Monday, 31 December 2012

A Guide to Plan an International Conference at London Conference Hotels

London Conference Hotels
It’s no secret that planning an international conference poses many challenges in front of us. From language barriers to currency exchange, many problems come up that need to be addressed. Choosing London conference hotels as your venue eliminate half of the glitches. Most of the hotels offering conference facilities also offer accommodation, airport shuttle, and currency exchange services too. To help you plan successful international conference, here are some tips and suggestions.

Venue with Accommodation

Picking a hotel venue is the perfect choice when it comes to planning an international conference or meeting. Book multiple rooms at the hotel in anticipation of your attendees. Don’t forget to check the cancellation policy of the hotel. It’s suitable to pick a location in proximity to the airport.

Business Resources

Check with the speaker what AV aids are required at the event. Most of the conference suites feature state of the art facilities including internet, high-tech AV equipment, and secretarial services too. Expert technical staff remains at hand so that your conference runs smoothly.

Hire Translators

Establish a most commonly used language for conversation. Since it’s an international conference, it’s handy to hire translators. The venue may have its own multi-lingual staff to handle language issues of the guests. Talk to the event mangers to confirm what facilities and services they offer.
 
What After Conference?

Apart from ice-breakers and activities, there should be an after-party once the conference is over. This will give an opportunity to the delegates to mingle with each other and relax a bit.

Plan in Advance

Good rule of thumb for a successful international conference is to plan everything ahead of time. Book your venue in advance to get special offers. This will help you keep your budget on track. Besides, give your delegates enough time to plan their trip abroad.

Try these ideas to make your international conference or meeting a success.

Tuesday, 25 December 2012

5 Money Saving Tips for Planning an Event at London Conference Venues

London Conference Venues
In these challenging times, it’s no secret that companies are trying hard to save pennies wherever they can. Web conferences and social networks have a great place. But there are times when there is no option left apart from holding a conference to gather your delegates at one place. And you often end up breaking your bank. But there are several key areas where you can save your hard earned money. To help you stick to your budget, here are some money-saving tips to plan a business conference at conference venues London.

Pick Your Location Wisely

Location, location, location is an often-quoted mantra of the conference planning industry. Proximity to the airports, hotels, and London attractions, all these factors will increase the cost. It’s better to first consider your requirements like whether your attendees are local or international, this will help you decide whether you want a space near airport or not. Consider the duration of the conference to decide whether to book a space with accommodation or not.

Beer Budget

It’s the most demanded facility, so you cannot afford to compromise on quality. But drinks are also one of those things that can blow you budget. The best way to save money is to look for a venue that has an in-house catering service. These are more flexible when it comes to deciding the menu that fits the event’s budget.

Decorate on a Dime

Decoration is yet another area that turns into a real budget blower. But with simple tips, you can keep the costs to minimum. The best possible option is to find out a fully- decorated venue. Renting decorations turns out to be quite expensive whereas using in-house stock can save you huge bucks.

Focus on the AV Equipment

Do not get swayed and blindly pick a venue offering high-tech AV equipment.  Talk to the speaker and decide whether AV aids are actually required or not.

Registration

Are you still using pen and paper for registration? Web registration is a killer app in the market. Why not register your attendees using this app and save money rather than wasting it on paper methods.

These ideas and tips will help you save precious pennies while organizing a business conference or meeting.

Thursday, 20 December 2012

Tips to Make Your Business Event More Interesting at Conference Venue London

Conference Venue London
Organizing a conference is a great way to gather your entire workforce under one roof and communicate your business message. However, conferences can be deadly dull for the audience. Endless presentations lead everyone to drop off. But with some thoughtful touches, you can make your conference engaging and interesting and set it apart. Turn your boring corporate event at conference venue London into a productive experience with these ideas and tips.

Ice Breakers

Games, activities and ice breakers are a great way to spice up your event and enhance participation. You can pick a conference energizer as per the space and seating arrangement. According to your company’s needs, set the time period from 10 to 90 minutes. After lunch is the best time to introduce an ice breaker and get everybody back on board.

