Months of planning and organising, all came together on one day – and it just happened to be April Fool’s Day 2012!
The Venue: The Heart of England Conference & Events Centre in Warwickshire.
The Client & their Guests: Award Winning Hairdressers the Francesco Group.
Luckily I’d arranged the sunshine for the whole day and evening (all part of the service from MAUN Consulting). I arrived on site bright and early in the morning, and so took a stroll to the beach – yes the beach – in the Heart of England! A superb facility open to the public, offering everything you would expect at the seaside – from deck chairs and sandcastles, to a rock shop and even a fish & chip van! I could have easily stayed there all day. But there were things to check in advance of the day ahead, in advance of 400 people descending to the Midlands.
I had used the venue before, and knew a number of the team (who have been there for many years). There was certainly no reason to have any concern about the event – half the reason for choosing this professional venue. Already at 9.30am there were members of the venue team around and about, preparing for the evening event. The pleasing thing is that they were all ‘in the know’ about the event. It was obvious that communication between the events managers Melanie & Adrian (who I had been liaising with) had handed everything over in great detail.
It was important for the client to have a ‘prep room’ available from 11.00am – and guess what it – was all ready from 10.00am. Perfect. No unnecessary running around before the clients arrived. And as for the staff – well what can I say – everyone I came across was friendly & polite – making sure I’d got everything I needed – including a very important constant flow of coffee to get me through the day. It was great to be made welcome, and above all to be spoken to by the staff (very rarely done)!
So it was just a case of waiting around for the clients to arrive – so what to do? Well, jump onto the FREE WiFi of course and surf away. For those that know me, you’ll know one of my pet hates is a venue that charges for their WiFi. So another gold star awarded here.
It was great to see the team pulling everything together – I was also so impressed that the events team had only been given an agenda without the award winner’s names on it “just in case it was left lying around!” – Very impressive and forward thinking.
So the FG Creative Team started to arrive. Rehearsals began. The atmosphere in the room was coming together – created with the help of effective lighting (constantly rigged at the venue), mist, specially selected accompanying music, visuals, and decor. Adrenaline started to pump as we edged towards the official start time of the event. I had 100% excitement and 0% worry. It’s one of the very places I have dealt with that have such a talented, knowledgeable and helpful group of people all working together to get the same end result – excellent service. The likes of Adrian, Jammo, Hayley, Andy, Maggie & Michelle (and so many more…) were outstanding throughout the day. We also had the pleasure of the MD, Steve keeping an eye on things all evening until the early hours, even collecting glasses and tidy the room throughout! All I wanted from the evening was to WOW the guests, ensuring that we complimented their quality brand, and above all to impress the MD and his team. From the feedback on the night it was mission accomplished. Four hundred happy guests, all fed watered and entertained at a top class venue.
The guests were even surprised with a late night work out on a Bucking Bronco. Perhaps if some of the ladies had realised they were going to be mounting a plastic bull, the choice of attire might have been a little different! Our chief photographer Stuart James (a great supporter and friend of MAUN Consulting) certainly had some ‘interesting’ shots from the activity.
What made this event so fantastic – quite simply – a superb venue with superb facilities, a superb team, superb hospitality and perhaps a just that little of perfect planning and precision from yours truly!?
Already looking forward to doing it all again in 12 months…..
And so to end on the theme we started – in my opinion you’d be a FOOL if you don’t consider Heart of England Conference & Events Centre for your next event in the Midlands. I would also recommend capturing every moment with the help of Stuart James and his camera, which didn’t stop snapping all night.
Thank you for your help with arranging such a wonderful event:
www.heartofengland.co.uk & TWITTER: @heartofeng
www.stuartjamesimaging.com & TWITTER: @SJPhotographer
Until the next time.