8
Dedicated Venues
Staying ahead
of the curve
Shaun Hinds, CEO of Manchester Central, talks
about how Manchester Central has tailored it’s
venue to meet the changing needs of clients
ust as events continue to
evolve, it’s important that
venues do too; and although
our building may be a Grade II
listed converted Victorian railway
station, we’re committed to leading
the way among venues in the event
industry.
We’re seeing our clients requiring
more flexibility than ever before and
offering ‘out of the box products’
simply doesn’t cut it with today’s
emerging event organisers. Venues
need to change their thinking and it’s
up to us to work with our clients to
deliver events that are both unique
and remarkable.
Manchester has a reputation for
doing things differently and so it’s
important that innovation is at the
heart of everything we do here at
Manchester Central; we understand
that to maintain our reputation as an
industry leader we must continue to
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develop our product. It’s a culture
that everyone in the organisation
has got behind, with new ideas
submitted from right across the
business, some of which have
already been implemented.
Technology has revolutionised the
industry and soon we’ll be launching
a 3D virtual reality walk around of
the venue. This will allow clients the
opportunity to explore our spaces
before coming on site and assist
them with planning after their visit.
Elsewhere, we’ve also begun to
implement a Location Analytics
Platform, which will help clients
understand how their delegates are
moving through the venue.
We were the first major venue in
the UK to offer free Wi-Fi and last
year we upgraded our access points
and increased our hosting capacity,
resulting in faster, more reliable
connections. We’ll continue to invest
as new technology comes to the
market.
Feeding the imagination has
always been a critical part of any
successful event, and we’re seeing
clients choose to use catering to
enhance their event in creative ways.
Last month we opened our new
state-of-the-art kitchen, allowing us
to cater for more guests and give
clients more freedom to bespoke
their menu, whether that’s in the
form of canapés, street food or more
traditional banqueting options.