Tag: EDGE venues

Posted on

The New Era of EDGE Venues

On Thursday 4th July, once everyone had voted in the general election, we held our ever-popular annual EDGE Venues Summer Party. It was bigger and better than ever before.

This year, we hosted the event at the beautiful Haycock Manor Hotel. Relocating to Haycock was crucial for us as it enabled a more significant and impressive event experience, setting the standard for our vision of EDGE Venues’ future and introducing the new era of EDGE Venues.

It was a day full of insight. We shared the EDGE Venues journey and our plans for success. We discussed our future technology roadmap and provided insights into the developments of EDGE Venues, which is designed by the industry for the industry.

We welcomed guest panellists Kevin Harrison (Director – Good Travel Management), Stephen Flynn (Head of Events & Production – Allianz), and Chris Lester (Event Director – Bauer Media Group) for a fantastic session focused on business insights and opportunities from key buyers.

We received such positive feedback on this session. The audiences valued the input, as it’s so important that we hear from buyers first-hand what they are experiencing, as this shapes the way we develop future technology.

In fact, we’ve had overwhelmingly positive feedback about the entire afternoon, flooded with LinkedIn posts and messages, and initial post-event survey results already showing 100% satisfaction with the event experience and its organisation (excellent or very good).

Early results also show that attendees found the content extremely relevant and useful, including our round tables and data analysis session, and enjoyed the discussions around sharing best practices.

One area highlighted during the discussion was that venues should share terms and conditions at the RFP stage, not the contract stage. Sending them at the contract stage can often cause delays with legal departments – sharing them earlier reduces the risk of losing potential business.

The event was well-attended by a diverse mix of our EDGE Venues users – it was wonderful to welcome buyers, alongside representatives from agencies and venues. It’s a real testament to the fantastic community we’re building.

The atmosphere was incredible, with so many networking opportunities. We feel we’re building a strong community, and this event demonstrated that EDGE truly is Technology with Personality. We’re excited about the new era of EDGE Venues!

“The event was great, it was so insightful – by far one of the best panel discussions I’ve been to. It was great to see buyers on the panel as opposed to just other venues talking about trends – it was good to get the buyers reasonings behind all the trends we are seeing.

We will definitely look at attending the January event in London too!”

Treehouse Manchester

With that in mind, we want to ensure that you don’t miss our next event:

Look forward to seeing you there!

Posted on

Why is marketing so important?

Digital Marketing
Even during challenging times it is essential to be visible to your target audiences, they may not be in a position to purchase services or goods from you but being seen will increase your brand awareness which means when your audience is ready to purchase they are more likely to approach you as you have captured their attention. Here are some of the ways that don’t cost a small fortune, all you need to do is invest a small amount of time.

Update any website and business directory content

Your website and any platforms will be holding a number of past articles that are still relevant to your industry now and is still of value. Make sure you revisit your content, update with any new information and republish with the aim of improving your search engine rankings and gaining valuable backlinks.

Social media

Social media is 24/7 on every device, meaning that your brand is visible 24/7. Does your social media reflect your brand identity? Produce high quality and visually engaging content that works on different platforms.  This will ensure you are staying visible – even in slower times. Research your follower’s optimum viewing times and make sure your posts are going live then. Create a content plan that aligns with your overall marketing strategy use scheduling software such as Hootsuite to get ahead of the game, this will help free up time to allow you to post reactive posts as the news and industry developments occur. We are engaging with our audience on our LinkedIn, Twitter Facebook and Instagram and will continue to do so. Here at EDGE Venues we also ensure that all our licensed venues that publish new content, is shared across all social platforms.

Active presence

Encourage your employees to share and comment on company posts. Other people are more likely to engage if there are additional comments to read rather than just further shares. Engaging with others who are posting news that aligns with your industry will also help in attracting new followers to your accounts and potentially drive new traffic to your website. EDGE Venues is a venue sourcing engagement platform, built by the industry for the industry, We have upgrade options for venues to ensure that you can market your venue Agent and Corporate event planners contact us on 01780 484059 or email info@edgevenues.com We currently have an offer – 15 months for the price of 12 – To find out more get in touch.

