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

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

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 - my granny lived off out of date food and raw sausages and lived to be 108" - So said a colleague in the non too distant past.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

“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

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

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

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

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.