Venue showcase Archives | Page 3 of 5 | Westminster Venue Collection

QEII transforms from international law conference to glittering awards lunch

Posted on 3rd March 2015 by engineroom

After a whirlwind week that saw the four-day Global Law Summit bring the likes of Boris Johnson, Ed Miliband, The Rt. Hon. Jeremy Wright QC MP, Attorney General of England & Wales, The Rt. Hon, Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury, President of the Supreme Court and film-star-cum-Global-Ambassador for War Child UK, Carey Mulligan, through the door for an international legal conference held to mark 800 years since the sealing of Magna Carta, the QEII Centre was privileged then to welcome the great and the good from the world of professional and trade associations on Friday 27 March, when the Association Excellence Awards came to life in its newly refurbished Churchill Auditorium.

It was an occasion to celebrate the success of individuals and teams in striving towards excellence in how associations operate and serve their members, organised by the Global Conference Network (GCN).

As the headline sponsor, QEII Centre was keen to pull out all the stops to serve a winning awards lunch menu in partnership with its talented catering team QEII Taste by Leith’s. Guests tucked into 24-hour smoked shin of Gloucestershire beef and rare grilled flat iron steak, served with carrot fondant, roasted artichoke, scored red onion and cherry tomato. Dessert was an indulgent Single Estate chocolate mogador, a dark chocolate and raspberry cylinder with raspberry cream and a salted caramel macaroon.

Speaking in a video interview before the awards presentation about the importance of these awards for the 300-strong audience, which included 40 C-level association leaders, host the Rt. Hon. Michael Portillo said, “As for the people represented here today, it’s just the most extraordinarily eclectic collection and I think people are going to be quite surprised because the range of activities almost defies the imagination.”

GCN awards are highly sought after because of the independent and rigorous judging process by industry practitioners and leaders, which means they showcase the very best, as judged by industry peers.

QEII Centre were proud to sponsor a selection of the awards categories, including Best Association Conference in London, won by Association for Project Management (APM) for their APM Project Management Conference, Best Advancement of a Cause, won by British Dental Association for DFT, Best Use of Social Media, won by Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) for #MAATchat, and Best Association Awards, won by Chartered Institute of Public Relations for their CIPR Excellence Awards and sponsored by QEII Taste by Leith’s.

Behind-the-scenes film photography exhibition at BAFTA

Posted on 15th January 2015 by engineroom

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has announced that BAFTA 195 Piccadilly, its headquarters in London and home of its membership worldwide, will open its doors to the public to showcase ‘BAFTA, Backstage’, the latest photographic exhibition from the BAFTA archive.

Supported by Deutsche Bank Asset & Wealth Management, ‘BAFTA, Backstage’ opens to BAFTA members and their guests from Monday 19 January and then to the public on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 January 2015.

Showcasing over 80 images, the exhibition features the work of eight photographers who have covered BAFTA’s Film Awards in the past, with reportage and portrait photography of leading film talent.

The selection of photography includes Annette Bening, Banksy, Ben Affleck, Brad Pitt, Chris Hemsworth, Colin Firth, Daniel Day Lewis, Daniel Radcliffe, Danny Boyle, Dev Patel, Emma Watson, Felicity Jones, Frieda Pinto, Gary Oldman, Goldie Hawn, Helena Bonham Carter, Ian McKellen, Jennifer Garner, Jennifer Hudson, Jeremy Renner, Kate Winslet, Kenneth Branagh, Kevin Spacey, Martin Scorsese, Meryl Streep, Mickey Rourke, Noel Clarke, Sharon Stone, Samuel L Jackson, Tom Hardy, Leonardo Di Caprio and this year’s EE Rising Star nominee, Gugu Mbatha-Raw.

The eight featured photographers are Brits Ian Derry, Sarah Dunn, Phil Fisk, Charlie Gray, Rich Hardcastle, Ellis Parrinder and Greg Williams, and Canadian Jessie Craig. The exhibition will also include the awards photography of Michael Barrett, Doug McKenzie, Richard Kendal, Jonathan Birch, David Dettman, Stephen Butler and Marc Hoberman.

Amanda Berry OBE, Chief Executive of BAFTA, said: “Our latest exhibition, ’BAFTA, Backstage’, is a stunning collection of photography from the BAFTA archive. It features film’s biggest names captured by some of the very best photographers working in the UK today, so I encourage everyone to come along and enjoy a small selection from our archive as we open our doors to the public on 24 and 25 January, ahead of the EE British Academy Film Awards on 8 February.”

Supporting art and artists has been a focus of Deutsche Bank’s cultural activities for more than 30 years. Its cultural program – which spans music, theatre and the visual arts – is driven by a belief that everyone should have the opportunity to experience culture regardless of race, social background and education.