Posted on

EDGE Venues delivers a successful broadcast

On Wednesday, 3rd March, EDGE Venues delivered a broadcast for more than 500 representatives from hotels, venues, agents and corporate event organisers.

The session confirmed that there is optimism from all participants that we can rebuild a successful industry. The speakers, including Chris Lester from Bauer Media, Suzanne Rowse from British Boarding Schools Workshop and Dale Parmenter from DRP Group, discussed their own experiences of industry changes and challenges. They were all positive and confident that conferences and meetings will return during the course of this year.

EDGE Venues has invested heavily in their venue finding and engagement platform during lockdown and this was an opportunity to demonstrate the new functionality and features that have been added. It will deliver a fantastic toolkit for venues to share their stories and really engage with both Agency and Corporate Buyers when decisions are being made to select a venue. In addition, there is a new, streamlined, RFP process designed to deliver substantial cost reductions to all stakeholders.

Jacqui Kavanagh, CEO of Trinity EDGE Holdings commented on the success of the event: “During lockdown we have spent our time improving www.edgevenues.com. The team was delighted to showcase the new developments, which have been built for the future needs of the industry. We are already seeing that the challenges are going to be sustainability, a need for greater transparency and control of spend, which will have to be managed with a reduced workforce. www.edgevenues.com is able to support all stakeholders to achieve their goals.”

Kickstart marketing offer for venues

EDGE’s broadcast launched a Kickstart offer to venues, which can take a licence on the website to upgrade their listing for £1 a day. This will give them:

  • The opportunity to put themselves in front of Agents and Corporate Buyers
  • Unlimited engagement opportunities
  • Priority in search results
  • A toolkit to win business and build confidence in their venue
  • Data and insights – a personal sales dashboard

Venues can take advantage of this offer by signing up before the end of April and it will run for one year commencing on 1st May. Contact: Claudine@edgevenues.com

Posted on

Venues collaborate to promote Medical City

Venues colloborate

Three leading venues in the Euston area of London are joining forces to promote the area as a prime location for events linked to healthcare.  BMA House, RCP and Wellcome Collection all use their profits to help larger medical organisations achieve their mission.  During this challenging time, they wanted to demonstrate their unity through a common goal.

Often described as the Medical Mile, the area around Euston is a hub of leading venues with strong links to local hospitals, practitioners and research institutes.  It is an ideal place for any form of meeting or event linked to not just medicine but also the wider healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors.  Specifically, the three venues will be collaborating, referring opportunities, supporting each other’s events and providing multi-site spaces for meetings as necessary.  Together they offer a wide range of delegate packages, hourly rates, digital and hybrid solutions, ensuring all client needs are met.

After an extremely challenging year with lots of industry changes, all 3 venues have successfully received the MIA AIM Secure Accreditation and Visit Britain Good to Go Accreditation making them COVID safe venues for the future.

Kat Winfield, Venue Manager, BMA House comments: “Medical and healthcare workers have continually showed their strength, resolve and professionalism throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and we are all extremely grateful for their dedication and commitment.  At the moment the greatest support we can offer is to stay at home and refrain from hosting events.  However, in time that will change and we are exploring all opportunities to support our clients.”

Fairouz Grzyb, Business Development Manager, Royal College of Physicians “When appropriate, we intend to come back stronger than ever, working as a collective to deliver the best possible experience for delegates and organisers alike.  In the meantime, we all offer extensive digital and hybrid packages to ensure that events continue and vital education, knowledge transfer and networking take place.”

Diana West, Sales Manager, Wellcome Collection concludes: “As a group, we offer a wide variety of event options.  We can work individually or across multiple sites and want above all to demonstrate our unity in challenging times.  We have extensive links into all areas of medicine, pharmaceuticals and the wider healthcare market, making us the ideal first call for any event across these sectors.”

About the venues:

BMA House 

BMA House is located in the heart of London, just a short walk from Kings Cross, Euston and St Pancras stations as well as a variety of underground lines and key bus routes.  With sustainability and wellbeing at the heart of its offering, delegates can also benefit from the use of a clean air walking route – taking them off the major roads onto quieter, picturesque, less polluted local streets.  Their clean air walking route from Kings Cross for example, is 57% less polluted than a trip down Euston Road and has the benefit of being 1,000 steps – 10% of the recommended 10,000 a day.

