Autumn 2017 marks Well Met’ s 10th birthday and the Leeds Beckett University’ s conference team marked the occasion with a birthday party in October at the latest addition to the venue portfolio, Cloth Hall Court. The city centre venue opened in the summer after a £ 4.5m refurbishment. The listed venue is targeting the corporate market and offers flexible work spaces. The standalone conference venue boasts a capacity of 2-300 delegates and is a short walk from the railway station. The launch of Cloth Hall Court is the latest chapter in the Well Met team’ s 10-year history: accolades include being the first University to receive the GOLD Accredited in Meetings( AIM) certification. The team is also holder of the‘ Investors in People Gold’ accreditation, putting them within the top 7 % of accredited organisations nationwide. Well Met has hosted a diverse range of conferences including the Stonewall Workplace Equality Conference and the Visual Media Conference. Now, with the addition of Cloth Hall Court, Well Met is looking to capitalise on the city centre location to welcome new customers to Leeds Conference manager Clare Vidler, says:“ In 10 years we’ ve gone from a small extension of the University to being an independent, 12-strong team with a dedicated conference venue in the heart of the city.”

eeds Beckett University’ s events arm, Well Met Conferencing, racked up over 30,000 bed nights across July and August, and 95 % of delegates required full catering services throughout their stay. Summer is traditionally the busiest time of year for academic venues and Well Met this year hosted summer schools for Rotherham United National Citizen Service, TWIN, Go Languages Worldwide and the largest single annual conference for Leeds – Teach First Summer Institute.

Three AA star accredited accommodation at Carnegie Village adds to the university’ s accommodation offer, which includes sports facilities, large entertainment spaces and catering. David Parker, catering and retail operations manager at Well Met, says his team found a flexible approach to catering in order secure the return of the Teach First conference in the summer.“ This year we welcomed the newest cohort of Teach First delegates and a huge part of their requirements for the conference centred around offering a variety of menu

options, including lots of healthy dishes. We created a bespoke menu specifically for this conference to ensure that lunchtime included more healthy choices, including long-release carbohydrates and lean proteins.” Clare Vidler, conference manager at Well Met adds:“ Summer is absolutely our busiest time of year and summer schools are a key part of our business. For many of our foreign summer school delegates, this is their first experience of Leeds so we work closely with organisers to ensure that they get the most out of their stay.”