"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.

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

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!

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

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.