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The Westminster Collection makes an impact at The Meetings Show

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Last month, leading venue consortium for Westminster venues, The Westminster Collection met with event buyers and bookers from around the world at The Meetings Show at London Olympia.

The stand, which was manned by a variety of event professionals representing venues from across the consortium, offered the perfect place to discover over 35 stunning Westminster venues and find out how the collection can save buyers time when looking for a wow-factor venue.

Announced on the first morning of the show, The Meetings Show also provided the perfect opportunity for the collection to share its plans for a complete re-brand, name change and new website set to launch later on this year and encourage registrations for the launch event.

Throughout the three-day show over 350 contacts were scanned with just shy of 40 specific enquiries generated which were promptly communicated to all member venues to make business proposals.

The collection’s success at the show highlights just one of the significant benefits for membership to The Westminster Collection and provided a dynamic business platform for both the member venues and the event buyers in attendance.

If you would like to find out more about becoming a member of The Westminster Collection, please click here. Alternatively, if you are looking to book a stunning venue for your next event, find our full collection here.

#EventProfs come and see us at The Meetings Show!

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#EventProfs heading to The Meetings Show next week? Why not head to Westminster while you’re there?

Come and visit The Westminster Collection at stand J502 and discover our collection of unique Westminster venues.

We have a venue for every event from intimate and quirky meeting spaces to large-scale iconic landmarks all located in one of London’s most recognisable areas.

Register to attend for free here.

We look forward to seeing you there!

QEII Centre to inspire Londoners with #SparkSesh workshops

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Westminster’s QEII Centre is looking to get Londoners inspired this summer by hosting a series of creative #SparkSesh workshops.

Part of QEII’s 30th birthday celebrations, the 90-minute fun and interactive events will cover storytelling, introspective reflection, creative vision and how to get ahead in all aspects of life.

The first #SparkSesh, ‘Stories That Move People To Action’, will take place on Tuesday 28 June at 6pm.

Run in partnership with London-based creative agency Just Add Water, the session will use film clips and popular media as part of interactive activities to show attendees what makes a great story and how storytelling can be used to influence other people’s way of thinking.

Roopi Woodall, marketing manager at QEII Centre said: “If you’re feeling like you’re at a bit of a creative stand-still or struggling to get ahead in life, #SparkSesh could be what you need to start feeling reinvigorated and seeing life from a new perspective. The events will be positive, insightful and memorable – you’d be surprised how much can change in just an hour and a half of creative thinking.”

The following three #SparkSesh events will take place in September. Monday 12 September will be all about creativity, Thursday 15 September will be looking at why people do what they do and on Tuesday 20 September the final session will look ahead to articulating the future.

Ian McKechnie from Just Add Water added: “These workshops will help attendees to think in new and exciting ways, put their ideas across more powerfully and get what they want in life. The first #SparkSesh focusing on storytelling is perfect for anyone who wants to be more engaging and connect with people on a more emotional level. Facts can only take you so far, but stories are a far more powerful way of influencing outcomes.”

Victory Services Club launches the Trafalgar & El Alamein Suite

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The Victory Services Club will be launching the newly refurbished Trafalgar & El Alamein Suite in July 2016.

This flexible event space, which has a capacity for up to 250 guests is adorned with stylish décor, fine furnishings and classic lighting, creating a sophisticated atmosphere for guests to enjoy.

The suite really does provide the ideal event room for conferences, meetings, receptions and more.

To find out more information, please contact the Events team today on 0207 616 8305 or email: [email protected]

8 Northumberland Avenue secures Caterer’s best places to work title

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8 Northumberland Avenue of Northumberland Events has been named as one of the best places to work in hospitality by The Caterer.

Committed to providing a positive and productive working environment, the venue has established core values to unify employees in a shared understanding of how to interact and behave. This in-turn has created a co-operative, respectful and productive working environment which helps employees feel part of the business and motivates them to deliver great service.

Each department worked together to develop these core values, captured in a framework called the 31 Practices. A representative from each division was an ambassador for the values, which include: ‘We cheer each other on and remember to say thank you’, and ‘We use positive body language and words’.

