Lights, camera, action at One Great George Street

One Great George Street has added to its filming credentials as it was chosen as the location for upcoming film War Machine – a satire of America’s war with Afghanistan.

The American comedy war film, which is directed and written by David Michôd, is based on the non-fiction book ‘The Operators’ by Michael Hastings and features Brad Pitt.

War Machine’s Location Manager Tony Hood shares his experience of working with One Great George Street’s Special Events Team: “There are a number of stunning rooms within the building but what really sets the venue apart is the helpful nature of the event staff who have everything covered. It is unusual in Central London to find a single location that has such an extensive range of film-worthy spaces, and additionally the room to house the various elements of the production to allow us to shoot out the scenes quickly and efficiently.”

War Machine follows hot on the heels of the current BBC thriller series, The Night Manager, which was also filmed at One Great George Street.

To find out more please visit http://oggsvenue.com/

5 reasons why entering awards is good for business

What’s the story behind awards? Why do we enter them and what does it actually mean to win them in business terms? Diane Waldron, sales and marketing director at the QEII Centre, reveals all.

Last year was truly glittering for so many reasons, but the spangled stash of gold we’ve claimed from multiple awards ceremonies is worthy of special mention. We’ve triumphed at showing our best face to judges in a catalogue of awards that celebrate all specialisms in our business – people, customer service, marketing, catering and leadership.

One year on from our Gold win for Best Large Venue at the Eventia Awards 2014, we’ve achieved incredible momentum, with the QEII Centre having now won and been shortlisted for multiple awards for work across all areas of the business, including being named Best Venue Events Team at the EVCOM Live Awards 2015 (we were ‘Highly Commended’ in this same category in 2014), Best Venue Customer Service at the London Venue Awards 2015 and AV Service Team of the Year at the AV Awards 2015.

QEII Live AV Project Manager Jo Shore was also shortlisted as AV Professional of the Year. The centre also achieved a high commendation at the C&IT Awards 2015 for Best UK Conference Venue and was a finalist in the UK Event Awards, for Corporate Event of the Year and Event Marketing & PR Strategy of the Year, both in respect of the experiential rebrand launch party held in November 2014.

QEII Taste has achieved wins too, with Tomas Varo, Karolina Lewandowska and Kimberley Powell all nominated for the Compass Be A Star Awards. It was here where Karolina won the Can Do Award.

Leith’s also received Silver recognition as Best Food & Beverage Supplier in the M&IT Awards 2015. Let’s not forget Mark Taylor either, whose commitment and drive to modernise the centre saw him win the miaList Leadership Award 2015, an accolade for which we nominated him.

So what’s the story behind awards? Why do we enter them and what does it actually mean to win them in business terms? Here are my five key reasons:

1) We can’t overlook the exceptional impact these recent award wins have had on our overall morale and productivity. Being rewarded for being wonderful customer service experts for example is a big pat on the back for the hard work you all put in to nurturing relationships with our clients.

2) Awards like these don’t surface from ‘PR puff’ – the criteria for entry is strict and much of the judges’ assessments are made via our demonstrations of the impact we’ve had on our customers’ experiences in hosting events here at the centre. It’s our clients’ testimonials, our ability to relay results, our skills at tackling challenges head on and finding solutions and our customer satisfaction and retention statistics that secure votes.

3) Awards reward innovation and systematic planning. Our written entries have to detail step-by-step processes and really lead judges through logical, very visual storytelling to paint a picture of a campaign and most importantly demonstrate its impact and outcomes. We use photography, video, data, quotes and social media conversation. Our PR and marketing agency Custard Communications has offered terrific support to help us achieve this impactful storytelling.

4) Winning business awards is great PR because it demonstrates externally that our centre is excelling. They’re a benchmarking tool, they increase our credibility and through strategic selection of categories, they can successfully highlight areas of the business of which we are exceptionally proud, such as our customer service and our AV credentials.

