You say jump, we say: how high? - by Ryan Johnson

They say that in order to succeed, any endeavour must adhere to the "5 P’s": planning and preparation prevent poor performance. In my house, this included an additional, colloquial, "P", and was often accompanied by "fail to prepare, prepare to fail" (my family is fond of appropriating slogans).

These have stuck with me throughout the years, and have never served me better than during the last month.

As regular readers will be aware, I have parachuted into the Conference Sales Office to assist during the busy conference season. As part of my development period, I decided it would be beneficial to work a conference from the enquiry stage right through to the completion of the event.

Courtesy of Youth Sport Trust

The victim of my undivided attention was to be the Youth Sports Trusts’ “Lead Your Generation” event. The Youth Sports Trust is a charity devoted to changing young people’s lives through sport, and the event is their personal London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic legacy commitment. The University of Leeds is no stranger to the 2012 Olympics, having hosted the Chinese Olympians and the Canadian Wheelchair Rugby Team in their pre-games training camps.

This, however, was a different challenge: 200 young people participating in a range of activities, from Boccia (no, me neither until I read this) to an inspirational speech by Jonathan Edwards, Olympic Gold medallist, current World Record holder and former Sports Personality of the year.

Meet in Leeds was able to meet the challenge as we have a wide range of venues on campus. The facilities at the School of Music and the Exhibition Centre were absolutely perfect for the clients’ needs, yet also within walking distance from each other. This ensured the event ran smoothly, according to schedule and without any of our young delegates straying.

I also saw first-hand the fruition of the hard work that is done by our catering team, for whom no individual dietary requirement is a chore and no delegate unimportant, regardless of age or how many records they hold.

Courtesy of Youth Sport Trust

I now appreciate the vital role of the Event Manager, from ensuring Wi-Fi access is available (of paramount importance to any self-respecting 15 year old with tweeting to be done) to securing easy access parking for VIP’s (did I mention Jonathan Edwards was in attendance?). I think that, in familial tradition, I would coin the slogan "The best event managers are rarely seen, yet always available."

Our future sports themed challenge now is preparing for the July 2014 Yorkshire Grand Depart, hotels for which can be booked via our website now!

Find out more about events for under 18’s and what venues Meet in Leeds can offer you by contacting our super sales team .

Canadian Wheelchair Rugby Team visit for second training camp

The Canadian Wheelchair Rugby Team have just completed the second of their three pre-London 2012 training camps at the University of Leeds before travelling to London to take part in the Wheelchair Rugby Paralympic Test events held at the Olympic Park.

The team held their first training camp in August where they were able to get a feel for the facilities available to them and get used to the campus, in particular Storm Jameson Court – the hotel-style accommodation that has been made available to them.

Andy Van Neutegem, performance director for Canadian Wheelchair Rugby, has been particularly pleased with what he’s seen so far “Our preparation for the Paralympic Games and the Test Match could not be any better as a result of the services and support from the University of Leeds. Our accommodation was exceptional and the catering and food were superb! Above all, the catering and accommodation staff could not do enough to make Leeds our home away from home. Their attention to detail and level of service is beyond comparison!”

The Events, Sports, Catering and Accommodation teams are all looking forward to welcoming them back again later this year as they make their final preparations for the Paralympic Games in August.

Find out more about Storm Jameson Court.