BMA recognises the growing and vital need for digital and hybrid event solutions.  With this in mind they were one of the first venues to launch such an offering, as far back as June.  Including options for webcasting, breakouts, speaker only conferences and exhibitor/sponsor packages, the offering reflects both the challenges presented by COVID-19 and the future needs of event organisers.

Wellcome Collection is the free museum and library exploring health and human experience. Located in central London just steps away from Euston and King’s Cross/St Pancras station. Their venue hire offers thought-provoking event spaces in both the conference centre and the unique exhibition galleries.  Whatever the client’s needs, they can offer flexible and inspiring backdrops for all types of events, from seminars and training sessions, to film screenings and AGMs, their capacities range from two people to 300 people.

Wellcome Collection 

The venue hire team at Wellcome Collection is dedicated to helping clients adapt to the current realities of meetings and conferencing. Whether they require video conferencing, live streaming or a more bespoke offering, the team is ready to deliver streamlined hybrid events.

All profits made from events held in Wellcome Collection are gift aided to Wellcome, a charitable organisation who support researchers, take on big health challenges, campaign for better science, and help everyone get involved with science and health research.

The Royal of Physicians

The Royal College of Physicians was founded in 1518 by Royal Charter from King Henry VIII.  It is the oldest medical college in England. The venue offers highly versatile facilities, with 12 meeting spaces, including tiered auditoriums, conference, meeting, exhibition and dining spaces, with contrasting old and new styles to suit all tastes, giving clients a range of possibilities to create an unforgettable event.

They have a dedicated in-house audio visual and media services team. In addition to supporting physical events, they have a range of hybrid and virtual meeting solutions to enhance events including, filming, editing, streaming, live Q&A polling, webinars, virtual break out rooms and much more.

Posted on

Seven new vaccination centres in England have been announced.

Vaccination Centres

EDGE Venues is proud to announce that three of the venues on their platform, ExCel London, Ashton Stadium Bristol, and Millennium Point Birmingham are to be turned into temporary Vaccination Centres as the Government and the NHS roll out their plans and timetable to vaccinate the top four priority groups by mid-February.

All three venues usually host a variety of meetings, conferences, exhibitions, and sporting events, however due to the current pandemic, they have been selected with four other venues to become vaccination centres and should be up and running early next week.

The UK is the first country in the world to approve mass use of COVID-19 vaccines, with immunisation with the Pfizer BioNTech beginning back in December and the Oxford-AstraZeneca started on Monday 4th January.

Jacqui Kavanagh, CEO of EDGE Venues was really pleased to hear the news and how so many venues have been supporting the country during the COVID-19 crisis and said “We are part of a fantastic industry and despite these difficult times it is great to see we have a role to play. I wish all the teams the best of luck and I know that as event professionals if anyone can step up to this challenge they can.”

Jacqui went on to add “The rapid spread of coronavirus has taken its toll on the events industry but it’s great to see that during the last 10 months we have seen many hotels and venues helping in these exceptional times.  Opening to Key Workers, transforming into Nightingale Hospitals and quarantine venues to name just a few.”

Keep up to date with ALL latest Industry News and Insights by reading our EDGE News Section

Posted on

International Womens Day celebrated by all-female board of directors

EDGE Venues and Trinity Event Solutions based in Stamford, Lincolnshire will be celebrating International Women’s Day on Sunday 8th March. They will continue their commitment to value diversity and inclusion and lead the way in the events industry when it comes to attracting and retaining female employees.

Trinity Event Solutions Ltd was formed in 2006 – a specialist venue procurement agency offering expert industry knowledge to deliver volume venue sourcing for creative conferences and meetings. The company delivers over 4,500 events each year into the global events and venue market. EDGE Venues was launched in December 2018 and is the brainchild of the Trinity Event Solutions’ team. It is an online digital portal which supports Corporates, Associations and Agency buyers to search and procure venues for their event programmes worldwide.

The Board of Directors overseeing both companies are an all-female operation and the senior management team has a majority of female employees. Both companies also enjoy a diverse group of employees spanning different ethnicities, ages and backgrounds.