5) They can open doors to securing new contracts, finding new supply channels and breaking into new markets. They can help us attract new talent too. Ultimately, they help shape perceptions of what we can be and do as a centre, so we’re still celebrating our fantastic wins in 2015 and are hopeful of more mantelpiece bling in 2016!

Cowdray Hall at 20 Cavendish Square welcomes major fashion house showcases

With London Fashion Week kicking off this month, there is a definite sense of style in the air and 20 Cavendish Square’s newly refurbished Cowdray Hall has captured the attention of the fashion world with such big names as Ralph Lauren, L.K Bennett and Two Danes showcasing their collections at the venue.

Cowdray Hall is an elegant yet flexible space with high ceilings ideal to design a spectacular catwalk or presentation. Alongside it the Council Room has a rich decoration of dark wood panelling, carved pilasters and a beautiful glass domed ceiling, making it an impressive backdrop for a showroom or photoshoot.

Exciting times lie ahead for the venue as London Fashion Week takes off towards the end of this month. For more information please check the venue’s new Fashion at 20 Cavendish Square page.

New light festival Lumiere London to illuminate capital’s landmarks

See some of the best landmarks and attractions in Westminster lit up in spectacular fashion next week, as the capital illuminates for Lumiere London, a new and free light festival. From 14-17 January 2016, Lumiere London brings together some of the world’s most exciting artists working with light. Expect large-scale video-mapped projections, interactive pieces and jaw-dropping installations, transforming many of the capital’s most iconic streets and buildings in the West End and King’s Cross.

Lumiere London Elephantastic

Amongst sights to see is Elephantastic by Catherine Garret and Top’là Design. Emerging stomping from a cloud of dust, an enormous elephant makes his slow, and heavy journey through the archways of Air Street. This extraordinary animated projection brings the sounds of the jungle to Central London as he trumpets his way through the Regent Street area.

Lumiere London BAFTA

At BAFTA 195 Piccadilly, experience an exploration of different genres of cinema and television using images from BAFTA’s archive. The visuals hark back to the origins of 195 Piccadilly as the home of the Royal Society of Watercolour Painters. The animation, by motion design experts NOVAK, is accompanied by a striking soundtrack, created by Ed Carter and inspired by the classic sounds that helped define these genres of film and television.

Lumiere London neon dogs

In the heart of ‘Theatreland’, Neon Dogs by Deepa Mann-Kler brings together 12 neon dogs inspired by balloon dogs at children’s parties. Grouped together near Trafalgar Square, these colourful canines, complete with bones, leads and dog mess, bring out the big kid inside all of us. Deepa Mann-Kler first produced this installation for Lumiere Derry~Londonderry in 2013, and has a growing interest in working with neon.

Lumiere London lightbenches

Nestled amongst Mayfair’s world famous Michelin-starred restaurants, including Le Gavroche, Kai, Hélène Darroze at The Connaught and Fera at Claridge’s, is Lightbenches by Bernd Spiecker for LBO LichtBankObjekte. Illuminating the park benches of Grosvenor Square, this is street furniture with a difference, a unique resting point that transforms the concept of public seating. Lit by hundreds of LEDs, the Lightbench allows you to take the weight off your feet and strike up a conversation with a stranger.

Bernd Spiecker’s first bench was made in 1982 using acrylic material. He has since developed the idea of Lightbenches, seeing them as symbols of recreation. He plans to build 100 across the world in the hope that they will bring people together in conversation.

The four-day Lumiere London light festival runs from 14-17 January across Piccadilly, Regent Street and St James’s, Trafalgar Square and Westminster, Mayfair and King’s Cross. The easiest, most leisurely way to discover the spectacular installations at Lumiere London 2016 is by foot. Download the map or get the app for your iPhone or Android device.

Cavendish Conference Centre to reveal new look at October showcase

Cavendish Conference Centre is hosting a special evening on Thursday 1st October 2015 to let you experience the venue in a light you’ll never before have seen. Corporate event bookers are invited to register now to secure your place. Email [email protected] and join the conversation on twitter via hashtag #CavShowcase15.

