The Insiders Event Planning Guide To Beating Conference Fatigue

Ask yourself: Have your audiences experienced conference fatigue and can’t bear to see one more PowerPoint presentation or worse still participate in a dry monthly hour long conference call?

Have they had enough travelling all the way to a venue three hrs away when they feel that they could have learnt more reading a memo and would have preferred the option to watch the presentation on-line?

The 7 commandments to an engaging event…

1. Know Your Audience – Do research and ensure that your event adds value. Why not ask the audience when they register for the top 3 topics they want covered throughout the day or any burning questions? Most events cover this in the feedback post event when it’s already too late!  It is helpful and advantageous to know the mind set of the audience in advance. It is better to face any issues and address this from the opening speech. Issues raised, such as de-motivation amongst staff due to recent redundancies, can be opened up from the outset with a pre-emptive positive response by the chief executive.

 2. Set clear objectives and goals for your event within the wider scope of your communications strategy. Think! What would people miss out on if it never took place? Never have a meeting just for the sake of it – this really is bad publicity. Choose another avenue of conveying the message and break the routine!

 
 

3. What is the best platform to communicate and engage? A plethora exists! Be it an event, video or on-line forum to name but a few.  Read more >>

See The Bigger Picture In HD – Recycling Plastic Packaging

In the UK we throw away over 1.5 million tonnes of plastic packaging from households every year.
Many of us are well used to recycling plastic bottles, but few of us have the luxury of a mixed plastics recycling collection service. The norm is for the majority of pots, tubs and trays such as yogurt pots to end up in landfill or to be exported.

Comshows is extremely passionate about protecting our environment and in particular an exciting new venture by BIFFA Polymer and WRAP which is about to change all this!  The new mixed plastics recycling facility in Redcar, UK is the first of its kind and is a step in the right direction for the industry. Through production of this film in HD and through social media, we are bringing to life these new opportunities and in pure cinema capacity.

Be a part of the revolution – spread the word about this exciting new mixed plastics facility.

Watch the film below for an insiders view of this sophisticated technology and how plastic packaging can be recycled into new products

[youtube width=”670″ height=”407″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBf9r74eKKs[/youtube]

Where Next? – The Next Generation of Events

With the onset of the current economic and political climate, event agencies are challenged once again, and not unhappily, to re-evaluate the approach we take with our audiences. This shake-up happens every once in a while, and does wonders for encouraging creativity, innovation and creating a whole new approach within the events industry.

The real question is: how do we do it this time?

Those individuals now entering the work marketplace (and thus our audiences) are the same who have not only grown up with but embraced such diverse online presences as Facebook, Flickr, Bebo, MySpace, Spotify and many, many more. These people are the ones we will be talking to when businesses present to their workforces in the future, therefore engagement cannot simply be a well written registration site…

Read more >>

Very Nice Venues

As an events agency (who provide a free venue finding service!), we are always on the look out for exciting new event spaces that would work for our wide client base. In our 20 years as an agency, we’ve hosted a great number of events including conferences, workshops, receptions & launches, at a multitude of nationwide venues.

Below is a selection of London based venues, that we think deserve a chance in the spotlight – some are old favourites and others we haven’t had a chance to use yet, but that we are think look rather amazing.

So without further ado, and in no particular order, we present, our “Top 5 Venues”…

-          Mary Ward House
quick tip: they have a lovely courtyard which is perfect for summer cocktail receptions!

This picturesque & historic venue in the heart of Bloomsbury has held a number of our events; the service is impeccable & they don’t mind dealing with our relentless last minute requests! It’s idyllic for both exhibitions and events.

“We love working with Comshows as their attention to detail always leaves the client impressed”

http://www.marywardhouse.com/

–          Design Council
quick tip: their award winning in house caterers always have great food on offer – especially the chef’s chocolate brownies!

Read more >>