Business First May-June 2017 Business First May 2017 | Page 28

EIKON
The Eikon Exhibition Centre
Northern Ireland’s dynamic choice
T
he Eikon Exhibition Centre at Balmoral
Park, Sprucefield is establishing itself as
the leading events and exhibition venue
for Northern Ireland.
As the first phase of development at the 65­
acre Balmoral Park, you may have seen the
Eikon’s signature red arch emerging from the
landscape adjacent to the M1 just after
Sprucefield. The Venue is situated in an ideal
location, just minutes from Belfast and
Lisburn, hotel accommodation and
restaurants.
It is easy to see why this area was chosen
by the Royal Ulster Agricultural Society to
relocate its operation from the King’s Hall
Complex in Belfast.
Theresa Morrissey, Commercial & Financial
Director at Eikon explains, “The dynamics of
Eikon Exhibition Centre at Balmoral Park are
second to none within the Island of Ireland.
750,000 people live within a 20 minute
drive of the Venue and if you stretch a little
further to a 90 minute drive you reach four
million people. This offers a substantial
potential reach for any event organiser.
When you factor in the Eikon’s bespoke
installations and facilities including 4,000
onsite free car parking spaces, superfast
fibre­optic broadband, outdoor event space,
extensive marketing and tailored commercial
packages suited to event needs you can see
why the Venue has been so successful.”
Bringing such an exciting development to
Northern Ireland has delivered many benefits
to the local economy during the past year.
Theresa confirms: “We have seen a
significant increase in visitors from outside of
Northern Ireland. Independent research
undertaken by MRNI has indicated that well
over a quarter of all respondents travelled in
excess of 50 miles to attend the events at the
Venue.
“This illustrates that distance is not a
barrier to attendance at events and is a
testament to the draw and accessibility of the
Venue and it makes for a great return to any
event organiser.”
May 2017 will see another huge milestone
passed. During the venue’s largest event,
Balmoral Show, the team at Eikon are
expecting their 500,000 visitor.
“We look forward to welcoming the
500,000 visitor to the Venue during the
Balmoral Show.”
Since opening doors in late 2015, the Venue
has hosted a diverse range of public and trade
events including the Society’s showcase event
Balmoral Show, the N.I Motorcycle Festival,
Amazing the Space Conference, UCAS,
26 www.businessfirstonline.co.uk
Dubshed, The Curious Wedding Fair, CIWM
Conference and Waste Management
Exhibition, and the renowned MCM Comic
Con.
MCM, one of the U.K’s largest exhibition
organisers, is due to return to the Venue in
June.
Local promoter, Billy Nutt from Nutt
Promotions explains what drew him to run
his Northern Ireland Motorcycle Festival at
the venue:
“We decided to go to the new Eikon
Exhibition Centre for our N.I Motorcycle
Festival as it ticked all the boxes for us, with
free car parking, plenty of outside space, a
good hall with a large entrance area and good
office spaces.
Ultimately this proved to be a great
decision with almost two thirds more visitors
than we have ever had (we have been
running motorcycle shows for nearly 25
years) and enjoyed a whole new experience.”
With the continuing successes at the Venue,
further development and expansion is
planned in 2018.
Theresa provides us with an early insight to
what we can look forward too: “The Society is
intent on developing Balmoral Park as the
premier events and exhibitions campus on
the island. Proposals for a second exhibition
building that will link to the main Eikon
Exhibition Centre are coming to fruition.
“This will provide much required space for
events to grow in scale and size in the coming
years. It will enable the Province to host
large scale events that currently cannot be
accommodated.”
Results from the MRNI research
demonstrated that the visitors to Eikon
Exhibition Centre rated the Venue as follows:
• 98% rating for friendliness and
helpfulness of our staff
• 95% rating for our facilities
• 98% rating for our cleanliness
• 92% rating for accessibility
• 97% rating for our parking
• 98% rating for the overall venue
The Eikon is a highly flexible, welcoming
venue with resources that enable impactful
attendee engagement, brand activation and
connectivity. With a world class events team
bringing their expertise, Eikon is the perfect
backdrop to create a winning event.