The Oxford Circus venue, which scooped the title ‘Best Conference Venue Customer Service’ at the recent Conference Awards 2015, has invested in new technology and updated furnishings in both The Auditorium and the Whittington Suite, which is an ideal space for product launches and AGMs for up to 250 guests. The venue has already welcomed the likes of Blackberry and the Royal Television Society within the newly refurbished spaces.

Dermot Waldron, Operations Director and partner at Cavendish Venues, spoke of the aims of the renovation project: “Our clients are our future and we invest for the future. This major financial investment into what is already a state-of-the-art venue only goes to further enhance the status and service that we provide to our clients – that’s been a winning formula for the last 20 years, which we look to continue for the next 20. It’s a very exciting time ahead for the team at Cavendish Venues. With this development showing our clients to be at the forefront of our ambitions, we make achieving their objectives smooth with the latest amenities so that every event works seamlessly.”

Discover more about Cavendish Conference Centre here.

Broadway House invests in presentation tech with 95-inch Samsung LED

EEF Venues at Broadway House in Westminster has invested in a 95-inch Samsung ME95C LED display in its Council Chamber room to enhance visual communication for meetings, conferences and training sessions. The world’s first 95-inch large format display in brilliant FHD delivers rich, dynamic and impactful content.

The advantages to delegates are many, as Amanda Sutton, venue manager for Broadway House, explains: “Unlike projected images in a darkened room, this digital signage presentation tool retains picture quality with broad colour ratios, deep blacks and sharp images, even in bright light.

“Content shown on the display screen has virtually no distortion. Images aren’t blurred when the screen is touched. The presenter isn’t dazzled by light from a projector, nor does the presenter throw a shadow on the screen. The reduced light scatter and reduced reflection make the content easier to read, increasing audience concentration and productivity. Another bonus is that the presentation area is free from machinery and cables.”

Broadway House is a six-storey Edwardian building at the heart of Westminster, making it a very popular choice for ministerial meetings and press conferences. It is directly opposite St James’s Park tube station, and a 10-minute walk from Victoria, Waterloo and Charing Cross, so it couldn’t be any more convenient for city meetings.

To enquire about holding an event at Broadway House, click here.

World first holographic telepresence over 4G at 8 Northumberland Avenue

By Sami Badrakhan, marketing executive, 8 Northumberland Avenue

On 26th January Charles Boyd, director and owner of 8 Northumberland Avenue and Ian O’Connell, director of Musion, brought 4G holographic telepresence to 8 Northumberland Avenue‘s ballroom using the ready-installed Musion technology. They were conducting a Q&A session but only Charles was present in the venue. Ian was on the other side of London being ‘transported’ as a 3D hologram via 4G wireless technology onto the stage at 8 Northumberland Avenue.

This ability to reproduce, between different locations, the best characteristics of direct human interaction that result from face-to-face meetings has been in existence for many years.  So how is this so unique and a significant improvement to the events industry?

Telepresence normally requires an expensive fibre optic cable and a dedicated network management system operating between two venues.  It’s been no coincidence that telecoms companies were the only ones able to afford this, because they could use their own lines. This new technology, using eight 4G SIM cards in a box all working together to stabilise the signal to deliver the 3D image seen, reduces the cost enormously.

Telepresence is a well-known technology to aid a reduction in event costs and indeed carbon footprint. There’s no need to go to the expense of flying a keynote speaker over from New York and paying for their accommodation. But as Ian highlighted, using 3D holographic telepresence over 4G goes further and creates a “truly live experience, more immersive than talking to someone via a 2-dimensional screen. It enables people physically located in one meeting room to see 3D holographic images of people in another location, as if they were sitting opposite them”.

8 Northumberland Avenue has already seen the benefits of using this technology.  Speaking at the event Charles Boyd said: “We are focused on being at the forefront of technology advancements to ensure our clients receive the highest return possible on their event investment by amplifying their messages. We’ve already seen this for ourselves at the event we hosted for corporate buyers last month.  We’ve reached a far wider audience than those who just attended the event.  We’ve had an increase in social media activity with new followers,  press coverage and some great feedback.”