Tickets to the exhibition are free of charge and can be booked through http://bafta-backstage.eventbrite.co.uk. The exhibition opens from 10.00 to 19.00 on both Saturday 24 January and Sunday 25 January with last admissions at 18.00. Tickets for the exhibition will be available, with admission at 30 minute intervals. At 14.30 on both 24 and 25 January, a Q&A will take place with the featured photographers.

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

Posted on 15th January 2015 by engineroom

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 25^th 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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Immerse yourself in contagious creativity at new London events space St James Theatre

Posted on 14th January 2015 by engineroom

Come and explore the characterful St James Theatre, newly available to the London corporate and private events venue market, at an exclusive, private tour hosted by event manager Adam and his team. The coffee morning takes place on Wednesday 25 February at 8:30am. If you’d like to be there, please email [email protected] to request a place.

St James Theatre is 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.

Explore more here and to request a place on the private coffee morning tour, please email [email protected].

BAFTA draws crowd for annual Westminster venue showcase

Posted on 13th October 2014 by engineroom

Friday 10th October saw more than 150 event buyers gather at BAFTA 195 Piccadilly to discover and network with dozens of central London’s best event venues, brought together over breakfast by London venue marketing consortium The Westminster Collection (TWC).

It was TWC’s annual venue showcase, Destination Westminster, held once a year to create an opportunity for people who organise events to enjoy productive, face-to-face conversations with venue representatives from some of London’s finest historic institutes and societies, dedicated conference venues, river boat venues, luxury hotels, museums, tourist attractions, private members clubs and concert halls.

Guests in attendance came from a mixture of integrated marketing agencies, event agencies, charities, embassies, government organisations, law firms, accountancy firms, retailers and tour operators.

BAFTA 195 Piccadilly took the opportunity to showcase its bright and airy David Lean Room and Foyer Bar, as guests posed for twitter and Instagram photos alongside iconic BAFTA masks and enjoyed indulgent, sweet and savoury breakfast treats including cinnamon toast with roast banana on a chocolate milk shot, and spinach, potato and goats cheese tortilla with smashed avocado.

Guests then loaded up their pick ‘n’ mix bags with breakfast themed treats from the sweetie bar before seizing the chance to make like the stars by taking their seats in BAFTA’s illustrious Princess Anne Theatre. Here they watched short screenings of candid interviews with Hollywood film stars including the late Robin Williams and Tom Hanks, as well as British talents Idris Elba and Ricky Gervais.

Speaking of the event, Allyson Hargreaves, board director for The Westminster Collection says, “We always look forward to this event. It provides great sales leads for our venues and we hope serves to raise awareness of the excellent, free venue finding and event enquiry tools The Westminster Collection offers to event planners via our website. There are few events that offer such an intimate opportunity to network and have meaningful business conversations in a relaxed environment.”

BAFTA to lift curtain on The Westminster Collection’s annual venue showcase

Posted on 2nd September 2014 by engineroom

Event planners and agents are encouraged to RSVP now to secure attendance at London’s finest event venue showcase, The Westminster Collection’s ‘Destination Westminster 2014′, this year being held at the iconic BAFTA 195 Piccadilly on Friday 10^th October, 8:00 – 11:00am.

Famously the home of British moving image, BAFTA 195 Piccadilly is looking forward to opening its doors to event planners from all across London and beyond for a productive morning of networking, event planning and conversation with more than 40 of the city’s most celebrated venues, available for corporate or private hire.

Exclusively promoting venues within central London’s City of Westminster – which encompasses Pimlico in the south, to Regent’s Park in the north and from the borders of Kensington in the west, to Covent Garden in the east – guests of this enjoyable breakfast networking event can look forward to discovering private members clubs, modern and traditional conference centres, historic institutes and societies, prestigious academies, concert halls, galleries and museums, tourist attractions, luxury hotels, river boats and churches.

Anna Glazebrook, board director for The Westminster Collection and marketing manager at One Great George Street, says, “Every year we look forward to the opportunity to present a friendly one-stop-shop environment where buyers and venues come together to share information and explore the possibilities and opportunities available for events held within our vast collection of venues. The face-to-face contact is really important to building working relationships and so many of our guests always comment on how they’ve discovered venues or features and services they didn’t even know were available.

“We welcomed the QEII Centre (currently undergoing a £12m refurbishment) and The Royal Air Force Club into our collection this year. I’d encourage anyone in the business of planning events to come along and network with the expert event teams from these and our other leading venues, win prizes, unlock special discounts and incentives and enjoy a delicious, free breakfast.

