14
Dedicated Venues
Investment goes
a long way
The East of England Arena has spent £2.2m on a
refurb, but has it worked?
Working with agencies
Dean Rees, business development
manager, East of England Arena
and Events Centre, says that strong
relationships between venues and
agencies is key.
“Partnerships are absolutely the
key to our success here at EEAEC,
and we believe that a good
partnership relies on shared goals
and ambitions.
“Working with our catering
partner Amadeus, part of the NEC
group, has been a fruitful
experience from the outset, and
being able to offer top-flight
catering and hospitality to our
conference clients is an important
part of our venue’s conference
appeal. Since beginning the
partnership with Amadeus, we
have started working with
Amadeus partners Monsoon as
well, to deliver South Asian events.
Recently Amadeus has appointed
a dedicated sales account
manager, Michelle Sergeant, who
is seconded full time at EEAEC to
work with local corporates and
businesses and establish the
EEAEC as the ideal venue for
meetings, gala dinners, Christmas
parties, awards ceremonies,
conferences and other events.
“We also work very closely with
AV suppliers, Hawk AV and B+H
sound. Bringing them into the
planning of events is crucial, as
they are able to advise our clients
on the details of their AV, set, stage
and lighting requirements. Hawk
and B+H deliver AV for all our
events at EEAEC, including our
in-house productions like Equifest.”
The challenge
In 2015, the East of England Arena and
Events Centre (EEAEC) was planning a
major £2.2m refurbishment, and the
challenge was to refresh and create new
conference facilities that would align with
customer needs and wants, particularly
those of the national businesses
headquartered in the area.
The solution
At the beginning of the refurbishment
programme, the EEAEC invited former and
existing clients to view its plans and
designs in a series of meetings and open
days. Contributions and feedback on the
plans from former conference customers
were instrumental in shaping EEAEC’s final
decisions on the layouts, lighting, décor
and features for the refurbished
conference rooms.
The outcome
EEAEC’s programme of improving and
updating its conference facilities is now
complete, and thanks to the involvement
of conference clients, the flexibility and
versatility of the spaces have been greatly
increased.
www.conference-news.co.uk
The EEAEC’s partnership with Amadeus is a
guarantee of first-class hospitality, and the
partnerships forged between EEAEC and AV
providers like Hawk AV and B+H Sound
ensure high-quality staging and production
values every conference.
As well as winning a string of new
conference clients, EEAEC has also won back
some former clients including Anglian Water,
which now hosts 12 conferences and events
at the venue every year.
Testimonial
Carol Primett, events manager at Anglian
Water, was pleased with the improvements.
She said: “We were able to advise and
suggest some detailed changes to the plans
to give them greater organiser appeal, from
the layout and features of the conference
facilities to the interior décor and lighting
arrangements. To then see our suggestions
not only being taken seriously but actually
implemented, was a revelation.
“The level of customer service and
dedication shown by the venue ops team now
makes delivery of our conferences easier, as
we only have to focus on the content,
confident in the knowledge that everything
will be in place, on time and on target.”