millionaire", famous for that one thing. I'd probably get a knighthood.

The hotel I was at has definitely realised the attraction of a toastie. They've also realised that in order to jack up the price they need to call it something French. So it's a Croque Monsieur.

And it's eight quid.

If you had one for lunch every day, it would cost £2,555.00. That would be £155,855.00 I'd have spent on them in my lifetime. Mind you, I'm not sure what effect eating all that cheese, ham and toast would have had on my health, let alone my bank account. I 've a hunch it would make me fat. And it had too much bread anyway according to my wife.

I had burger and chips and it was stunning. So was the hotel by the way. That's what you get when you sell toasties at eight quid - a great big stylish fabulous hotel. All from selling toasties.

I took the wrong course in life.

How Busy Was I last Week? By Natalie Ruecroft, Sales Exec

2010-05-19T14:00:00.006+01:00

Monday was a typical Monday so busy- busy right up until 5pm! Then on Tuesday morning, Richard, Harriet and I headed down to London for the Academic Venues Show, organised by Venuemasters. Richard and Harriet are old pro’s so they knew exactly what to expect but this was the first time I’d been to the show (or worked at any exhibition!) so I was a wee bit nervous!

After a 4 hour drive which mainly consisted of me sleeping in the back and listening to Richard’s sat-nav make weird speed camera warning noises every 2 minutes, we arrived at the Emirates Stadium and set up the stand for the following day. Tuesday evening was spent at Brown’s - where I enjoyed the Salmon in soy sauce – before heading back to the hotel for a cup of tea and a bit of Road Wars on the telly!

On Wednesday the show itself was great – really busy, producing loads of conference leads to chase which should keep me busy for the next couple of weeks!

Thursday was mainly a catch up day from being out of the office and therefore was super-busy again!

On Friday I headed across to Manchester for a sales training course. I arrived in Manchester at about 8am, and after about 35mins of wandering around looking lost (despite being given a hand drawn map from Richard on Thursday evening), I found the hotel at which course was being held (not quite as easy as Richard and Matt made out, but I found it in the end!). It was a really good, fun course and I took away some very helpful sales tips from it.

I arrived back in Leeds about 3.30pm on Friday and after a quite a hectic but productive week I was ready to head home to settle down with a cup of tea, bakewell tart and Eastenders!!

First Sight of Second Site - by Matt Hamnett

2010-05-19T11:10:00.000+01:00

When our new MEETinLEEDS brand launched 8 months ago we quickly ‘re-skinned’ our website to suit the new look: the way that the website worked, and the information that was on it, stayed the same.

Since then we’ve added a number of new features that we hope have helped our visitors learn more about the University’s facilities (maps, image galleries and even twitter updates!) but we always knew that we had to create a brand new website. We wanted to create a site that would reach out to all of our customers.

So began the research process and gradually we began to see how many different groups of people our website had to appeal to; conference delegates, event organisers, training managers, people looking for city centre accommodation, large associations and University staff are just SOME of the many visitors that use our website. We ended up with a surprisingly large list.

Yesterday I got to see the designs for our new website for the first time and was blown away by the stunning impact that it has with its large images and brighter colours. What I enjoyed seeing the most though was how easy it would be for someone to find what they were looking for!

It's "NO!" to Gnocchi! By Paul Ellingham, Conference & Events Coordinator

2010-05-18T15:42:00.000+01:00

My girlfriend and I occasionally try to cook something we've never made before, ideally using ingredients we've never used before. This has led to some triumphs. This Saturday was not a triumph!

Neither of us really like gnocchi, so I don't know why we decided to make this. It was flavourless and wierdly textured. I think, next time, I'm going to ask our head chef for some advice in advance.

On the plus side, the mint and cream sauce was lovely. Also the Eton Mess (a recipe I did steal from our chef) was excellent.

I'm a bit hungry now, but the wine is helping and there's cheese and biscuits in the fridge...

Service - the recession-beater - By Richard Handscombe

2010-05-14T15:49:00.003+01:00

If asked, I’d guess that most meetings professionals would say that the most important element to concentrate on in a recession, is customer service, and if they don’t consider it important , that they need to reassess their priorities! In a shrunken market, with every business wanting to be a conference venue, and all increasingly vigorously seeking to get hold of our customer, we need to ensure that the experience we give to him/her is top notch all round.

Sad to say I’m old enough to remember the days when cordials on the meeting table were considered exotic, mints outrageously luxurious, and the venue coordinator said “hello” in the morning and “bye” in the evening (if they were still there). Happily, we’ve come a long way in the UK in the last few decades. The meetings industry has responded to the increasing demands of a more sophisticated and well-travelled clientele. The need for better service is well recognised, and training has become ingrained in modern business culture and more available than ever before. Better service is evident throughout our industry, not least in my own university sector, which was slow to get going but which I’m glad to say is now up there with the very best.

But it’s not enough just to put fruit on the meeting table and check if the organiser is OK a couple of times during the day. We need to concentrate on every single aspect of a client’s experience with us, and seek to improve. We need to look at the competition, and find ways of differentiating our service from theirs (in a good way!), and we need to constantly monitor how our clients see us, so that we can quickly see where change is needed, and then make the changes. Hanging on to our customers, and gaining a reputation for better value, and high levels of service than our competitors has never been more important.
At a large four star hotel recently, when I asked for a drink in the bar, I was told by a scruffy youth with a dirty collar, “be with you in a minute mate” as he continued to thumb a text into his mobile phone. I’m sooooo glad he works for them and not us!