Give Me a Break!!

Don’t leave your guests checking their watches. After a long presentation and lecture, the employees may feel tired and sleepy. Give them breaks in between to refresh and reenergize.

Outside the Box

Pick an outside the box location for the meeting. A good location and setting can add that X factor to your business event. If the weather is not fowl, hold your meeting outdoor. If weather is cold and budget is not a constraint, hire a glass-covered and heated rooftop venue.

Refreshing Beverages

There comes a time when everybody really needs matchsticks to prop up their eyes. Before your audience falls asleep, serve hot beverages like tea and coffee to let the guests reenergise and start again.

After-Conference Party

An after party can truly make up for the fun and frolic that was missing in the conference. As it is said, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. So, serve the best food to win the heart of your potential clients.

Conferences are not necessarily meant to be boring. With some extra planning, you can make your conference a fun and productive event.

Friday, 14 December 2012

Catering Ideas for Business Conferences at London Meeting Venues


Business conferences are known to be quite formal events and holds great reputation of the company organising it. The best thing for planning the most successful business conference is to start planning it early as it involves lot of things. It starts from finding ideal London meeting venues to planning related to food and catering. You need to choose a caterer in advance and need to have few ideas beforehand.

As far as catering for conferences are concerned, many caterers have ready to go menus and the planning further depends on the amount of people at the conference. Here are some catering ideas for conferences in London:

Breakfast:

If the conference is to be held in the morning, serving a continental breakfast is the easiest to do and an affordable option too. It includes fruits, juices, muffins, butter; jams are quite popular among business conferences in the capital city of London. Business people don’t relish a full course meal early morning. There should be someone to refill the coffee mugs on every table if required.

Brunch:

These are meant to be a little heartier. Setting an omelette station where the guests can choose their own topping etc. is a viable option. You can have the option of salads at one corner of the hall and the other corner can be spread with cheese and breads. The menu can also include various soup options as well.

Lunch:

The menu for this can be decided on the basis of number of people attending the conference. If these are less than 20 people, sandwiches and salads are the most appropriate things to fill in. A line of hot dishes can be served if the conference is mid-sized. There must be plenty of vegetable dishes for vegan eaters. Pasta, salads along with few dessert options can be a good addition to the entire event.

Dinner:

If the guests are to be served with dinner it has to be arranged with a proper meal with at least three main courses along with breads and desserts at the end.

This is how the whole catering idea for a business conference should go about and it depends upon the number of people as well as the budget of course.

Monday, 3 December 2012

Ways to Use Social Media to Engage Audience at London Conference Venue

London Conference Venue
Integration of social media into a conference has almost become an expected thing. But with a vast array of social media tools, it becomes difficult to know where to start. First of all, when you hire a London conference venue, make sure that it has all the contemporary features like internet and AV equipment. Most of the conference organizers do not take full advantage of the social media to engage the audience. To help you plan an up-to-date conference, here is a blue-print of using social media before, during, and after the event.

Before the Conference

Create an Event Page:All conferences and events usually have an official website. But you can also list your business event at various social networking websites like Facebook and LinkedIn. Your attendees swim in different ponds so you have to make use of these different online platforms to reach your target audience.

Tweet Information: Keep posting important information regarding you conference. This will help your audience to acquire relevant information and you can keep in touch with your expected attendees.

During the Conference

Live Discussions:Host a live discussion through web conferencing. The audience will get an opportunity to hear from the experts that are otherwise not present in the conference. But make sure that appropriate AV aids are at hand like projector, sound systems, and computer.

Networking: During the conference, give your audience the freedom to interact and network with each other. Ask a helper to monitor the questions posted on your event page and discuss it during the conference.

After the Conference

Post Videos: Post videos of your conference on You Tube. This will help you track the likes and dislikes for your event.

Ask for Feedback: Through your blog posts and Facebook page, encourage your attendees to give feedback. The response will help you track the success of your conference.

Conference organisers have to keep up with the communication revolution and its latest trends. These are just a few ways to utilize social media in your business event.