Celebrating all that’s iconic about this famed events venue, showcase guests can also seize the opportunity to make like the stars and take their seats in BAFTA’s illustrious Princess Anne Theatre, which seats 227, where they can watch screenings of candid interviews with legendary Hollywood film stars including the late Robin Williams and Tom Hanks, as well as homegrown talents Idris Elba, Ricky Gervais, Karl Pilkington and Stephen Merchant amongst others.

You’re invited! REGISTER NOW

Posted on 14th August 2014 by engineroom

RSVP now to secure your attendance at London’s finest event venue showcase, The Westminster Collection’s ‘Destination Westminster 2014’, this year being held at the iconic BAFTA 195 Piccadilly. Famously the home of British film, BAFTA 195 Piccadilly is looking forward to opening its doors to event planners from all across London and beyond for a productive morning of networking, event planning and conversation with 43 of the city’s most celebrated venues, available for corporate or private hire.

Exclusively promoting venues within central London’s City of Westminster – which encompasses Pimlico in the south, to Regent’s Park in the north and from the borders of Kensington in the west, to Covent Garden in the east – guests of this enjoyable breakfast networking event can look forward to discovering luxury hotels, world-renowned conference centres, training facilities, historic institutes and societies, celebrated attractions, galleries, museums and private members clubs.

It’s free to attend. All you need to do is click here to register!

For updates follow @Venues_Wminster #DestinationWestminster

Claim your tasty ticket to our BAFTA showcase at stand G19 at The Meetings Show

Posted on 4th July 2014 by engineroom

Event buyers wanting an easy route to finding exceptional, centrally located London venues can look forward to Friday 10^th October, when we will lift the curtain on our annual venue showcase, Destination Westminster 2014, taking place at the celebrated home of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, BAFTA 195 Piccadilly, 8am – 11am. Event organisers can claim their tasty ticket to register by popping over to The Westminster Collection on stand G19 at The Meetings Show, 8^th-10^th July at Olympia, London, where all will be revealed.

The Destination Westminster 2014 breakfast showcase event at BAFTA, which is free to attend, is an opportunity for anyone in the business of booking corporate and private events, meetings and conferences to spend a morning with the sales and marketing teams at more than 45 of central London’s most iconic venues. We’re renowned for our eclectic portfolio of member venues, which encompass everything from historic institutes and societies, colleges, museums and private members clubs, to luxury hotels, concert halls, modern training venues, churches and Thames river boats.

All visitors to TWC stand G19 at The Meetings Show will also be in with a chance of winning one of a handful of luxury Westminster experiences, including an afternoon tea for four at The Rag – Army & Navy Club and a one-night stay for two, including breakfast and an exclusive dinner at Bistro, at St James’ Court, A Taj Hotel, London.

We still have a limited selection of diary appointments available for buyers wanting a more dedicated introduction to the Collection. Register now using invitation code EXIN14.

BAFTA to host collection’s 2014 venue showcase

Posted on 6th May 2014 by engineroom

We’re delighted to announce that The Westminster Collection’s 2014 venue showcase will this year take place at the celebrated home of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, BAFTA 195 Piccadilly, in the David Lean Room which overlooks St James’s Church Garden. The date for your diary is Friday 10th October, 8:00am-11:00am.

The breakfast showcase event, which is free to attend, is an opportunity for anyone in the business of booking corporate and private events, meetings and conferences to spend a morning with the sales and marketing teams at more than 45 of central London’s most iconic venues. The Westminster Collection is renowned for its eclectic portfolio of member venues, which encompass everything from historic institutes and societies, colleges, museums and private members clubs, to luxury hotels, concert halls, modern training venues, churches and Thames river boats.

To register your attendance and for all updates about the showcase programme, special showcase incentives and competitions, please click the link below.

London Transport Museum dinner celebrates 150 years of tube

Posted on 12th October 2013 by engineroom

Corporate event organisers celebrated 150 years of London’s Underground tube network at a special dinner at London Transport Museum, prepared by caterer Searcys, on 8th October. Guests enjoyed a champagne and canapé reception on arrival, before moving through to the museum galleries, where a Victorian flower market girl, a 1920s housewife and a 19th century fireman were amongst the actors who brought the venue tour to life.

Searcy’s served cured salmon with capers and quails egg and parsnip soup with hazelnut crisps, followed by sirloin of beef and with a museum high tea for dessert.

To round off the evening, guests competed to win a wine presentation box and a whisky decanter before having the chance to let their hair down on the bouncy bus. They also played a game of ‘guess the tube stations’ as part of the CBS Look for Longer exhibition.

For more information on hiring London Transport Museum for your event please email [email protected] or call 020 7565 7292/3.

Tag: Venue showcase