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

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

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

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

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

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!