The teams are working collaboratively to push the brand forward in a competitive and fast-paced industry. The company have an inclusive and encouraging management philosophy where all ideas are listened to and the underlying success of the brands originates from product strength, a relentless focus on customer relationships and above all a strong team collaboration.

CEO of Trinity Event Holdings, the parent company of EDGE Venues and Trinity Event Solutions, Jacqui Kavanagh looks at how perceptions of women within the workplace have changed and encourages others to chase their dreams.

“The events industry is one of the most exciting and innovative marketplaces in the world and we have the privilege of affecting every industry from the complex to the bizarre.

When I set up Trinity back in 2006, our female senior management team happened by coincidence! But I couldn’t be happier with my team. The sheer determination and ability to work as an effective team has progressed the company in such a determined and fast-paced way. I would encourage any women to educate themselves, follow their dreams and become part of a supportive workforce that will push you to develop professionally to your highest ability.”

Both EDGE Venues and Trinity Event Solutions will continue to develop the talents of their teams and push ahead to drive the businesses towards becoming the market leaders in venue procurement.

Posted on

EDGE Venues is opening the doors for its EDGE EXPO

Join us at our EDGE EXPO to see what we’re all about and why the EDGE Venues platform is the right platform to advertise your venue on globally. Let us show you how to maximise your business opportunity and what exciting developments are in store for 2020.

Spaces are still available on the 13th, 17th or 19th March for our FREE 2020 EDGE Expo Event held at our offices in Stamford. There will be an exclusive offer available on the day for those venues that wish to upgrade. We’ll be holding sales and marketing presentations and offering the chance to meet the team and ask any questions.

All attendees will be able to take away a free copy of the Business Intelligence Review which is worth £1,500. Want to know more?

Click here to go straight to our event booking page.

Posted on

EDGE Venues delivers a successful first annual Business Intelligence Review

EDGE Venues has celebrated its successful first year with a Business Intelligence Review for 125 agent and venue industry professionals, hosted by the Barbican Centre on 17 January.

EDGE Venues is an innovative digital platform providing agencies, corporates, and venues the most up-to-date event selection tool. With more than 19,000 venues across 45 countries in 125 key MICE international destinations, EDGE Venues has vastly exceeded its initial expectations and the review provided insight into its successes, with an honest assessment of the challenges and ever-changing industry.

EDGE Venues - team
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The Business Intelligence Review was also an opportunity to announce the promotion of Tracy Winsworth to Managing Director of EDGE Venues.

Introductions and networking were followed by a preview of what’s in store for 2020, including the launch of EDGE’s RFP tool and enhancements to the digital marketing arm of EDGE Venues. Both developments will benefit venues and venue finders to cement EDGE Venues’ as the go to platform for UK and International venue searches.

A panel session saw industry experts discuss their own experiences with industry changes, challenges and successes.

EDGE Venues Business Intelligence Review - panel

The review

The review delivered a deep insight into the business looking back on the financial and operational developments of 2019 and sharing the 2020 vision through the innovative opportunities that will be available for EDGE Venues licensees. Interviews, photos, and videos from the review will soon be available on the EDGE Venues YouTube channel. Keep an eye out for the channel launch!

Jacqui Kavanagh, CEO of Trinity EDGE Holdings comments on the success of the event: “We are delighted with the outcome of our first Annual EDGE Business Intelligence Review which was held exclusively for our licensees, providing an in-depth analysis of our industry which is rarely shared so openly. It included consideration of a turbulent time during which several key players haven’t survived, some of which can be attributed to the industry’s lack of adaptation to digital developments. EDGE Venues commits to supporting licensees with this high level of information to help them prepare for the challenges our world and industries are experiencing.

After an outstanding but demanding first year, we’ll continue to share expertise, and key industry trends and predictions with our licensees to ensure they have all-round knowledge and skills to develop traction and grow their business in 2020. We are excited about our future and have invested significantly in technology and digital marketing which we can’t wait to share more on. Watch this space!”

EDGE Venues Business Intelligence Review - networking
Join us

Key dates have been set for our main events in 2020 including the Marketing Summit and the EDGE Venue Summer Party. The events are free for all EDGE licensed venues and is a must for those looking to gain up-to-date expert advice and industry trends to help maximise future business success.

