The 'Conference and Events industry get-together' meetup group is a good fun and fairly informal networking group for people who work in and around all aspects of the events business.

There are no hard and fast rules about who you have to be or what you have to do. Most of our members are like me, business event organisers (Events and Publishing Ltd) but we've also got members who work in venues, event services companies, catering and some who are just looking to get started in the business.

If you scroll down this page you'll see comments from group members and you can read reviews/see photographs of some of our recent meetups.


If this sounds/looks like it might be your sort of thing, why don't you join the group and come along to our next meetup?

•“ A great combination of interesting speakers on relevant subjects and it's always refreshing to meet an unusually high standard of attendees. Definitely, a standout London network event to be diaried-in - and turn up to! ”

— Kelvin G


•“ very useful in establishing initial contact with people connected with all aspects of the events industry ”

— Martin P


•“ Rare events industry get together ”

— M


•“ to mingle with event professionals and suppliers ”

— Carmen B

•“ Anyone involved in the conference, venue and events industry should join this group for the both the networking and learning aspects. ”

— Tim W


•“ ACE is a great organisation. We have always met interesting people at the networking events. There are a great range of professional organisations who are members that work well together and network for each other. ”

— Ray J

•“ What a well organised and interesting group of professional people. I made three very worth while venue connections and a good contact for my own business. Andy's talk was engaging and highlighted the power of using social media as business tool. See you next time folks! Bernie ”

— @BernieJMitchell


Review by Kelvin Graham of 66-99 Web PR

Social Media Presented In A Social Context!

A moving insight into England‟s social past juxtaposed with today‟s Social Media, was the eloquent theme at July‟s Conference and Events Industry Meet Up, held at The Foundling Museum, located at the far end of a quiet Bloomsbury cul-de-sac by Coram Fields, Bloomsbury, London, WC1.

The Foundling Museum was established on the site of the original Foundling Hospital which, since 1739, and for over two hundred years, until 1953, provided a home „.. for the maintenance and education of exposed and deserted young children ..‟ and was, at the same time, Britain‟s first public art gallery.
Surrounded by a fine collection of 18th century furniture, furnishings, and paintings by renowned artists such as Hogarth and Reynolds, ACE members and guests had their collective breaths visibly taken away by the spectacular elegance of the exquisitely restored Rococo interiors.

ACE Chairman, Michael Sharp kicked off proceedings with a warm welcome to members and guests, then handed over to the Foundling Museum‟s Events Co-ordinator, Janet Broadhurst, who gave a brief yet fascinating introduction to the history of the Foundling Museum, inviting all attending to guided tours after the main presentation.

Jill Quick, Marketing Manager at The Victory Services Club, a prestigious Private Members Club, which provides high quality event facilities and hospitality services in central London, began her presentation, “ Social Media and how to approach from a b2b perspective” by declaring that social media is not as confusing as some might think!

Her message to the audience was that Social Media is „ not scary‟ but just a „cog‟ and should “sit inside integrated marketing”. Many diverse tools and frameworks exist, from the early formation of Forums and message boards, newsgroups, review and opinion sites to today‟s more well known and powerful social networking channels.

These include Facebook, an open community for connecting online, to Twitter microblogging, daily journal blogging, bookmarking and media sharing using Digg, or Delicious, etc
Jill quoted a recent report which found that two thirds of companies or organisation still do not have any social media policies in place, one third stating there was „no budget‟ and a further 18 per cent unlikely to make any change in the foreseeable future.

The potential for business opportunity was often lost because of no recognisable understanding or method of establishing ROI. In order for a social media framework to succeed, companies need to clearly determine from three possible objectives : the improvement of customer relationships, increase of revenue and lowering of costs.

In summary, Jill emphasised that the key is to „create a plan, decide which tools to use, think through the consequences and put someone in charge‟. Measurement of social media results can be readily examined by putting into place KPIs to track ROI and use a combination of Google analytics and open source tracking tools.

