NAVEEN Leer is Whittlebury Park’s Conference & Events Office Manager. His team work with corporate clients to create bespoke meetings and events, from a range of industries. In 2020 the team will be promoting Whittlebury’s newly refurbished Conference & Events spaces following a £1m investment that is currently under way. Naveen speaks to Business Times about the impactful change the refurbishment will mean to new and existing clients.
How will the new room concepts benefit clients who are using Whittlebury’s Conference & Events facilities?
We all know that our working environment is important, and so the concepts for the new rooms are based upon on our repeat clients’ feedback. We asked them what makes an ideal meeting space and incorporated their answers into the designs with unique touches such as bespoke lighting and the new blinds which have been designed to not entirely exclude natural daylight, but they will reduce glare when using screens. The new colour schemes are modern yet not distracting and the wooden fixtures on the walls have clean lines with discreet lighting at the sides.
Why do you think having inspirational meeting spaces is beneficial to meeting output?
When clients have booked a meeting space outside of their usual office environment, both the booker and their teams want to feel as though the space they are in has been invested in. Innovative surroundings can improve concentration levels and also have that inspirational ‘wow factor’ when you walk inside – first impressions really do count. Breakout spaces are also more important now and so our refurbished coffee stations will have booth seating and have been styled to ‘bring the outside in’ making it an inviting space for informal conversations outside of the meeting or workshop. As well as attracting new clients, we hope that our long-standing existing clients will be impressed by our commitment to modernising our facilities.
Would you say that industry trends for meeting spaces are changing?
There will always be a demand for meeting spaces, however client needs are changing as technology evolves to assist with presenting and making training more interactive. There is more awareness around employee wellbeing too and making meetings more informal, and this extends to the style of delivery too. Our new ‘Inside, Outside’ room has been designed for this reason, and can be used for multiple purposes. Before we had the new rooms designed we were already seeing an increase in clients asking for more informal room set-ups so we knew that demand was there, which is why we are so excited to show clients round our new spaces in 2020.
Email Naveen and the events team to find out more about booking your meeting, conference or team away day.