NEWS ROUND-UP
Delegate numbers for meetings and conferences have fallen over the past two years, but events are going on for longer, according to research from the Meetings Industry Association. The UK Conference Market Survey 1995 found that most conferences are for between 51 and 100 delegates, take place over one to two days and that there is some requirement for overnight accommodation in almost three-quarters of events staged. Good facilities, convenient location and competitive rates are cited as the key factors in venue selection by the 500 corporate conference organisers interviewed for the survey.
The Royal Horticultural Halls & Conference Centre in London has promoted René Dee (right) to managing director and appointed Maugie Lyons, formerly at Novotel, as business development manager.
The Tower of London is offering out-of-hours viewing of the Crown Jewels as the basis for a corporate event. The tours, which can be arranged for early morning or evening are followed by a champagne reception in the Hall of Monarchs.
The FA Carling Premiership took the top award for the second year running at the Hollis Sponsorship Awards (MW February 9). In the corporate sponsorship category, the winner was Commercial Union’s sponsorship of LWT’s London’s Burning, arranged through Laser Sales. Telia’s sponsorship of the World Championships in Athletics was highly commended by the judges. The FA Carling Premiership took the brand sponsorship award as well as the overall sponsorship of the year award, and the prize for sponsorship continuity was jointly awarded to the Beefeater Gin Boat Race, through Scope, and the Stella Artois Grass Court Championships, through Orbit. The first time sponsor award went to the Lilt Notting Hill Carnival, through Karen Earl, and the ESCA pan-European award was given to British Airways’ sponsorship of the International Children’s Conference, organised by Orbit. The overall prize for sponsorship of the year was won by the Carling Premiership for the second year running.
The article “Play your cards right” in last week’s issue was wrongly attributed to Michael Rines. The author was Simon Rines.