To find out more about how this technology can benefit your next event contact the team at 8 Northumberland Avenue.

Michael Jackson hologram tech available at 8 Northumberland Ave

A hologram of Michael Jackson graced the stage of the 2014 Billboard Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday 18 May, when the late King of Pop ghost-walked the moon walk in a performance of newly released single ‘Slave to the Rhythm’ from his posthumous album ‘Xscape’. It’s an album made up of unreleased material remixed by artists such as Timbaland.

The digital projection mirrored many of the pop icon’s signature moves and was accompanied on stage by a troupe of real-life dancers. It was an act that captivated viewers around the world, using technology previously seen in the ‘resurrection’ of rapper Tupac Shakur at Coachella 2012 and deceased rappers Ol’ Dirty Bastard and Eazy-E in 2013. The Westminster Collection also used it to bring tourism expert Tracy Halliwell to the stage at Destination Westminster 2013 venue showcase.

Event bookers can replicate similarly mind-boggling marvels at central London event venue 8 Northumberland Avenue, where the very same holographic technology is available for hire. 8 Northumberland Avenue was the first venue in the UK to partner with Musion, the world leader in 3D holographic technology.

Options for entertainment include an all-singing Frank Sinatra plus a number of other modern day and retro acts. To explore the Ballroom as a setting for your next event, or for information on booking holographic entertainment and performances at your next product launch, party or conference, click here.

Edible Cinema teams with BOMBAY SAPPHIRE for Romeo & Juliet at BAFTA

This Sunday 3 May, BAFTA 195 Piccadilly will play host to Edible Cinema and BOMBAY SAPPHIRE as the iconic venue stages a special screening of Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo & Juliet. It moves from the Electric Cinema on Portobello Road to the home of British film following the phenomenal success of previous screenings.

Guests will be treated to an edible adventure through the film, where experiences will range from a ‘tongue sandwich’ as Romeo and Juliet share their first kiss, to a mini vial of ‘poison’ as the film reaches its epic climax. As guests take their seats, the divided room will become apparent with one side Capulets and other Montagues. Each side will receive different cocktails, inspired by the two families.

The first of its kind, Edible Cinema is a collaboration between Soho House chef Jake Rigby Wilson, Soho House events manager Zoe Paterson, renowned experience organiser Polly Betton, BOMBAY SAPPHIRE mixologist Sean Ware and BAFTA 195 Piccadilly head chef Anton Manganaro. The concept truly enhances the film using taste, aroma and texture to heighten the viewers’ sensory experience of the film’s most famous scenes.

The screening will kick start Edible Cinema’s 2014 programme of events, with new films scheduled for the summer, Halloween and Christmas. All film titles and dates will be announced via the Edible Cinema website.

Church House recruits young AV talent

Church House Conference Centre has welcomed two new graduates to its award winning in-house AV team. They join in the roles of as Junior AV Technicians.

Tom Young studied Audio Music Production at Buckinghamshire New University and worked as a playback sound engineer at Lord’s Cricket Ground for the London 2012 Olympic archery events. He also worked as a sound engineer at a variety of music venues.

Andrew Hitchcock, who graduated from the University of Derby last year, worked as an assistant technician at Theatre Severn in Shrewsbury, as well as working at Carnegie Hall in Dunfermline with the Young Theatre Group and with various recording studios across London.

“We are delighted to welcome Tom and Andrew to our team,” said Ian Locke, AV Manager. “At Church House we recognise the difficulties many graduates face in gaining their first steps in the working world. Tom and Andrew have great enthusiasm for AV and the events industry as well as an abundance of raw talent. Young people are the future of the events industry and it’s therefore essential that we pass on our expertise and knowledge to them, helping them kick-start their careers and encouraging their development.”

Church House Conference Centre continually invests in its in-house AV team and technology. Recent investments include web streaming services, a 100Mbps broadband line and digital signage.  The team was recently awarded AV Magazine’s In-house AV Team of the Year Award 2012.