PLANNING a conference or exhibition can be a daunting prospect – often it’s one of the few times a year all your company’s partners, stakeholders and staff are in the same place at the same time, and the pressure is on to impress.
With conference and meeting facilities for up to 500 delegates, the events team at Whittlebury Hall has extensive experience in planning and executing flawless events. Business Development Manager, Maxine Hollis shares her three top tips for planning a conference or exhibition:
1) Location, Location
Location really is key to the success of any event. Not only do you need to make sure your venue is in easy reach for delegates, but if attendees are coming from outside the local area you also need to make sure there are suitable accommodation options nearby. Whittlebury Hall benefits from proximity to the M1 and M40, as well as being in easy reach of Birmingham, Luton and East Midlands airports. We also have a tool on our website, MY Event Accommodation Finder, which helps to find nearby accommodation if you’re not staying in our hotel, suitable for a wide range of budgets.
2) Quality Assurance
When planning an event, the last thing you want to worry about is the facilities at your venue not being up to scratch, or discovering it doesn’t meet your procurement guidelines. Finding a venue with AIM accreditation, the nationally recognised industry standard, will put your mind at ease – venues have to meet a set of 50 strict criteria to be accredited, and undergo regular assessments to achieve the highest standard of AIM Gold, which Whittlebury holds.
3) Impress your guests
Whether it’s exceptional fine dining or an unusual break-out activity, every event needs something a little bit special to make sure delegates leave with a lasting good impression. What you choose will depend greatly on demographic of your attendees and the purpose of the event, but here at Whittlebury our flexible events team will be able to help advise you on added extras for your event, such as private dining from our exclusive restaurant Murrays, a round of golf on our 36-hole course, relaxing in the spa, or quad biking around our 300-acre estate.
Whittlebury Hall provides 19 training and meeting rooms and 30 syndicates, with capacity for up to 500 delegates in one space. The hotel also offers 254 bedrooms, an award-winning spa and leisure club, free 1gbs wifi, 36-hole golf course and 300 acres of land, ideal for team building and multi activity days, including hover crafting, quad treks and clay shooting.
For more information visit www.whittleburyhall.co.uk or call 01327 850490.