Concluding the first part of the evening, a brief introduction to the activities of the Museum‟s award-winning party and event caterers, Zafferano, by MD, Julian Saipe, highlighted their different types of clients and venues, including Merrill Lynch, Deloittes, IMAX and Somerset House.

The attendees were then given a chance to sample a choice of unusual and succulent canapés, accompanied by exotic fruit juices, as the gentle lilt of networking conversation swelled above the fading summer evening light.

Another magical Conference & Events Meet Up in a fabulous setting once more set the tone for members and guests alike, who no doubt, will be watching out for the email announcement to avoid the spam box, and thus, be sure not to miss registering for the next ACE meeting!


Telephone Noughts And Crosses at Events After Show Mixer!

Always expect the unexpected at Conference and Events Industry Meet Ups!
Members were treated to an impressive display of latest Conference Call technology at this month’s get together, held at ‘The Window’, London’s exclusive and only Vegetarian Conference Venue, a modern design, ‘exposed brick’ building located near Islington Green, N1.


Window Director, Kyrsten Perry, welcoming the members, introduced us to a ‘live’ demonstration in ‘cutting edge’ Data Conferencing, SMART Technology. Connected via laptop and landline, and viewed on a large screen, the evening’s talk for Conference and Events members in London was to be given by Caroline Hill, Conference Sales Manager, in ‘real time’, from Weetwood Hall, in Leeds.
Nothing unusual in that, you may say, but the twist was yet to come! Caroline first presented an overview of Weetwood Hall facilities, comprising 37 conference rooms, 106 bedrooms and three dining area options, all set in nine acres of Parkland Estate, four miles from Leeds City Centre.

Moving on to the demonstration of the Data Conference Suite, permanently installed at Weetwood Hall, and currently, the only UK venue to offer this latest innovation in conference calling and webinar facilities, Caroline announced it was time to play ‘interactive’ noughts and crosses.

The laptop operator, ‘David’, at The Window in London, switched the view from watching Caroline, both make her presentation and showing the actual Powerpoint slides, to drawing noughts on the Smart screen in Leeds, which showed up on the screen in London. David responded by entering his crosses via laptop, which showed up, together for all to see, on both screens at the same time.

The game was a draw! But the ‘big draw’ news however, was that up to 40 delegates could remotely access the facility from any location and participate in a ‘virtual’ conference, meeting, training or E-learning session. Exchanged written notes can be instantly updated, amended or corrected ‘live’, which then can be saved to MS Word or Excel on individual laptops or PCs.



Conference & Events After Show Mixers, Meet Ups and Get Togethers are fast becoming a regular showcase for latest innovation technology transforming the events industry. The post talk networking buzz seemed to be all about where it will all lead to and what’s coming next.

Organiser, Gordon Lyster of Events and Publishing is probably the only person who has the answer, but we’ll all have to wait to find out what the next Meet Up has in store!




Review by Kelvin Graham of 66-99 Web PR.

Speaking Body Language at Kensington Conference Centre!

Promising an even headier mix of eclectic guest speakers and bustling delegate numbers, the Conference and Events Industry Get-together kicked off the first Meet Up of 2010, in the splendid and spacious surroundings of the Kensington & Chelsea Conference & Events Centre.



We were especially privileged to be ushered into the „Mayor‟s Parlour‟ - adorned with mace and other ceremonial silverware, silently watched over by benign images of past civic dignitaries - the working office of the borough‟s incumbent Mayor, Councillor Tim Coleridge.

ACE Chairman, Michael Sharp warmly welcomed the Meet Up members, handing over for a short introduction by Centre Manager, David Scott, followed by ACE membership manager, John Thompson, who announced that another seven events were planned for 2010, before introducing the evening‟s guest speaker, Richard Newman, Director of BodyTalk UK.

A Business Body Language Expert for 15 years, Richard has worked with FTSE 100 companies, pharmaceuticals, parliamentary members, advertising executives and university lecturers and over 12,000 other organisations in 45 countries around the world including Europe, USA and the Middle East.

