Exhibition News March 2020 | Page 50

Advertisment Feature Old space, new tricks Tobacco Dock targets design, lifestyle and technology events I t’s not surprising that one of London’s leading exhibition venues is targeting lifestyle, technology and design events. The venue is incredibly cool and quirky and creates a natural and deeply historic backdrop for brands to shine through and attract the right sort of visitors. Equally, Tobacco Dock sits in London’s creative and tech square mile, just a short walk from Shoreditch and the city making it incredibly convenient for buyers to get to. In addition, the venue has a myriad of versatile spaces, formerly retail units that lend themselves well to brand breakouts and feature areas. Samsung chose to use the venue to attract tech buyers to launch its newest phone by creating a powerful event experience for visitors. The venue has also attracted brands including; Alteryx Inspire Europe, Borderless Live and Guinness Six 50 — March Nations Rugby Launch. The venue has had considerable success in the lifestyle sector, showcasing leading events like Taste, Meatopia, Bike Shed, London Craft Beer Festival, EGX Rezzed, FutureFest and BBC Introducing Live. Taste of London moved to the venue because the organiser felt the winter edition at their previous large-scale venue felt too much like a trade show rather than a consumer festival, and it was simply too expensive to add personality to the space. Their organiser ‘loves being able to use the spaces in different and exciting ways’. For example, the central bandstands become enormous fire pits, the Great Gallery holds pop-up restaurants, and workshops take place in the barrel- ceilinged Vaults spaces. Tobacco Dock still has many of its original features – York stone flooring, original timber beams, cast iron stanchions. Barrel- ceilinged, exposed brick vaults spaces, lantern roofed atria add height and space. Originally built in 1812 as a warehouse to store luxury commodities from the New World such as wine and tobacco, the venue is expected to hold over 300 events in 2020 across its 16,000sqm and 57 spaces. Interestingly 65 per cent of their clients are FTSE 100 and 120 are Fortune 500. Despite its historical significance, it boasts an impressive technical infrastructure. It has immense WiFi capacity that can support up to 8,000 devices simultaneously ensuring there are no connectivity issues. It’s also