Exhibition News February 2020 | Page 55

Venue Focus means that a live event, a conference and an exhibition can all take place at once, without interrupting each other, whilst its central location means there a multiple activities in the surroundings for attendees to take advantage of. Just some of these activities are: • The Eden Mill Blendworks Gin School in Glasgow’s Princes Square, where visitors can be guided by expert tutors in order to create their own personal bottle of gin, which they can take home, complete with a custom-made brand label, two Blendworks gin glasses and certificate • The Mackintosh in the Willows, which serves a special afternoon tea in the only surviving Tea Room designed by Scottish artist Charles Mackintosh • The Clydeside Distillery, a single malt whiskey distillery where visitors can take a tour around the Queen’s Dock and learn more about the distillery’s history, before taking a tour around the distillery itself and tasting the drams in the Blender’s Room Edinburgh Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland - famous for the world’s largest arts festival, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival - hosts a number of venues, including the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC), and the Edinburgh Corn Exchange. The EICC has a number of key spaces within the venue, including: The Pentland Suite, a raked auditorium that can transform into three separate auditoria; the Lennox Suite, a space with moving-floor technology which allows it to transform from a flat-floor space to a raked auditorium, an arena or a tiered cabaret; the Cromdale Hall, an exhibition space that can be used as an exhibition hall; and the Strathblane Hall and Atrium, two reception/registration/ catering areas that can be combined or used separately. The EICC hosted 217 events in 2019, which included events for industries for which Edinburgh is well- known, including finance, life sciences and technology, as well as comedy, theatre and circus performances during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The venue contributed £55m to the local economy, and welcomed over 1,000 delegates from 100 countries to the venue during the TEDSummit held there in July 2019. Looking to the year ahead, the EICC is set to announce a number of initiatives to ‘further improve the venue’s competitive offering’. The venue also plans to focus on sustainability, after introducing a zero waste to landfill initiative, in addition to cutting down the venue’s utility bill by half while doubling the number of events held. The EICC has also introduced a full-time environmental consultant in order to maximise their sustainable efforts. The venue has also been proactive in safeguarding the venue against Brexit, The Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) “The EICC contributed £55m of economic impact to Edinburgh in 2019” through securing clients outside of the EU and setting up an alliance of conference centres from across Europe. The Edinburgh Corn Exchange recently celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2019. The venue has a number of rooms including the Exchange, the Baron, the Bistro and the Newmarket Suite, with the varying sizes of the rooms allowing the venue to be able to accommodate a range of events, shows and conferences. In 2019 the Corn Exchange hosted a number of events including 10 national award ceremonies, 4 international conferences, the Edinburgh Wedding Fair, the Hogmanay Hoot, the city’s largest indoor Hogmanay Party, and the Big Big Gin Festival. As the capital city, Edinburgh has a number of interesting activities for visitors to take part in, including: • The Cauldron, where guests can take part in the Cauldron Magical Experience, a 1 hour 45-minute immersive mixology class where they are given a robe and magic wand and taught how to use molecular mixology February — 55