The other initiative is the company’s investment in Insights Discovery Profiling – a tool designed to improve self-awareness and development and to support interaction among colleagues.

Most recently the venue introduced a Share incentive plan, the company says it is aware people spend a lot of time at work and it is ‘committed to creating the best environment for employees to enable them to love what they do and in turn deliver excellence’.

To find out more about 8 Northumberland Avenue click here.

New suppliers, new venues as The Westminster Collection prepares for its 2015 events programme

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The Westminster Collection (TWC), London’s venue marketing consortium, is delighted to welcome a selection of new venues and suppliers to membership.

Accomplished event photographer Karolina Krasuska specialises in music, event and editorial photography and has over 10 years’ experience in the field, with established long-term relationships with clients that include Toni & Guy, Pernod Ricard UK and IFC. Renowned for her contemporary, edgy style and ability to capture the energy of an event, she has covered London Fashion Week for seven years and she also worked with TWC at its Destination Westminster venue showcase in October 2014, which was held at BAFTA 195 Piccadilly.

Mobile bar specialist The Bar Bazaar provides high quality event bars, reception desks, food service stations and all manner of stylish event bar solutions to venues and clients including The Brit Awards, the V&A and Jimmy Choo. The bars are custom built offering bespoke finishes and layouts and they can be branded thanks to the company’s exceptional in-house production facilities.

The Event Hire Company provides exclusive furniture, kitchen equipment and accessories for hire to both the private and public sectors and has experience of a wide variety of events, including corporate hospitality, weddings, exhibitions and conferences. The team is expert in providing a wealth of knowledge and seamless pre- to post-event service to a client portfolio that includes Team GB, The City of London, John Lewis, BBC and ITV. The Event Hire Company was also a supplier to Destination Westminster at BAFTA and enjoys established relationships with a number of venues within TWC membership.

New to the collection’s portfolio of venues is St James Theatre, the first newly-built theatre complex in Central London in 30 years. Located just around the corner from Buckingham Palace, it plays host to cabaret, comedy, music and theatre with current shows including the critically acclaimed Bad Jews.

The theatre is a perfect venue for product launches, private screenings and for more intimate creative workshops. It’s only a few minutes from Victoria station and boasts an intimate 312-seat theatre available for daytime events and a flexible 100-seat studio, a wonderful live entertainment space that lends itself to becoming a flexible and self-contained corporate events venue. The St. James Bar and Brasserie and the Carrara Restaurant offer a range of stylish, informal dining options.

Another recent re-joiner of TWC, after a break from membership, is the award-winning QEII Centre, newly refurbished as part of a £12 million rebranding and renovation project. The iconic venue, which sits opposite Westminster Abbey, is boldly re-establishing its wow factor within the global events industry, now offering a more modern and stylish environment for the 400+ national and international events that are hosted there each year. It provides the ideal central London location for high profile conferences, conventions, exhibitions and corporate events with impressive capacity for up to 2,500 delegates.

Karin Parkinson, TWC board director and Central Hall Westminster’s facilities and administration manager, said: “We wish a very warm welcome to our new venues and partners, who have already shown real eagerness and commitment to becoming active members of The Westminster Collection’s network of venues and suppliers. Through our energetic 2015 marketing communications programme, we look forward to assisting in bringing their services to the attention of prospective new clients.”

TWC will shortly look forward to the opportunity to promote its member venues to events professionals at International Confex in London on 18-19 February 2015. Sales and marketing representatives from more than 20 of its 41 venues will be present at TWC stand CF57 to meet and greet show visitors across the two days of the event, ready to talk event planners through the collection’s eclectic portfolio of central London venues.

TWC’s 2015 events programme includes International Confex (18-19 Feb), Embassy Event Expo and The Meetings Show (7-9 July) together with its own annual venue showcase (Sept 2015) and a newly-revamped series of venue familiarisation trips for buyers.

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The first TWC fam trip of the year takes place at St James Theatre on Weds 25th February, 08:30-10:30am. Any event planner wishing to attend this exclusive event can email [email protected] to request a place.

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