To find out further information on the upcoming events, or how to become an EDGE Venues licensee or user, contact the team, on info@edgevenues.com.

Posted on

EDGE Venues appoints Tracy Winsworth as new MD

EDGE Venues, specialists in global venue sourcing for meetings and events, have appointed Tracy Winsworth into the newly created role of Managing Director.

The appointment comes as Jacqui Kavanagh, CEO of Trinity EDGE Holdings, continues to make further investment into both EDGE Venues and Trinity Event Solutions as the businesses trade under their separate entities. 

Jacqui launched EDGE Venues in December 2018 with Tracy supporting as Commercial Director. In the 12 months, the business has been operating, Jacqui has been mentoring Tracy to take the reins to become Managing Director. 

Tracy has been in the meetings and events industry for more than ten years, having started with Trinity Event Solutions as Finance Manager. Tracy shares her excitement at this new opportunity: “Both EDGE Venues and I have been on a fantastic 12-month journey. Having developed as a person over the 10 years, both within the business and industry, I’m excited to see how we can continue driving results and success for EDGE. 

“We want EDGE to be the ‘go-to’ platform for corporates and agents to source venues, and for venues that wish to achieve growth in the corporate market. I look forward to taking the platform forward and seeing what the future holds for us.”

Jacqui, CEO for Trinity EDGE Holdings, explains the importance of this appointment: “It’s important that Trinity Event Solutions and EDGE Venues are considered separate entities. I need to oversee both businesses while having the best management team in place to run each company. Tracy has been with me from the original EDGE concept and having worked closely with her on the commercial side, I know she’s ready for this role. 

“This is such an exciting time for us all as there’s so much happening in our industry. It needs to adapt, and EDGE, through its innovative technology, is a disruptor which is driving some of that change.” 

EDGE Venues, supported more than 4,000 events in its first year through its comprehensive booking platform. EDGE not only offers a venue-finding solution for all event planners and agencies, but it’s also seen as an engagement platform, providing expert industry trends, knowledge, and insight.

Posted on

Bringing Agents and Venues together for EDGE Venues Marketing Summit

On Friday 1st November, EDGE Venues brought together Agents and Venues who use the global venue sourcing platform for a Marketing Summit, helping users and licensees maximise the site’s potential.

The event attracted more than 100 delegates to the De Vere East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham and is the third Marketing Masterclass that EDGE Venues has run since its December 2018 launch. This was the first time Agents who use the platform, and Venues who are licensed, came together to learn about the latest developments of the site, industry trends and how they can maximise the benefits available to them.

Aimee Richardson from Allianz Park, home of the Saracens, attended the EDGE Venues Marketing Summit commented: “It was a wonderfully insightful morning at the EDGE Venues Marketing Summit in Nottingham! With discussions covering relevant industry trends, real-time developments and a true collaborative meeting with lots of wonderful agencies and venues in one room discussing the future of the MICE industry! It’s events such as this, with the collaborative approach, that demonstrates the passion and value the team at EDGE provide.”

To enhance its service offering, and increase the exposure of the platform, EDGE Venues has recently appointed digital marketing agency, Anicca Digital. As part of the educational process, Anicca was invited to the Marketing Summit to share insight into the benefits of paid social advertising and what this would mean to EDGE Venues. Ann Stanley, Managing Director commented on the recent appointment: “We are thrilled to welcome EDGE Venues to the Anicca Digital family, and look forward to delivering their paid digital media services over the coming months as part of their exciting growth plans. EDGE Venues, with its cutting-edge technology and global vision, is a perfect addition to our existing events sector client portfolio, and we are eager to be a part of their future journey.”

Jacqui Kavanagh, CEO of EDGE Venues was delighted by the response of the Marketing Summit: “We had a fantastic turnout for our Marketing Summit with more than 100 attendees. The event keeps on growing and demonstrates how the industry wants to work together for the benefit of corporate clients. After nearly a year of continued development, we’re now able to invest further with our marketing strategy and the appointment of Anicca Digital, alongside our existing strategy partners, will support with our overall growth strategy.”

On 1st December EDGE Venues will celebrate its one-year anniversary with plans to release further developments to the platform in the coming months.

The next EDGE Venues Marketing Summit will be held on 17th January 2020 in London.