Keen that all attending would take away key valuable insights into the subject of reading body gestures and how they may reinforce or contradict our verbal utterances, Richard quickly had everyone up on their feet, arms outstretched and fingers flexing.
In the first example of a series of „interactive‟ audience participation pieces, which at the same time would delight and confound everyone‟s expectations, we were taught mysterious, strange-sounding „Nepali‟ words – from a language used by Tibetan monks – by Richard silently pointing and „naming‟ actions, only to be told later that the few simple words of „learnt‟ language were incorrect and did not actually describe the actions at all!
It was a most telling example of that commonly found phenomenon in our everyday lives of „how what we say‟ is not necessarily the „real‟ meaning, as often reinforced by conflicting body language.

In another example, Richard quickly pointed to his elbow and asked the audience to touch their shoulder, which instantly provided some amusing yet revealing responses. It was explained that anything we „see‟ is transmitted to the brain via the optic nerve, which being considerably larger than the cranial nerve, transmits anything we „hear‟ and thus, as the dominant messenger, can give rise to the brain‟s contradictory interpretation!

In another participation piece, the entire room was shown graphic displays of „complex‟ handshakes, single, double and reinforced back and shoulder touching, then invited to interact around the room and report back with the response to the different approaches.
Reinforcing the evening‟s theme, Richard concluded by posing the question, “Would you rather have a stranger read from a Shakespeare play or a well-known actor recite from a cookery book?” The show of hands was overwhelming; we all would rather hear a „compelling delivery‟ stimulate and engage our attention despite the subject matter, than the reverse scenario!

The message was clear, our person to person networking and negotiating skills, are dependent on being aware and understanding our everyday small gestures and how powerfully they influence all who we come into contact with.
Finally, Richard announced his new book was to be published in two weeks and all present could receive a free copy!

The applause told the story. A lively, informative and entertaining masterclass of an opener to what truly promises to be a great season ahead of Conference and Events Industry get-togethers!




Baroque style setting for Event Organisers Mixer at Central Hall Westminster.
review by: Kelvin Graham of 6699 Web PR




The 'Conference and Events Industry Get-together' took its November Meet Up to Central Hall, Westminster, close to the heart of Parliamentary debate, for an evening of the unexpected soapbox!

Always keen to keep the regular networking get-togethers fresh with a surprise twist, organiser Gordon Lyster, Director of Events & Publishing, handed the evening’s MC duties over to ACE Chairman and Director of Central Hall, Michael Sharp.



More surprises were to come as we heard that 1 minute soapbox pitches were scheduled after the evening’s main presentation from Award-winning international events organisation, Top Banana.

Entitled, ‘We Make Communication Work For You’, the presentation, given by Top Banana Director, David Markham reinforced the key theme of providing, ‘creative, responsible and insight-driven commercial solutions’ to both their many bluechip and local business clients. These include 180 managers from 90 global brands such as Diageo, GlaxoSmithKline, Price Waterhouse Coopers and Stella McCartney.

Top Banana offer a full range Strategy Consulting service from Live Events that include venue finding, themeing, technical & AV support to a 1,600 sq ft, 4-edit suite Video Production facility for corporate and product branding film production.

Following an impressive showreel of a recent client project for Gucci Group, David Markham highlighted the message that ‘trust is key’ and of the utmost importance in forming understanding, working relationships with their predominantly b2b clients during the current challenging economic times.

Referring to a recent client project, a significant saving of £14m was made across a five stage international roadshow by simply implementing the principle of ‘communicating differently’.

Michael Sharpe once more took the floor to announce a one-minute of fame for the selected speakers who would be given the freedom of the ‘soapbox’ to promote their company services to the entire network group.

First up was Andy Barr of Event Connection, Delegate Management Solution providers for event outsourcing, online registration and customer feedback, amongst their many varied support services.

