Angel for a Day - by Natasha Lockwood

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

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

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

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

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

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

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'!