Stepping next onto the ‘soapbox’ came Tamasin Rhyman, Production Manager at Helix 3D, who design, build and install sets, staging and props for exhibitions, film & TV, parties and events. They also operate Bar Bazaar, a dedicated bar and fridge hire service.

Finally, Rosamund Durnford-Slater introduced Conference Interpreters UK, a 6,200 member ‘contact point for mainstream interpreters around the world’ who offer ‘simultaneous’, ‘whispering’ and related interpreting services.



As the evening’s networking conversations started to buzz around the elegant Edwardian interior, another instant ‘soapbox’ was mounted by Catering Director Gareth Wilson of Kudos Hospitality, part of the Crown group, based at Central Hall. A mouthwatering buffet offering fillet of beef, sea bass and white chocolate cheesecake dessert was announced!

It goes without saying that an ACE Meet Up event is always graced by handsome tables of tantalising gastronomic delights and very potable wines or soft drinks!

Talking of which, the whisper around the Press Office is that Gordon is planning something rather tasty for the next network evening. Another menu of surprises, no doubt – an announcement soon?

---

ACE Network Meet Up at The Window a clear success!
review by: Kelvin Graham of 6699 Web PR



ACE serves up a lively programme of speakers at last night’s Meet Up networking event, held at the Window, an impressive, modern corporate and private events venue, at the heart of Islington, London, N1.

Organised by Gordon Lyster, Director of Events & Publishing, ACE once again attracted a high number of events industry professionals from conference organisers to venue directors, reflecting the growing interest for attending the monthly networking get-together.

The evening’s presentations, collectively themed as ‘How Technology Is Changing the Conference and Events Business’, were introduced by Gordon, as offering important insight into the latest products and services developed to serve the industry’s future.

Reassuring us that three elements, ‘ People, Location and Content’ remain the core essentials , Tim Woolford, MD of Trek Wireless Limited, was first of the evening’s speakers to stress that the ‘medium has changed’. Immediate and comprehensive access to all aspects of viewing Event Venue interior and exterior spaces, facilities, information and resources is now online and interactive.

Introducing us to the ‘virtual tour’, a simple to use but versatile technology, Tim explained how audience participation is integrated to allow multi functional viewing from online location mapping, floorplans, dynamic venue imagery to full pre-event planning and visualisation.

Continuing the night’s theme, ‘Conference Capture’ technology was the subject of Martin Shepherdly’s presentation. Introduced under the title’ No More Smoke and Mirrors’, the Director of BeThere, highlighted the current concerns over ‘Face To Face Events versus the Virtual online experience’ and dramatically stressed that we must ’adapt or die’.

Promoting Webcasting as a compact, easy to operate and affordable method to enhance a live event, which means involving a wider audience and allows absent attendees to fully participate, where previously this would not have been possible. Webcasting is free to air, hosted from any location via, for example, YouTube, Pay-per-View or securely from behind a Firewall.

The evening’s final speaker was Luke Glen, who gave a ‘live’ demonstration of an innovative mobile phone application from his company, Spot ID. A permission-based service allows exhibition or conference event attendees to opt-in to an instant bookmarking, feedback, data capture and forward messaging service via a personal mobile phone.

The time-critical, multiple exhibition stand visitor is offered an amazing array of versatile uses from, instant marketing, reminders, competition voting, enquiry submission to the latest social media interactivity of Twitter and Facebook, info capture and forwarding.
Reassuringly, the service is available in an ‘anonymous’ and ‘identity-revealed’ modes. A complete schedule of information obtained in this way at an exhibition/event visit is posted on the ‘Visitor’s Online Experience’ website.

Luke invited everyone in the audience to sample the service by texting ‘live’ to the service and rounded off the evening by offering all ACE members a full half reduction to service users for the remainder of 2009!

The trio of presentations was clearly a resounding success, as evidenced by the keen interest from the audience floor during the Q & A session. The evening continued well past closing as conversation flowed and delegates networked on into the night.

We are all now wondering what Gordon has up his sleeve for the next ACE Meet Up – can he top last night? Best watch this space and be sure to register early!